I am looking at satellite radios and was wondering if anyone has had any experiences with Sirius or XM Radio? I'm a little hesitent to buy, but terrestrial radio is getting really lously to listen to.
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Sirius or XM? Which is the way to go?
- Thread starter NewsSleuth
- Start date
> I am looking at satellite radios and was wondering if anyone
> has had any experiences with Sirius or XM Radio? I'm a
> little hesitent to buy, but terrestrial radio is getting
> really lously to listen to.
Boils down to choice:
Stern Fans=Sirius
Opie and Anthony fans=XM
Outside of that, I too wonder which is the better choice.
As for radio, it'll just have to try harder to be VERY local.
A DJ/radio Personality in NY pronouncing names of streets in Buffalo or Rochester wrong won't cut it.
Neither will a Jockless Jack.
<P ID="signature">______________
"If you never say NO, How much is your YES worth?"
</P><P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by YeziKnoradio on 12/11/05 05:04 AM.</FONT></P>
> has had any experiences with Sirius or XM Radio? I'm a
> little hesitent to buy, but terrestrial radio is getting
> really lously to listen to.
Boils down to choice:
Stern Fans=Sirius
Opie and Anthony fans=XM
Outside of that, I too wonder which is the better choice.
As for radio, it'll just have to try harder to be VERY local.
A DJ/radio Personality in NY pronouncing names of streets in Buffalo or Rochester wrong won't cut it.
Neither will a Jockless Jack.
<P ID="signature">______________
"If you never say NO, How much is your YES worth?"
</P><P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by YeziKnoradio on 12/11/05 05:04 AM.</FONT></P>
L
lchase
Guest
> I am looking at satellite radios and was wondering if anyone
> has had any experiences with Sirius or XM Radio? I'm a
> little hesitent to buy, but terrestrial radio is getting
> really lously to listen to.
>
Sirius: NFL Sunday Drive
XM: no NFL Sunday Drive
Sorry, XM.
> has had any experiences with Sirius or XM Radio? I'm a
> little hesitent to buy, but terrestrial radio is getting
> really lously to listen to.
>
Sirius: NFL Sunday Drive
XM: no NFL Sunday Drive
Sorry, XM.
O
Obtuse
Guest
My 2 cents:
Musically XM is much better. Tend to play a wider variety and go deeper (especially if your tastes lean toward Rock/Alternative) than Sirius, which programs their music channels more like terrestrial radio (tighter). Possible exception may be Country, as I've heard some folks prefer Sirius.
Sirius also tends to have more DJ chatter than XM. As for other content, XM has an exclusive with Air America, Major League Baseball, Nascar, and Opie & Anthony. Sirius has NFL, Stern, and NPR. XM and Sirius offer similar sound quality and pricing, though XM equipment is dirt cheap nowadays. (The Roady2 is about 30 bucks).
Both are good services, just depends what you listen to most. Both have free trials (for their online services), so you may want to start there. Also if you know someone with Satellite TV, Dish Network offers Sirius channels, and DirecTV offers XM.
Musically XM is much better. Tend to play a wider variety and go deeper (especially if your tastes lean toward Rock/Alternative) than Sirius, which programs their music channels more like terrestrial radio (tighter). Possible exception may be Country, as I've heard some folks prefer Sirius.
Sirius also tends to have more DJ chatter than XM. As for other content, XM has an exclusive with Air America, Major League Baseball, Nascar, and Opie & Anthony. Sirius has NFL, Stern, and NPR. XM and Sirius offer similar sound quality and pricing, though XM equipment is dirt cheap nowadays. (The Roady2 is about 30 bucks).
Both are good services, just depends what you listen to most. Both have free trials (for their online services), so you may want to start there. Also if you know someone with Satellite TV, Dish Network offers Sirius channels, and DirecTV offers XM.
I guess it depends on your preference of radio: I have both and enjoy both
Metal/hard rock: Sirius
Most other Music: XM (Iam a big country music fan and I prefer X Country and Highway 16 to Sirius' country offerings)
NFL,NBA: Sirius
MLB, NHL: XM
Sports talk: XM (Sirius only has ESPN Radio, and Sports Byline)
XM is easier to get a signal indoors as I never have to move my antenna around, with Sirius (Since the satellites Move) I have to move my antenna around the room (recommended that you put the sirius antenna on roof, but I can't)
Metal/hard rock: Sirius
Most other Music: XM (Iam a big country music fan and I prefer X Country and Highway 16 to Sirius' country offerings)
NFL,NBA: Sirius
MLB, NHL: XM
Sports talk: XM (Sirius only has ESPN Radio, and Sports Byline)
XM is easier to get a signal indoors as I never have to move my antenna around, with Sirius (Since the satellites Move) I have to move my antenna around the room (recommended that you put the sirius antenna on roof, but I can't)
> I am looking at satellite radios and was wondering if anyone
> has had any experiences with Sirius or XM Radio? I'm a
> little hesitent to buy, but terrestrial radio is getting
> really lously to listen to.
I actually have both, and they are very different services, despite what their hype may have you believe.
It all comes down to what you want to listen to. Sirius has a split personality disorder in that they are very heavily skewed to a younger audience for their music programming and an older audience for their information programming. On the music side, if you like youth-oriented dance and rock, you'll wallow in it on Sirius. I'm actually disappointed by Sirius' music offerings because they don't take advantage of the nichecasting that satellite radio can offer. Having well over a dozen channels devoted to dance and rock variations seems overkill to me, especially when they have no channels devoted to things like instrumental easy listening, new age, etc.
On the information side, they have the all-news BBC World Service stream, plus World Radio Network (for the shortwave stations we listened to before we all got computers and put the radio away), and now authentic Canadian programming from the CBC. They also have a real public radio service from NPR and PRI/MPR (XM invented their own). Uniquely, Sirius has a time delayed feed of BBC Radio 1 that is time matched to the eastern time zone so the time checks are accurate.
Sirius has Howard Stern in a few weeks, but they don't have MSNBC and are throwing Fox off their service for being naughty to them over some incident involving Stephanie Miller's show ending up on Alan Colmes' timeslot for two nights, which erupted into World War 3. They also don't have Air America, but they do have the Jones' libtalk programs.
Audio quality wise - Sirius sounds worse to me because of their CODEC, but that's at home with headphones on. In the car or for ambient audio, you'll probably never notice it. One major downside for Sirius is that their satellites are not geostationary - they are constantly moving across the sky and your reception quality, especially at home, will depend on what satellite is available to you at the time, and how strong a signal it is capable of providing to your receiver. In the car, this will not be an issue, but there are a few hours at home when Sirius is simply not available to me because of no satellite reception. I am hoping they will invent a wireless repeater that would allow me to install the antenna at a favorable location for all day reception and retransmit the Sirius digital signal to my receiver inside the home so I can have better reception.
XM's musical programming takes full advantage of niche formatting. You'll find a beautiful music station that sounds like it's from an era when that format was king. They also have an aforementioned new age channel, along with a decades-formatted pop music channel series (40's, 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's), plus a variety of flavors for jazz, classical, international, country, etc. There are a series of "alternative" channels all named after characters from I Love Lucy (incomprehensible reasoning at work, and I'm sure is lost on most listeners), and even some experimental stuff.
XM's target seems to be 25-54, whereas Sirius seems to be more 18-40ish when you add all their channels up.
For talk programming, XM has feeds of all three major cable news networks, plus C-SPAN Radio, the BBC News & Entertainment stream, their own invented "public radio" channel with Bob Edwards, and Air America Radio. XM is also launching an exclusive 24 hour Fox News Radio channel early next year if your politics go the other way. XM's talk channels seem to be more their own creation than Sirius who inked deals early on with the various public radio networks and international broadcasters. But they cover the bases in this area with one major exception - Canadian content. Now that both satellite services have begun service to Canada, Sirius signed deals with CBC and major commercial radio companies to launch 10 Canadian channels. XM's efforts, thus far, say "designed to meet the bare minimum requirements imposed by the CRTC" all over it. Their news/talk channels from Canada consist of a comedy channel (the third channel for XM in the comedy genre, and instantly duplicative) and two horrible channels for current events that consist of two announcers doing the equivalent of a radio reading service for the visually impaired. It's also woefully out of date.
Audio quality for XM's channels is better for music than Sirius (with the reservations I noted above), but XM has two problems:
1) Someone needs to train these people about volume continuity. During talk radio network break local avails, XM inserts their own PSAs, promotional spots, etc. (which you will grow to hate) at a volume that is much louder than the network material. Be ready with the volume knob.
2) Their low-bitrate traffic channels (and the abused Canadian news/info content channels) use a CODEC that is so bad, you'll want to throw flotation cushions and ropes into the nearest body of water to pull those announcers to safety. Everyone sounds underwater and women's voices, in particular, are barely intelligible. You'll be fully informed about how to do a water rescue by listening to XM Emergency 24/7 on channel 247, which this month is featuring in-depth tips about how to cross frozen bodies of water and rescue people that fall through the ice.
XM's reception, in home, is far superior to Sirius. In the car, I can receive either the direct satellite feed or, from certain locations, the terrestrial repeaters which are usually perched on cellular towers. Sirius has some of these as well. Learning where these repeaters are is extremely difficult, as they don't appear to show on any FCC maps.
Overall, I chose XM for my car and honestly spend more time with XM than Sirius because it better matches my needs. I'm irritated XM doesn't have stuff like CBC Radio One, but it's still a better fit for me.
Others seem more drawn to Sirius for their wide variety of public radio channels, or they like the dozen rock/dance channels.
You'll simply need to figure out which service offers a better fit. Both offer streams to preview on their websites.
One thing I can say, it's WORLD'S better than anything commercial radio in Rochester has to offer. The only reason I use my AM dial now would be to hear some local shows on WXXI-AM, traffic information, or updates on some breaking local news story on WHAM-AM. I have no reason to listen to anything on FM at all, unless I can grab CBC's high powered Kingston relay on 107.5 in the summer.
> has had any experiences with Sirius or XM Radio? I'm a
> little hesitent to buy, but terrestrial radio is getting
> really lously to listen to.
I actually have both, and they are very different services, despite what their hype may have you believe.
It all comes down to what you want to listen to. Sirius has a split personality disorder in that they are very heavily skewed to a younger audience for their music programming and an older audience for their information programming. On the music side, if you like youth-oriented dance and rock, you'll wallow in it on Sirius. I'm actually disappointed by Sirius' music offerings because they don't take advantage of the nichecasting that satellite radio can offer. Having well over a dozen channels devoted to dance and rock variations seems overkill to me, especially when they have no channels devoted to things like instrumental easy listening, new age, etc.
On the information side, they have the all-news BBC World Service stream, plus World Radio Network (for the shortwave stations we listened to before we all got computers and put the radio away), and now authentic Canadian programming from the CBC. They also have a real public radio service from NPR and PRI/MPR (XM invented their own). Uniquely, Sirius has a time delayed feed of BBC Radio 1 that is time matched to the eastern time zone so the time checks are accurate.
Sirius has Howard Stern in a few weeks, but they don't have MSNBC and are throwing Fox off their service for being naughty to them over some incident involving Stephanie Miller's show ending up on Alan Colmes' timeslot for two nights, which erupted into World War 3. They also don't have Air America, but they do have the Jones' libtalk programs.
Audio quality wise - Sirius sounds worse to me because of their CODEC, but that's at home with headphones on. In the car or for ambient audio, you'll probably never notice it. One major downside for Sirius is that their satellites are not geostationary - they are constantly moving across the sky and your reception quality, especially at home, will depend on what satellite is available to you at the time, and how strong a signal it is capable of providing to your receiver. In the car, this will not be an issue, but there are a few hours at home when Sirius is simply not available to me because of no satellite reception. I am hoping they will invent a wireless repeater that would allow me to install the antenna at a favorable location for all day reception and retransmit the Sirius digital signal to my receiver inside the home so I can have better reception.
XM's musical programming takes full advantage of niche formatting. You'll find a beautiful music station that sounds like it's from an era when that format was king. They also have an aforementioned new age channel, along with a decades-formatted pop music channel series (40's, 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's), plus a variety of flavors for jazz, classical, international, country, etc. There are a series of "alternative" channels all named after characters from I Love Lucy (incomprehensible reasoning at work, and I'm sure is lost on most listeners), and even some experimental stuff.
XM's target seems to be 25-54, whereas Sirius seems to be more 18-40ish when you add all their channels up.
For talk programming, XM has feeds of all three major cable news networks, plus C-SPAN Radio, the BBC News & Entertainment stream, their own invented "public radio" channel with Bob Edwards, and Air America Radio. XM is also launching an exclusive 24 hour Fox News Radio channel early next year if your politics go the other way. XM's talk channels seem to be more their own creation than Sirius who inked deals early on with the various public radio networks and international broadcasters. But they cover the bases in this area with one major exception - Canadian content. Now that both satellite services have begun service to Canada, Sirius signed deals with CBC and major commercial radio companies to launch 10 Canadian channels. XM's efforts, thus far, say "designed to meet the bare minimum requirements imposed by the CRTC" all over it. Their news/talk channels from Canada consist of a comedy channel (the third channel for XM in the comedy genre, and instantly duplicative) and two horrible channels for current events that consist of two announcers doing the equivalent of a radio reading service for the visually impaired. It's also woefully out of date.
Audio quality for XM's channels is better for music than Sirius (with the reservations I noted above), but XM has two problems:
1) Someone needs to train these people about volume continuity. During talk radio network break local avails, XM inserts their own PSAs, promotional spots, etc. (which you will grow to hate) at a volume that is much louder than the network material. Be ready with the volume knob.
2) Their low-bitrate traffic channels (and the abused Canadian news/info content channels) use a CODEC that is so bad, you'll want to throw flotation cushions and ropes into the nearest body of water to pull those announcers to safety. Everyone sounds underwater and women's voices, in particular, are barely intelligible. You'll be fully informed about how to do a water rescue by listening to XM Emergency 24/7 on channel 247, which this month is featuring in-depth tips about how to cross frozen bodies of water and rescue people that fall through the ice.
XM's reception, in home, is far superior to Sirius. In the car, I can receive either the direct satellite feed or, from certain locations, the terrestrial repeaters which are usually perched on cellular towers. Sirius has some of these as well. Learning where these repeaters are is extremely difficult, as they don't appear to show on any FCC maps.
Overall, I chose XM for my car and honestly spend more time with XM than Sirius because it better matches my needs. I'm irritated XM doesn't have stuff like CBC Radio One, but it's still a better fit for me.
Others seem more drawn to Sirius for their wide variety of public radio channels, or they like the dozen rock/dance channels.
You'll simply need to figure out which service offers a better fit. Both offer streams to preview on their websites.
One thing I can say, it's WORLD'S better than anything commercial radio in Rochester has to offer. The only reason I use my AM dial now would be to hear some local shows on WXXI-AM, traffic information, or updates on some breaking local news story on WHAM-AM. I have no reason to listen to anything on FM at all, unless I can grab CBC's high powered Kingston relay on 107.5 in the summer.
>
I say choose iPod. Program your own songs. No satellite issues. iPod Nation is the REAL threat to radio. It's pretty hard for most stations to out "ten in a row" or out "Jack" a person's iPod. Although radio will have little trouble surpassing iPod's capacity for eight-in-a-row commercials breaks.
That said, there may come a time when you'll WANT to hear a human voice on the radio that has something of value to add to whatever you're listening to. Could be you'll become bored with your 'pod, bored with your Sirius and XM and revert to listening to good ol' analogue FM... maybe even AM.
I know some people who have iPods. Of them, some don't listen to radio at all anymore, others split the time with their radio and iPod. It's a "mood" and "need" thing, from what I hear and observe. I still dig AM and FM. One of the guys on the crew bought a big ass yellow DeWalt radio: AM-FM-CD-cassette and a remote control. It's deluxe.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Mike Radknowski on 12/12/05 12:39 PM.</FONT></P>
I say choose iPod. Program your own songs. No satellite issues. iPod Nation is the REAL threat to radio. It's pretty hard for most stations to out "ten in a row" or out "Jack" a person's iPod. Although radio will have little trouble surpassing iPod's capacity for eight-in-a-row commercials breaks.
That said, there may come a time when you'll WANT to hear a human voice on the radio that has something of value to add to whatever you're listening to. Could be you'll become bored with your 'pod, bored with your Sirius and XM and revert to listening to good ol' analogue FM... maybe even AM.
I know some people who have iPods. Of them, some don't listen to radio at all anymore, others split the time with their radio and iPod. It's a "mood" and "need" thing, from what I hear and observe. I still dig AM and FM. One of the guys on the crew bought a big ass yellow DeWalt radio: AM-FM-CD-cassette and a remote control. It's deluxe.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Mike Radknowski on 12/12/05 12:39 PM.</FONT></P>
I have an iPod and I love using it, especially since I can download podcasts and choose whatever content I want. The main problem is...no HOWARD STERN! Like a lot of men 18-35, I'm going to have to decide whether or not Howard is worth the $12 a month.
I was exposed to my first taste of satellite radio last week when I rented a GM truck and got XM with it. I spent a few hours dialing around, found XM Cafe and Fred to be interesting, and then became totally enchanted with XMU, which I listened to fairly constantly, finding their choice of new tunes to be extraordinary...at least last Friday.
My only complaint is that the truck I rented had no screen on which I could read the names of the songs that were being played, so I essentially had no idea what I was hearing.
I will miss Howard, but musically I'm very happy with what I found on XM.
My only complaint is that the truck I rented had no screen on which I could read the names of the songs that were being played, so I essentially had no idea what I was hearing.
I will miss Howard, but musically I'm very happy with what I found on XM.
> I was exposed to my first taste of satellite radio last week
> when I rented a GM truck and got XM with it. I spent a few
> hours dialing around, found XM Cafe and Fred to be
> interesting, and then became totally enchanted with XMU,
> which I listened to fairly constantly, finding their choice
> of new tunes to be extraordinary...at least last Friday.
>
> My only complaint is that the truck I rented had no screen
> on which I could read the names of the songs that were being
> played, so I essentially had no idea what I was hearing.
>
> I will miss Howard, but musically I'm very happy with what I
> found on XM.
>
This is my first posting on this board, so please be gentle with me...
Several years ago, I started my professional radio career at WWW$-AM in Buffalo. Anyone remember that station? Anyone? Anyone? I'm not really surprised that you didn't, because the whole situation was pretty forgettable. Anyway, I lost that job to a computer. When automation took over, I was out. From that day on, I swore that I would never, ever, in a million years get satellite radio, because it would force jocks to lose their jobs. Well, a million years later, I have XM Satellite radio, and I will never, ever, in a million years listen to commercial radio again. (What's that saying about history repeating itself?) I thought I would be crazy to purchase what I am getting for free. But after listening to XM for hours without car commercials and cheesy bar ads, my life, as well as the time I spend listening to XM, has greatly improved. As for Sirius vs. XM, I love my XM, and can't complain that much. A previous poster gave lots of good info on both, but, I think, they both offer similar music choices. Sports is about even, if you're a baseball fan, XM; hockey; XM, football and soon to be NASCAR, Sirius. I will be sad not having the opportunity to listen to Howard, but, as some of us XM'ers believe, these two companies will soon merge, and we all will get the best of both worlds. Good luck on your choice, and happy listening!
> when I rented a GM truck and got XM with it. I spent a few
> hours dialing around, found XM Cafe and Fred to be
> interesting, and then became totally enchanted with XMU,
> which I listened to fairly constantly, finding their choice
> of new tunes to be extraordinary...at least last Friday.
>
> My only complaint is that the truck I rented had no screen
> on which I could read the names of the songs that were being
> played, so I essentially had no idea what I was hearing.
>
> I will miss Howard, but musically I'm very happy with what I
> found on XM.
>
This is my first posting on this board, so please be gentle with me...
Several years ago, I started my professional radio career at WWW$-AM in Buffalo. Anyone remember that station? Anyone? Anyone? I'm not really surprised that you didn't, because the whole situation was pretty forgettable. Anyway, I lost that job to a computer. When automation took over, I was out. From that day on, I swore that I would never, ever, in a million years get satellite radio, because it would force jocks to lose their jobs. Well, a million years later, I have XM Satellite radio, and I will never, ever, in a million years listen to commercial radio again. (What's that saying about history repeating itself?) I thought I would be crazy to purchase what I am getting for free. But after listening to XM for hours without car commercials and cheesy bar ads, my life, as well as the time I spend listening to XM, has greatly improved. As for Sirius vs. XM, I love my XM, and can't complain that much. A previous poster gave lots of good info on both, but, I think, they both offer similar music choices. Sports is about even, if you're a baseball fan, XM; hockey; XM, football and soon to be NASCAR, Sirius. I will be sad not having the opportunity to listen to Howard, but, as some of us XM'ers believe, these two companies will soon merge, and we all will get the best of both worlds. Good luck on your choice, and happy listening!
- Status
- This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.