Which is better: XM or Sirius?

[SlipperySlope]

I'm interested in XM or Sirius, want to get feedback from DUer's

It looks like they each have one "token" lefty channel - XM has "Air America Radio" and Sirius has "Sirius Left".

Anything else politically interesting there people have found? Which has better music?

[TrueAmerican]

1. If you like Baseball

XM is the way to go. I listen to AAR, CSPAN Washington Journal, and MLB radio games. Occasionally Opie and Anthony.

[NYCGirl]

2. XM also has Keith Olbermann's Countdown. NT

[SaveElmer]

80. Ditto...

The baseball clinched it for me!

[Lost-in-FL]

3. You beat me on posting this question...!!

I only know that Sirus has Howard Stern but that's all... I'll go for XM because of AAR but not sure. How Sirus and XM rate according to BuyBlue.com?

[Lost-in-FL]

6. Sirius contribute to Repub, XM to Dems

according to BuyBlue.org

[NYCGirl]

8. XM gives 75% to Democrats, Sirius gives 41% to Democrats.

www.buyblue.org

[ThomWV]

17. That's All I Would Need To Know

If I was in the market.

[corporate_mike]

49. me too

eom

[liberalnurse]

52. Yes they do....which

really surprised me. I'm going to buy XM this weekend and set it up. I still have my year subscription of Sirius and all the equiptment...the Boom Box and Car thing-a-ma-gig.......

Oh well, I'm not known for being froogle. I will probably not renew my Sirius in the fall.

[Toots]

79. XM stock @ $30. & rising rapidly, Sirius is @ $6.25 a & dropping like rock

Someone knows something.....,:shrug:

[adarling]

4. Sirius

I miss AAR but they have better music and play no commericals whatsoever. Music is soo much better.

[Rosco T.]

7. No commercials on XM Music either. n/m

[Ikonoklast]

5. Got Sirius and love it

Listening to Sirius Left right now. As far as music goes, not really sure, it might be a push, both seem to have a great selection.

[NNN0LHI]

9. Sirius is the bomb...but then I was hooked on Betamax n/t

[6th Borough]

76. Same here...and I was hooked on Minidiscs :)

Never saw the MP3 wave comin'...

[in_cog_ni_to]

10. XM. I've had BOTH. Sirius reception, for me, faded in and out

ALL the time. In bad weather, it was REALLY bad. With our XM, it has NEVER lost reception. Also, AAR is a HUGE plus for XM. Al Franken, Randi Rhodes, Majority Report and Mike Malloy. Perfect Liberal Radio.

[Karmadillo]

22. Exactly the same for me. Plus XM's music is much, much better

(unless you like lots of heavy metal).

[DancingBear]

37. Reception is also a very key point

I live in the country, and I would ALWAYS lose my in-home Sirius reception for long periods of time (30 minutes or more, several times per day/night).

Since getting XM, I have never lost the signal.

[Rosco T.]

39. The reason for that is the screwy orbit of the Sirius birds ....

.. compared to the XM.

The Sirius birds are ALWAYS in motion relative to the ground, the XM's are stationary (relative)

picture is worth a thousand words...

[DancingBear]

41. Honest - I was gonna say that

But I knew you were on this thread and could do so better than I. :)

[Rosco T.]

44. "Just the Fact's m'am.." - Joe Friday n/m

[we can do it]

11. XM Sucks

Same shit over and over....

[Rainscents]

12. I had both and I like XM much better!

Sirus was horrible with reception... in bad weather, it's worthless. I haven't had any problems with XM in bad weather. I decide to go with XM!

[tridim]

13. XM benefits: AAR, NHL, cheaper programming, smaller receivers

Sirius benefits: Howard Stern (if you like him).

I bought an XM receiver yesterday and dumped Sirius. I'm so happy with the size of the hardware (about 1/4 the size and weight of my old hardware) that I haven't even considered the programming.. It's worth it just for AAR.

[Rosco T.]

29. Also, to hear ALL of Howard, Sirius folks will pay extra...

Howard 100 is free (4 days/week, 5 hr/say, 12 weeks vacation/year)

the other two channels Howard will be programming will be 'premium' channels.

XM Dropped their 'Premium' Channels and made Opie & Anthony and Ron & Fez free for all..

[pointblank]

40. The "premium" channel thing

is untrue.

See Sirius' website:

http://www.sirius.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Sirius/CachedPage&c=Page&cid=1065475754125

there are no "premium" charges for Howard Stern, it is $12.95/month.

I only got Satellite radio because of Howard Stern, and I chose Sirius for Howard Stern. I have had it since January 2005 because I got it as a Holiday gift(errrr....I mean CHRISTMAS gift, sorry Bill O'Reilly :P)in 2004. I enjoy the music programs, the comedy channels and Talk Left (the token liberal channel) I spend about15-20 hours per week in my car and I have become hooked on it now that I have it. It blows regular radio away.

Having said that, I don't know much about XM, but I am sure the music is very comprable. I really wish that Sirius gave as much to dems as XM does, but IMO the good (Howard Stern) outweighs the bad (giving more money to repukes than dems.) But remember, Clear Channel is an XM supporter and in the grand scheme of things they (Sirius and XM) ARE both corporations.

Hope that helps.

peace.


edited for spelling

[Rosco T.]

42. I said HOWARD 100 is free... but his other two channels WILL BE PREMIUM...

the other two channels aren't on yet.

[soothsayer]

47. no, no. howard 101 is on already for free, silly

[Renew Deal]

58. That's not true. Prove it.

Please post anything that backs that up. It's just not true.

[Renew Deal]

57. Sirius vs. XM is like us vs. the freeptards.

XM has a fansite called xmfan.com that is similar to freeperville. They just make shit up.

[Renew Deal]

56. That's not true.

There is no "extra" or "premium" charge for Howard or his channels. Please prove me wrong, but that is incorrect as far as I know.

[mcscajun]

14. You'll also find Ed Schulz on "Ask!" XM Channel 165

XM also has some interesting channels coming out of Canada (in both English and French).


On edit: I've had XM all of one week. :)

[RufusEarl]

15. XM, they have Bob Dylan

[Rosco T.]

24. And Tom Petty, and Opie & Anthony, and Ron & Fez, NHL... n/m

[davidwparker]

16. Had both. Switched to XM when AAR went there exclusively.

I'd pick XM for AAR. Sirius Left chopped some of the better programs. One hour of Thom Hartman, then it would switch to Lynn Samuels. I never got her. One hour of Stephanie Miller, then the last two hours at 3am.

XM if left-wing moonbat talk is for you.

[MsUnderstood]

18. sports, trash talk, lefty, AAR?

YOu like Howard stern? Sirius
you like baseball? XM
You like basketball? Sirius
You like gay and lesbian issues? Sirius
You like true AAR? XM
You are okay with lesser known left talk? Sirius

Only way to choose is to look at their websites and see which channel lineup you would prefer--the music stations I'm sure are similar so it is the sports/talk/entertainment channels you want to examine.

[Nickster]

19. It really depends on what you want. AAR on XM is a big deal for me, but

Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartmann, etc on Sirius Left is pretty darn good too. Sirius has Howard Stern and NFL games.

The biggest difference for me was that Sirius plays pretty much the same categories of music as XM, BUT they play the "hits". So when you turn on a station, most likely you'll know the song and if you listen all day on one channel, you'll hear the exact same songs. XM on the other hand caters to a deeper playlist and newer music, so won't be hearing a loop of the same songs, but they might not be your favorites either. XM seems to do a pretty good job if your into newer music, my wife loves it. Me, I'm stuck in the 70s, so I tend to prefer Sirius.

XM has a better line of equipment than Sirius. Finding a Sirius receiver at Best Buy or Circuit City was tough, if they had one, it was one style and that was it. XM always seemed to have a lock on the cool equipment. As far as reception and sound quality, never really noticed too much of a difference between them, they both sound pretty good to me. Sirius seems to have a slight edge on the reception, can't recall ever having a "fade-out" on long distance drives. XM gives me static every so often. Not alot, but still.....

Anyways.....that's my opinion. I'll think you'll like either of them. Try getting a deal for a free XM receiver, most of them only require a three month sub, then if you don't want to keep it, ebay it. Same for Sirius, give em both a test.

[ProfessorPlum]

20. Sirius' music is much better

XM has a bunch of stations that play the latest top-whatever hits all the time - I've gone from station to station and heard the same song playing nearly simultaneously on up to 3-4 channels. "Blend", "Mix", etc. all play the same music.

Sirius has much better music, but I really, really, really miss AAR.

[Rosco T.]

26. XM has 100 music channels.... some repetition is bound to happen.. n/m

[retread]

43. I think that depends on the genre. I had Sirius and now have XM.

I have found XM has a deeper playlist of the music I listen to than Sirius did.

[LoZoccolo]

21. Howard Stern vs. Air America Radio

There's already an Air America AM station near me, so now I'd rather have Sirius (and I already do). But when Air America went off of Sirius and there wasn't a Chicago Air America I was disappointed. But now, I get Talk Left, which isn't on XM!

[SlipperySlope]

25. I hate to be ignorant, but what about Howard Stern?

I don't know much about him other than he is some big New York radio personality. What are his politics?

[NYCGirl]

27. Dude, where have you been? On the moon? Here's some info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Stern

[SlipperySlope]

Libertarian?

I had no idea he ran for Mayor of New York.

It sounds like he has had some troubles with the FCC and censorship, and it also sounds like he is against the religious right, and he supports gay marriage.

I wonder how accurate the wiki article is?

[LoZoccolo]

30. Well, he ran for governor of New York as a libertarian...

...but he was very critical of Bush* during the 2004 election. But he's a pretty big draw to Sirius outside of that. Baba Booey Baba Booey!

[lectrobyte]

33. I used to listen to him some, a little bit goes a long way. He's the

self-declared "King of All Media" or somesuch... I don't remember him being all that political, but apparently he is very anti-Bush now.

[Tinksrival]

71. Chicago came back

WCPT 850 It goes off at sundown but is better than nothing. Can't wait till I can hear all of Randi again when the days get longer.

[hack89]

23. XM

especially if you like baseball. I love it - great reception and music.

[mac56]

28. I had Sirius for less than a day.

Reception in my town positively sucked. And I couldn't get the car unit to work worth a damn. So back it went to Best Buy. Too bad, too, because I really liked Sirius' music selection.

I'd picked Sirius because I'd heard Clear Channel is an investor in XM.

If I get satellite radio again, I'd get XM despite the Clear Channel conenction. Major league baseball and AAR are the main considerations.

Add on edit: Clear Channel only owned about 2-5% of XM. I'm told they've divested themselves of it now. General Motors (Hughes Communications) is the major owner now.

[MazeRat7]

31. XM - by far the best choice IMHO (n/t)

[Justice Is Comin]

32. I had the XM

when I was an OTR truck driver. Reception is a big issue because there is so much metal in the cab that they actually recommended you put a special antenna on the outside as with a cb radio.

I never did that, just threw the little space ship antenna in the above overhead compartment and almost never lost the signal.

[DancingBear]

34. Depends on your listening preferences

I listen to "Deep Tracks' a lot, which is 60's/early 70's music that would never get played on conventional FM Classic Rock radio. In this regard, XM has it all over Sirius, as their "Vault" has no where near the library that "Deep Tracks " does, and they (Sirius) NEVER delve down and play the really obscure stuff. Plus the on-air personalities on Sirius are really annoying, except for anyone on "The Underground Garage", which is a great channel and the only thing I really miss about Sirius. I could give a rat's ass about Howard Stern.

For jazz, both are about equal.

Sirius dropped their folk music station and replaced it with some horrid concoction of MOR shit called "Coffeehouse." XM has "The Village", which is great.

Both blues channels are about the same.

Progressive talk on Sirius was horrible - only one hour of Thom Hartman, the incredibly shrill and un-knowledgeable Lynn Samuels, and the (mostly insipid) Young Turks. XM has the full AAR schedule.

In short, I used to have 3 Sirius subscriptions, and now I have 3 XM subscriptions instead.

For me, it was definitely the wise choice to go with XM.

[retread]

46. The only thing I miss on Sirius is The Mansion of Fun on Friday

nights. You are correct about the blues and jazz being the same. I agree about the Folk, what Sirius did was the final nail in the coffin for me.

In addition to Air America, XM has the Power and Thom Hartman on the weekend.

For the type of music I listen to and the talk shows I want XM is far and away superior to Sirius.

[Rosco T.]

35. Best reason, you can get a Free XM from AirAmerica...

go to http://partners.xmradio.com/

enter AIRAMERXM

RoadyXT - Free...
SkyFi Car Bundle - $39
SkyFi BoomBox/Car Bundle - $59

just prepay 3 months service.

[SlipperySlope]

36. Bump: Good link for anyone interested in XM

[Rosco T.]

38. Some slightly better deals...

but you're making DirecTV pay the subsidy fee.. :)

http://espromotions.xmradio.com/xm/directv.aspx

Pioneer Airware XM2Go - $49

other prices the same..

this one only requires a ONE month service pre-pay (both require a 6 month subscription)

[high density]

60. wow $50 for that Pioneer receiver

That's the one I've had my eyes on and for $50 I'm very close to pulling the trigger. Worst case scenario I'm out about $122 after six months.

[Rosco T.]

61. and you could probably resell it for $200 on ebay if you don't keep it n/m

[tridim]

63. Be careful with that deal, it's expired

I went through AirAmerica's site to get a deal, but it was expired too (Dec 31,2005). I had to finagle them and they finally gave in and gave me the special.

[Rosco T.]

64. Hmmmm.... they still have the link to it on the AAR site front page....

.. long as they have it advertised I think they will have to honor it.

[tridim]

66. That's the excuse I used.. but the date is right there in the fine print

http://www.airamericaradio.com/partners/xm/index.html



The AAR deal is also 3 months of pre-pay, but the Roady XT (minus the home kit) and shipping is free.

[high density]

72. Actually I just used that link to buy a radio

I see nothing on the DirectTV link that Rosco provided (thank you!!) that shows an expiration date. Sure the page says "Year end sale," but ordering from it worked fine. Do you think I am going to get an email tomorrow telling me that my receipt is for the wrong amount? :)

[tridim]

74. Well, I did the same and decided to switch the Roady2 for the XT

When I called, they said the offer had expired and the web page shouldn't be live. I would assume they would have emailed me had I not called. Give it a shot, maybe they were just trying to bait and switch me.

[Renew Deal]

53. XM is giving the house away these days,

They are gettign killed by Sirius.

http://www.siriusbackstage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35138&highlight=

[Double T]

45. SIRIUS is the choice with great music channels.........

and specially HOWARD STERN.

[soothsayer]

48. and NFL coverage! Love my sirius

[Renew Deal]

54. Not just coverage, but the NFL network.

You can't beat that.

[LaPera]

50. I have Sirius...but I'm going to switch to XM -- Here's why....

XM has Air America Radio (AAR)

XM donates most of their money to the democratic party.

XM has Keith Olbermann.

XM has great Jazz, Blues, Rock and AOR and I've heard both and XM is mostly better and more creative than Sirius.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sirius has Thom Hartmann but for only one hour live,

Sirius replaces "Sirius Left" for any fucking game on the week-end (but not Sirius Right, or Fox news nearly as often).

Howard Stern? So fucking what! The mostly non-political Stern, who never really took a fucking political stance on anything, until BushCo took some money out of his pocket...Fuck him!!!

Sirius gives most of their donations to the Republican party.

Sirius does have "Jam-On" though, long cool jams 24/7 and as they say..."Sirius Jam On where we ALWAYS test positive".

(Jam On is about all that I'll miss of Sirius, after I switch over to XM).

[CANDO]

59. Thom Hartmann is now on for three hours.

I listen at night mostly(Teamster Trucker) and they lost access to Alan Colmes, so they have The Young Turks Live from 6-9 pm, a three hour replay of that morning's Stephanie Miller show from 9-midnight, and then Thom Hartmann's replay from midnight to 3 am. I love that format. It gives me all night to get engaged in what happened that day. I really think the most interesting and informative hosts on the left are The Young Turks and Thom Hartmann. I liked AAR while they were still on Sirius, but they didn't seem to give you access to any voices from the right. Thom Hartmann has at least half his interviews with people from the right and it really is great to hear him go at it with them. He usually puts them to shame with his insight and quick thinking. Also Howard Stern is free on 100 and 101 and I can hear the show replay in it's entirety from 9 pm on if I choose. The political donation percentages I was not aware of, but i'm already committed with the equipment and subscription. Sirius also has a very small receiver that slips on your sun visor, it's from Xact. I love Sirius, but I can't disparage XM because I've never had them. They both charge the same, so there's no issue there.

[Renew Deal]

51. Sirius

Howard Stern, NFL, a bunch of great music stations and DJ's, localized traffic, NASCAR in 2007,

List of Sirius DJ's. I like Faction and some of the other rock stations. They have a dedicated Springsteen station. I still listen to old fashioned radio for AAR. Otherwise Sirius rocks.

[Snotcicles]

55. XM has Air America. n/t

[Ksec]

62. Ill stick with FM.

Its free .

[Rosco T.]

65. Not really.... you have to put up with commericals :) n/m

[XOKCowboy]

70. Hey maybe you're lucky and still have plenty of stations

in your area to pick from. I don't. I also travel a lot and satellite radio is a godsend. Even my local stations don't have the variety that satellite radio has.

[GOPisEvil]

73. I hope you don't travel by car.

I was able to listen to XM from Texas to California and back.

[0007]

67. What's the cost of these two systems, XM and Sirius?

[Rosco T.]

75. You can get an XM receiver as little as Free...

look at the above links.

[Renew Deal]

77. Both are 12.95 a month.

Radio costs vary. XM is giving the house away because they are getting killed.

[Initech]

68. I was in the same boat, but I went with XM.

And here was my reasoning:

- Better equipment (the Pioneer Airware or the Delphi Myfi vs. the Sirius S50 which is really nothing more than a glorified MP3 player)

- Better music selection

- MLB

- Air America

[XOKCowboy]

69. I like XM

but look at the websites, read the comments and go look at the hardware available. My 2 year subscription to XM just expired and I renewed it for 3 years. For my money, XM has AAR, all the news channels plus some great music.

It's a tough choice. Either way I'm sure you'll love satellite radio.

[Renew Deal]

78. Sirius-XM Comparison chart

I found this earlier.

http://www.d-rok.com/sirius/sirius_xm.htm

[izzybeans]

81. Sirius has better music channels XM is better with Talk, News and Comedy

IMHO.