Author Topic: XM Vs Sirius Radio? (Read 948 times)

Morpheus · « **on:** March 06, 2006, 08:25:52 PM »

I just picked up an 05 wrangler the other day and when i got it home I found that it had built in XM radio. I didnt notice the little antena thingy on the front fender.... So much for looking it over before i buy it.

Anyways, is XM worth whatever it is that you pay a month? What is the difference between Sirius and XM? I have no clue about either of these two services. My father got sirius because stern moved and he is obsessed with stern. He likes Sirius, I dont know anyone personaly that has XM so I dont know if i should get Sirius or just stick with this XM thing that I already have. Stern is not on XM though so I dont know... That kind of sucks.

Also, how in the world would I go about getting hooked up? I turned it on the other day, and just got two channels, 247 and Ch1. I guess those are just basic info channels or something... One had weather though. Its an Alpine Head unit, I cant remember what the model is, i will go out and check in a bit. I didnt get anything in regards to the head unit when I picked up the jeep friday so I know nothing about it.

Oh yeah... Another stupid question... Because it is infact an XM radio, am I stuck with XM unless or can I go to Sirius and stay with the current setup. Ie leaving the headunit in and everything as it is? lol probably a dumb question. I have no clue when it comes to this satalite radio junk. I wish stern didnt have to move.

EDIT: The model of the headunit is "CDA-9825" from Alpine.

Slash27 · « **Reply #1 on:** March 06, 2006, 08:43:40 PM »

#1, go with Sirius. XM is not doing very well at the moment from some things Ive heard.

As far as your radio, it wont matter it has XM built in. The Sirius receiver transmits to a FM channel of your choosing. XM will run you less a month but, if you like Howard, it worth a few bucks more. The show is great now. I swore up and down I would never pay for radio. I drew my line in the sand. My buddy bought it and I caved in a week. It is so damn nice having such a variety of music with the frickn' commercials. You wont miss "terrestrial" radio for a second Morph. You can get a unit at a decent price now. I do recomend you get one with alot of presets. Youll use them all and them some. I went with the "Sportster" receiver. It has 10 presets plus you can but a boombox for it. You just pop it out of your cradle in the car and pop it in the boombox. Also you can get a home kit if you dont want the boombox and have a kick bellybutton stereo you'd rather use, but the boombox works in the same way, its just transmitting to whatever FM channel you decide on and then youll have something portabel too.

As far as your XM goes. Youll have to find out the XM ID # for your radio and then call XM to activate. It should have a menu you can scroll through on the radio to find the ID.

NattyIced · « **Reply #2 on:** March 06, 2006, 08:48:19 PM »

XM units can't recieve Sirius and vice versa. XM music (I like hard rock/metal/classic rock) selection was crap when I heard it 2 years ago. Sirius was better at their launch, and I have had no problems with repeat music on Sirius.

It's up to you though, music, pretty much uninterrupted, for the travel to work or long car rides vs, as I remember from 2004, fairly generic FM radio (pop) songs on XM.

I'd recommend a trial month with both, you will pay for the service during that month - but you can find out which one you would like to pay for most.

Morpheus · « **Reply #3 on:** March 06, 2006, 08:51:04 PM »

Yeah, its hard to live without the stern man. He is a living god.

The other day I was ridding somewhere with my father and he had sirius on. I never road in the car with him since we got it for his birthday for him... HOLLY COW do some of those channels have no bleeps or what?! LOL It is kinda nice to hear a song without it being bleeped to hell'n back. Stern is out of control I guess, my dad was saying... now that he is with Sirius.

I thought it would be nice to not have to install anything and just call up XM or whatever I have to do to get it activated.

Can I hook this sirius up to my PC if I want to? I got the Klipsch 5.1 speakers and that would be sweet to hear stern on lol. Like he's sitting right next to me!:eek:

Delirium · « **Reply #4 on:** March 06, 2006, 09:06:50 PM »

I have the exact same head unit in my Subie, Morpheus.

I use a portable XM radio; my car as a cradle, home has a cradle, and work has one as well and it makes for alot cheaper than buying 3 radios.

If you want tech and better reception in cities, go with XM. If you want Howard Stern for a couple years (and later when he leaves) and have a radio you don't want later, go Sirius.

I'm a little biased, but I've heard both companies (gf has Sirius) and checked out their backgrounds... its akin to comparing Apple to Microsoft, if not now, definitely when Howard Stern retires... he is really the only thing keeping Sirius's head above water.

XM has more channels, the same number of sats (XM just launched another and from what I've read, the Boeing made sats have better signals), alot more ground loopers, more channels, and the music/selection format is very debateable.

Slash27 · « **Reply #5 on:** March 06, 2006, 09:08:01 PM »

Not sure about the PC Morph. I think you can download his show if you're a subscriber. If you wanted to mess with all that.

NattyIced · « **Reply #6 on:** March 06, 2006, 09:08:46 PM »

With XM or Sirius you buy a detachable unit(which gets activated kind of like a cell phone) that is portable between they're company respective individual car units, stereo units, or receivers units.

If you have a XM antenna, you can't get Sirius unless you have a seperate antenna installed and vice versa.

It's based on satellite, but there are ground relays (Frequency Modulated) in most areas that receive cell phone coverage.

As far as censorhip goes, there is none. It's like cable, but not crappy basic, where they don't edit or censor the content you are paying for because you are paying for the service - which is up to the individual to purchase.

Slash27 · « **Reply #7 on:** March 06, 2006, 09:11:06 PM »

I dont have any issues in and around DFW with mine Del. Maybe not the case elsewhere. I understood Sirius to be doing more than fine actually and that XM really dropped the ball not signing Stern. I have not read anything official either way though.

Stang · « **Reply #8 on:** March 06, 2006, 09:11:19 PM »

XM is better Morph. The only thing Sirius has over it besides Stern are the NFL games, but XM has baseball. And it's only around $10 a month, less than you pay per to fight silly cartoon planes and hump Sniper's leg.

Slash27 · « **Reply #9 on:** March 06, 2006, 09:14:38 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by NattyIced
XM units can't recieve Sirius and vice versa. XM music (I like hard rock/metal/classic rock) selection was crap when I heard it 2 years ago. Sirius was better at their launch, and I have had no problems with repeat music on Sirius.

.

If its a FM reciever with XM built in, it will still recieve Sirius over the FM channels with a Sirius unit also installed.

Slash27 · « **Reply #10 on:** March 06, 2006, 09:15:44 PM »

hhmmm Baseball? or Howard? Thats a tough one:D

bj229r · « **Reply #11 on:** March 06, 2006, 09:49:05 PM »

I had Sirius for 3 years, went to XM-- (Im over 16, so Stern doesn't really matter) However, the COMedy channel does--Sirius has 2: one adult, other is Jack Benny re-runs, etc. The adult one (the FUNNY one) has talky crap on EVERY day from 4pm to like 9pm... (Jim Bruer, and the Wise Guys --Soprano cast-offs) and it ISNT funny. (also, Sirius has a lunch-time guy on their comdey channel for like 2 hours every day, this ALSO limits actual comedy) On weekends, they have even less standup. XM has 2 adult, one Jack Benny-type, and NO talky crap. Music is close, talk stations are close, now that Sirius got Fox stuff back. Sirius has far better blues channel, IMO--XM's seems like elevator music. Sirius makes a BIG deal out of their dj's---though the music channels have no commercials, these people feel the need to blab like 2 minutes after every other song--drives me fluff'n nuts. I give slight edge to XM

Morpheus · « **Reply #12 on:** March 06, 2006, 09:54:46 PM »

cute dig at stern. let the hijack begin. thanks. dick.

JTs · « **Reply #13 on:** March 07, 2006, 01:41:54 AM »

for what its worth. sirius has three satelites you get better reception in the concrete canyons. xm has 2.

Delirium · « **Reply #14 on:** March 07, 2006, 02:15:08 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by JTs
for what its worth. sirius has three satelites you get better reception in the concrete canyons. xm has 2.

Wrong...

The bandwith on Sirius's 3 satellites still have less than the bandwith on XM's 2, and from what I read and XM may have launched another one recently (but I can't confirm it). Not to mention the ground loopers, which XM has many more of.

What does this mean? Better reception overall as well as being able to use the units farther into large buildings if you have a portable receiver like I do.

Btw, someone was mentioning XM's comedy stations, XM now has 4 I think.

Besides, Stern is really leaching Sirius... money spent on a single program takes away from the whole network overall. You'll see, once Stern is gone (and he already said he is looking past his Sirius days to do TV and movies) Sirius will be having really hard times.