Satellite Radio Questions

[FourAces]

Does anyone have Satellite Radio? If so are you a subscriber to XM or Sirius? I'm considering one of the two services but not sure which would be best.

 

I noticed that Sirius has a 24/7 Gay channel but didn't see any on XM's site. Sirius also is affiliated with the NFL which is a plus for me. But their standard fee is $3.00 more per month than XM. XM seems to offer more channels in total but for less money aside from what they call High Voltage channel for additional money.

 

Also, I'm somewhat confused by the hardware choices. Their seems to be quite a few.

 

Any insight is appreciated.

 

RT

[EXPAT]

I have Sirius because that was what was offered with my new car. It does have a gay talk radio station. It's actually pretty good. I also believe that Sirius has fewer Pop radio stations than XM. But I haven't listened to XM yet. So far I have been satisfied with Sirius after 3 months with it.

[HooBoy]

For my taste, XM radio has too much talk from annoying DeeJays. I would rather listen to free radio with annoying DeeJays rather than pay a fee to hear the same mindless chatter and self-promotion.

 

Around the swankienda, I like Rhapsody. No talk and I program the music I like, plus I can burn 'em to CD. There is a link to it for a free trial if you click on DONATE at the top of this website.

 

(Full disclosure: this website has a small monetary stake in your signing up for the trial, but it costs you nothing.)

[eastbayguy]

>I noticed that Sirius has a 24/7 Gay channel but didn't see

>any on XM's site. Sirius also is affiliated with the NFL which

>is a plus for me. But their standard fee is $3.00 more per

>month than XM. XM seems to offer more channels in total but

>for less money aside from what they call High Voltage channel

>for additional money.

 

Go with Sirius just for Out-Q radio. (That's the gay station.) The music channels have way less talk than XM. The company is very, very gay friendly. Personally, I end up listening to the dance channels often, but also the classical and a few others as well. If you pre-pay for a few months of service, the price drops nicely on the service.

 

>Also, I'm somewhat confused by the hardware choices. Their

>seems to be quite a few.

 

For hardware, go with something that fits in the right spot in your car or home. Everything is about equal.

 

--EBG

[Guest zipperzone]

>Sirius also is affiliated with the NFL which

>is a plus for me. But their standard fee is $3.00 more per

>month than XM. XM seems to offer more channels in total but

>for less money aside from what they call High Voltage channel

>for additional money.

 

Just curious - what scale of monthly fees are we talking of here?

[eastbayguy]

>Just curious - what scale of monthly fees are we talking of

>here?

 

About $10.00 a month, +/- a couple bucks.

 

--EBG

[+ deej]

I'm curious ... what's the benefit?

 

I can see it for a car for cross-country trips so you don't have to listen to Reverend Bob out in the boonies. But why have it in the home? What's the benefit over standard FM radio?

[Barry]

Aside from the consistent reception and amazing digital sound quality.........

 

Almost all of my favorite stations here have been absorbed by ClearChannel and changed to something I don't like. The current music stations play the same songs over and over and over to the point I hate them. There are no "dance" stations here anymore. Only one classical station remains. 90% of the stations are chit chat mindless talk shows in the morning while I drive to work. For talk I tune to NPR.

 

The ability to listen to the genre you want, when you want without commercials, news, weather, traffic and mindless chatter. It's like having hundreds of CD's in your car without having to go out and buy the latest every week.

 

Barry

[TinyBubbles]

For me I like satellite radio so much better than standard FM because it is commercial free. There's none of that "10 songs in a row" comming up next like they do on FM radio then you have to sit thru 15 minutes of commercials before they play 10 songs. I have Sirius, and I really like it. The Gay Channel is actually pretty good, and their comedy channel, "Raw Dog" is fuckin' hillarious at times...

[+ deej]

Thanks Bar,

 

I still can't see it making a material difference in my 5-minute (10 if I hit the lights wrong) commute. ;-) And the (non-NPR) classical station I listen to isn't likely to change formats any time soon.

 

I'm nerdy enough to get it just to say I have it, but even that trigger hasn't been tripped yet.

[FourAces]

WOW Barry you're post is right on the mark!

 

I recently had a rental car with satellite radio and fell in love with it for all the reasons you mentioned. That is why I'm considering one of the two servies for my own vehicle.

 

RT

[FourAces]

>For my taste, XM radio has too much talk from annoying

>DeeJays. I would rather listen to free radio with annoying

>DeeJays

I'd love to make a comment here. But if I do I'll have the losing hand so I'll keep my mouth shut, like all annoying DJ's should (JK) :7 .

 

>

>Around the swankienda, I like Rhapsody. No talk and I program

>the music I like, plus I can burn 'em to CD. There is a link

>to it for a free trial if you click on DONATE at the top of

>this website.

>

 

About a year ago I used Rhapsody and loved everything about it except their burning feature. Due to complete lack of customer service I cancelled.

 

It the burning has been improved I might give it another try via this site.

 

RT

[tedbear]

And the

>(non-NPR) classical station I listen to isn't likely to change

>formats any time soon.

 

I hope you're right about that. I think you were still in Chicago when WNIB, our only non-public classical station was sold for millions in profit and changed over to a rock format. It's getting to be very hard for a classical station to generate the revenue a rock station can. And in major markets, selling the license (and equipment) for the station can make a profit that operating as a classical station never would.

[Ignoto]

> WNIB, our only non-public classical station was

>sold for millions in profit and changed over to a rock format.

 

 

Chicago still has WFMT, which is supposed to be making a profit for its nonprofit owner. It is a commercial station with lots of advertising. Its original owner sold out "for millions in profit" to the Chicago Tribune, which thought it could use the subchannel for fax transmission of newspapers. (They didn't have the Internet in those days.) When the Tribune figured out that it was a money-loser, then and in the future, they "donated" it to the PBS station, which thought it could make money by putting its competitors out of business with a media conglomerate. Donors to Channel 11 were required to buy a subscription to Chicago magazine (another profit-making venture) which published all the program listings for WFMT (and no other station).

 

The original owners of WNIB, after devoting 40 years to classical broadcasting (and making no money on it, much of that time) lucked out when they retired, because the place on the dial was worth millions to someone not as dedicated to classical music.

[eastbayguy]

Deej,

 

Barry was spot on. But, there are a couple of other factors as well.

 

>I still can't see it making a material difference in my

>5-minute (10 if I hit the lights wrong) commute. ;-) And the

>(non-NPR) classical station I listen to isn't likely to change

>formats any time soon.

 

My house is wired throughout for sound, speakers in every room, etc. The sound quality from Sirius is just amazing. CD quality, no fades, even in storms, and a truly amazing selection. Sirius does use playlists. But, you can drop their DJs a note, and they'll read them and respond. Quite commonly, a few days later, your song enters the playlist.

 

>I'm nerdy enough to get it just to say I have it, but even

>that trigger hasn't been tripped yet.

 

Ah, nerdy! Love that word. Well, if you're in to the whole "nerdy" thing, there are crazy backchannels you can sign up for that will let you get NOAA/FAA radar on to your computer. Wonder what plane that was just going over? Just bring up the local approach control terminal radar and there it is. The real application is for aircraft in flight. But, if you're nerdy enough (I'm not, but have seen it done) you can snag all sorts of stuff via Sirius and XM.

 

I listen to Sirius most of the time at home for background music or entertainment now. It is great. Several thumbs up from here.

 

Regards,

 

Bill

[Guest zipperzone]

>WOW Barry you're post is right on the mark!

>

>I recently had a rental car with satellite radio and fell in

>love with it for all the reasons you mentioned. That is why

>I'm considering one of the two servies for my own vehicle.

>

>RT

 

OK - so say I wanted to subscribe and get it in my car. What would I need to do? What hardwear is required - is it invisabe - and what initial startup costs are involved for this hardwear etc?

 

For a relativly low-tech guy like me this is all rather baffling.

[eastbayguy]

Hi,

 

>OK - so say I wanted to subscribe and get it in my car. What

>would I need to do? What hardwear is required - is it invisabe

>- and what initial startup costs are involved for this

>hardwear etc?

 

Oh, there are no end of places willing to solve these problems for you for a slight fee. Shop around a little. Not knowing where you live, I can't suggest a store. Check the Sirius web site, at http://www.sirius.com and there may be some suggestions for stores in your area. There will be a small, additional receiver. The receiver I have has a remote, so the receiver could be placed in some hidden location. There is also a small antenna that is quite flat that will need to end up on your roof.

 

All in all, for me at least, it was rather simple and painless.

 

>For a relativly low-tech guy like me this is all rather

>baffling.

 

Don't let the guys in the store intimidate you.

 

--EBG

[guptasa1]

Sirius for me!

 

OutQ (the gay channel) is what decided it for me. I have to support that, and no - XM doesn't have that (at least as of the time I got Sirius)!

 

That, and I think their little dog icon is much cuter than XM's icon. =oP

 

As to other differences, Sirius has 3 satellites vs. XM's 2 ("Rock" and "Roll"). XM's are in an unchanging path (near the equator, I believe), whereas Sirius's go in a circle 8 pattern over the US. That might mean a bit better direct satellite contact for Sirius (they also have a higher satellite angle I believe), but XM has more ground repeaters than Sirius to make up for it (and I hear XM reception may be better than that of Sirius on the extreme coasts as well).

 

Sirius has NO commercials, where XM has commercials on some channels.

 

Sirius also doesn't make you pay for any premium channels (at least yet that I'm aware of).

 

Overall, it's just a personal decision, but I went with Sirius because of the programming and I like their technology ideas better. I think you'd be happy with both services truthfully.

 

Since it's in my car, I went with the Sirius lifetime plan (a one-time fee for the lifetime of the radio...about the same as paying 2 or 3 years up-front I think).

[J-Man]

I have Sirius, and you can get it for the same price as XM (around $10/month) if you prepay for a full year. That's what I did.

 

Out-Q is OK, although they have a LOT of repeats. One thing I learned from Out-Q-- I never realized how many gay long-distance truckers there are! The majority of the callers on the call-in shows on Out-Q seem to be truckers!

 

I have the Audiovox setup (available at Best Buy.) It plays through your car's FM receiver, so the only wiring you need is the antenna (which mounts magnetically on your car's roof) and the power plug that goes into your cigarette lighter/power outlet.) A word of warning-- my antenna connector became separated from the antenna wire after only a few months of usage. And it's a royal pain trying to find a replacement. Since so few people have the service, it's not like every store carries all the replacement parts or can do repairs.

 

I mostly listen to the "Broadway's Best" channel. I know, I know ...

[+ Lucky]

XM Radio has the best dance music on the air. Channel 82 in particular. Try listening to it on an 11-speaker Bose Sound system while driving curvy two-lane roads in the middle of nowhere at 100mph....

[oceansunshine]

Sad news today. I read that Sirius XM 106 OutQ is closing up shop this Friday. I esp always enjoyed the weekend show and guest interviews.

 

The news link announcing the closure:

http://www.edgemedianetwork.com/news/national/news//193261/outq_is_reportedly_out_of_business:_sirius_xm_axes_gay_channel

[JayCeeKy]

I have Sirius b/c it came free for one year with the car. Hint: when it comes time for renewal every year, call them and say you want to cancel. They will always give you about a third off if you don't cancel. It's a little ritual I go through with them every year. But... you have to call them within a day or so of your renewal date to cancel. As far as the gay station, I never thought there was much "gayness" about it except the hosts seemed somewhat effeminate. Though, to be fair, I mostly listen to classical and the "Oldies." I just looked it up - I paid $89 last summer for a year's renewal. If you travel much by car, it's really worth it.