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October 08, 2003
Satellite Radio Advice
Your [satellite radio] blog is great! You had a lot of info but you don't say which service is better. Spill the beans! Should I get XM or Sirius?
If I had dime for every time I have been asked this question I could cover my monthly subscription fee for a few years. The first question you have to ask yourself is how much you want to pay for satellite radio. XM is $9.99 per month with commercials, and if you pre-pay for a 5-year plan you it comes out to something like $7.48 per month. Sirius charges $12.95 per month without commercials, and for some people that makes it worth the extra cost.
In some cases the choice has already been made for you. On many '03 and '04 cars the satellite radio receiver is now standard equipment and all you need to do is activate it. XM has agreements with General Motors, Honda, Acura, Toyota, Nissan, Infiniti, Volkswagen, Audi, and Isuzu to install receivers in their vehicles. Sirius has agreements with manufacturers to install receivers on Ford, Chrysler, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Volvo, Mazda, Land Rover, Dodge, Jeep, MINI, Volkswagen, Audi, Nissan, and Infiniti vehicles, along with trucks from Freightliner and Sterling.
For the most part, the content on both XM and Sirius are the same. Their PR folks will talk-up some of their exclusive channels but on the whole there are a lot of similarities. One big difference is that NPR is only available on Sirius. Both XM and Sirius also do some special programming from time to time, but in the end you are getting roughly the same breakdown in available channels.
Given the choice between the two, I recommend XM Satellite Radio if you don't mind commercials and want to take advantage of the latest peripheral devices. XM has really been on the cutting edge when it comes to the portability of their service and this will only continue in the future. If you are willing to shell out a few bucks more to eliminate all the commercials then Sirius might be for you. Sirius is still playing catch-up on the technology and marketing front although they appear to have solved their cash flow problems for the moment.
Read my satellite radio weblog for more news, reviews, and information.
October 8, 2003 in Gadgets 101 | Permalink
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Comments
Please note Sirius also has prepaid plans that reduces the subscription cost dramatically, maybe even cheaper than XM.
Posted by: Kenny Good at Oct 11, 2003 5:04:52 PM
How many subscribers does Sirius claim??
Thank You
Frank Bloswick Jr.
Posted by: Frank Bloswick jr. at Oct 23, 2003 4:58:46 PM
XM is partly owned by Clear channel and broadcasts some Clear channel content.
Sirius has a more liberal and International focus, especially with recent additions World Radio Network, NPR, plus Talk Left.
So the question now becomes, are you a liberal or a conservative?
XM for Conservatives
Sirius for Liberals
Posted by: mike at Oct 24, 2003 7:14:55 PM
my name is brian ,I would like to buy xmradio i lived in India will i able to receive the beam if i buy the radio ? or what gear I should buy to receive the beam
please help
Posted by: brian gomes at Oct 28, 2003 11:19:21 PM
I have used both and due to my taste in Music which is Dance/Electronic, Sirius is the way to go hands down!!! XM has nothing on it.
Posted by: Colin at Nov 1, 2003 9:46:17 PM
My decision is based on commercial content more than price. Sat radio is going to be, in the end, much like razors or cable tv vs sat tv. It will come down to content.
I had to bail out on the so called "local" stations here in Charlotte as it is owned by Clear Channel and they have had Bob & Tom replace the local DJ's on the morning show. It was all commercials and since I can hear Bob & Tom in most other top 50 markets across America, Hell, it's not local anymore, it's National! (take note, Clear Channel owns a big piece of the XM pie!)
Being a liberal NASCAR fan, I still had to choose Sirius for their lack of commercials and the "Alt Country" that I like. I also discovered that they have NPR. If I want to listen to a Busch or NASCAR race, most local stations carry these so I just go back to local radio for the race.
Believe me though, once you've had sat radio for a while and then have to go back........jeez, you thought going without cable was bad! You truly will not believe how many commercials there really are!
I'm a convert........for good!
Posted by: Quag at Nov 3, 2003 9:25:06 PM
I live in remote area in Alaska and we want to get a Sirus, but are concerned that we will not be able to get the signal, we have been told that the location of our home will prevent us from getting sattelite TV. How does it work? We are in South East Alaska.
Posted by: Michelle at Nov 5, 2003 2:20:57 PM
If I wanted to start broadcasting a radio channel, all I on my own, via satellite, is Sirius and/or xm my only ways to achieve this. if not what are some other ways.
Sincerely
Sam
Posted by: sam at Nov 11, 2003 2:33:25 AM
Sirius is for Liberals? My foot it is. How do you explain Fox News and Talk Right? I don't even know how you can begin to classify satellite radio on the left/right scale.. Anyway, I picked Sirius due to the fact that I can listen to almost any NHL game every night during the season. Plus it being commercial free is really nice too.
Posted by: D.J. at Nov 13, 2003 3:30:46 PM
I have both xm and sirius radio. What find better is, it is possible that sirius will get major league baseball, and they do, xm will be biting bullets. I got a life time subscribtion of sirius radio service for life,for $399.99, for more than 5 or 10 years of sirius radio. Sound's Appealing..
Posted by: Thomas at Nov 16, 2003 11:47:39 PM
The $399.99 lifetime subscription that Sirius offers made me take the plunge ... up till then I thought "great ... another monthly bill that will keep going up just like cable TV ... no thanks!". If you do the math, you break even after about 2 and a half years versus the current $12.99 month-by-month rate.
After checking out the channel line-ups (http://auto.consumerguide.com/auto/editorial/features/index.cfm/act/feature18 ... top result of Google on "sirius versus xm") and noting that Sirius has no commercials on any of its music channels, my mind was made up.
Posted by: ken at Nov 19, 2003 2:23:00 AM
Today my life has been changed. I have been using XM over a year. Plagued by numerous dead spots on my regular routes through NW CT & SW MA and those lousey annoying insurance commercials, I purchased a SIRIUS unit and so far I am astounded! NO DEAD SPOTS! Only an occasional flicker. I hope my ongoing side by side dashboard test will comfirm what I discovered today. If true, I hope this "Beta" (Sirius) in this "VHS" (XM) world survives. I intend to help!
Posted by: Jim at Nov 23, 2003 12:06:40 AM
Just purchased the Sirius through a TA here, purely by accident, on a fuel up in route to a Circuit City to purchase a Kenwood! Low and behold the TA had a "Streamer" model w/auto and home dock...but get this...the auto deck has a FM transmitter built in that I also found out later works in my home and broadcasts through walls to all my radios! Plus I get $50 rebate from the total cost of $211.00 w/no installation fee! More...XM/Sirius comparissons is like Dish/Direct TV Lots of hype w/no taste. I travel a lot and frequently listen to all NPR, PRI, BBC, Soul, Blues, Bluegrasss, u-name it. Sirius just beats XM hands down. Plus (+) $399/lifetime...comon now I'm no mathmetician but this don't require rocket science...so if you're on the cheap...go to Wally Mart and get what everybody else is getting. If you want the best...get Sirius.
Posted by: JR at Nov 23, 2003 1:49:46 AM
Which service provides a signal that can be reproduced into CD-quality sound. If not CD-quality, then what? AM-quality?
Regardless of the equipment that reproduces the music, it all starts with the quality of the signal's source.
So which is it, XM or Sirus?
Posted by: Troy at Nov 23, 2003 11:35:09 PM
I like both companies, but I prefer Sirius.
XMSR's boombox, looks like a big bowtie, and that does not fit in with todays sleek and modern looking music boxes. The lifetime membership by Sirius? That is the best way to go. The market is out for this product, wonder what it will look like in 2 or 3 years!!
Posted by: Bill Lewis at Nov 24, 2003 12:13:32 AM
Thank you for posting your opinions. I just heard of the streamer on midnight trucking show. I am a driver for a national laboratory. I was thinking of getting XM and then spending $60 for a fm transmitter but didn't want wires running all over the car. So the streamer has a built in fm tranmitter or is in in the cradle?
I can't tie into the wiring of the company vehicle can this run on a cig plug?
Posted by: T Crabtree at Nov 26, 2003 6:45:13 AM
My ongoing side by side dashboard test is now concluded and SIRIUS wins hands down.Neither system is perfect but HEAR are the results....
RECEPTION-
This is the most important criteria. Sirius may exhibit occasional dropouts at different places depending on time of day. I am sure this will increase when the leaves come back but it is much better than the long drawn out dead spots thru the valleys that XM has.No longer does my route have to change so I don't miss my favorite songs or punchlines!
PROGRAM CONTENT-
Both systems have great programming but XM has too many ANNOYING REPETITIOUS commercials. The extra $ of SIRIUS is well worth it. SIRIUS still has it's share of station id's and psa's but it beats listining to junk ads.
SOUND QUALITY-
My Sony XM setup has an FM modulator wired directly into the FM radio of my Chevy pickup. I find the sound is better than the Audiovox SIRIUS setup that has a wireless FM modulator. I find that using the FM radio's equalizer helps. Also, the SIZE of the receiver is an inconvienence but I will get used to it. A nice plus with the wireless modulator is that I can park my truck outside, leave the receiver on and tune the program inside with an FM radio!
CONCLUSION-
I LOVE satellite radio. I won't leave home without it!. If SIRIUS reads this and 1. Educates the public about their SUPERIOR orbital method, 2. Puts out COMPACT radios and portables ala Delphi and 3. Hires RUSH, then they will kick XM's ass!!
Posted by: Jim at Nov 27, 2003 2:13:18 PM
SOUND QUALITY-
I replaced my in-dash car stereo with one that is Sirius ready. The Sirius receiver is wired directly into the head unit and the sound quality is EXCELLENT (better than FM, better than many MP3s, and indistinguishable from CDs on my car's speakers).
This opinion is based on the following equipment:
Kenwood KTC-SR902
http://www.google.com/search?q=Kenwood+KTC-SR902
Kenwood Excelon KDC-X569
http://www.google.com/search?q=Kenwood+Excelon+KDC-X569
AESTHETICS-
Just as important as the sound quality (for me) is that the equipment is totally hidden away and the only visible component looks like an ordinary car stereo. Even the antenna is hidden -- my '99 Dodge Caravan has a large sloped windshield that affords a wide view of the sky and there is enough space under the top panel of the dashboard for the antenna ... there are probably other makes and models on which this kind of antenna install will work ... it definitely works great on a Caravan. There is no sign that I even have a satellite radio other than the "Sirius ready" logo on the head unit's faceplate.
Hiding the antenna doesn't appear to have any consequences for reception. The only dropouts I have encountered so far were brief and occurred when I was passing slowly under overpasses.
CONCLUSION-
I don't know how the sound quality of Sirius compares with XM, but, using the direct-wired approach with good equipment, it sounds AWESOME!!! Also, the inconvenient size of the shuttle-style receivers can be avoided if you are willing to shell out a few extra $$$ for an in-dash system.
Posted by: ken at Dec 3, 2003 7:21:14 AM
Excellent information here. Thanks to everyone for their input.
I have a couple concerns:
1. If you purchase a "lifetime" subscription, it might look like you're getting a deal, but what happens if the company goes under in a year or two? You're out hundreds of bucks.
2. Concerning reception... just wondering if the radio satellite reception is better than that of a handheld GPS receiver?
Thanks!
Posted by: Robin at Dec 13, 2003 3:52:14 PM
I have had Sirius since it's start and I can tell you that it keeps getting better and better.
This is the 3rd vehicle that I have had it in. This time I went with the factory set up in my truck, this way my equipment is covered by both my std and extended warranties. I went with the lifetime subscription, which over 5 years makes it like $7.00 a month. If you want to go monthly it is just $12.95 plus your 2nd - 4th subscriptions are just $6.99 a month.
I have a buddy that has XM and he is having Sirius installed now, and is canceling XM. He says that the commercials are killing him. He says that they play the same one's over and over again.
I do not get any dropouts, other than if I go through a long tunnel. I can tell you that it makes those long drives shorter.
I found a site that is great to answer any questions that you might have. www.siriusbackstage.com has a bunch of people that are nice and would like to help out. www.xmfan is similiar but the guy that runs that board will not tollerate positive comments about Sirius, which is too bad.
Both XM and Sirius are great.
Posted by: George Sravros at Dec 20, 2003 7:35:57 PM
I’ve been all of your comments to decide between XM and Sirius. Frankly, your Sirius' from commercials is attractive, but I’m going with XM. It’s the conservative vs. liberal issue. I suspect that you may be a bit perplexed that the issue even exists. Let me see if I can draw it for you. NPR and the BBC are so liberal there’s no semblance of objectivity, making them repelling to someone that’s even in the middle of the spectrum – much less conservative. Running Fox News and the Right doesn’t balance it. It just makes it look like they’re trying to atone. I’d rather listen to a few commercials than support their broadcast. Sirius should drop all of it – left and right – and give us music and straight-up news. Then advertise that they’re not left, right, or middle – just commercial free music and information. Then leave the thinking to us. That's what I want. The number of people that subscribe because they want to listen to opinion has to be vanishingly small anyway.
Posted by: Jeff Long at Dec 26, 2003 12:19:42 PM
Most of the comments are very useful in comparing Sirius with XM & I've made up my mind except for the issue of which or both or neither will survive from a business standpoint. Neither seems to be earning money net, nor show clear prospects of doing so. Each has car deals that should provide support to keep alive for a while. I wonder why Sirius' subscriber base is so much smaller (68,000 vs 1,000,000). Is that cause they got a later start or because they are the betamax of the industry?
Posted by: dbc at Dec 31, 2003 1:37:47 AM
The commercials vs. no commercials issue is not an issue for me. There are about 12 stations on XM I would listen to. In order of preference, only the bottom two have any commercials. There's about 10 Sirius stations I like. So it comes down to content. XM and Sirius are similar but different. One of Sirius' classical channels that I particularly like isn't matched by XM and a couple of channels I like on XM aren't matched on Sirius. I hope they survive. I love satellite radio. But then I live in a very rural place that is a radio waste land.
Posted by: Jeff at Jan 3, 2004 3:27:48 PM
I've had xm for about 6 months now. Listen about 5 hours a night at home on the talk radio stations. Lotsa fun. Complaints: What's the deal with replaying old talk radio shows repeatedly? Over the past month I've probably heard the same show run three times in as many weeks. Plus, one talk show on the other night that had to do with IF Arnold Runs for Governor. The show was two months old. How useful is that? Doesn't anyone research the show content before replaying them? Also, the dozen or so psa's in the xm library are repeated to the point of being insulting: you or one of your friends is seriously deficient in some glaring manner. The music stations are okay, but don't seem to have the level of quality of the sirius. Somehow, the music isn't as "in the groove". Just my opinion. When I do listen, it's mostly to the classical, dance, 80's rock, and country at hank's place. In spite of my complaints, satellite beats DX'ing on AM radio any day.
Posted by: Stephen at Jan 5, 2004 5:52:13 PM
SIRIUS, wont respond, falsely advertises, and is liberal.
First of all, SIRIUS would not respond to any questions, be it from the phone or web site. Inspite of about 15 request, for info. (Mostly about the life time service.)
Second: FALSE ADVERTISING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SIRIUS put up a fake ad. They said $399.99 for life time service, on your radio, until JAN. 31, 2004. On JAN. 2, 2004 they charged $499.99!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FALSE ADVERTISING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Who knows, SIRIUS may say; "LIFE TIME, OR 6 WEEKS, WHICH EVER COMES FIRST."
PLUS SIRIUS seems to have a HUGE LEFTIST leanings. Something like 10 liberal talk stations, that are not interupted, in any way. To only 1 conervative talk station, that IS interupted. How can that possible be fair/even, politicaly wise????????????
Posted by: Charles at Jan 8, 2004 10:57:19 PM
