XM or Sirius?

[charby]

I'm contemplating getting a satellite radio, mostly because of a trip Mrs and I are making out West this summer and that most radio stations in Iowa stink as bad as the hog farms do.

So pros and cons on either one? I'm going to get the cheapest reciever I can get because all I want is music and don't need the extra options to fiddle with.

[Brad Johnson]

XM and Sirius merged last summer.  They are the same company now.

Brad

[Gewehr98]

Yup. 

Same-same.

Have been for a while, now.

[RoadKingLarry]

While they are the same company now I don't know what all the differences are I have Sirius. I bought the car dock set up and I also have a "Boom Box" I wouldn't want to give it up.

[BrokenPaw]

They're both the same company now, and the programming on XM (which I've had since '05) has really gone downhill since the merge. 

As far as I know, all of the basic music channels are available on both.  The things that differ are some of the talk and sports channels.  They're also supposed to be coming out with a dual receiver that will allow you to get both.

If I didn't already have XM, I wouldn't bother to get it now (I probably wouldn't have got it then either, but it came installed in the car and the first hit was free; now I would be annoyed if I didn't have it on long trips).

I can't say much on the technical pros/cons of Sirius.  I know that XM uses geostationary birds and Sirius uses polar-orbiters.  I don't know that there are specific upsides or downsides to either.  My XM drops out from time to time if I'm in an area with heavy tree cover and little LOS to the sky.

One thing I notice is that XM's compression seems to limit its bass response somewhat; I get far better bass out of terrestrial FM stations than I do out of XM.

-BP

[Gewehr98]

Which reminds me...

I've had XM in my pickup for some years, but am hearing more about HD radio.

Anybody have the scoop on it?

Are there HD radio tuners for home audio that would replace my older Kenwood FM tuner in the stack?

[K Frame]

XM - suck

Sirius - suck

XM/Sirius merge? SUPER SUCK.

A couple of years ago I was seriously considering purchasing satradio service.

Given what they're providing, in return for what they're charging?

They can go straight to hell.

[Ex-MA Hole]

I used to have XM in my last car.  I got it because I was on the road a lot and could listen to the same music all day.  I picked XM over Sirrus because XM had baseball, and I liked to listen to the games.

I traded in my last car and SWORE I'd get XM in the new car.  Non negotiable.

That was three years ago. 

Don't miss it at all.

For long trips?  Ipod or MP3 into the radio.

[charby]

XM and Sirius merged last summer.  They are the same company now.

Brad

That maybe so but they still offer each as seperate programs. If you want to have both you pay more per month and you have to buy the most expensive receiver.

Ipod or mp3 player? Don't own one, don't want one and I don't own enough music to transfer over. I listen to the radio a lot: internet radio at work, local radio in the car and mediacom digital music channels at home.

I probably own less than 50 CD total. I think the last CD I bought was a Dean Martin album and that was 2 years ago.

-C

[Nitrogen]

XM - suck

Sirius - suck

XM/Sirius merge? SUPER SUCK.

A couple of years ago I was seriously considering purchasing satradio service.

Given what they're providing, in return for what they're charging?

They can go straight to hell.

Agreed.  My paid subscription goes away later this year, and it will go away permanatly.

It's almost like they said, "Can we take the worst parts of XM, and the worst parts of Sirius and merge them?!"
Before the merger, I never heard repeats of songs, at least for a week.  Now, it's almost daily.  What's worse, I can almost always hear similar songs on my morning commute and evening commute.

They severely curtailed the two Liberal talk show hosts I like to listen to (Thom Hartman and Stephanie Miller) months ago.

I will miss listening to Andrew Wilknow and Mike Church, and hearing NRA Radio, though, but not enough to pay for it.

[mtnbkr]

I was an early adopter of XM, had my service in 2002ish through 2004 (bought a two year plan for a hefty discount).  I canceled mine early because the programming kept getting changed and the stuff I joined for kept getting cut for more Clearchannel crap.

Now I just listen to CDs, NPR, AM Talk, or the various Amateur Radio bands.

Chris

[seeker_two]

Ipod or mp3 player? Don't own one, don't want one and I don't own enough music to transfer over. I listen to the radio a lot: internet radio at work, local radio in the car and mediacom digital music channels at home.

I probably own less than 50 CD total. I think the last CD I bought was a Dean Martin album and that was 2 years ago.

-C

MP3 players are great for downloading all the free talk podcasts (GunTalk, GunNuts, Downrange Radio, G Gordon Liddy) and listen to in your car or while exercising. I've even used Windows Media Player to burn my music CD's (& a few audiobooks) so I don't have to tote CD's around in the truck (or any other car I happen to drive)...

[Unisaw]

I just canceled our XM service after two years.  The reception was spotty at best and it just didn't seem very special anymore.

[brasshammer]

It boils down to what you want to hear on the radio. I happen to be a huge fan of the blues. Not The SRV/ BB King cuz that's all I can remember sort of fan but a bona fide blues lover. Bill Wax, the propieter of Bluesville (XM 74) is one of the most knowledgeable purveyor / historian / promoters of the genre and that it makes it worth it to me.

Also, Bluesville is comercial free. I'll keep my subscription.