XM vs. SIRIUS
Former Moderator
Joined: Jun 2003
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From: New York
If XM really goes commercial free, charges 10 a month, puts up 2 more satellites, SIRIUS will be out of business in 6 months. I would not invest that much money in equipment that *probably* will be obsolete.
Registered User
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1
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From: Seattle
XM vs. Sirius...
Technically, I don't know yet. From an operational standpoint, the XM people appear to be more professional and tech-saavy in general. I won't bother telling you guys about the nightmare I went through trying to activate an "Open Box" Kenwood Here2Anywhere receiver that I bought at Good Guys. Sirius simply had no procedures in place to handle a "previously owned" receiver.
Also, I went with Sirius because of the "commercial free" stations. My primary listening focus is on both both 'left' and 'right' news talk streams. Clearly, someone at Sirius Marketing has not showed up for work:
While listening to the Fox News stream, the commercials I was bombarded with included anti-drug, anti-bad parenting , anti Drunk driving, and LOUD RAP-based Sirius Sports channel marketing!!! HELLO!!?? I'm listening to Fox News!!!, I'm a (supposedly) conservative listener. Why did you trade my DiTech.com and Charles Schwab commercials in for something I can't relate to. It's rediculous. My son goes to Stanford!! Sirius is filling in my conservative talk segments with ads that mean to help me with my "bad parenting", "Rap" , and awareness for 'Mayhem in the AM"!!??
What are these Sirius people thinking?
It gets better: I gave up on Fox News and switched to CNN Headline News. Great. During the CNN commercials, Sirius is running commercials on the "Sirius Right" ( a talk channel that caters to the conservative right) ! What are the chances that a CNN listener needs to know what the stream # for the "Sirius Right" talk channel is?
It's a mess. It gets worse. I just came back from CES in Vegas and just there learned that the Sirius CEO was the same guy that launched DirecTV. For those of you that may not know, the only profit that has been made by DTV is from the multiple sales from DTV to GM to Hughes (my order may be wrong, I lose track). Another mess.
In summation, although I am a current Sirius (and XM) subcriber, I assure you that this smells of a company that simply is making bucks on the start-up. I just don't see any planning, marketing, or vision that will survive beyond J. Clayton's "Cash-Out" history.
Technically, I don't know yet. From an operational standpoint, the XM people appear to be more professional and tech-saavy in general. I won't bother telling you guys about the nightmare I went through trying to activate an "Open Box" Kenwood Here2Anywhere receiver that I bought at Good Guys. Sirius simply had no procedures in place to handle a "previously owned" receiver.
Also, I went with Sirius because of the "commercial free" stations. My primary listening focus is on both both 'left' and 'right' news talk streams. Clearly, someone at Sirius Marketing has not showed up for work:
While listening to the Fox News stream, the commercials I was bombarded with included anti-drug, anti-bad parenting , anti Drunk driving, and LOUD RAP-based Sirius Sports channel marketing!!! HELLO!!?? I'm listening to Fox News!!!, I'm a (supposedly) conservative listener. Why did you trade my DiTech.com and Charles Schwab commercials in for something I can't relate to. It's rediculous. My son goes to Stanford!! Sirius is filling in my conservative talk segments with ads that mean to help me with my "bad parenting", "Rap" , and awareness for 'Mayhem in the AM"!!??
What are these Sirius people thinking?
It gets better: I gave up on Fox News and switched to CNN Headline News. Great. During the CNN commercials, Sirius is running commercials on the "Sirius Right" ( a talk channel that caters to the conservative right) ! What are the chances that a CNN listener needs to know what the stream # for the "Sirius Right" talk channel is?
It's a mess. It gets worse. I just came back from CES in Vegas and just there learned that the Sirius CEO was the same guy that launched DirecTV. For those of you that may not know, the only profit that has been made by DTV is from the multiple sales from DTV to GM to Hughes (my order may be wrong, I lose track). Another mess.
In summation, although I am a current Sirius (and XM) subcriber, I assure you that this smells of a company that simply is making bucks on the start-up. I just don't see any planning, marketing, or vision that will survive beyond J. Clayton's "Cash-Out" history.
Former Moderator
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 3,677
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From: Mesa
Not sure which is really better, but I have listened to both and ended up settling on XM because I had an XM ready Pioneer deck in the S.
It works great and the only complaint I have is that XM does not carry NPR (Sirius does).
It works great and the only complaint I have is that XM does not carry NPR (Sirius does).
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 46
Likes: 0
From: Stockton
It seems that Sirius is targeting more specific areas with channels like NFL, NHL, NBA, NPR, etc.
XM is a little less specific which seems to appeal to a broader range of listeners. It's also nice to see that XM is making changes to accommodate customer desires.
Just checked the XM website, and found the following ad:
"Starting February 1, 2004, 100% of XM Radio's music channels will be Commercial-Free!
XM's 2004 channel lineup also includes five new channels: Highway 16, The Blend, Fungus, Lucy and MSNBC.
That's a total of 68 Commercial-Free Music channels, 32 channels of News, Sports, Talk & Entertainment, and 21 channels of XM Instant Traffic & Weather, all for just $9.99 a month."
This puts XM at 120 channels (although weather and traffic channels from other cities don't really count). As far as price, both companies offer multi-year prices which cuts the cost a couple bucks per month.
I've had an XM receiver 8 months now and have enjoyed it tremendously and would recommend it to anyone. It's the Sony portable and it sees plenty of use between my car and home stereo. I like to listen to classic rock so "Top Tracks" on channel 46 suits me perfectly. It's always been commercial free which has been a bonus. My only two complaints are that there's a handful of songs that they play a couple times per day...one being Neil Young's Down by the River. I like the songs, but it's just too much. Another negative for me is that the "decade" stations play the entire decade without any theme (in other words, it would be nice if the 50s was just rock and roll and didn't include early 50s big bandish and Sinatraesque music). Both of these negatives are easy to live with.
As a true test, I just returned from a round trip drive to Las Vegas from central California. The drive took just under 8 hours each way at a total of 1,100 miles. I lost the signal a total of about 2 seconds (while driving under overpasses). I kept it on Top Tracks almost the entire time and maybe heard three songs I didn't care for. To me, that's totally impressive.
I know this has been long winded, but I have been tracking the exploits of satellite radio since the design stages. I own stock in both companies and as far as the market goes, Sirius is showing slightly more momentum than XM since just before Christmas with 200 to 300 million shares being traded on better days (which is more than the entire Nasdaq was trading about 15 years ago). If both companies can keep growing their subscriber numbers and lower the cost per subscriber, they will survive.
XM is a little less specific which seems to appeal to a broader range of listeners. It's also nice to see that XM is making changes to accommodate customer desires.
Just checked the XM website, and found the following ad:
"Starting February 1, 2004, 100% of XM Radio's music channels will be Commercial-Free!
XM's 2004 channel lineup also includes five new channels: Highway 16, The Blend, Fungus, Lucy and MSNBC.
That's a total of 68 Commercial-Free Music channels, 32 channels of News, Sports, Talk & Entertainment, and 21 channels of XM Instant Traffic & Weather, all for just $9.99 a month."
This puts XM at 120 channels (although weather and traffic channels from other cities don't really count). As far as price, both companies offer multi-year prices which cuts the cost a couple bucks per month.
I've had an XM receiver 8 months now and have enjoyed it tremendously and would recommend it to anyone. It's the Sony portable and it sees plenty of use between my car and home stereo. I like to listen to classic rock so "Top Tracks" on channel 46 suits me perfectly. It's always been commercial free which has been a bonus. My only two complaints are that there's a handful of songs that they play a couple times per day...one being Neil Young's Down by the River. I like the songs, but it's just too much. Another negative for me is that the "decade" stations play the entire decade without any theme (in other words, it would be nice if the 50s was just rock and roll and didn't include early 50s big bandish and Sinatraesque music). Both of these negatives are easy to live with.
As a true test, I just returned from a round trip drive to Las Vegas from central California. The drive took just under 8 hours each way at a total of 1,100 miles. I lost the signal a total of about 2 seconds (while driving under overpasses). I kept it on Top Tracks almost the entire time and maybe heard three songs I didn't care for. To me, that's totally impressive.
I know this has been long winded, but I have been tracking the exploits of satellite radio since the design stages. I own stock in both companies and as far as the market goes, Sirius is showing slightly more momentum than XM since just before Christmas with 200 to 300 million shares being traded on better days (which is more than the entire Nasdaq was trading about 15 years ago). If both companies can keep growing their subscriber numbers and lower the cost per subscriber, they will survive.
Registered User
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 1,464
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I have Sirius in my S and VW Golf. I couldn't be happier with the service as a whole.
I got the tuner for my Golf FREE. There always seems to be some free tuner give
away going on. I just got an Audiovox P&P for my mothers Volvo, complete with car
and home cradles. So in 1 year of service with Sirius I have received 2 FREE
tuners!!
I originally chose Sirius be cause of the commercial factor. That point is mute now,
but Sirius has always had the standpoint of NO COMMERCIALS on the music
streams. Brand X and Sirius WILL have commercials on the news and talk stations.
Equipment wise XM has the advantage. The P&P units are more plentiful and
smaller in size. Sirius did just pick up Alpine and Eclipse that to me will be a killer
app on the mid and high end tuner market for Sirius.
Sirius dose have exclusive rights to broadcast the NHL and NBA, Brand X had
NECCAR (nascar). Sirius has rights to broadcast the NFL (all regular season, playoffs,
and the super bowl) The rights to the NFL are not exclusive but XM will have to pay a
premium to pick up the NFL.
I do see Sirius closing the gap subscriber wise with the improvement in content and
the addition of the NFL. Sirius subs are paying a premium for the sports, but if you
pay for a year in advance your total cost is $9.71 (cheaper than brand X). In infusion
of the OEM market is just starting to heat up too.
I don't understand the purpose of the XM traffic and weather stations. A good traffic
stations in metro areas have invested millions in forecasting the weather and traffic. I
would also rather have 20 additional stations dedicated to music.
I don't understand why Sirius is going to do video either. DirecTV and Dish Network
are already working on delivering video to the car. And you thought that driving and
talking on a cell was dangerous!!
I would look for XM to raise the cost to match Sirius (IMO more likely) or Sirius biting
the bullet and lowering the cost.
Don't get me wrong XM is good, I like XM Cafe, BPM, and 20 on 20. However I do
feel that XM's DJ's talk to much, especially on 90's on 9. Sirius is a bit more subdue.
In the interest of full disclosure I have 3 Sirius tuners and 1 XM. I prefer Sirius.
I got the tuner for my Golf FREE. There always seems to be some free tuner give
away going on. I just got an Audiovox P&P for my mothers Volvo, complete with car
and home cradles. So in 1 year of service with Sirius I have received 2 FREE
tuners!!
I originally chose Sirius be cause of the commercial factor. That point is mute now,
but Sirius has always had the standpoint of NO COMMERCIALS on the music
streams. Brand X and Sirius WILL have commercials on the news and talk stations.
Equipment wise XM has the advantage. The P&P units are more plentiful and
smaller in size. Sirius did just pick up Alpine and Eclipse that to me will be a killer
app on the mid and high end tuner market for Sirius.
Sirius dose have exclusive rights to broadcast the NHL and NBA, Brand X had
NECCAR (nascar). Sirius has rights to broadcast the NFL (all regular season, playoffs,
and the super bowl) The rights to the NFL are not exclusive but XM will have to pay a
premium to pick up the NFL.
I do see Sirius closing the gap subscriber wise with the improvement in content and
the addition of the NFL. Sirius subs are paying a premium for the sports, but if you
pay for a year in advance your total cost is $9.71 (cheaper than brand X). In infusion
of the OEM market is just starting to heat up too.
I don't understand the purpose of the XM traffic and weather stations. A good traffic
stations in metro areas have invested millions in forecasting the weather and traffic. I
would also rather have 20 additional stations dedicated to music.
I don't understand why Sirius is going to do video either. DirecTV and Dish Network
are already working on delivering video to the car. And you thought that driving and
talking on a cell was dangerous!!
I would look for XM to raise the cost to match Sirius (IMO more likely) or Sirius biting
the bullet and lowering the cost.
Don't get me wrong XM is good, I like XM Cafe, BPM, and 20 on 20. However I do
feel that XM's DJ's talk to much, especially on 90's on 9. Sirius is a bit more subdue.
In the interest of full disclosure I have 3 Sirius tuners and 1 XM. I prefer Sirius.
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 159
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From: Winter Park
I bought the audiovox (sirius) unit for my girlfriend and it was $150 in equipment so I don't know where everybody is getting this $500 number. I am perfectly satisfied with the service so far. I decided to go with sirius because everyone I talked to before buying it said they wish they would have gotton that rather than xm. Just because xm has more customers doesn't mean it is the better service. I'm still not sure which is the better service. I will continue to do research before I pick a service for myself. However, it would make more sense for me to go with sirius because adding another unit to my account will only cost my $6/ month. Not to mention if you prepay your sirus service in advance they only charge you $10/ month which I believe is right on par with xm. Not trying to sell sirius, but I'm just saying that I am pleased with it so far. Good luck on making a decision.
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 649
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From: Huntington Beach
Anyone want to update the subject on which one is better. I am getting tired of waiting for the XM interface for my Alpine CDA-9835, the XM site was saying shipping in October until a couple of days ago when it changed to November. There is an interface for Sirius and I want to see if there was any real differance.
Registered User
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 1,892
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From: Tiffin, Ohio
XM has baseball next year, has a wider variety of music (re: bigger playlists), and Opie and Anthony. (also Nascar and other things)
Sirius has football, more sports content, and Stern in 2006. You're more likly to hear the same song twice in a short period of time on Sirius.
Bottom line? If you are a music fan solely, XM. If you are a sports fan solely, probably Sirius. But ideally, both services would be the best.
Sirius has football, more sports content, and Stern in 2006. You're more likly to hear the same song twice in a short period of time on Sirius.
Bottom line? If you are a music fan solely, XM. If you are a sports fan solely, probably Sirius. But ideally, both services would be the best.