Does anyone have service with XM or Sirius?

I got it in my car. I bought a home kit, but I never bother taking the unit out of my car and bringing it into the house. A second account would be too extravagant for me.

If you got it, why did you choose XM or Sirius?

I justified getting the satelite radio because I spend a lot of time in my car going from gig to gig and home to gig. Since I play a lot of oldies and nostalgic music, I thought it would make my driving time more productive if I could learn tunes while I drive.

Before I just listened to National Public Radio. Even though I like NPR, I would get a headache after a while and bummed out over the news.

Now I spend a lot of time listening to '40's, '50's, 60's, and '70's as well as the Sinatra-esque station called Frank's place. I also have gotten a lot of good ice breakers from listening to "Laugh USA."

Once in a while I turn myself on to some of the other stations, like Bluegrass and Bluesville. My daughter likes a lot of the songs on XM Kids and "Viva" (My wife is Mexican, and my daughter is bilingual).

I still listen to the news, but much less now. I actually look forward to driving sometimes.

I chose XM over Sirius, because at the time, I noticed that XM had Frank's place plus a New Age station. I like New Age music for relaxation. My daughter does too. Now Sirius has stations with New Age and Jazz Standard formats and quite a lot more.

The only reason that I don't switch to Sirius is that I don't want to spend the $100+ on the hardware. If my radio breaks though, or if they have a great deal on a radio, I will change to Sirius.

Howard Stern is definitely a turn off for me. But they got some sickos on XM too. You can find anything from the serene to the obscene on satelite radio.

Beakybird

I had XM radio for a while, but I really grew tired of that service. It was initially advertised as the great set up with all these commercial free stations. Well that was all good in the beginning. Then XM Radio started having financial problems--Sirius was getting more business and more XM users were dropping service to switch to Sirius.

Well XM had to balance out, and they sold out to advertisers and ended up playing more and more and more commercials. It turned out that my local radio stations that I listen to had less commercials.

Since I have Verizon Yahoo DSL--Yahoo Music Premium was part of the package. Tons of online radio stations without commercials.

Squeak



[This message has been edited by squeak_D (edited 09-02-2006).]

My kids got me XM last year for Christmas. Lots of good music, comedy and sports. I have noticed it is surely not commercial-free though.
DonM

I don't have either but have been strongly thinking about it.
Beakybird, you know. The limitations of music in our area is very sad.
And the stations that you find that are decent listening, are playing the same stuff over and over with the same instrumentation.

If you are playing for a living, can you write off some of those fees and the hardware?
It could be considered tools to analyze what's going on in your business, music, no?

I've had XM for about a year and a half. My wife and I like it so much we got a 2nd tuner for her car. It's rare that I listen to commercial AM or FM radio anymore. If I'm not using XM, you can be sure my iPod is providing the entertainment. I have a daily 1.5 hour round trip commute, XM has made it more tolerable.

I don't know what Sirius' lineup is like, but recently four XM music stations started running commercials. Not a good sign. Those stations have the letters "cm" after them so you can see that you are going to get commercials.

And XM Kids has a little bit of commercial content, but not much. I just recall hearing two Ball Park Franks commercials on that station in all the hours we have listened to it(which is annoying for me because we're vegetarians).

Sirius seems to have a stronger lineup now, music-wise. It looks like they have everything that XM has but a little bit more.

Comedy-wise, Sirius has an extra comedy station, that's called something like "Working Man's Comedy" - that in addition to their X rated and family comedy. XM just has a family comedy and an obscene comedy station.

I like satelite radio though. I like being able to see what artist and song is playing. If I just listened to music in my office I would use internet radio, but you cannot use internet radio in the car (as far as I know).

I have read that both these stations are bleeding millions and millions of dollars trying to get off the ground. I have read that it is a fight to the death, that probably only one station will survive and eat up the other one. Higher prices are inevitable as the cost of hiring stars like Oprah Winrie and Howard Stern is substantial.

Beakybird

I have XM Radio. I received it my new car then renewed it for 5 years because I loved it so much. I use it at work and listen to it through the Internet which you are allowed to do when you are subscriber.

I was without my car for a week when my wife borrowed my car and I was lost without it. I like the station mix on XM as opposed to Sirius. The comedy channels are fun so is the Baseball. I wish they had NFL.

I love it!

I have had Sirius for more than 2 years and I absolutely love it.

Joe

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Songman55
Joe Ayala

Does anyone have a portable Satellite Radio?

I might be interested in getting one for my commute and for music during gig breaks.