XM Rates

[oldiesfantoo]

I've been considering subscribing to XM or Sirius. I've read that XM is the better of the two. Which of the two do you recommend? Plus, their rates are advertised as about $13 a month. Is this a bait and switch? Once they have your subscription, do they raise your rates? I appreciate any information you can offer. Thanks!

 

[livingfruitvirus]

You've "read" it's the better of the two.

How about this. What are your priorities when it comes to the service? What music do you prefer? What sports do you like? Do you care for particular talk programming? Is sound quality an issue? The two services are not identical.

And don't worry about the rates. Neither company has shown intentions of raising them.

 

[oldiesfantoo]

I like Oldies (50's & 60"s) music and talk shows. That's the most important and yes, sound quality is an issue. I"m not a sports fan so I don't care if I don't have it. Now that you have this information, which do you recommend?

 

[recordhead]

I like Oldies (50's & 60"s) music and talk shows. That's the most important and yes, sound quality is an issue. I"m not a sports fan so I don't care if I don't have it. Now that you have this information, which do you recommend?

I've been with XM for about a year now. I'm in it for the music & could care less about sports. I'm very happy.

 

[FRR]

I've had XM for more than a couple of years now. A friend of mine has Sirius and is very happy with it. I think the main difference is that XM tends to carry more baseball than Sirius, but my understanding is that Sirius has NASCAR. They are both such a great alternative to regular radio that you can't go wrong. I think even more options may become available when and IF the merger takes place. No one seems to have any details on its status. If you pay for a year at a time, the rate is cheaper, and gets even better if you take it in multiple years. You'll never be sorry for going to sat radio, that's for sure. Enjoy!

 

[livingfruitvirus]

I like Oldies (50's & 60"s) music and talk shows. That's the most important and yes, sound quality is an issue. I"m not a sports fan so I don't care if I don't have it. Now that you have this information, which do you recommend?

XM has channels dedicated to the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Sirius has 50s and 60s channels as well. The channels on both services have a variety of weekly shows that you might be interested in. The 60s channels are very heavily listened to on both services.

Both platforms have lots of talk shows. Sirius especially has a lot of exclusive talk hosts, while XM prefers to pick from the AM/FM library except for sports. Each service has liberal and conservative channels. I don't know what kind of talk you like but the amount of it is very large on both. Here are some of the more popular talk channels on each service, sports and news excluded:

SIRIUS
Howard 100 - Guess who.
Howard 101 - Guess who + Bubba and Scott Ferrall.
Sirius Left - Liberal talk radio. (Bill Press, Alex Bennett, Ed Schultz, Thom Hartmann, Lynn Samuels, Mike Malloy....)
Sirius Patriot - Conservative talk radio. (Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Mike Church, Bill Bennett, Andrew Wilkow....)
Maxim Radio - Men's talk radio.

XM
The Virus - Opie and Anthony, Ron and Fez.
Talk Radio 165 - General talk radio. (Coast to Coast, Glenn Beck, Dave Ramsey, Bob Costas, Gary Sullivan....)
Air America Radio - Liberal talk radio. (Bill Press, Lionel, Ed Schultz, Randi Rhodes, Thom Hartmann, Mike Malloy....)
America Right - Conservative talk radio. (Wall Street Journal, G. Gordon Liddy, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin....)
Open Road - Truckers talk radio. (Bill Mack, Dave Nemo, Truckin' Bozo, Land Line Now, Midnight Trucking Network....)

Also both services have old time radio channels.

 

[TheFonz]

I like Oldies (50's & 60"s) music and talk shows. That's the most important and yes, sound quality is an issue. I"m not a sports fan so I don't care if I don't have it. Now that you have this information, which do you recommend?

XM's '50s channel has some great specialty shows like Pink & Black Days, Daddy Dave's Hollywood Diner, Harlem (early '50s R&B), Rockabilly Road Trip, and Cool Bobby B's Doo Wop Shop. Bob Moeke does a weekly 3 hour early '50s Pop show. The '60s channel has Wolfman Jack and a Surf music show called Wax Your Woodie. Sirius has Norm N. Nite, T.J. Lubinsky (doo wop) Cousin Brucie, Surf's Up, a Bubble Gum music show, and an all-Elvis channel. For '50s music I would recommend XM. For '60s music, it's a toss-up.

 

[Mid West Clubber]

I would go with XM for 60s music. The XM 60s does a good job of recreating the experience of listening to a radio station in the 60s. Love the Jingles and the reverb and the specialty shows. XM 60s has a deeper playlist too, just like listening to an old AM radio station in the 60s. In fact all of Xms decades channels try to recreate the sound and experience of listening to a POP-top 40 radio station of that decade using the old jingles and stuff, and the processing sounds similar to what a radio station of that time period would.

 

[XRQKFM]

XM has managed to bring the Wolfman back from the dead on the 60's channel; I wish XM would add a combined oldies channel, mixing the 50's 60's & 70's. Regarding merging: they always tell the consumer they are going to get a better deal with the merger, My bank, cable company, cell phone provide & ISP have all used that line with me.
If you sign up for a year, and programming goes south, you are stuck with it!

Steve
www.KNJOradio.com

 

[JohnnyElectron]

IF you buy a whole year of XM, at least they used to, allow you a refund for unused months if you quit.
XM Decades channels are great for oldies lovers, as it sounds like a 70's or 60's or 80's radio station (or 40's or 50's, or 90's).