Satellite Radio...Which one to buy?

[Muckmaw1]

XM or Siri?

I don't really care about Stern or Opie and Anthony.

I'm looking for a system that can be mounted in a car temprarily, as my car is leased.

And then be swapped out into a desktop radio or something.

Cost is always a factor.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

[AKS\/\/ulfe]

Both have magnetic satellite reciever mounts that go on the outside of the car - roof or top of trunk.

Both require feeding the reciever wire into the car to attach to the rear of the cradle for the actual radio part.

The radio part can be taken out of the cradle anytime you stop the car for both systems.

Both can broadcast on a range from 88.1 to 88.7FM so you don't need to run wires into the head unit itself. The broadcast channel is selectable, but not automatic. So if you get fuzz or noise coming through, you can switch the selector on the cradle and then adjust your stereo tuner.

The XM unit needs a seperate purchase of a stereo unit for home use. It's just like a boom box.

The Sirius unit either needs a seperate purchase for a home holster (it comes with a different stero antenna reciever) or it can be purchased in a package deal. The home holster then plugs into your Auxiliary on your stereo system.

XM costs $10/month. Sirius costs $15/mo.

You get no commercials on the majority of Sirius channels (none of the music, only a few talk/sports channels). You get commercials on all XM channels.

I use Sirius, works great. I had a problem with an old satellite reciever, the part that plugs into the cradle broke - but they have new satellite recievers out that are far sturdier.
-SW

[Muckmaw1]

Wait, there are freakin commercials?

I thought that was the main selling point!!!

[Vermillion]

I was under the impression that the commercials had been eliminated (or nearly so) on XM, but I could be wrong.

[AKS\/\/ulfe]

XM has 12 channels with no commercials, rest have commercials but I don't think they are nearly as long as on the radio.

Sirius doesn't have any on their music channels, not so sure about talk (hate talk radio, main reason why I don't listen to normal radio - because those stupid ****s talk in the morning), sports, or comedy channels. Actually, pretty certain none on the comedy.

Prices seem to have changed since I last looked, and they now offer plans for both of them. Check their websites for details.

The main selling point is that they don't have annoying bellybutton **** DJs talking all the time. Although, lately on Sirius, they seem to be spewing a little longer. Getting annoyed with it.

If it continues they will get a very angry letter from me containing copius amounts of fecal matter.
-SW

[eagl]

I own sirius stock so buy sirius!

Siriusly (heh) you ought to look at their program listings and see if you want any of their specialty shows.  One covers every nascar race, another might cover NBA or NFL, etc. so check out what they offer.  Consider if you'll be buying a new car in the next couple of years, and see which car manufacturers are selling factory XM or Sirius radios.  Manufacturer support might be less of a big deal in the future because they have a deal with the FCC to come up with a common digital standard so any factory radio could theoretically receive either XM or Sirius, but that technology integration hasn't happened yet and may not for a while.

Both also have web sites where you can listen to some of their programming streams for free to help you decide if you want to subscribe.  I think both also offer web streaming of all channels to current subscribers so you're not even tied to a satellite receiver if you have internet availability.

From what I've heard (I don't subscribe to either) neither one is a bad deal and they're both offering deals to new subscribers so shop around at various retailers before buying.  XM has a hefty lead on subscriber volume and neither company will make any profit for a couple of years, but they're both signing up people pretty quickly so I don't think either one will go out of business soon.  Sirius just made the risky decision to sign up Stern and that could be either very good or very bad for them.  Good if Stern listeners start subscribing to Sirius, bad if they don't because for some reason Stern's show costs around 100 mil a year to run, and that will take an additional 1 million subscribers to support.  Worst case they pay Stern off and dump his contract if they can't handle it, but it's still a calculated risk for them.

[ygsmilo]

Wulfe, there are no commercials on the music channels but you do get repetitive little clips on the news and sports channels where there would be commercials during a normal program.

You do get some DJ talk on the music channels but it is not to annoying.

I have XM and it is good for me because I take long car trips for business ( 6 to 8 hours one way) once or twice a month.  What I do is I have a spare reciver base that I just put in a company or rental car.  I put the antanea on the dash and get a good signal.

A single subscrip is 9.99 and you can add more for 6.99.

My niece has Sirrus and she likes it also, I think the music selection on Sirrus is a little better but for me the cost of XM makes it for me.  I have a second subscip for my mother who lives out in the boonies thus the 2 subs is close to what one will be for Sirrus.

They are both good and if you travel alot it is worth the money.

Edit: XM does have ACC, Big 10 and Pac 10 football but messed up when they did not get the NFL like egel stated.

[AKS\/\/ulfe]

Hmm, thought there were commercials on some of the music channels.

My friend had XM, but that was a year or so ago the last time I listened to it.

In that case, it really boils down to price and music selection. I know that on the Classic Rock channels, the music selection is great. There's also a dedicated hard rock channel (Hard Attack) that has stuff ranging from early Metallica to current day "RAAHAHAHH KILL EVERYONE, LOVE SATAN, AAHHHHHHHHHH" that causes me to change to another channel.

If you go with Sirius, be sure to get the second generation radio unit and cradle - it's better to read at night(orange LCD) and has a stronger signal to the car's radio antenna.
-SW

[lazs2]

I have XM.. they have 68 channels with no commercials.. so far as I know none of the music channels have commercials.

lazs

[nuchpatrick]

Yeah I have XM as well and haven't heard any many commericals other then on the Comedy XL Channel.  

Really lately it's been channel 46, 54, and 150 that I listen too.. so many to choose I can't decide lol..

[Sandman]

Hmmm... seem to recall an overabundance of XM commercials on XM radio.

Always wondered who the commercials were for. If you hear them, you've already bought it.

[rpm]

If you're a Howard Stern fan, it will have to be Sirius.

[DREDIOCK]

I dont understand why anyone would be willing to pay for radio. cept maybe  truckers

Other then for the sole reason of being able to say they have it.

For me its simple Tired of the DJ?  Change the station.
Getting annoyed with the commercials? Pop in a Tape or CD.

I see this as going the way of Cable and Satelite TV.

1,000 channels/stations and STILL nothing worth watching/listening to

[NUTTZ]

XM will soon have the "All HTC BBS All the Time" channel, I hope it will be narrated by Yankee and NOT Skuzzy:)

NUTTZ

[Sandman]

Living in an area that has just six FM stations... I can see the attraction to satellite.