SIRIUSXM: Still Lazy After All These Years (1 Viewer)

[RBailey]

Any of the people on Little Steven's Underground Garage (ch 21) or on The Beatles and Bruce Springsteen channels are good because they're knowledgeable and interesting. Maybe you need to be really interested in garage rock or the Fab Four or Bruuuuce to care what they're saying though.

Little Steven's Underground Garage is the main reason I have Sirius. Michael DesBarres daily show is a trip through rock and roll history.

 

[TravisR]

Little Steven's Underground Garage is the main reason I have Sirius. Michael DesBarres daily show is a trip through rock and roll history.

MDB on LSUG playing maximum rock 'n' soul!

 

[Pismo]

Thank you for this. Downloaded the app and absolutely love it. It's called "Litt Live". Haven't heard an ad yet...wonder how they plan on making money?

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Thank you for this. Downloaded the app and absolutely love it. It's called "Litt Live". Haven't heard an ad yet...wonder how they plan on making money?

Oh..oh...oh...

Thank you for reminding me!

I only found out about two weeks ago that DASH RADIO has been rebranded as LITT LIVE



Still commercial-free. Has a wide array of music channels including those devoted to decades. I listen to their '70s channel and on weekends (or just Saturday not certain) they turn it into Yacht Rock Radio.

It is a major alternative to SiriusXM if you get bothered by blabbering Djs. LITT LIVE is more about the music than the personalities. I am not certain what the level of music repetition is these days. Anything has to be better than the repetition you find on SiriusXM. And, since it's Internet-sourced, the sound quality to your home or vehicle is much better. You don't notice the heavy compression of satellite radio.

I have been speaking with those involved directly with the service and they are promising big changes. It's completely free to listen to through their iOS and Android app which is also compatible with Carplay/Android Auto for easy access. You can even create your favorite list of stations for immediate access on your infotainment system while driving.

 

[Pismo]

Oh..oh...oh...

Thank you for reminding me!

I only found out about two weeks ago that DASH RADIO has been rebranded as LITT LIVE



Still commercial-free. Has a wide array of music channels including those devoted to decades. I listen to their '70s channel and on weekends (or just Saturday not certain) they turn it into Yacht Rock Radio.

It is a major alternative to SiriusXM if you get bothered by blabbering Djs. LITT LIVE is more about the music than the personalities. I am not certain what the level of music repetition is these days. Anything has to be better than the repetition you find on SiriusXM. And, since it's Internet-sourced, the sound quality to your home or vehicle is much better. You don't notice the heavy compression of satellite radio.

I have been speaking with those involved directly with the service and they are promising big changes. It's completely free to listen to through their iOS and Android app which is also compatible with Carplay/Android Auto for easy access. You can even create your favorite list of stations for immediate access on your infotainment system while driving.

I'm on hour two on the 70's channel and it is a vast improvement over Sirius XM. Hearing less played songs like Aretha Franklin's version of "Spanish Harlem", not to mention album length versions of songs like The Spinners "Games People Play." Besides the repetition of songs, other things that drive me nuts about SXM are the DJs on some channels (especially the 70's channel), the fact that they play the single version of a song and the annoying bumpers they've been running since their inception. The Thurston Howell wannabe on Yacht Rock Channel is infuriating.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I'm on hour two on the 70's channel and it is a vast improvement over Sirius XM. Hearing less played songs like Aretha Franklin's version of "Spanish Harlem", not to mention album length versions of songs like The Spinners "Games People Play." Besides the repetition of songs, other things that drive me nuts about SXM are the DJs on some channels (especially the 70's channel), the fact that they play the single version of a song and the annoying bumpers they've been running since their inception. The Thurston Howell wannabe on Yacht Rock Channel is infuriating.

Happy to hear you are enjoying Dash...err...LITT. I also made many a discovery on their 70s channel that there were longer versions of songs I had never heard before. That's because SiriusXM plays these heavily edited versions in order to squeeze more music into a timeframe, it seems.

Since I listen to mostly 70s on 7 when listening to SiriusXM, I am also very critical of what that channel has become. It was always awful when it came to repetition. To this day, I am hearing the same playlist I heard 15 years ago. It's incredibly boring to listen to daily.

On top of that, for what seems to be a means of saving money, long gone are professional jingles/bumpers. You now have one guy doing all the bumpers and they are really bad. It would help the overall sound of the channel to either pay for professional jingles or insert soundbites from news, film, and television that represent the era so listeners can feel nostalgic.

You can tell the service is hemorrhaging money as some of their channels sound like they just don't care about keeping them fresh.

 

[Todd Erwin]

I was offered a "free" 3-month extension (after a $2 processing fee) to my 3-month SXM trial that came with my new Murano, and we do enjoy the fact that we were able to listen to a channel without any signal interruption during our 2+ hour drive to Reno, although I do not think we will continue the service once the trial ends in July.

The real issue we are having is loading the presets, since this was technically a "used" vehicle and came with presets selected by the previous owner (the car was a dealer demo driven by the owner of the dealership). There are stations we would never, ever listen to (FOX News, ESPN, etc.), and have not figured out how to clear or move a preset channel, although I did figure out how to overwrite a preset if that channel is not on the presets. It would sure be nice if SXM allowed users to set up their stations remotely rather than sitting in the car and running down the battery or wasting fuel.

 

[Malcolm R]

and have not figured out how to clear or move a preset channel, although I did figure out how to overwrite a preset if that channel is not on the presets. It would sure be nice if SXM allowed users to set up their stations remotely rather than sitting in the car and running down the battery or wasting fuel.

I don't think you can really "clear" presets. On mine, you just have to overwrite it by saving a different channel. But I agree it would be nice to be able to manage these without having to use the clunky car screens.

Seems like if you have a Sirius account, and they already have your radio code, it would be easy enough to send these preferences to your car from a desktop web site or tablet app.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I was offered a "free" 3-month extension (after a $2 processing fee) to my 3-month SXM trial that came with my new Murano, and we do enjoy the fact that we were able to listen to a channel without any signal interruption during our 2+ hour drive to Reno, although I do not think we will continue the service once the trial ends in July.

The real issue we are having is loading the presets, since this was technically a "used" vehicle and came with presets selected by the previous owner (the car was a dealer demo driven by the owner of the dealership). There are stations we would never, ever listen to (FOX News, ESPN, etc.), and have not figured out how to clear or move a preset channel, although I did figure out how to overwrite a preset if that channel is not on the presets. It would sure be nice if SXM allowed users to set up their stations remotely rather than sitting in the car and running down the battery or wasting fuel.

Hitchhiking on Malcolm's reply...

There should be no reason that you are stuck with the former owner's presets.

Usually, this is the procedure for your touch-screen infotainment system:

1. Go to the SiriusXM channel you want to save
2. Once on that channel, long press any of the existing presets and that should then be replaced with the new preset

 

[Todd Erwin]

Seems like if you have a Sirius account, and they already have your radio code, it would be easy enough to send these preferences to your car from a desktop web site or tablet app.

That is pretty much the procedure to "refresh" or update the firmware for the SXM "app" on the factory car radio, so, yeah, it should be possible.

 

[Todd Erwin]

In fact, when I was setting up my account on line, I was asked what genres and artists I liked, and what channels were available. Those showed up in my iOS app, so I had assumed they would then appear on my car radio after doing a refresh, but noooooo. That would be much too simple.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

In fact, when I was setting up my account on line, I was asked what genres and artists I liked, and what channels were available. Those showed up in my iOS app, so I had assumed they would then appear on my car radio after doing a refresh, but noooooo. That would be much too simple.

That's not the way it works, unfortunately.

There is no correlation between your car's satellite receiver and the app. Both are set up separately.

HOWEVER...

If you use the SiriusXM app on Carplay/Android Auto, then yes, it's all set up the way you like it because you are using the app instead of the car's satellite radio receiver.

Better to listen through the car receiver because you are using zero phone data. However, if you have unlimited data on your phone, feel free to use the app through Carplay/Android Auto.

And don't forget to install the LITT LIVE app to see how you like that.

 

[Todd Erwin]

That's not the way it works, unfortunately.

There is no correlation between your car's infotainment system and the app. Both are set up separately.

HOWEVER...

If you use the SiriusXM app on Carplay/Android Auto, then yes, it's all set up the way you like it because you are using the app instead of the car's satellite radio receiver.

We likely won't be using the mobile app in the car since we encounter lots of cell phone dead zones (although recently they have been less frequent) on our drives to Reno and annual holiday trips to Phoenix.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

We likely won't be using the mobile app in the car since we encounter lots of cell phone dead zones (although recently they have been less frequent) on our drives to Reno and annual holiday trips to Phoenix.

Gotcha. I updated my initial response to read that there is no correlation between the satellite receiver and the app.

Uhm, let us know if you can change the presets to what you like using the instructions I provided. Should work.

 

[Todd Erwin]

Gotcha. I updated my initial response to read that there is no correlation between the satellite receiver and the app.

Uhm, let us know if you can change the presets to what you like using the instructions I provided. Should work.

That works. It's just a pain because the previous owner had terrible taste.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

That works. It's just a pain because the previous owner had terrible taste.

It takes a lot of time.

I have 20 presets in my vehicle. I have to get the list of all the channels, mark my favorites, and then enter them in order of my favorites or in numerical order (pending on my mindset at the time)

And then, it all gets wiped when you take your vehicle for maintenance and the mechanic unplugs your battery, which is often done during routine service visits.

 

[Todd Erwin]

It takes a lot of time.

I have 20 presets in my vehicle. I have to get the list of all the channels, mark my favorites, and then enter them in order of my favorites or in numerical order (pending on my mindset at the time)

And then, it all gets wiped when you take your vehicle for maintenance and the mechanic unplugs your battery, which is often done during routine service visits.

 

[Malcolm R]

And then, it all gets wiped when you take your vehicle for maintenance and the mechanic unplugs your battery, which is often done during routine service visits.

Must depend on your mechanic. I take my Honda to the dealership for regular maintenance and any service needs and have never lost my presets (going on four years now), so they must not be disconnecting my battery.

I'd think the mechanic would get a lot of customer complaints about that.

 

[Chip_HT]

It would sure be nice if SXM allowed users to set up their stations remotely rather than sitting in the car and running down the battery or wasting fuel.

Are the presets limited to just SXM or all available radio channels?

In my car, my presets can be any mix of FM, AM, or SXM stations, so I don't think there would be anyway for SXM to sync up my car to the app.

The more annoying feature of my car is that there's no easy way for the driver to scroll through stations that aren't preset. That can only be done with the knob that is the furthest away from the steering column. The buttons on the wheel only deal with presets.

 

[Todd Erwin]

Are the presets limited to just SXM or all available radio channels?

In my car, my presets can be any mix of FM, AM, or SXM stations, so I don't think there would be anyway for SXM to sync up my car to the app.

The more annoying feature of my car is that there's no easy way for the driver to scroll through stations that aren't preset. That can only be done with the knob that is the furthest away from the steering column. The buttons on the wheel only deal with presets.

My radio treats SXM as its own "source" so the presets are separate from AM, FM, etc.