Satellite radio ???

[armedcitizen]

Do either XM or Sirius allow you to take the receiver out of the vehicle and listen in your home or office?

Which system would you recommend and why?

[nico]

They have a thing that's basically a boom box that you can attach your receiver to.  My parents have XM and personally, I think it's over rated.  None of the stations play bands that I've heard of or particularly like and it's a real PITA to change stations that aren't already preset while driving.

[macavada]

I've got XM, and I really like it.  With XM, you can get several home and car kits (antenna, power adapter, and cradle) that can attach to a stereo or speaker system.  I like the portability.  The car and home kits are  a little expensive.  You can save a few bucks on ebay.

[mtnbkr]

I had XM for two years.  At first, it was great, but as time progressed, the stations got worse and they started getting rid of programming that attracted me to XM in the first place.  The recent price hike along with adding crap such as Opie and Anthony was the final straw.  I canceled about two months ago.  

Depending on the receiver, you can take it just about anywhere with the right "kit".  I know the Delphi unit has car, home, and boombox kits.  One of the fansites had a "walkman" type setup (using the original Delphi unit) long before the new Delphi "walkman" device.  I never used mine anywhere but the car though...

Chris

[Moondoggie]

There is a system for XM, the "Roady II" that you can transfer from car to car to home.  It rebroadcasts the XM programming on FM...you set the freq on the Roady and match the freq on whatever FM radio you want to use and viola.  No connections to your car/house stereo.  The antenna has a magnetic base so you can move it easily from car to car.  We got a free (promo) house antenna so we switch ours from car stereo to house stereo with ease.  The Roady II unit is about the size of a pack of cigarettes, only thinner.

The Roady II is about $125.

We've had another XM unit in our big truck for 3.5 yrs....we just paid for 4 yrs of XM in advance to lock in the 9.99 rate.

Even though I only go truckin' 2 days a week nowadays, I'm not giving up my XM.  The traffic info for Chicago is worth the cost alone.

[yesterdaysyouth]

i've had 2 units for 2 or so years now... i have one in the car and the xm pcr on the comp here...
i haven't listed to the free radio, or burned a cd since...

[Waitone]

Is the programming sourced in real non-fabricated shows.  Ferrinstance, can I listen to an LA drive time show?  or do I have to listen to a prefabricated show?

Seems to me the value of satellite radio is potential availability of original programming from different parts of the country.

[Moondoggie]

XM has a separate channel for traffic & weather for each major city...a continuously updated traffic report that repeats about every 2 min.  No entertainment, no commercials.  Very useful to me in my big truck.

XM has DJ's on a few channels..."60's on 6" & "70's on 7", etc.  The idea is to recreate the genre.  Lately on "60's on 6" they've been playing tapes of local AM radio stations from all over the US.  They did my hometown station last week...it was much more nostalgic than I thought it would be.

They also have some local NPR programs, like Leonard Lopate from WNYC.

Supposedly they have every major league baseball game, but I haven't checked that out yet.

I'd recommend checking out their website...you're supposed to be able to listen to it online.

[yesterdaysyouth]

some of the music channels have different shows with different people... i remember snoop dogg had a show on xm 65 where he just played whatever the hell he wanted...  there are several mix tape dj's on the rap stations..  the rock stations have bands come in and take over for an hour...  

one thing i like is every tuesday when the new albums are released they will play every song on the album, usually one an hour.. i know this happens on the rock and country stations...

i really don't listen to the talk stations at all, but they are always advertising some new show...  

the comedy stations are sweet, they do interviews with the comics, usually backstage after shows, sometimes they come into the studio...

they also record live music, if you like blues they record tons of stuff...

it's good stuff...

[mtnbkr]

Seems to me the value of satellite radio is potential availability of original programming from different parts of the country

"Free Radio" is fighting this sort of thing as hard as they can.

Chris