XM Radio

mizzle

In the hizzle
Looks like XM may be the better choice.

Coke or Pepsi? Choose your flavor.
Because new car or home users have a choice in satellite radio, it's worth examining Sirius and XM Radio a little more closely. Both systems are only available in the continental United States and offer parental control to block stations with explicit language. Both offer music in a commercial-free format, talk radio, and national news networks.
XM is more established. They started broadcasting in September 2001, offer 101 channels, and currently have a subscriber base of over 2 million. General Motors and Honda back XM. The majority of XM's studios are located in Washington DC. The XM Radio network consists of two geosynchronous satellites and repeaters in major metro areas.

Allen Goldberg, Director of Corporate Affairs, XM Radio says "XM takes the best from FM radio and improves on it." Goldberg also feels that the on-air personalities at XM are more professional than those on Sirius.

Sirius is newer to the game. Their first broadcast was in July 2002, and they have a paying subscriber base of less than 1 million. Sirius' studios are located in New York City's Rockefeller center. They have three elliptical-orbit satellites and fewer repeaters than XM Radio.

Vice-President of Communications at Jim Collins says Sirius' advantages include more original programming, no commercials on any music channel, and better satellite coverage allowing Sirius to be less repeater dependent.

Regardless of which flavor you choose, the programming is remarkably similar. However, there are differences. If you are a home user or are buying a vehicle that offers choice between XM and Sirius, take a look at this chart to see which service has more stations you desire.
 
The biggest question of all:
Do either of them have CURRENT, DECENT news coverage for SoMD? RELIABLE, TIMELY traffic for SoMD? Lord knows that 98.3 & 102.9 don't. Nothing like broadcasting the same news recording for 2 (or 3 or more) days in a row, and having traffic reports whenever you feel like it, rarely less than 45 minutes apart.
 

marianne

New Member
MyFi

I've been looking into satellite radio for DH for several months. After a lot of research, I found XM to be better than SIRUS, especially for sports. XM recently signed an agreement with MLB to broadcast baseball games in 2005.

I didn't buy one because I didn't like having to purchase adapters for the home & cars, not to mention the monthly costs, and it just seemed like a big pain. But MyFi just came out in stores this month - handheld XM radio that you can take with you anywhere you go. It's a bit pricey at $350 so it's not going to be this year's Christmas present. I'm hoping the price goes down after the holidays and it will be a birthday present.
 

Oz

You're all F'in Mad...
Ponytail said:
I'm going Sirius myself. $500.00 lifetime membership. No more monthy bills. I can handle that. And after 8 years, if they don't re-new the NFL contract, so what, I've still got my money out of it.

And the equipment for Sirius seems so much simpler and much more user friendly and versatile.


:yeahthat: Only problem with the lifetime fee, is that it is for the receiver, and not for your account. So if you want to replace your Audiovox receiver with a new Kenwood, your lifetime subscription doesn't transfer...


BTW - Sirius is the way to go. Content is king. Howard Stern and his 3 entertainment channels will rule. Sports? Who cares about MLBaseball - Sirius has NFL. Currently, their syndicated offerings are very similar. But as they develop their own content, I think Sirius will pull ahead. Plus, Sirius has more auto agreements than XM, and their equipment is less expensive to install. XM is ahead now, but I suspect that 2 years from now that might be a different story.
 
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H

HollowSoul

Guest
i am more than happy with my XM, when i first got it....(4yrs ago) i was a lil skittish about it.
but to be perfectly honest......since day one....i have yet to buy a CD, and still to this day i have yet to tune into any FM station, all your current traffic and weather is in the 200's....theres 2 different nascar channels...a plethra of news and sports.
O and A is on 255 i think.
 

Oz

You're all F'in Mad...
HollowSoul said:
i am more than happy with my XM, when i first got it....(4yrs ago) i was a lil skittish about it.
but to be perfectly honest......since day one....i have yet to buy a CD, and still to this day i have yet to tune into any FM station, all your current traffic and weather is in the 200's....theres 2 different nascar channels...a plethra of news and sports.
O and A is on 255 i think.


NASCAR? Which brings about a point. I almost bought XM for this reason. However, Sirius is the official satellite radio of International Speedway Corp, the sister company to NASCAR. Sirius Speedway is a daily 3 hour talk show about motorsports, broadcast from the Daytona USA exhibit at Daytona Speedway. So, NASCAR is covering both satellite radio companies.
 
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