XM RADIO comes home: My review (1 Viewer)

[Joe McCabe]

Just as a note of interest, Casey Kasem has been removed from The 80's channel due to listener request.

At any rate, at least it shows that XM is listening to it's subscriber's opinions.

 

[William Laughner]

I LOVE listening to the Casey Kasem Top 40 shows. I am 24 years old and grew up listening to those shows every weekend. A few weeks ago I was listening to a "Top 40" show from 1984 and heard the song "Mr Telephone Man" by New Edition and just started laughing and singing along...I was suddenly 6 years old again. Yeah, Casey Kasem is a blow-hard...but nothing is better than listening to those old Top 40's shows, flashing back to your youth and you have to love the hilarity of the "long distance dedications" and the ever popular "death dedications".

 

[John S Choi]

I have Sony unit for 18 month and I drove cross country
twice. It worked great and well worth the monthly fee.
I have P.tech P1,P3& P/S combo at home. I wired sony to Pioneer CD recorder which in hooked up to P.tech combo.
The sound is alot better than just hooking up to a preamp.

 

[Joshua Clinard]

Sirius Satellite Radio was actually the first company to announce CD quality satellite radio. They actually began as a company called CD Radio, and from the moment I heard about them, back in 1997, they looked promising. They changed their name to Sirius in 2000. I think that Sirius, not XM will become the standard in satellite radio, because they have more contracts with auto companies, including all Ford and GM brands. They aslo have 60 commercial-free music stations, whereas XM only has about 20-25. They don't list the number on their web site. I read that in a review at a major newspaper. Sirius also has a wider selection of entertainment channels, including CNBC, CNN, E!, ABC News, NPR, PRI, BBC, Radio Disney, Bloomberg Radio, ESPN and more.

 

[Gary Silverman]

Michael,
I've installed a Pioneer unit and the Delphi unit. The Pioneer had an adhesive pad to mount the antenna. The Delphi is magnetic.
With both units, I ran the wires underneath a rubber molding that goes around the rear window. It lifts up and the VERY small wires fit neatly under it. I didn't have to drill any holes.
The better thing about the Pioneer antenna(actually not a Pioneer antenna, but sold as the antenna to use with
pioneer), is that there is a cover for the wire where it comes across the roof.Looks a lot neater.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Joshua,

I knew sooner or later someone would bring up
Sirius radio. I have no objections to anyone
comparing both services in this thread, but I
do want to make some points about your post....

Though both are competing services, it is actually
XM Radio that has the largest subscriber base
thanks to the introduction of SkyFi. In addtion,
XM Radio has just made deals with many major
auto manufacturers to offer pre-installed tuners in
all new cars.

Sirius does not offer anything like a SkyFi radio.
Therefor, as far as I know, you cannot bring Sirius
service into your home, nor have the capability to
use it as a boombox. There is little doubt that
the pairing of Delphi and XM radio is going to put
a huge dent in Sirius radio. Through Delphi SkyFi,
XM is going to introduce far more subscribers over
the next year over Sirius.

As far as Sirius having a "wider" selection of
channels -- that is not entirely true. Trust me,
I compared both program lists. XM RADIO by far
had the kind of programming I would want to listen
to. For example, Sirius Radio didn't have a movie
music channel or an uncensored comedy channel. XM
RADIO offers Cinemagic and XM COMEDY.

Yes, Sirius is totally commercial-free. However,
they also charge $3 per month more than XM RADIO.
To be honest, I'd rather pay $9.95 a month for a
few minutes of commercials every hour. I'll also
again say that the commercials on XM are far and
few, and not every channel has commercials on them.

I'll admit, I am being very bias towards XM
RADIO since I am a subscriber. Take into
account that I did weigh both options before I
made my final choice as to which service suited
me best. The three major factors in my choice to
go with XM RADIO were...

1. Price ($9.95 for XM; $12.95 for Delphi)
2. Programming selection
3. Delphi SkyFi availability in home as well as
in optional mobile radio you can take with you.

You have two companies vying for control of the
satellite radio market. For a while, it really
looked like Sirius would be the winner, as XM
RADIO was near bankrupcy. Then came Delphi SkyFi.
This past Christmas, that piece of hardware helped
put XM RADIO back into the black in a BIG way.
Unless Sirius Radio comes up with something that
can compete, XM RADIO is going to be the big daddy
of all radio services.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Frankly, if it is 100% sure that there isn't going to be any substantial competition for XM, I don't want it.

If nobody is going to give them a run for their money, you can bet that prices are going to go up and commercials are going to increase.

As far as Sirius goes, they do promote having uncensored comedy. "The seven dirty words that radio can't play flow freely from the mouths of your favorite comics."

Sirius does have multiple public radio (NPR and PRI) networks, something I'm very interested in.

It is worth paying $3 extra a month to me to have zero commercials.

The Clear Channel investment in XM is troubling to some of us.

Sirius got a $475 million cash infusion on 1/31, and their stock is running 200% to 300% what it was in November.

Both services have their pros and cons in my book. I'm torn...I'm going to wait 6 months and then re-evaluate.

 

[Ziggy Szymczyk]

Hello, just wnated to say hi to all you guys here from xmfan-land!

To address a few of your comments:

1. the American top 40 was NOT pulled due to listener requests> there was a far more complicated reason, and you can read all bout it here, direct from the horses mouth (Bruce Kelly, the Program director of the 80's channel).

http://www.xmfan.com/viewtopic.php?t=2518

2. As for the whole XM vs. Sirus debate:

I will try to be as unbiased as possible here, but after all, I am an XMFAN.

Both services offer approx. 100 channels or audio.
Sirius has 60 music and 40 "other" (talk, sports, news, etc)
XM has 71 Music and 30 "other"
As of 12/31/02 XM had approx 360,000 subs and Sirius only 30,000 (1/10th of XM).

"other" channels have the usual amount of commercials you would hear on TV/Radio broadcasts on BOTH XM and SIRIUS because they are NOT produced by either company, but re-brodcasts or such networks as CNN, FOX NEWS, E!, DISCOVERY RADIO, etc.

All 60 of Sirius' music channels are commercial free. XM has about 30 commercial free channels. XM promises no more than a maximum of 6 minutes of commercials per hour on its commercial channels, but in reality at this point it varies from 1 to 4, 30 second spots per hour on a few of the commercial channels, and quite a few of the commercial music channels have far less. Something like 5-6 30 second spots per day.

XM has closed its needed financing package and is "fully funded" according to management. Sirius is still awaiting final approvals, but once (if) those go through, they will need another $75 million in about 12-18 months. The difference here is that XM with its refinanceing will carry a debt of about 500 million or so, while Sirius will be virtually debt-free.

As for which has better music? That's a personal subjective choice. I have listened to both, and prefer XM's music line up. Both services offer plenty of news and talk, and both have uncensored conedy channels. XM also offers playboy radion (figure that out yourselves) for an additional $3 per month. The NPR channels that Sirius offers LACK all of the programming due to contracts and other legal issues, so don't expect it to be a complete duplication of what you hear from NPR on you local FM/AM stations.

XM has a channel called CINEMAGIC which plays 24/7 movie soundtracks and clips. Very interesting stuff. XM is VERY customer friendly, and it is quite the norm to be able to email and receive a FAST custom reply from people in management there, not to mention all the DJ's. Sirius on the other hand has NO request lines, and the only way to even attempt to contact someone there (including the DJ's) is through their customer service. Don't hold your breath getting a request played on Sirius. XM on the other had jumps through hoops to get YOUR songs on immediately.

Another interesting cgannel on XM is "XM LIVE". Non stop 24/7 LIVE concerts.

Something that Sirius has over XM, is that they will be broadcasting live call-by-call games from the NBA soon. And they have FOUR weather channels (I personally think that's a waste of bandwidth). If you want weather turn on your local AM/FM - not satellite radio.

Sirius costs $12.95 per month, XM is $9.99.

XM has a "boombox" version out that you can pretty much take anywhere. You can get cradles to use XM in the car AND THE HOME!!! Sirius is CAR only at the moment - but they are "working" on a home version.

As for the Clear Channel involvement in XM - they are simply a 10% shareholder in XM. they DO NOT serve on the board, nor do they have ANY say in XM's programming. A few months ago, XM actually dropped a few of the channels that it was re-brodcasting from Clear Channel. Only one remains now. The rest of XM's music is all produced IN-HOUSE with a few in conjunction with Worldspace Satellite Radio (europe/africa).

Finally, as to sound quality, that is subjective as well, and you have to form your own opinion. Let me just scratch the surface here and tell you that both sound somewhere between your best FM broadcast and a CD.

Anything I missed?

I will keep checking this thread here, or you can visit us at XMFAN.COM, and the deal on the SKYFI is only good til February 14th as of this writing. We don't know if XM will extend it of not beyond that date.

-Ziggy

 

[Matt Gordon]

Ziggy! Wow!
I just registered the other day over at XMFan.com! Great site!!!

And I also just ordered (yesterday) the Delphi SkyFi unit at the great price! It looks like a great little unit and will be a nice replacement to the Pioneer FM-Mod unit I now have. Thanks so much for the hookup, man!

For all those who are "on the edge," let me tell you this about XM: I've had it since last May, and I can't remember one instance (being in the car at least 2.5 hours a day) of not having something I want to listen to! It's a great service!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Ziggy,

Nice to have you here.

I frequent XMFAN.COM quite frequently. In fact,
it was with the help of your forum that I got into
XM RADIO. Haven't looked back since.

 

[DarrinH]

My wife has it in her car, Cinemagic ROCKS!

 

[Philip_G]

ziggy, you've overlooked some minor things. You mentioned sirius just picked up NBA games for this season, but didn't mention BMW picked them up and is installing siri in the 3,5 and X5 series(this is old news..) and they're now installing sirius in chrysler vehicles.

While Xm has GM (again, gm has their hands in xm, just as CC does) limited honda models, and a handfull of others.

I've seen people move both from XM to siri, and from siri to XM. It is my feeling that XM sounds very "muddy" but siri sounds overcompressed, depending on the channel. I prefer the overcompression. I have also noticed that the artifacts people hear seem to be directly related to their car stereo, a stock system sounds wonderful, but I can hear every artifact after it's run through my soundstreams. It would be interesting to compare the two back to back on my home system.

also, another oversight, you can request songs on siri by emailing the DJ directly, it's on their website and the DJ's announce it on air. They call them e-quests.
not sure about XM, but you can also stream siri on the web. I like that potential customers can hear exactly what they'll be getting, not to mention I can stream it at work w/o buying additional equipment.

also, when I was shopping siri equipment was a little less $, pretty minor though. They're running the buy a headunit and antenna, get a free tuner and a free month deal, heck of a deal.

 

[Ziggy Szymczyk]

You are correct. If I were to include all the details of both services, i would have to write a novel at this point. There is ALOT of information out there.

The sound quality is your own choice and preference. The email requests are something new - havn't heard much anything positive or negative about them yet.

 

[PienSavaca]

From 02/06 RadioandRecords.com.....

Sales Vet Barry O'Brien To Consult XM
O'Brien tells R&R he will help the satcaster as it begins to increase advertising on 65 of its 101 channels.

Enjoy your XM while it lasts!

 

[Philip_G]

You are correct. If I were to include all the details of both services, i would have to write a novel at this point. There is ALOT of information out there.

absolutely.
90% of it is subjective. The only point I was trying to make is that sirius isn't as financially unstable as rumor has it, their stock has been in the toilet, but slowly climbing out (xm too for that matter)

 

[Brian E]

and they're now installing sirius in chrysler vehicles

Really??? I'm car shopping right now & looking at getting a Chrysler with XM installed (not aftermarket, from the dealer). Are they doing both?

 

[TomW]

Personality is exactly what I dislike about XM. I love the music, but I don't want the other junk. I was initially very enthusiastic about this, but the fact that it's not commercial free and the time wasted on 'personality' just ruins it for me. I am probably in the minority, but I ended up giving away the Delphi unit I bought - for $10 a month I can record 50 or so CD's of digital music from DirecTV and not one commercial or song I don't want to hear. Of course YMMV.

 

[MatS]

Ron I would love to focus on reading your post but I am too busy listening to XM radio on my SkyFi unit

XM=The Clear Channel Killer

thanx for doing another thread on this great technology

 

[Andres Munoz]

Can someone give me details as to where and how an XM antenna is installed?
Do holes need to be drilled for the cables to come inside the car?
After installation, is the antenna mounted securely? I mean, can someone just walk up to the car and steal it?

 

[RAF]

Ziggy,

Welcome to the HTF! (And a nice forum you have over at XMFan.com).


Ron,

Thanks, guy (I think!) Once again you are gonna cost me some money. Don't worry. I'll find some other new toy to cost you money as well (don't I always?) I just got in on the Delphi Deal (Home model w/ vehicle option, too.) so in a few days I'll be an XMANiac.


I figure this is at least worth a small investment in time and money (6 months subscription) to see if XM is for me. If it pans out then I'll definitely get XM in my next car.