- Joined
- Jul 3, 1997
- Messages
- 66,758
- Real Name
- Ronald Epstein
This thread is for feedback/discussion of the
XM vs. Sirius article.
XM vs. Sirius article.
As I stated above, XM Radio plays album version and extended cuts of ALL their songs. In fact, I went out and bought a few CDs after listening to longer versions of songs that I never knew existed.
My conclusion is that XM Radio is for music lovers, where great respect is given to the music that is played. Sirius is for people that don't mind the AM/FM radio cookie-cutter mindset and an onslaught of repetetive "hits."
** These comments are based on my experiences and Sirius member feedback regarding the decades channels and may not be applicable to other channels.I think this greatly depends on the channels you listen to. As I will openly admit, I don't think I've listened to the 70s channel more then 10 minutes But I can say the comment about XM playing "Album Versions" of all songs is absolutely incorrect. In comparing their urban and alternative channels, I was dismayed to here Nine Inch Nails "radio edit" of "Closer" play rather then the album version. That was one of the moments that came over me in the store where I realized which service I would chose
There were, realistically, a few things that bought me over to Sirius:
(1) Sirius has NPR.. all the NPR stations, XM does not.
(2) They keep PRI & NPR XM does not.
(3) Urban and Alternative channels, all of them, play the uncut, unedited originals. XM does not. No radio mixes on Sirius.. XM prone to them.
(4) Sirius offers political commentary and a diverse news oriented profile; XM does not. Sirius has channels divided into "Liberal Radio" and "Conservative Radio" for talk, so you can take your pick.
I spent several weeks debating, and that's where I ended up. And I'll be honest, the two most used stations on my dial are still A&E & CNBC, neither of them I could available on XM. I think both services have some solid pluses and minuses. But I wanted to make sure we didn't get into a "this service butchers, this one does not" debate, because, by and large, that is not the case. I don't know and can't comment about the decades channel; but I can definitely comment regarding other channels on what I listen to and compared When we went through the debate, and we listened, the one notice my wife had was the variety and mixing of older music into "KidStuff" comparison to the Disney-fied/cartoon heavy of the XM childrens offering. (with two toddlers, 4 & 2, those issues come up, and when we listen to music, it's mostly that) ..
And that's what I think you'll run into. Both services have such a large wading pool (hundred+ channels) that every person has the ability to find the right one for them and what they are looking for. So it largely depends on what you are looking for. But without access to the financial news and NPR, I probably wouldn't have picked up Sirius.
I'll be honest, when I'm local, I often turn off Sirius and listen to local sports talk; which occupies a fair cut of my time.. AM.
Both services have great moments for the right listener. It is apparent from Ron's point of view, if you are a decades listener, you should go with XM. If you're a sports radio or news listener, I think Sirius runs away with it (MLB, NBA, and others on Sirius.. not XM; more news oriented sources).
I think a lot of people favor one or the other. "Hey, XM has Y" "well, Sirius has X" both have a few things the other doesn't. And they both have pluses and minuses the other doesn't. Both services will have devoted followers because odds are the music on one or the other adequately fits the user.
I'd advise everyone to do pretty much what I did. Go in and spend the day and listen to one, then the other. Use your own musical tastes and preferences to decide which one is better for you.
I'm a little unclear about one thing: I know that both FM modulated systems and plug-n-play systems are inferior, but would you say that they are equally inferior? Or do the plug-n-play units sound a little better than the units that work by FM modulation?
This is a tricky question.
I had an FM modulated unit for 1 day before
I took it out. The signal was very strong, but
the quality was FM. I needed something that
sounded closer to CD.
My brother has Delphi SkyFi via a cassette adapter
in his car. He loves the sound.
I have read over on XM FAN that cassette adapters
give a slightly better response than FM modulated
hookups.
Both FM and cassette hookups CAN introduce car
noise. I have heard this complained about many
times. I have also read the ocassional complaint
that the cassette adapters can "squeek" from time
to time.
I think these issues at best are minimal when
you consider the entertainment value you are getting.
Yet your conclusion gave it all to XM. What am I missing?Not to speak for someone else, but I think that music selection on XM was the biggest reason for picking XM over Sirius.
I can take a few commercials here and there if the rest of the programming is quality. Heck, anything is better than the local radio in Las Vegas. I get sick of hearing nothing but Ozzy on the local "Classic Rock" station.
Yet your conclusion gave it all to XM. What am I missing?
You need to re-read all my remarks on page TWO
about the programming. Most of it I have just
repeated. In my opinion, the head units and
their output quality is better than XM. The
programming on Sirius is so sloppy, however,
that I'd rather go back to the commercial play
on XM because at least I know I'm going
to hear better music, full-length versions and
less repitition.
Thanks for your thoughts on this.