XM or Sirius

[16Valve]

Getting my new vehicle in a few days and it comes with one or the other.

Ideas on which one to get, please?

I do like Howard Stern but I have two kids with me alot so I probably wouldn't get to listen to him much anyway (unless I suddenly decided to be a shitty parent). Mostly news and sports talk, electronica, rock, and alternative. Though I'll listen to just about anything but Cunt-try.

Thanks for your time all.

[WorldRunner]

Sirius has the NFL which means they have the home and away broadcasts of every single NFL game as well as the Westwood one broadcast of the national games (Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday night games) and NFL Radio which is 24/7 NFL Talk.

XM has MLB and NHL now...if that matters.

Sirius is better for sports talk IMO. Music wise they both have about the same selection and it's all commercial free.

Both XM and sirius have commercials on their talk radio and they're just as bad as you've come to expect from AM/FM radio. "CALL NOW FOR YOUR 'Make 30000/day in your underwear' book. IT'S FREE", etc.

I've had sirius for a few years now... Love it. I'd certainly never drive over an hour without it. If I remember correctly you do like soccer as well... Sirius has the world soccer daily show too. In general it seems like Sirius has better/more sports talk. Don't know about the political talk as I don't bother with that but I do know they have several options for left, center, and right.
I'd also suggest getting a boombox or home hook-up equipment because you'll probably want to listen to it in your home too. Both of them offer free online trials so you can see what they offer for music yourself... But you can't listen to the talk radio stuff online.

[Lanx0r]

I haven't had any exposure to XM, but my brother has Sirius and he loves it.
Whenever I borrow his car, I monkey around with it, and I like it. Lots of variety.

I can't tell you which one to pick, but I can say that if you pick Sirius, you will probably be pleased with it.

Hope that helps a little..

[free]

if you have time go online and register with both sites and listen online, not sure with xm but sirius has a 3 day trial online

[suicyco]

Sirius = Howard----and the Playboy channel.

[Moniker]

I'm getting a Sirius radio and using it at home, at work, on my motorcycle, and in the car.

[Rapt]

I have XM in my truck, it's nice. At the same time, I work in RadioShack and we only sell Sirius. XM is losing NASCAR to them this coming 2007. Seems as far as exclusing rights go, Sirius comes out ahead.

The only thing I'm aware of that I know is XM has multiple subscription periods; 1yr, 2yr, 5yr, and a lifetime even. Sirius just has 1yr, 2yr, and 3yr---correct me if I'm wrong, still somewhat new to RadioShack. 3 years on Sirius is $12.95/month, I think XM is identical---I pay yearly and it's around $144/year give or take a few dollars.

The replay feature on the Sirius models is pretty cool, 44 minutes to record a channel if you're fixing to leave your vehicle and want to know what went on.

I've heard bad stories from both sides about XM and Sirius antennaes failing. Mainly to where your signal strength isn't strong enough to keep the data streaming; cutting in and out. For the most part I think some customers don't mount their antennaes outside the vehicle like they should. Always better to make sure the satellite has a clear path to the receiver.

Hope this helps.

[Smeg]

I just got Sirius last week, my christmas present for myself. I love it and wish I had done it before.

[free]

The only thing I'm aware of that I know is XM has multiple subscription periods; 1yr, 2yr, 5yr, and a lifetime even. Sirius just has 1yr, 2yr, and 3yr---correct me if I'm wrong, still somewhat new to RadioShack. 3 years on Sirius is $12.95/month, I think XM is identical---I pay yearly and it's around $144/year give or take a few dollars.



you can do month to month

[Rapt]

Oh, well of course. Sort of took that for granted---sorry for not clarifying.

[WorldRunner]

I'm getting a Sirius radio and using it at home, at work, on my motorcycle, and in the car.

You'll love the Rivals college sports show every morning. It's on 123 from like 6-9cst or something like that. It's basketball/football centric and during football season that's all they talk about... It's the best college football coverage IMO.


And on another note I think in 5 years we won't be asking "Xm or Sirius" anymore because the companies are eventually going to have to merge

[rasputin]

We've had numerous threads about this. Are you unfamiliar with the search feature or what?

[the phoenix]

I have Sirius and love it. I can always find something I like on it. I have the lifetime plan... not sure if they still offer it though.

[Vanquish]

I have XM in my truck, it's nice. At the same time, I work in RadioShack and we only sell Sirius. XM is losing NASCAR to them this coming 2007. Seems as far as exclusing rights go, Sirius comes out ahead.

The only thing I'm aware of that I know is XM has multiple subscription periods; 1yr, 2yr, 5yr, and a lifetime even. Sirius just has 1yr, 2yr, and 3yr---correct me if I'm wrong, still somewhat new to RadioShack. 3 years on Sirius is $12.95/month, I think XM is identical---I pay yearly and it's around $144/year give or take a few dollars.

The replay feature on the Sirius models is pretty cool, 44 minutes to record a channel if you're fixing to leave your vehicle and want to know what went on.

I've heard bad stories from both sides about XM and Sirius antennaes failing. Mainly to where your signal strength isn't strong enough to keep the data streaming; cutting in and out. For the most part I think some customers don't mount their antennaes outside the vehicle like they should. Always better to make sure the satellite has a clear path to the receiver.

Hope this helps.


Sure I'll correct you. I worked for Sirius for a year and a month in their call center, setting up accounts, activating radios, doing tech support, saving cancelations etc. My gf still works for them (albeit Sirius Canada so the prices aren't the same), and my gf's mother works for Sirius in their online orders department.

It's $142.45 for a year, which is the cost of 11 months (you save 12.95 by going for a year). $271.95 gets you 2 years (cost of 21 months - you get 3 months free). $401.45 will get you 3 years (save the cost of 5 months). It goes all the way up to a 6 year plan, where you save more than a year if you were paying 12.95 per month. Now, there IS a lifetime plan, for $499.99 ($549.99 in Canada), but there are some conditions on it:

The lifetime plan is for the LIFETIME OF THE RADIO, times 3. You pay 500 bucks, if the radio dies down the road you can buy another one, call them up, and swap out the radio on the plan with the new one. If the radio WAS under warranty it doesn't cost you anything to swap it, if the radio WAS NOT under warranty you've gotta pay 75 bucks to swap from the dead one to the new one. You can swap the radio 3 times regardless of their warranty status before your lifetime service runs out. The only time I really reccomend the lifetime plan is if you're not going to be moving the radio. People who take the radio from their car to their home every day chance dropping it or doing some else to it (I've had people carry it in in the rain and the rain shorts out the radio), but if you get it for your grand parents and they just leave it on the same shelf all the time and use the remote to change channels, theres no reason the radio can't last 5+ years. The lifetime plan pays for itself after 5 years, even with all the swap fees. If the radio is coming built in with the car, it's usually covered under the vehicle warranty, so the lifetime plan is actually a good idea. Also, most car companies give you a year free with the car (it's actually tacked on to the cost of the car, most people don't realize this), and if you upgrade to the lifetime plan as you're activating you can credit the cost of that first year towards the plan, so you only pay $357.54 for the lifetime plan, and add to that the vehicle warranty, you've got a radio for probably 7 or more years, or however long you hold onto the vehicle.

The upside to the yearly plans, is that you can swap out the radio as many times as you like with no swap fee. But if you've got a vehicle installation you wouldn't need to swap radios at all. Also keep in mind theres a 75 dollar cancelation fee for a 1 year plan, I'm pretty sure it doesn't apply for a multi-year plan AFTER the first year has gone by.

The 44 minute recording of the "Replay" radios isn't as shit hot as it sounds, as when you turn off the radio you lose the saved audio, and you can only record the 44 minutes from one channel. If you absolutely have to record, go with something like the S-50 or the Stilleto.

Antenna mounting can be an issue, but it's really not as bad as you'd think. You can pry up the little ruber moulding around your doors and wind shield and put the antenna wire in there so it doesn't hang loose and get in the way. Also, keep in mind that because the signal is coming from a satellite, if you don't have a pretty clear view of the sky you're going to lose the signal anyway. Driving under lots of trees, power lines, highway bridges etc. will drop your signal.

Sirius's satellites move in a big figure 8 pattern up and down North America, whereas XM's are stationary. There are ups and downs to both, but the easiest way to describe it is like this: If you're driving, you want Sirius as if you're between buildings and such you'll still get a signal as the satellites are almost always directly above you, whereas with XM because they're stationary they're more to the south, so if you're on the north side of a building and theres no repeaters in your area, you won't get a signal. XM is good if you've got a home setup and only a home setup, as if you have signal from where it's at you'll ALWAYS have signal from where it's at, whereas because Sirius's satellites move, you aren't going to have signal all the time as the satellites moves to another side of your home. That's not to say it's not possible to find a place where you always get signal, but that usually means you have to mount the antenna higher or use a better antenna (TERK makes a great home antenna that mounts like a satellite dish to the side of your house).

[GhOsT]

Sirius's satellites move in a big figure 8 pattern up and down North America, whereas XM's are stationary. There are ups and downs to both, but the easiest way to describe it is like this: If you're driving, you want Sirius as if you're between buildings and such you'll still get a signal as the satellites are almost always directly above you, whereas with XM because they're stationary they're more to the south, so if you're on the north side of a building and theres no repeaters in your area, you won't get a signal. XM is good if you've got a home setup and only a home setup, as if you have signal from where it's at you'll ALWAYS have signal from where it's at, whereas because Sirius's satellites move, you aren't going to have signal all the time as the satellites moves to another side of your home. That's not to say it's not possible to find a place where you always get signal, but that usually means you have to mount the antenna higher or use a better antenna (TERK makes a great home antenna that mounts like a satellite dish to the side of your house).

Ah, that's why I sometimes lose the signal at home.

[Rapt]

Wait wait, so the recording part works only if you never shut your vehicle off? The receiver gets its charge from the cigarette lighter right? So cutting the engine cuts off the stored 44 minutes of replay you recorded?

Oh and well put on the rest, I'll take that knowledge with work to me tomorrow.

And is there some kind of discount for getting 3 receivers under one plan? Some lady came in and asked me that the other day, wasn't sure. Also, what's the activation fee?

[16Valve]

We've had numerous threads about this. Are you unfamiliar with the search feature or what?

Yea. I'm familiar. However, you USED to have a "music" forum where I was going to put the thread in but it is now gone so being that this is mainly a forum for a game and not radio hardware for the most part, I didn't automatically assume that there would already have been "numerous" threads on the topic at hand.

Is there some sort of bandwidth issue that I'm not aware of? I didn't think starting a new thread would cause an international incident or bring down the forums.

I apologize.

edit: Ahhhh. I see. The last thread on the subject was back in March. Must've been on page 2 or something. I can't believe I missed it.

[rasputin]

We still have a music forum; it's six forums down from this one.

[GhOsT]

Wait wait, so the recording part works only if you never shut your vehicle off? The receiver gets its charge from the cigarette lighter right? So cutting the engine cuts off the stored 44 minutes of replay you recorded?

Oh and well put on the rest, I'll take that knowledge with work to me tomorrow.

And is there some kind of discount for getting 3 receivers under one plan? Some lady came in and asked me that the other day, wasn't sure. Also, what's the activation fee?
Think of the recorder on the replay model as a dvr while you are watching TV but without the ability to save what was recorded. It'll allow you to go back up to 44 minutes back on the current station you are listening to. It's useful if you miss something or if you need to stop listening for a little bit (like during a phone call) you can just hit pause and resume it after you are done.

Since I have a car starter I usually leave it on (the unit turns on when the car starts this way) so it'll store about 10-15 minutes before I get in the car. Then when I get in I just go back to the beginning of the recording and listen from there. When I hit a commercial or something I don't want to listen to I have some room to skip forward instead of having to sit through it (in the case of talk shows that have commercials).

Again, if you want to be able to record and listen to it later whenver you want get a stilleto.

[Puck]

I'd like to offer a little advice to anyone planning on getting Sirius (I have it and love the service). Don't purchase anything from their website! When it comes to that, they suck!

On November 30 I ordered a radio and home kit (it included the car kit with the radio). Yesterday, they still had not processed the order and, when I told them to just cancel it, they said they were not able to cancel orders.

So, I called Amex to have the payment blocked (after 22 days they had not even done that yet!). As it turns out, Amex only allows preauthorizations to sit for 21 days. So, Sirius can't even process that purchase now anyway.

My other radio that I bought at a local store works great, and the people responsible for activation had no issues with it.

JUST DON'T BUY FROM THEIR WEBSITE!

[Vanquish]

I'd like to offer a little advice to anyone planning on getting Sirius (I have it and love the service). Don't purchase anything from their website! When it comes to that, they suck!

On November 30 I ordered a radio and home kit (it included the car kit with the radio). Yesterday, they still had not processed the order and, when I told them to just cancel it, they said they were not able to cancel orders.

So, I called Amex to have the payment blocked (after 22 days they had not even done that yet!). As it turns out, Amex only allows preauthorizations to sit for 21 days. So, Sirius can't even process that purchase now anyway.

My other radio that I bought at a local store works great, and the people responsible for activation had no issues with it.

JUST DON'T BUY FROM THEIR WEBSITE!

Sorry for bumping an old thread, but I wanted to let you know the issue with the website was that you ordered so close to Christmas. They get thousands of orders on the website in the month leading up to Christmas, and they sell out FAST. If you were to order earlier in the year, or after Christmas, you probably would have gotten your radio within a week. I used to handle online orders too.

[Trex]

stiletto + vehicle kit = win.

i've heard the horror stories about people's antennas going out, so i keep my antenna in my car when it's not being used and put it on top of the car through a window when i'm driving. it's not good for the cord, so i just electrical taped it before using in the spot that would be getting pinched by the window... but at least it won't be freezing in the below zero temperatures here.

the holiday stiletto offer just expired, so that kinda sucks (free car kit... $70 value) but still, sirius rocks hardcore.

i've talked to multiple xM subscribers who are dissapointed with their service, as well as many who were satisfied... but i've never talked to one sirius person who wasn't satisfied with their service when functioning properly.

i chose the stiletto over an iPod for christmas and would do it over and over again if given the opportunity.

[Vanquish]

I've got Sirius in one car and XM in the other. The great thing is the antenna's are interchangable (same plug on the end). To install them in my cars I pry up a little bit of the rubber seal around the door, use a nail file to file out a tiny notch (the width of the wire, like a 16th of an inch or less) of the metal around the door frame. Then feed the antenna wire under the seal and position the wire in the notch, this way the rubber seal still does its job, but the wire is also left undamaged when you close your car door. Then feed the antenna to the windshield, where I again pry up a little bit of the seal and run the wire under the seal but along the top of the windshield until it it gets to the center of the car, then I put the antenna in the center of the roof. It's a good idea to do this in reverse so that you can get the wire taught without any looseness. This way the wire is essentially invisible except for where it connects from the windshield to the door, and the windshield to the center of the roof. Also, having it like this, I've had 2 antennas (1 in each car) last me 2 years without having any issues at all. No messy wires, nothing to trip over, no worries about damaging the wires when I close the door, no issues at all.

I also have the added benefit of a home antenna. If I had to take the antenna inside with me I wouldn't set it up this way.

[CR0C0DILE]

FM/AM, Ive had those for a long time and they're free and I find their service really nice too.

[Vanquish]

FM/AM, Ive had those for a long time and they're free and I find their service really nice too.

You don't know what you're missing. And AM/FM wasn't an option in the original question.

[StQ]

all these posts and noone mentions Opie and Anthony on XM??

Then again, you did say you have two kids :P

[Kegman]

opie anthony and ron Fez kick ass for talk radio. XM doesn't have the best radio stations from what i hear. However I never noticed a difference between the two co. I listen to talk radio and then news, I love O and A. so ill be an xm for life.

fyi, the xm show always seems to be better than the free show on fm radio

[Craven]

i just got Sirius and i am a little disappointed that they did not give at least simple directions on how to install it myself - all it said was that i should seek professional help for installation and since i am a little concerned about the placement of the antennas and the placement of the car adapter thinger that my mother got along with it, i have to take it to Best Buy sooner or later

i do wish i had it earlier though, because i can never got my Buffalo Bills NFL games on TV where i live unless they are playing the Steelers, Giants or Eagles (so never) and i find out that Sirius carries them all - plus i looking forward to NASCAR on it when i am driving somewhere instead of fumbling through the AM channels

[Vanquish]

i just got Sirius and i am a little disappointed that they did not give at least simple directions on how to install it myself - all it said was that i should seek professional help for installation and since i am a little concerned about the placement of the antennas and the placement of the car adapter thinger that my mother got along with it, i have to take it to Best Buy sooner or later

i do wish i had it earlier though, because i can never got my Buffalo Bills NFL games on TV where i live unless they are playing the Steelers, Giants or Eagles (so never) and i find out that Sirius carries them all - plus i looking forward to NASCAR on it when i am driving somewhere instead of fumbling through the AM channels

Which radio did you get? I can give you a pretty detailed walk through on installing it right.

[GhOsT]

Before getting the radio I stumbled upon http://siriusbackstage.com/ which has a great forum for anything sirius related. They have some good examples/tutorials on how to install your radio by yourself. I managed to do it all myself, including hard wiring it into my car's power so it turns on when I turn on the car.

[Craven]

i have no idea what kind it is, i thought they were all pretty much the same - it says something about Starmate, maybe thats it, i didnt really look at it after i didnt find directions