Sirius XM Satellite Radio

Anybody have this? If so, what are the pros and cons? My daughter drives four hours back forth for college.....holidays, breaks, etc. and is trying it out.

Thanks,
Sherry

 

Better to go with something like Pandora (an app on a smartphone)

 

It came pre-installed on my new car. I know some folks love it like Christmas and their birthday all rolled into one, but I don't see myself paying once it expires.

 

Hum, thanks for both responses. She has Pandora so I will check that out next time she comes home. She is on a trial with the XM so no need to spend money on something not needed, if we can go a different route.

Sherry

 

See, that's what I thought it would be like. No commercials and all the music one could want. I'll have to check the cost and see if XM or Pandora hits the spot.

Sherry

 

It came on my Edge free for 6 months. I swore I would never pay for it. Needless to say after it expired and they called me with a discount, I jumped all over it. :lol: That's all I listen to when I drive to the beach on the weekends.

 

I had it for several years. Initially i got it because commercial radio played the same 20 songs by the same 20 bands day after day. You would not know it but Led Zepplin had more than 5 songs in their career. Its true. ZZ Top recorded a few more than 6. I was shocked to learn that.

I really thought Sirius would play more cuts from the music i liked but they do the same thing. Same 2 songs from Quiet Riot that commercial radio plays. Sure they have stations called Deep Cuts and other but not in the genre i want to hear. So basically, for me, Sirius was the same as commercial radio, just no commercials.

Its original program is quite good though if that interests you like the talk radio and whatnot but that didnt thrill me enough to keep subscribing. However you can get a smartphone app and listen that way and its a decent bang for the buck that way.

 

The smartphone app seems to be the one we will check into next. I have not checked the price of the XM yet because I wanted to hear what you guys had to say good and bad about the product first.

Sherry

 

I have renewed my yearly subscription to XM for $77 for the last three years. The only catch is you have to pay it all up front. It is a bargain at that price, but I wouldn't pay much more.

 

I've had it since it came out. all our cars and the boat too. Love it. wouldn't trade it for nothing.

 

agreed!

 

I too have had it since it started, and will keep it for the foreseeable future. Streaming music (pandora, etc) is better but there is a lot of issues with buffering still. Once that is no longer an issue, I'll switch from XM. Now XM/sirrus isn't all commercial free. there is like 64 channels out of the total that have no commercials. I do like it because there is a lot of variety and I do hear a lot of deep cuts from my favorite artists. Also, being able to listen to a station without the FM multipath common on terrestrial radio, and having the same channels available coast to coast. No constant searching for something good on the radio on long trips. My favorite channel is the old time radio channel.

 

We have it on two vehicles as well. It is all I listen to because we have no good stations in the Triangle. The stations I listen to are all commercial free and I like knowing I can count on getting a certain genre of music when I turn it to that station. I have become quite attached to certain stations that play kinds of music you can't hear on a regular radio station so we keep paying for it.

 

Another vote for Pandora. Hell if you want talk radio there are apps for that as well.

 

Just out of curiosity......since this is commercial free, if there is a public emergency does XM interrupt for that? Such as what happened on 9/11.

Sherry

 

I picked up a receiver for my bike and got the a la carte option....50 channels for $9 bucks a month...

 

Since it's satellite, if it does interrupt it will only be for a national emergency.

 

My educated guess would be no because they aren't regulated by the FCC.

 

Both of you make sense. I did not think it completely through before asking the question.

Sherry

 

They are regulated, but the content is not. They still have to have an FCC license.