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Satellite Radio Systems Compared
The NYT has a review/comparison of XM radio and Sirius, the two systems of digital satellite radio. Not everyone wants to pay for radio, but I guess if you spend enough time listening to it, maybe it's worthwhile.
Everyone supports XM, nobody supports Sirius. Just get XM and don't look like a betamax weenie. :-)
Yeah, I'd buy that for $10. Hmm... FP?
This sig no verb.
Delphi, the major maker of XM receivers has announced that they are moving all product design and engineering offshore because workers in the USA are paid too much.
You may want to take that into account when picking a system.
My folks just built a log home in an area where you can not get any cellular signal. You can barely pickup the nearest radio stations, and that's only if you hold your nose just right. TV via antenna is next to impossible thanks to our hills that surround the home. Satelitte isn't just used by radio aficionados. Real folks like you and I sometimes need it.
Google Link
"It is not how things are in the world that is mystical, but that it exists." -Ludwig Wittgenstein
They sound the same to me, and have the same selection of stations. This is largely due to the fact I own neither.
I wonder if the RIAA feels the same way about this as normal RF radio? Will satallite radio stations need to pay for higher fees to play copyrighted music than normal radio?
That is assuming the Sat radio is of much higher quality than the RF radio and that dubbing music off the radio is a much higher risk for the RIAA.
Of course, this only really applies to music stations and not news stations etc...
not worth it. You'd have to spend quite a bit of time in your vehicle to make staellite radio worth the cost that it is now. One may as well invest in a multi-disc changer that reads MP3 discs. This way you can have hours upon hours of music that you choose, commercial free. Hopefully, if/when a song sharing service comes around that is legal and not stomped by the RIAA, people will pay the cost per song, be able to burn them all to CD, and then listen in the car. I don't see how paying a monthy fee for satellite radio is even justified when we already have the technology to give ourselves hours of music on a single CD. IMHO, staellite radio hasn't really taken off, and I don't think it ever will. It just seems like a bad trend.
Try actually thinking for yourself. It's quite refreshing.
This I did not know. Is there a comprehensive list of companies that do this? I want to know who to support and who to tell to piss off.
Good thing i cant afford any of these anyway.
Yeah, its somewhat OT. Shutupp.
"Something's wrong with you...and I hope we never do meet again." - Deftones When Girls Telephone Boys
The bottom line, for those needing a quick answer, is Sirius is superior in sound quality, features(free streaming from their website!), and channel quality(better music, no commercials, better talk). XM has a few more channels that make very little difference to the end result (read on).
After careful review of both systems, Sirius came out the winnner, as I have said. The channels are laid out well, lack commercials, sound great, and are streamed on the internet. The only disadvantage of Sirius was its oft-sited lack of Nascar, which they seem to be trying to remedy. Also, XM has an extra comedy channel (it's boring, and features older, censored comedy), and a few more "experimental" music channels which most will find totally useless. Surfing XM for music is often like surfing the regular (terrestrial) radio in a large city-you get nothing but frustration. It's no wonder XM doesn't stream live on the net so that you can try before you buy. Also, XM's channel layout was unfriendly, in my opinion.
The greatest and most dizzying drawback in comparing the two, however, are the staggeringly stupid and annoying XM commercials. Not necessarily the corporate commercials that come from outside companies (which are annoying in an expected way), but the ridiculous and loud in-house XM stuff that makes you have to turn down your radio really quick when you've had it up loud-especially with the windows open (yes, they are that embarrassing). This, and the better performance of Sirius, was the deciding factor in my cancelling XM.
XM, however, holds their own and can satisfy a customer with some decent music and a fair selection of Talk. If not for Sirius, I would have kept XM, I think; probably because it IS nice to listen to the same station no matter where you go. Yet, as is the way of competition, Sirius has offered everything good that XM does and DONE IT RIGHT. Sirius outshines in the talk category, with a variety of Right and Left-wing shows, all of the useful talk channels XM has, and NPR, PRI, and a well laid-out channel plan.
XM does a bit better in the design of their customer care website. Sirius also has a customer care website, but it is not as robust (less detail). However, XM doesn't have streaming audio on its website-apparently we all have to pay XM $6.99 extra in additon to buying another $200 receiver for the house. In addition to the crappy commercials, this is probably where the corporate influence of XM being part-owned by ClearChannel and GM shows. (Clearchannel is responsible for the reason regular radio is so terrible).
One other interesting tidbit is that I was able to receive both services with an antenna hidden below the rear-deck of my car-made possible probably because it has a large rear-window at a steep angle. Sound quality was the same wherever the antenna was placed-inside or outside-of course. I understand that there was a professional review of XM vs. Sirius and that XM was said to have better sound, but the superiority of Sirius was glaring in my test. I say A-B it at a store with XM, if you can, on the same system. Do a channel comparison, too-I'm sure you'll see that what I've written is the case.
Good luck, and, for my two cents, I would support Sirius unless XM does an about-face. XM may be cheaper by a few bucks, but trust me: you get what you pay for.
Is there censorship???
That's the one thing that bugs me more than anything else about an AM / FM radio. When I listen to songs, I'm tired of the FCC regulating stations, and butchering songs I would otherwise appreciate into beeps, buzzes, silent space, and otherwise crap FX.
Maybe I'm the only one, but I couldn't care less about having a radio station that I could bring with me across the country. I'm more concerned about
a) Having a radio station not play the same thing 20x a day and
b) Having them NOT butcher the song.
Of course, I've been to all the places, Best Buy, etc and ask them. They don't know. I don't have any friends with this device.
So for now, it's a no go. Not until I know that it's uncensored, and always will be that way.
/^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
I rarely turn on the 'ole AM/FM radio any more. I have three receivers. One in my car, one at home and one at work. I've been blessed with being near one of XM's terrestrial repeaters so for most of the time needing a line-of-sight to either Rock or Roll (XM's satellites) is not needed. I compared XM and Sirius (although, Sirius was not out at the time when I went with XM) and decided to go with XM in the end. I haven't looked back since then. I know some people will whine, "I'll never pay for radio!" but I've turned so many friends who have said those exact same words to, "This one channel on XM radio is worth ten bucks a month ALONE!" ...
Everything today is dominated subscriptions.
Every software company has these subscription software developers network.
Every other game is becoming subscription based. I am glad sims online is failing.
Every good radio frequency is subscription based.
Soon public bathrooms will be subscription based. The only thing that needs subscription is magazines.
Which one runs Linux?
... for a while now and I have to say I like it, I have to drive about an hour to and from work and spend at least 2 hours a day driving places (cause of I-4 construction) and XM really makes it fly by. At first I didn't think it would really be worth it, but a reciever came with my car, and it was only 10$ a month so I tried it and can't get enough of Uncensored Comedy, XM Live, Fred, XMLM, and XMU! If you spend anytime listening to the radio it's definatly worth it to avoid the same old FM/AM junk.
Radio used to be a wonderful local medium. Anywhere in the country you'd here local accents talking about local events advertising local businesses and appealing to local tastes in music. Even well into the era of media conglomerates, radio was still by-and-large a small-scale operation.
Clearchannel and the whole deregulation mess has pretty well ended that. Aside from a few AM and college stations, radio has about as much identifyable personality as network television. And now proponents of Big Radio can point to the few remaining independents, by and large willfully obscure and pretentious holdouts, as examples of why small radio is no longer relevant.
Satellite Radio is probably good for a lot of reasons, but it certainly will do nothing to slow the gradual blending of America's cultural palette into one big swath of homogenous gray.
I've only lived in two places in my life. I'm about to take a two month long cross-country drive. I'm seriously worried that I'm not going to see (or hear) anything unfamiliar.
In Capitalist America, bank robs you!
Actually, I've had a few girls comment on my Tux hoodie.
Seriously, though, I'm a little tired of the "why would anybody want to pay for that" attitude around here. It's a service, about the same value as a newspaper subscription, and priced accordingly.
Why does Slashdot seem to be getting more and more parochial?
Thanks for the info . . . you own a Mac, don't you?
I just went out and bought my Father the XM Delphi SkyFi at Circuit City and the Car Kit (tape adapter (yuck), cigarette plug adapter, and mag mount antenna.
I'm also going to get him an adapter from Blitz Safe which gives you a muchhigher quality sound. Basically it plugs into the proprietary CD changer port on the back of the factory radio and has RCA plugs (or a 1/4" phono iirc) on the other end.
When deciding between XM and Sirius I found this page to be a good comparison between the two.
"And a voice was screaming: 'Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?'" - HST
I listen to Sirius everyday at work for about 4-8 hours a day. Now that I have it, I would say that I would have to quit my job if I ever could not listen to it for some reason. I fly aerial surveying missions, and it can get very boring up there with nothing to do. Now I have a way to have entertainment anywhere in the country, even in the middle of the desert at 12000 feet!!
I have 100 channels to chose from, and have yet to get bored of the 5 or 6 I listen to regularly. I personally think Sirius is much better than XM, mainly for these "streams" as they call them: 2 NPRs, PRI and JamOn. There defiantly is a reason to pay for radio!
Unfortunately, none of the satellites give reception to us here in Honolulu.
Well, if you want to be legal while sampling a large music selection, you either spend $10 a month for a subscription to XM and listen to hundreds of songs across a myriad of genres from unsigned artists to punk rock to electronica to blues to Indian pop (well, they got rid of that station, actually, so no more Dahler Mehndi for me), or you could take that $10 and buy ten songs from iTunes.
common sense: noun
What those who are ignorant of the subject matter think; usually wrong.
Am I the only one that did a double take on reading:
...ohhhhh yes that's how I like it mmmmmhm....."
"Neither satellite radio company promises to freeze its current prices or percentage of ads. XM, in fact, already offers the first premium premium channel - a Playboy channel for an additional $3 monthly, the first step toward a future filled with tiered, ever more expensive packages."
I mean what's ON that station....
"ooh yeah baby, that's it, uh huh, faster, ohh yeah...**and now a message from Mr. Hefner: Please open your eyes and pay attention to the road while driving, thank you**
- "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
After I graduated from school about two years ago, I took most of my graduation gift money and decked out a stereo in my car. (No, you can't hear it 4 miles away, it's conservative, but definitely "full range")
One of the options I chose to add was XM Radio. I wasn't happy with the way Sirius was panning out (back then they didn't even have coast-to-coast) and XM was $10/mo as opposed to Sirius's $13/mo.
I got some of the first XM equipment from Pioneer, including a head unit, reciever and antenna. None of that FM modulator crap. I set it all up, activated the account, and i've been happy ever since.
All of the channels are great, depending on what you want to listen to. I never knew 10 different genres of rock existed until XM. Hell, Bluegrass has it's own channel. Some are commercial free, the others have WAY less commercials than regular AM/FM Radio.
Personally, I listen to Top 20, "Ethel" which is 90s alternative, CNN Headline News and the Comedy channel. The Comedy channel is COMPLETELY UNCENSORED. When I say anything goes, I *mean* it. pussy this, fuck that, shit on you, it never ends. It definitely makes the ride to work seem shorter.
Here I am two years later with the same equipment and the same subscription and I'm still paying for it. If you're tired of listening to CDs or AM/FM and just want something else to listen to, XM Radio is definitely the way to go. Car kits are so cheap now that you'd be foolish to pass it up.
My two cents.
-mgahs
I chose to go with Sirius Radio and I've been very pleased with it (I've had it for a bit over a year now). And, in addition to the no-commercials policy on their music stations, one of the major deciding factors for me was ClearChannel's stake in XM.
For those not aware, ClearChannel owns over 1200 stations nationwide and they're one of the major proponents of payola. That's right -- artists get on the air simply because their labels paid for their songs to be played.
I believe that radio play should be based on merit and not deep pockets. And, I don't want to have anything to do with ClearChannel.
Alex Bischoff
HTML/CSS coder for hire
Sirius has no commercials. And better channels (my mouth watered at their online trials). And subscribers can stream the music to any computer. Consider the large amount of time our soceity spends in front of the computer and the luxury of having excellent music for that entire time.
While I haven't used Sirius yet, I hope to afford it soon. XM seems like the work of monopolistic, commercialistic, record-company-loving businesspeople, rather than music lovers, and their service is inferior. Take a stand for a company that respects its customers by subscribing to Sirius.
I have an aftermarket Sirius unit in my 2003 Chevrolet Silverado. The variety is absolutely awesome, but in my case the sound quality isn't. The reason for this is that my satellite receiver is connected to my truck's head unit via an FM modulator. The XM receiver integrated into my Mom's Honda Accord sounds dramatically better. If you visit satellite radio fan sites, you'll find that people generally accept the quality of satellite radio if FM modulation is not involved, and are not fond of it otherwise.
Both the XM and Sirius radio streams are compressed to somewhere in the neighborhood of 64kpbs. They sound far better than what one would normally expect at that bitrate (I'm the type of person who encodes MP3s at 256k-320k). I believe each system uses its own proprietary codecs, and both have the capability to update those codecs over time and continue to work with existing equipment. Anyway, back to the point, it's a highly compressed audio stream. Between the compression and FM modulation, the music takes on a very dull sound. I do not think it is worth buying satellite radio unless you can have it direct input into your head unit.
I've finally managed to locate a company ("SoundGate") who makes an adapter to connect my Kenwood sat. receiver directly into the back of the truck's head unit (GM makes this a big PITA, by not providing a direct input unless you speak their proprietary protocol). It shows up this week or next, and I can't wait.
What has *science* done?!? -- Dr. Weird (ATHF)
But they're hardly the problem. CC is a clumsy puppy -- well intentioned, but poorly trained. Since the mid-80's on the FM dial, and the early-90's on the AM dial, there hasn't been a whole lot of variety. Every market has a whacky Morning Zoo show on a heavy metal or top 40 station. They play bits created by a syndicator, and pass them off as "something funny we came up with last night." Then you have the AM stations which are either syndicated AM talk, or satelitte religious programming.
:-) I'm sitting in a station newsroom right now, at work, so I think I know what I'm talking about here. And no, I don't work for Clear Channel.
So, what's Clear Channel done? They're trying to make their AM stations like local TV stations. Local news/issues programs during prime time, and well-known network programming other times. For the music stations, it's even easier. They've got vertical integration among the stations, with playlists based on formats. Go ahead, examine the playlists of stations in the same format owned by companies other than Clear Channel. By and large, it's the same music.
The only real difference between markets is the level of talent and the fit and polish of the delivery. In big markets, you get good jocks and tight production. In small markets, you can hear some pretty awful radio.
As for XM, I've done three cross-country trips in the past two years via auto. I don't think I'd want to do it without an XM receiver. While there is some good local stuff out there, XM is good quality wherever you happen to be, and it's consistent. Montana is big, and sometimes you can't find a station for a couple of hours. I think the talk programming is better on XM than on Sirius, but that's just personal opinion. If you really dig on NPR, Sirius would probalby be more your cup of tea.
Not everyone wants to pay for radio, but I guess if you spend enough time listening to it, maybe it's worthwhile.
For the longest time I thought the same. I began driving recently... Sometimes CDs just get boring (no matter how many you burn xD). Radio at 7am is horrible. There is nothing on besides commercials and Howard Stern (sorry guys, he bores me).
I see why people are paying for radio now. Had I waited to buy my CD deck I would of gotten an XM tuner instead.
_________ Help me get a PSP!
saw this in 2600 magazine here's the article http://www.se2600.org/acidus/xm/xm.txt
Winner of The Second Annual Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence.
Um... Sirus may not have commercials for Radioshack or JC Penny's like XM does, but don't kid yourself... they make up for it with promo spots for their own shows... if I hear one more commercial for Pam Anderson's "talk" show on there... I'm going to scream.
The music from Sirus seems much more hit driven. XM has much deeper tracks that they play more routinely. Don't knock it till you try it... They're both great.
Jim
'Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?'
As both of my favorite entertainment acronyms that begin with "N" are on Sirius (namely, NPR and NFL), I'm all about Sirius. My car stereo is due for an update, and Sirius compatibility is topping then list.
I live in a part of the world where I can't tune in the insanely ecclectic interviews and call-in panels on The Connection, or Click and Clack's "Car Talk." I can burn CD's for music, but not for NPR or NFL game play-by-plays. (I heard the Patriots make their goal-line stand on a staticky, faint AM station. I was honking my horn like a madman.)
XM has some really corporate news stuff (read: fluff), and some right-wing talk radio masturbation festivals, but Sirius has that =and= NPR. (Liberal-leaning hosts and commentators, usually, but a stringently centrist editorial policy. PRI and Pacifica are public radio left-wingnuts, but NPR makes damn sure all sides of a story are given their say.)
SoupIsGood Food
i work at bestbuy and i know pretty much about the satellite radios considering i sell them all day.
Hands down Sirius is the better choice.
First off Sirius has no ads, XM does.
Sirius is 12 a month, XM is 10.
Sirius has 2 satellites, 1 on each coast
and 1 doing a figure 8 over the the
middle of america and mexico.
Sirius has much better satellite service
than XM considering their better satellite
placement, and since XM only has 2.
Also in NYC alone Sirius is better as they
have ground transmitters to carry the signal
throughout the whole city, and they broadcast
from here in NYC.
While I haven't used Sirius yet, I hope to afford it soon. XM seems like the work of monopolistic, commercialistic, record-company-loving businesspeople, rather than music lovers, and their service is inferior. Take a stand for a company that respects its customers by subscribing to Sirius.
If I'm not mistaken, XM is owned in part by the monopolistic, commercialistic, record-company-loving businesspeople known as Clear Channel Communications. You may remember them as the company that's replacing all your local radio stations with prepackaged commercial crap.
just a friendly warning: don't get a sattelite radio receiver expecting to have it installed by a body shop, because it'll cost you an arm and a leg (4 hours labor, at least... more than the cost of unit). But I guess most of you slashdotters would consider self-installation to be a feature :)
From one of my old University buddies: Ars Technica: Satellite Radio Review
Everytime you look at porn a devil gets their horns.
I just bought a dvd burner and plan to pick up a ~$40 dvd player that plays mp3s. Most of the ones I've seen have a seperate power supply and I'll build a small power converter so it will be happy with the 12v in my car and then hook up to the aux-in on my pioneer.
Instant 4.7gigs of audio files and a remote control to boot. Even with my wide range of tastes ( some say bizarre) I'll only need a few discs worth to take my entire collection. Simple matter to re-rip all the Beatles albums at higher bitrates too since I'm not trying to cram stuff onto CD-Rs.
Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. - Mark Twain
Of course it is. What, you expect me to lay aside rational thought because of personal investment in the outcome? You probably want victims deciding punishment for criminals, instead of impartial judges, too.
The efficient worker is adaptable and retrains. He doesn't rely on protectionism to keep his job at the expense of the buying power of everyone else in his country.
Get off my launchpad!
Over here we have a different setup emerging - DAB Digital Radio .
It's static free, there's plenty of content - some of it ad-free - but it's still a local service, with stations like The Groove playing locally on DAB and streaming over the web.
There's no subscription fee, and portable DAB players now available for around 100. Also, the BBC is committed to the new system, with a bunch of new stations only available digitally.
It's a brilliant strategy, really. Local broadcast radio in my area has become almost entirely ClearChannel's prepackaged commercial crap, which is what drove me to get my XM Radio.
:)
Actually, IIRC ClearChannel owns only a small part of XM. You can see CC's fingerprints on XM's more suckful channels, for example. It's more of a risk-hedging strategy on CC's part.
However, my commute wouldn't be the same without my Special X. I've heard Dr. Demento, polka music, Leonard Nimoy & William Shatner....shoot, their ongoing tribute to Christmas is a very refreshing change from Xmas Muzak.
Actually, you have it all backwards. Sirius radio is the home of smaller playalists and lots of repeats. Check out the numerous threads on Siriusbackstage.com about all the repeats that they are complaining about all the time. They even have a terestrial radio consultant, Walter Sabo, who does their music for them with an emphathis on a commerical radio flavor to it.
XM is more for music lovers. 10 more music channels means you have more music per hour than on sirius and they have 3 comedy channels to sirius' one. Check out xmfan.com to see what people say about. You can't understand it unless you hear it. I really only use my 40 gig IPOD for working out now. I don't want to spend all that time burning and categorizing my music into playlists. And yes, I do get bored listening to the same 2500 songs all the time. I'd rather listen to xm's several million song database.
I want a free receiver with my paid subscription.
When XM/Sirius debuted, they were around $300 for a receiver. Pile on top of that the monthly fee, and you have a really expensive way to listen to the radio. Initially most folks didn't want to invest in what could become a paperweight if the service failed.
Both XM and Sirius now have a cute little portable receiver for under $100. Starting to get tempting. I can bring satellite radio with me everywhere I have an aux in port. Less than $100 and I can listen anywhere? Starting to interest me.
So Sirius and XM, how can you get me as a customer? Let me pay for one year of service and give me the receiver free. Cell phone companies do it, you should too. I would gladly pay you for a full year of service and a receiver. After a year, if I don't like the service, I don't feel so bad about it.
There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
:wq
This is one of the very reasons I read Slashdot so frequently.
I am in the market for a sat radio system (I'm in sales) and after reading that XM is partly owned by Clear Channel, welp, that just made my decision VERY easy.
CC has been *on record* as saying their primary purpose in life is to push ads. They are unapologetic about the fact that they have zero interest in promoting culture or diversity in their "playlists". Not to mention, they are the biggest supporter/supplier of payola, which has already been mentioned.
In other words, this is a no-brainer for me. I hate Clear Channel and will vote with my $$$ this time.
This story comes at a great time for me; I've been trying to decide which service to buy. I really don't like XM's ClearChannel leanings - you can get that junk for free in any city in the US. However, Sirius' brochures are a little too anti-mainstream. My main question to Sirius owners is this: do the music channels play some familiar artists, but with more variety and depth in the playlists, or do you hear a lot of obscure stuff that's strange for the sake of being strange?
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
Clear Channel is FUD spouted by Sirius advocates. First and formost, everyone has to understand that this is like PC vs Mac for users. The vast majority of users of satellite radio are *strong* advocates - XM has a study that shows that subscribers on average demonstrate thier radio more than 10 times a month to other people. So take what you hear about either service, good or bad, with a grain of salt. CC used to own stock of less than 10% in XM. Its now less than 5% and they have sold the rest in a hedge deal. I think it is pretty clear that XM wants to get rid of CC as soon as they can - which is why there are no longer any CC sourced channels on XM.
One thing that's still keeping me from taking the XM plunge is the lack of decent in-dash receivers. Sure, there are plenty of receivers that are "XM Ready" (though they all seem to require an additional $200+ receiver module that I'll have to attach somewhere else in the car). But most of them have only 8- or 16-character displays.
I mean, most cars these days (or so it seems -- all of our last cars at least) have large receiver openings (double-size or so). There's PLENTY of space for a CD / XM receiver with a nice, multi-line display and decent controls. But even the double-DIN receivers from Pioneer still only have 8-character displays. It's crazy.
And I don't even get me started on how most radios these days are just an ugly mess of widgets and doodads with very little thought to function or quality. The best-looking, most functional, radios out there all seem to be original factory radios. And they simply don't have the MP3 / Satellite features.
What I want, basically, is the nice Delphi XM receiver integrated in a double-DIN CD receiver, with aux inputs for my MP3 player, a half-dozen preset buttons, a volume knob, and a tuning / navigation / feature knob. Is that too much to ask? (and, no, I don't want to stick the Delphi receiver somewhere else on my dash -- with my Palm/GPS combo, I've already got more velcro then I'd really like.)
I have a Kenwood Here2Anywhere reciever, with a home reciever cradle in my living room, and a reciever cradle in both of my vehicles. One think I must say is that the stock setup for the vehicles SUCK! They come with a tape deck adapter, and my unit bearly puts out enough power to the tape deck that you have to turn the volume all the way up to hear the audio. In my other vehicle, I didn't have a tape deck, so I bought a $45 FM modulator that you have splice into the antenna. This systme works much better, and sound quality is excelent. If you are thinking of purchasing any of the protable units, make sure you have an auxilary audio-in on your car sterio system. If not, don't use the dinky tape deck setup, spring for a FM modulator. The Kenwood FM modulator I purchased uses RCA cables for the audio in. So if you mount an RCA plug set up on your dash, you could use it for not only your satilite system, but you could plug in a CD player, or any other audio device that has an RCA out.
just did a quick google search and ran accross some indoor satallite radio antennas. Have not seen any reviews yet. here is a link to one: http://www.centurion.com/antennaProd/xm20.asp
I had been looking at Satellite radio for awhile, but always concluded that I did not want to pay $10 - $13 a month for the service... So I never bothered to purchase the equipment.
While cruising one of my daily sites, someone had posted a message that Sears had a Sirius radio package deal... everything you need to get Sirius up and running for $50. I figured, for that price, I couldn't lose.
It tooks 2 months, and Sears finally cancled my order because they realized that the demand for the box set had exceeded the order. I was pissed off. Not because they misjudged the amount of orders that would come in... That's somewhat understandable. I would have let the subject drop right there if that was the problem. But no.. they had CHARGED my card two months ago, and I was thus paying interest (actually, it was a debit card, but Sears didn't know that) for two months on a product I didn't have. That's what really ticked me off... they took my money, used it for 2 months, and then said "oh... sorry, here's your money back, and we won't pay you interest." I wasn't about to stand for that.
I stomped down to my local Sears and bitched up a storm. They finally agreed to cobble together a similar Sirius system and give it to me for the $50 price.
The next day, I installed the system, via the FM modulator and got it hooked up. It was pretty easy to install myself. I had never installed any radio equipment in a vehicle before. Learned quite a bit, actually. Anyway, it fired right up and sounded a lot better than I was expecting considering it was via FM modulator. In fact, it sounded just like my stock head unit.
I'm not a big fan of stock head units, but I have not replaced my current head unit in my vehicle, even though I've had it 3.5 years. Boy... am I glad I waited.
I'm going to be getting a Sirius head unit, so I can plug directly into it. I love the Sirius, and I won't ever be going back to "regular" FM radio again. I will happily pay the $13/mo that I was reluctant to pay after actually using the system. The lack of commercials is so liberating. It's so frigging nice to turn on the radio, and listen without hearing all the bullshit I hear on FM stations. I have about 6 channels I listen to regularly, and I can usually find someone on one of the 6 that I like at any given time. There are a few occasions when all six channels suck, and I will jump around and experiment with other stations.
There are a few nitpicks that I have, though.
First, the fact that Kenwood Sirius tuners are not compatible with Panasonic Sirius tuners is ridiculous. They are both Sirius tuners, they should be compatible with any Sirius head unit. The upside of this is, the Kenwood Sirius tuner is $150, and is what I currently have. The Panasonic tuner is $50. Why is that important? Because all but the most expensive ($500) Kenwood Head Units suck. Really bad. Their LCD displays are like 10 Character, vintage 1990's displays. On the other hand, the Panasonic head unit (983 I think?) has a nice Active Matrix display for $200. That's the head unit I'm going to be buying here after Christmas... but I'm going to have to plunk down an additional $50 for the Panasonic Sirius tuner... which kind of irks me.
The other nitpick I have, which may or may not go away with the new head unit is the fact that channel surfing is exceptionally difficult. It's hard to find the stations you might want to listen to, and skip over the junk you know for sure you don't want to listen to. Currently, on the FM modulator, there's only 6 preset buttons, with 4 different positions. So you can have a total of 24 presets. However, getting to the 2, 3 and 4th position pre-sets is a pain in the ass. So I pretty much stick with the first 6 pre-sets.
Couple the fact that the FM modulator is a Kenwood unit, with it's 10 character display, and it's impossible to have the information you want on the screen up at any given time. You are limited to a portion of the song title, OR
>Because all of this is beamed from satellites,
>you can drive across the country without ever
>hearing a certain station fade away.
What a load of crap! Every time you go under a bridge/overpass/tunnel/tall bushy tree the signal fades. Yes, FM fades out in long tunnels, but not when I'm under a normal sized overpass. I drove a rental around Palo Alto and the music would cut out when there were large trees along the road that overhang. I can't believe that people pay for this "service".
I work for one of the CC, BB, etc type companies, and we sold out of both a few days ago. Most either dont know either, or come in asking for XM. But, serius has an advantage as its wayyyyy cheaper as an initial investment, and less of a hassle, because their mobile kits have the built in transmitters, and XM has lost a LOT of sales to that exact issue.
I personally would go with XM, but if sirius wasnt 12.99 I would give it a hard think. The fact that you can buy sirius' subscription out right for 399 right now lifetime, tends to draw in most of the wealthy and intelligent buyers. You can't do that with XM, which is another reason they have lost some sales to sirius.
All in all, I like XM's hardware better, but sirius has been smarter on a few design choices, that in the end are hurting XM. We finally got a replacement cigarette adapter that has a builtin FM transmitter for XM products, but that was literally yesterday, and of course it was freaking 35 bucks for the thing, so its still not much of coup.
"Computer games don't affect kids; I mean if Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms,
I had the chance to have dinner with someone in the satellite industry. His take was that Sirius had an edge over XM in technology. Additionally, the polar orbits of Sirius satellites are much higher than XM's geostationary birds and are less suceptable to being blocked by terrain features which certain areas of the country have in abundance.
/. people seem to favor that service over XM.
I have actually listened to XM though (it was on an Avis rental car) and the sound quality I think suffered from the radio itself. As for content, I can't say I was really impressed. XM had some interesting channels, but the majority I wouldn't listen to.
I'm a big music and talk radio buff -- I listen at least 24-34 hours per week -- but I didn't see myself really taking advantage of XM. I'm planning on taking a good look at Sirius to see what they have to offer though. Especially since many of the
When I go on road trips though, it's sometimes nice to pick up a local host just to get a flavor of the region I'm in. But something like Sirius would really increase my choice of selections, which isn't a bad thing at all. It beats listening to an hour of the weather band.
What I'm waiting for is a car radio that has built into it's circuitry the ability to tune to AM, FM, Satellite Radio, TV, Weather Band, Shortwave, CB, and police/fire/ambulance and aviation bands.
On long trips, it will be nice to browse *all* the airwaves. Of course I'll need about 100 presets.
-Crolis