Posted on 08/29/2006 6:36:56 PM PDT by SamAdams76
Are you tired of flipping through the radio trying to find tunes to jam to, but all you find are boring channels with a lot of chit-chat or ads? That was me a few months ago, until I subscribed to satellite radio. With hundreds of commercial-free music stations and specialty channels like live football coverage and talk shows, you will definitely want satellite radio in your car too!
You can even buy devices that will allow you to have satellite radio almost anywhere - in your boat, house, even on capable cell phones! So if you decide you want the satellite entertainment experience, you can choose between two services: either XM or Sirius.
I subscribed to XM awhile back for my car simply because I was more familiar with it. Then when we got Dish Network in our home, Sirius came along with it. I have to say, Sirius has won me over.
Out of its 170+ stations, I find myself only listening to 4 or 5 channels on XM. Sirius has many stations I switch between. XM has a bad habit of repeating songs. I may end up hearing one song five times in one day within a few hours period. With Sirius, that isn’t the case. Furthermore, I do not like the way XM names its stations.
For example, some XM station names are “Fred” and “KISS” and “Watercolor.” I have to guess what types of music they play. If I mention a radio station called “The Joint,” how long would it take you to figure out that I'm talking about a reggae station? Sirius clearly names it’s stations, such as “Reggae Nation” and “Rolling Stones Radio,” for instance.
Sirius satellite radio broadcasts a lot clearer than XM, especially in relation to the talk channels. People’s voices come across a lot smoother and can be easier understood than XM, which tends to be fuzzy. XM has another sound problem. It sometimes will fade out of my front left speakers and only play through on the passenger side speakers. You’d think something was wrong with my audio system, but when I switch off XM and local stations come in, the sound immediately comes back to my left speakers.
XM has a few more channels than Sirius, but don’t forget to consider the quality and content of their channels. It’s true that XM has 90+ music channels, 10+ sports channels, 20+ news and talk channels, along with a few traffic channels. However, what are those channels exactly? XM rebroadcasts radio stations, but Sirius does not. Sirius only broadcasts original content that is produced in-house by the stream jockeys themselves.
When it comes to sports, you should compare channel listings for both XM and Sirius to see which hosts the sports programs that best suits your interests. For Nascar and Major League Baseball fans, you will need XM. On the other hand, if you like NFL and NBA, then you will want Sirius so you can keep up with play-by-play action and scores.
Along the same lines, if you will be doing a lot of listening to talk shows, Sirius has more of the popular shows such as “Discovery,” “Howard Stern,” and “Martha Stewart.” What celebrity talk show does XM have? The “Oprah Winfrey“ show. Sirius also has “Playboy Radio.” What does XM have that could compete with that? Nothing. XM has over 7 million subscribers, 3 million more than Sirius. And with both priced at $12.95 per month, you won’t be able to make your decision on cost. However, based on channel offerings, quality, and clarity, Sirius beats XM hands down.
With over 150 stations of commercial free music in any genre and sub-genre you can think of, I have discovered tons of new music and have over tripled my purchase of music (primarily on iTunes).
My favorite Sirius stations is Outlaw Country, Classic Rewind, Jam_ON, The Vault, Hair Nation, First Wave and Left Of Center (college music) along with a dozen others I have set one-touches for on my receivers.
Siruis for me.
xm
Neither...I've got 60gb video ipod that I have filled with about 20gb of music. I've also ripped a DVD or two and I have all my digital photos on there also.
I'm a rolling entertainment center....
My experience is the opposite. XM is much clearer, especially on talk stations, where Sirius sounds like it is coming over a phone line. XM reception is better and interrupted by fewer obstructions. XM repeats music much less often. Neither one, though, has 150 channels of music.
I have Sirius for the NFL package.
I find that they play the same tunes over and over again and there is overlap on the stations in the same genre. But, beats the hell out of commercials and lame ass morning shows.
Does Rush Limbaugh broadcast on either of these?
I listen to more talk radio in the car than I do music. Boortz and Rush FTW! When I listen to music, I just load up the changer with burned CDs that have the music of my choosing. I can't imagine satellite radio being of much use to me.
Which one?
Neither ... paying for radio is insane! I'm sure you will soon hear commercials on those pay-to-listen radios, just like on the cable and dish TV's.
Just put in a casette or CD.
I'm a big fan of Sirius. I like the NFL network, the Vault, Prime Country, all of the classic rock stations, and Buzzsaw.
I've heard that XM might have a deeper music list and are more inclined to just let the music play, whereas Sirius has some DJs, including the ex VJ's from MTV. I've also heard that they have a cleaner signal. They also have baseball, which is not a big thrill to me since I can get the Reds on 700 AM at night.
Sirius also has 2 conservative talk stations (Fox Talk and Patriot) and ABC Talk, which has some conservatives. It also has HOward Stern and a couple of other foul mouth DJs.
Whichever one you pick will be great.
XM, for MLB, a bunch of college football, and Opie and Anthony.
I use Pandora.com and that is also an excellent service that helps me discover new music (based on what I already like).
No.
What is he talking about? What radio stations?
I have a 60gig video iPod as well crammed with my favorite music. But I'm always on the hunt for more great music and for that, I need to always explore elsewhere. The iPod is great for storing music you already KNOW you like but it is a very static device. Eventually, I anticipate that Apple will add satellite radio functionality to the iPod which will allow you to add music to your iPod library on the fly as you discover stuff you want to buy.
XM has commercials. People buy SatRad to get away from commercials.
No XM for me.
I don't agree with this assessment. XM has a larger music vault and has a longer play list. This reviewer got it backwards. SIrius plays the same songs over and over. I have had XM for two years and would never switch. My neighbor has Sirius and so I noticed the repeating playlists. Sirius wasted their money on Howard Stern who is washed up and irrelevent. They should have spent the money on more music.
Sirius in in the middle of a huge encoding hardware upgrade. They are slowly phasing in channel by channel. Its a huge improvement. Check out Sirius 30, The Coffeehouse. While its not CD quality sound, its pretty impressive.
A lot of XM's content is provided by ClearChannel - which means they run commercials - and some of their content is just rebroadcasting terrestrial radio services run by CC.
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