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More => Music and Movie Services => Topic started by: Charlemagne 8 on June 05, 2005, 05:10:26 pm

Title: Satellite Radio?
Post by: Charlemagne 8 on June 05, 2005, 05:10:26 pm
The past few days I have spent 20+ hours in a rented van with wife and kids. (I'm still a little buggy).
The van (Chrysler) came with Sirius and someone had thoughtfully enabled it. I'm not sure yet who to thank.
I drove ALL 20 hours listening to said Sirius -- 600 miles there and 600 back (or was it 6500?) -- listening to essentially the same stations (95% channel 14 if you're familiar) without losing the signal for more than a few seconds and rarely at that. The sound quality was very good for a stock automobile. The programming was radio from my dreams. Absolutely NO commercials other than brief station IDs and a little chatter. Very little.

Ok --- The Point:

Satellite Radio

Do you have it?
What brand?
Why?

Both brands (Sirius and XM) have similar hardware requirements and similar subscription prices.

Recommendations, please.

I'm sold -- I just haven't decided to whom.

CVIII
Title: Re: Satellite Radio?
Post by: jgreen on June 05, 2005, 06:35:42 pm
I had XM at home for about 2 years.  I loved the music and hated the DJs, so when Napster came out with the $9.95 unlimited, I went with it and cancelled the XM.  I often consider resuming the XM in addition to Napster, but between the two Napster is my preference.  I'm only interested in music.

XM positions itself as the "music lover's" service.  Siri and XM have a lot of overlap in mainstream RnR programming, but XM goes well beyond with live concerts, artist- and label-oriented retrospectives, and a truly amazing music archive.  I can't emphasize the music selection enough.  Eclectic and deep.

Sound quality is similar, although XM claims theirs is better and Sirius claims Howard Stern and the NFL.  Overall sound quality is like a decent  mp3 or WMA.  I played  wav tracks against it and found a LOT bigger difference between a good and bad cd mix than between XM and its cd counterpart.

Both Sirius and XM are putting their radios in rental fleets, so you should thank Sirius.  It's true, the difference between am/fm and satellite is dramatic.  I will put XM in my next car, but in the meantime I just hook up my ipod and go.

Title: Re: Satellite Radio?
Post by: DaleC21 on August 26, 2005, 07:58:43 am
CV

I've been a sat radioaholic for a year, have both services and each has its points
to be fair to yourself you need to look at both and pick the one that may suit you
best..

jgreen gave a pretty good description

is your main interest for car or home or both .. where does your music interests lie
and what about non-music .. talk,sports,news,etc

short version .. study up on both

http://www.siriusbackstage.com/forum/

http://www.xmfan.com/

..Dale