I am a full-fledged XM Radio addict! This is my story! (1 Viewer)

[Scott Stephens]

Hi everyone. I want to add my 2 cents about XM.
I'm a recent subscriber (going on a couple of weeks now), with an Alpine 9807 head unit and associated XM tuner/antenna. I absolutely love XM. It's not perfect (what is?), but its such a vast improvement over the sewers of FM radio these days that I'll gladly pay $10 a month for the convenience.
Sure, as someone's previous post had stated, we shouldn't HAVE to pay for radio. We shouldn't HAVE to pay for television channels, but if we want any kind of selection, we do. Same as with XM--and to me, the monthly fee is a small incovenience to experience the breadth of programming that XM offers. It isn't a perfect world, but at least we have options and the ability to choose something like this.
Consider this: I live in rural Montana, near Glacier National Park in a town of 400 people. Great area, but the nearest "town" per se is about an hour and a half away, limiting the amount of FM stations I get to ONE, which plays polka in the mornings and has people hawking cattle branders and 20 year old refrigerators all day. I spend a lot of time in the car obviously (nearest Wal Mart is 2 hours away) and, this being Montana, even in populated areas the radio stations don't have alot to choose from (come to think of it, this problem is everywhere!!). Sure, I love CDs, but its always nice to hear new music that isn't restricted to the top 40. So what could there possibly be for my situation than XM? People who spend a decent amount of time in their car will love this service. I'm thinking about getting a unit for my house, but I fear I'd be listening to it all day.
The sound quality is pretty good; not QUITE as good as I had hoped, but certainly adequate--perhaps slightly sub-CD quality. And who couldn't love CINEMAGIC, as many people have already stated on the forum.
So, XM gets a thumbs up from me and I strongly recommend any other music lovers to get on board. And thanks to Ron who was instrumental in getting my XM ball rolling.
Only one thing I can't figure out...what's on the Playboy channel? Why would I want to pay extra to (presumably) hear moaning and grunting?!?

 

[Chris Beveridge]

Ah, the usual misconception about Playboy.
Keep in mind that Playboy TV has always had a variety of talk shows, which is what they have here. The main one is the Night Calls show, which is really just a talk show but about sex of course. There's times when people call in while having fun with themselves or others and things get into the moaning and groaning phase, but the talk show aspects of it is what makes it fun.
Part of it is that they do get such a variety of adult-entertainment oriented guests, from performers to people who run "Genre" adult websites, book authors and so forth. While I won't say that the shows go very deep, it's refreshing to hear candid talk about sex without resorting to the nod/nod/wink/wink kind of talk.
They also have another show on there, I forget the name of it at the moment, that's basically juts airing the audio portion of a TV show that's presumably also on Playboy TV, and that's more like the HBO series where it's a smattering of different ideas, places and so forth related to sex.

 

[Thomas Nichols]

I have had XM since March of 2002. I could never go back to FM.

The main reason I got XM, is I like to road trip. Listening to CD's is OK, but if you are driving for 20-30 hours, you just need something more. Even if you are only driving less than 10 hours, a little variety is nice.

I have never had a dropout. I have had the occasional 2-3 second droupout. I think XM could improve on this if they increased the 6 second buffer. Still, I have gotten GREAT reception. I have been in approximately 25 states and it has always worked flawlessly.

XM is awesome. Anybody sitting on the fence should take the plunge. I have never looked back since I switched. I will never buy another car without an XM stereo. I believe it is a revolutionary product.