To XM or not to XM? That is the question.

[toaster]

our ipods are gathering dust

same here. ipods are great, but even if you have 5000 songs you will get bored of them. With xm or pandora radio you get to hear new stuff. I'm listening to pandora right now and you hear stuff you normally wouldn't search for but will like when you hear it.

what are your prices for said ipods shipped to 75791?  i tend to have a special interest in music and have a feeling that if the radio stations cant play songs i like by request because its "too old" for the classic rock station im not gonna hear it on xm or sirius or whatever is out there.

[Triple J]

We just let ours expire after the 3 month trial. I never really got into it because I always listen to CDs, and I tend to listen to one band/genre for a while...then switch. Consequently, I rarely like what is on the radio because it isn't what I'm into at the moment. 

I DID like the traffic feature that worked with our GPS. That was somewhat useful to keep from getting stuck on I-5 in traffic. If it would have been included in the standard XM price, or if we could have only gotten that service, we would have. Unfortunately it was an extra $10/month over the regular XM fee. Not worth it IMO, as I've always done fine without it anyway.

[CowboyBeebop]

Ok then I've had it for 8 years. I remember getting my car in late 2000, then soon having a stereo installed that was xm ready.


The channels that do play commercials are now playing longer commercials and several back to back. Very much like fm, I'm not happy with that. They used to be short 30sec bits that you would even notice.

I've noticed this, too.

There is no difference between XM and Sirius music-wise.  Post merger, they combined their channels.  XM's music choice was vastly superior to Sirius, but unfortunately, Sirius was driving the merger, and when XM was absorbed, it lost most of its channels.  The result has been a slight improvement to Sirius's music line-up, but a gross decline in the quality of XM's.

I actually have both (though I don't really pay for either); I get XM through DirecTV, and I had a Sirius sub that I canceled a year ago, but they never turned my reciever off (I here this is a common), so I still get it.  Post merger, the only things I listen to on either are Opie & Anthony and Ron & Fez, both on XM.  I use to be a die-hard Stern fan and got Sirius exclusively for him. 

[tonyj311]

I've been noticing repetition for some artists, but its nice to hear some stuff I forgot about. The commercials and edited music have been getting on my nerves too.
I have an 80G ipod and the cable is always plugged in. But, I still have about 500 cd's to load on to I-Tunes, so my available selections are over played.
I always get the free downloads on I-tunes- good way to find new music. 9 times out of 10 the artists blow, but I have come across some decent ones.

[OverCaffeinated]

one more plus to satellite radio is the uncensored songs and talk.

[CowboyBeebop]

one more plus to satellite radio is the uncensored songs and talk.

Depends on the channel and the show.  Stern self-censors, Bubba the Love Sponge (sucks) rebroadcasts his terrestrial show, which is censored, and O&A are working under heavy censorship.  Some songs are censored (not intentionally, but because they play the FCC-friendly cut as provided by the music corporation).

The real advantage to satellite is its ubiquity, but if you have a wi-fi enabled or 3G smart phone, so are internet broadcasts.  Blaupunkt just released an internet radio head unit for cars. 

[NAKID]

The pop stations censor, the rap and alternative do not. I listen primarily to AltNation and Octane, the wife listens to Hits1 and occasionally country. Stern in the morning is still pretty decent, but he goes on vacation a lot and takes Friday's off. He broadcasts a "best of the week" show on Fridays, kinda shitty if you ask me since he gets $100M a year for 4 days of work a week...

[ute]

the lifetime hook up is a great deal at $500 it is transferable to your next unit

i like bouncing around boneyard to all Sinatra.......octane to smooth jazz

[lethe]

I'm in the car 5 hours a day so Sirius is a very good thing for me. My wife is in her car far less but listens to such a diverse range of stuff that it's worth it for her too.

[FatguyRacer]

I've had Sirius for 3 1/2 years now. The merger leaves me with a little bit of a bad taste. They took my favorite two channels The Vault 16 and The Blues 74 and made them Deep Tracks and BB Kings Bluesville. They are both totally lame now. Deep Tracks more so than Bluesville. I can tolerate the expanded programming of Bluesville, but Deep Tracks has gone off the rails. Ok, it's more than a bad taste, im make the beast with two backsing pissed. At least they left my 3rd favorite channel be, Lithium 24.

The Coup De Gras and last make the beast with two backs job is internet radio is no longer free with a subscription after March. That was one of my favorite things about Sirius. I listen to it while i work at my computer.

make the beast with two backsers.

[NAKID]

The Coup De Gras and last make the beast with two backs job is internet radio is no longer free with a subscription after March. That was one of my favorite things about Sirius. I listen to it while i work at my computer.

make the beast with two backsers.

No way! I listened to the internet radio daily before I came to school here, now my new internet blocks internet radio...

[FatguyRacer]

Way dood. Log on the Sirius.com. Click Listen Online and you'll get a pop up 'splaining the new make the beast with two backs job.

I'm suck a sucker i'll end up paying the 2.99 a month. I've wasted money on worse things.

[CowboyBeebop]

Way dood. Log on the Sirius.com. Click Listen Online and you'll get a pop up 'splaining the new make the beast with two backs job.

I'm suck a sucker i'll end up paying the 2.99 a month. I've wasted money on worse things.

I can understand getting satrad if you're on the road a lot, but if you do most of your listening over the net, and most of that is spent listening to music, there's no reason to pay for it.  There are thousands of internet radio sites (last.fm and Slacker being the two biggest) that will deliver a far superior product than SiriXM's internet offering, and do it for free.

[Gimpy]

Way dood. Log on the Sirius.com. Click Listen Online and you'll get a pop up 'splaining the new make the beast with two backs job.

I'm suck a sucker i'll end up paying the 2.99 a month. I've wasted money on worse things.

FYI. I got an email from Sirius stating that if I bought one of the longer term packages the internet listening would remain free and I could lock in my lower rate.  Haven't read through all the fine print yet.  but here is the link:  www.sirus.com/lockin

[FatguyRacer]

I got that E-mail this morning too. I'll read it later.