Sirius or XM? (Updated w/ thank you to all those that helped)

erika1209

erika1209

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I still don't know which one to get so please help me decided. If you can suggest a model to buy that would be great too. I'd prefer something i can use in my car and easily move into my house. Thank you in advance

Update: I think i've decided on a portable one i can use everywhere sporadic that portable one looks awesome i might get that one so right out of the box i can listen to it in my car at home or anywhere else as a portable device? any other suggestions for a portable one similar to this?Does sirius have one like this around the same price?Can i use this with my stereo even if it says Sirius on it?

Thanks again to everyone :)

Okay so should i get:
Delphi MyFi XM2GO Portable XM Satellite Radio Receiver with Home / Car Kits $145
Tao xm2go Portable Satellite Radio Receiver with Home and Car Accessory Kits $100

Update: I decided on sirius i like their music more and that they don't have commercials. it had nothing to do with sports or howard stern. I wanted a portable one so i decided on the s50 it comes with the car kit and i'll buy the home adapter later. I got it at best buy for $179.99 and it has a MIR for $100 what do you guys think?

Also anyone that posted before this update (which is 1:40pm) I really appreciated your help so if you'd like update your first post and I'll randomly pick someone and give them a free game, nothing great okay i'll let you pick from like 3 things I'll chose the winner saturday night thanks again for all your help :)
 
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I see that you've already decided, but I gotta show my love for Sirius! Howard Howard! Howard! Artie!
 
I picked the s50 up today i'm having some problems with the antenna but i'll write more tomorrow so far i like the music and it's really nice and easy to use
 
If your using the Sirius in your house, your best bet, would to be just use a car antnenna, and just stick that somewhere.

I have mine on my Dish network Sat Dish, and I never lose recption with it.

Sirius is great
 
Sirius got my vote and a lifetime sub.
And they sent me a whole set up free from them last year by accident. And got my ex a radio that was activated and it still works a year later(thanks ecost)
 
Sirius is awesome. I listen to Howard 100 and Howard 101 about 80% of the time I'm in my vehicle. And it's true that the E show was only one half hour of of a 4 to 5 hour show. Sometimes they get even worse than that, but it's mostly great conversation, great bits, and and great interviews. I tried to listen to Opie and Anthony last week on old-fashioned radio in a rental car. That lasted about 3 minutes.
 
Late to the conversation, but for anyone else still deciding, I have to agree with the XM crowd.

Sure, XM has music channels with commericals - however, despite this, they still have *more* commerical free music channels that Sirius. They have a much larger selection of music channels and, IMHO, have better tech behind them. My understanding is that, with Sirius, they are currently maxed out on the number of channels they can support with their current set up at about 140. Right now, XM has 170 channels with a max of about 500.

Combine this with the Free XM online (with paid subscription), multi-radio discounts ($7/month for each radio beyond the first) and multi-year discounts (as low as $10/year if you pay three years in advance), and the better (power and quantity) satt coverage of XM, Sirius' bending over for the RIAA and XM's "HD" broadcasting, I can't reccomend Sirius as much as I can XM.
 
[quote name='UncleBob']Late to the conversation, but for anyone else still deciding, I have to agree with the XM crowd.

Sure, XM has music channels with commericals - however, despite this, they still have *more* commerical free music channels that Sirius. They have a much larger selection of music channels and, IMHO, have better tech behind them. My understanding is that, with Sirius, they are currently maxed out on the number of channels they can support with their current set up at about 140. Right now, XM has 170 channels with a max of about 500.

Combine this with the Free XM online (with paid subscription), multi-radio discounts ($7/month for each radio beyond the first) and multi-year discounts (as low as $10/year if you pay three years in advance), and the better (power and quantity) satt coverage of XM, Sirius' bending over for the RIAA and XM's "HD" broadcasting, I can't reccomend Sirius as much as I can XM.[/quote]

I have Sirius, my parents have XM. Ive listened to both for quite a while.
HD radio is a joke.
Sirius charges 7 bucks for each subscription past your first as well
i paid 115 a yr for 3 yr contract
you get free online listening as well on Sirius.com
and by the way the past two months I've seen 5 stations added..including Nascar which they stole from XM.
The tech should be better with XM because it's been out longer but Sirius is catching up.. ex. Stilleto.
XM is basically Free Radio on Steroids. Better channels with the same amount commericals.
 
[quote name='DJSteel']I have Sirius, my parents have XM. Ive listened to both for quite a while.
HD radio is a joke.
Sirius charges 7 bucks for each subscription past your first as well
i paid 115 a yr for 3 yr contract
you get free online listening as well on Sirius.com
and by the way the past two months I've seen 5 stations added..including Nascar which they stole from XM.
The tech should be better with XM because it's been out longer but Sirius is catching up.. ex. Stilleto.
XM is basically Free Radio on Steroids. Better channels with the same amount commericals.[/QUOTE]

You do get free online listening with Sirius, however, they nerf the sound quality so bad. :(

As far as "stealing" NASCAR, here's the way it works. NASCAR signed a two year agreement with XM, then a two year agreement with Sirius. With plans to switch between XM and Sirius every two years. Basically, NASCAR is screwing their fans, telling them to buy a new radio every two years.

Sirius has 69 Commerical Free music channels.
XM has 69 Commerical Free music channels. Plus 4 additional music channels that have commericals. And commerical free holiday music channels.

Sirius has 65 channels dedicated to news, sports, weather and talk.
XM has 83.

The Tech beind XM isn't better because XM has been out longer. It's because XM pours it's cash into making a better service while Sirius dumps everything into high profile celebrities, hoping that the big names will attract subscribers.
Also, the Sirius comany was founded two years before XM.

It's important to note that neither company is actually worth anything at this point. Both companies have hundered of millions worth of losses (although Sirius is about $200 million more in the hole than XM).

Plus, XM added Liquid Metal back to their normal line up because their fans wanted it. :)
 
[quote name='UncleBob']You do get free online listening with Sirius, however, they nerf the sound quality so bad. :([/quote]

I'm sorry but I don't hear any issues with the sound quality online.. it is all based on bandwidth and connection quality not antenna connection, so if the sound is crappy it's your connection.

[quote name='UncleBob'] As far as "stealing" NASCAR, here's the way it works. NASCAR signed a two year agreement with XM, then a two year agreement with Sirius. With plans to switch between XM and Sirius every two years. Basically, NASCAR is screwing their fans, telling them to buy a new radio every two years.[/quote]

I don't like Nascar but I'd say plans can change if they feel like more fans listen to it on one service vs another.

[quote name='UncleBob'] Sirius has 69 Commerical Free music channels.
XM has 69 Commerical Free music channels. Plus 4 additional music channels that have commericals. And commerical free holiday music channels.[/quote]

i expect that to be matched pretty much..no biggy

[quote name='UncleBob'] Sirius has 65 channels dedicated to news, sports, weather and talk.
XM has 83.[/quote]
Sirius condensed their traffic and weather channels and while XM has specific channels that they use just for baseball and other broadcast sports, Sirius uses other channels... no biggy.

[quote name='UncleBob'] The Tech beind XM isn't better because XM has been out longer. It's because XM pours it's cash into making a better service while Sirius dumps everything into high profile celebrities, hoping that the big names will attract subscribers.
Also, the Sirius comany was founded two years before XM.[/quote]

I don't see any of the XM portables matching the Stilletto
 
Yeah I wanted it but it's too much I'm happy with the S50 I just leave it on my favorite channels at night and it records them so when i undock it i can listen to everything for the first time the antenna's weird though so i might have to go to a local place for them to install it professionaly does anyone know if i can buy a better one onliine somewhere?
 
Again i'll pick someone friday or saturday because i'm really busy with finals so i'll just pick anyone that's posted for something free
 
[quote name='DJSteel']I'm sorry but I don't hear any issues with the sound quality online.. it is all based on bandwidth and connection quality not antenna connection, so if the sound is crappy it's your connection.[/QUOTE]

No, it's not the connection. Unless it's changed (which it may have, it's been awhile since I've looked), Sirius's online service is 32kbps - which is pretty crappy.

[quote name='DJSteel']I don't like Nascar but I'd say plans can change if they feel like more fans listen to it on one service vs another.[/quote]

Well, that's a given. But it doesn't mean that Sirius is better because they "stole" NASCAR from XM. It means NASCAR likes screwing with their fans. ;)

[quote name='DJSteel']i expect that to be matched pretty much..no biggy[/quote]

It may be matched. After all, Sirius has been playing catch up to XM for a long time - why stop now?

Also, I forgot to mention, Sirius has 69 commerical free music channels... But seriously, who really, really wants to listen to an all-Elvis, all the time channel? Even hard-core Elvis fans would probably question this.

[quote name='DJSteel']I don't see any of the XM portables matching the Stilletto[/QUOTE]

Well, I was reffering to the tech behind the broadcasting, not so much the receivers. Sirius is adding a few more channels here and there, but those with older receivers are out of luck - something to do with how the channels are broadcast, the five channels added in September can't be received by the older radios. Sucks for people who paid for those $500 lifetime subscriptions, eh?

Granted, the Stiletto 100 (not so much the much more affordable Stiletto 10) is a pretty sweet unit. :)
 
[quote name='UncleBob']No, it's not the connection. Unless it's changed (which it may have, it's been awhile since I've looked), Sirius's online service is 32kbps - which is pretty crappy.



Well, that's a given. But it doesn't mean that Sirius is better because they "stole" NASCAR from XM. It means NASCAR likes screwing with their fans. ;)



It may be matched. After all, Sirius has been playing catch up to XM for a long time - why stop now?

Also, I forgot to mention, Sirius has 69 commerical free music channels... But seriously, who really, really wants to listen to an all-Elvis, all the time channel? Even hard-core Elvis fans would probably question this.



Well, I was reffering to the tech behind the broadcasting, not so much the receivers. Sirius is adding a few more channels here and there, but those with older receivers are out of luck - something to do with how the channels are broadcast, the five channels added in September can't be received by the older radios. Sucks for people who paid for those $500 lifetime subscriptions, eh?

Granted, the Stiletto 100 (not so much the much more affordable Stiletto 10) is a pretty sweet unit. :)[/quote]


i got a Sirius Sportster replay last christmas.. and my unit updates...I mean if you are talking about 1st gen equipment.. i can understand that...
 
Not just First Gen equiptment, apparently some of the new-ish equiptment is having issues with these new channels.

How long before all those with Stiletto's get stuck with radios that can't receive half the channels? Hope you didn't pay for those $500 lifetime subscriptions on those either. ;)
 
[quote name='UncleBob']Not just First Gen equiptment, apparently some of the new-ish equiptment is having issues with these new channels.

How long before all those with Stiletto's get stuck with radios that can't receive half the channels? Hope you didn't pay for those $500 lifetime subscriptions on those either. ;)[/quote]

what are you talking about... everytime a new channel is added my radio updates?? the only channel that doesn't automatically is the playboy channel, which you can add easily through the website (agreeing to terms and conditions)
 
[quote name='erika1209']I'm really surprised by how Howard Stern is mentioned so much in the debate between sirius and xm...I don't see how people would go that way just because of him, I'm still trying to decided but it really has nothing to do with him, but that's just me..

Is his radio show the same thing as the tv show? Just him getting as many porn stars to take their clothes off as he can?What i'm asking is why is Howard Stern so great?[/QUOTE]


No, that isnt his TV show or his radio show. The E show was censored and E demanded that the episodes be mostly girls as they got the best ratings. His other stuff just didnt get good ratings on E. Now look at E after they lost stern, their only good show that gets ratings is wouldnt y ou know, Girls Next Door

Porn stars in the studio is usually my least fav Stern bit and they only do it about 3 hours a week, out of a 24/7 schedule w/ 5 hours of new show 4-5x per week

Howard Stern basically invented the format that Opie and Anthony and dozens of others copy

Personally my favorite part of Sirius has been Bubba. I never heard him before sirius and I acutally tune to bubba more than Stern lately when Stern gets bogged down w/ plugging boring guests like Jack Black
 
and as was previously mentioned, XM has commercials on their music, whatever the excuse is, at the end of the day sirius is 100% commercial free music, XM is not

Also XM has opie and anthony, which is FREE on regular radio.

so you are basically paying for the exact same thing you can get free elsewhere... pointless
 
[quote name='expane']No, that isnt his TV show or his radio show. The E show was censored and E demanded that the episodes be mostly girls as they got the best ratings. His other stuff just didnt get good ratings on E. Now look at E after they lost stern, their only good show that gets ratings is wouldnt y ou know, Girls Next Door

Porn stars in the studio is usually my least fav Stern bit and they only do it about 3 hours a week, out of a 24/7 schedule w/ 5 hours of new show 4-5x per week

Howard Stern basically invented the format that Opie and Anthony and dozens of others copy

Personally my favorite part of Sirius has been Bubba. I never heard him before sirius and I acutally tune to bubba more than Stern lately when Stern gets bogged down w/ plugging boring guests like Jack Black[/quote]

Bubba is great.. i also like Stern for the wack packers, skits, and their interactions.. the guest aren't that great, unless they understand the show..
 
[quote name='UncleBob'] It's because XM pours it's cash into making a better service while Sirius dumps everything into high profile celebrities, hoping that the big names will attract subscribers.
Also, the Sirius comany was founded two years before XM.

It's important to note that neither company is actually worth anything at this point. Both companies have hundered of millions worth of losses (although Sirius is about $200 million more in the hole than XM).
[/QUOTE]
How much did XM pay Oprah again? How much did they pay Snoop dog? Clear channel? 50 million, she does 1/2 hour a week

Stern is 100% exclusive to Sirius

You get oprah every day free on TV, how many subscribers did Oprah bring to XM

XM is winning now because of 2 reasons

1. they were out first
2. rental cars

The content is better on Sirius and people buy this type of thing for content , not for technology

Cable TV is a prime example, people buy cable to watch ESPN etc.. not because of the tech behind it
 
[quote name='DJSteel']Bubba is great.. i also like Stern for the wack packers, skits, and their interactions.. the guest aren't that great, unless they understand the show..[/QUOTE]

yeah Big Foot Mark was awesome he was ;)

Some guests, like Jim Florentine and GIlbert are amazing, others, like Jack Black, Pam Anderson etc.. are 100% boring. I blame Gary on that one tho, he gives go/no go on the bookings
 
[quote name='expane']and as was previously mentioned, XM has commercials on their music, whatever the excuse is, at the end of the day sirius is 100% commercial free music, XM is not

Also XM has opie and anthony, which is FREE on regular radio.

so you are basically paying for the exact same thing you can get free elsewhere... pointless[/QUOTE]

So by your logic, XM could have 450 music channels, all commerical free except four and Sirius can stick with their 69 100% commerical free music channels and Sirius would be the better product?

Mind you, XM brodcasts more O&A (for those who care about them) than what you can hear on FM.

[quote name='DJSteel']what are you talking about... everytime a new channel is added my radio updates?? the only channel that doesn't automatically is the playboy channel, which you can add easily through the website (agreeing to terms and conditions)[/QUOTE]

This thread should let you in on what's going on:
http://www.siriusbackstage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=87683

Apparently "older" units (including one example that's given is a factory installed unit in a 2006 car) won't get the newest five channels added to the lineup, the Canadian channels. Apparently, it has something to do with how Sirius is changing the way they broadcast their signal in order to squeeze more channels out of their bottlenecked transmitters.

Also, it's worth noting the dissatisfaction with Sirius' Customer Service in this particular thread.
 
my parents have XM installed in their Honda Ridgeline(factory). The navigation is horrible and I've not seen any updates on their system.
 
navigation on all sat radios IMO is sub par, its a new thing that is being worked out.

yes You get censored watered down O and A on "FREE FM" (which has horrible ratings even tho O and A said they could beat stern) and then you get the extended uncensored O and A onXM....

still you get O and A free. Wasnt XM charging $1 for O and A sign ups and only got 35K later removed the $1...

meanwhile sirius has double since stern signed on...

point being its the content that sells the service

People buy cable TV to get HBO not beause it has 800 shopping channels
 
[quote name='expane']People buy cable TV to get HBO not beause it has 800 shopping channels[/QUOTE]

Exactly. And XM has the better content - which is why they have more subscribers and are making more money (well, I guess, technically, they're losing less money...)
 
[quote name='UncleBob']Exactly. And XM has the better content - which is why they have more subscribers and are making more money (well, I guess, technically, they're losing less money...)[/QUOTE]

Again, while XM is growing, Sirius is growing at a faster rate. Furthermore, XM had a two year jump and the whole rental car agreement which has been brought up on numerous occasions. Sirius will break the 5 million mark by the end of the year and probably close the gap with XM to just two million, (which has been closed in from just under three million in a year).

Also, content is completely arguable. The OP decided that Sirius is right for him. If you're happy with XM, congrats. I'm happy with Sirius as are a lot of people.

Edit: And this argument about tech becomes moot in 2008 when Sirius launches their geostationary satellite, just in time to pass XM if their current growth continues.
 
[quote name='UncleBob']Exactly. And XM has the better content - which is why they have more subscribers and are making more money (well, I guess, technically, they're losing less money...)[/QUOTE]
What Content?

Also you can roll over your lifetime subscription to a newer radio if you wanted too.
 
Yay! Sirius is going to launch a satt in 2008 that's a a variant of the same one XM is launching in 2007. Hell, Sirius even went to the same corperation in order to get the satt designed.

Does it matter that XM was first? Perhaps a bit... but not when it comes down to 2 Million+ subscribers. When Sirius receivers can be purchased for as low as $30, I can't see anyone staying with XM just because they don't want to buy a new receiver (although, perhaps they're weary of buying a Sirius receiver since they don't know if it'll be compatible with Sirius brodcasts in two years).

You have to keep in mind, the number of subscribers is very important when it comes down to which business is doing better. This is completely different from the "Console Wars". When someone buys a PS2, it counts as a sale, even if that person never buys another game or is simply buying a new unit to replace their old one. So while Company A may have sold 100 units and Company B may have sold 75 units, it doesn't really show that one is doing better than the other, since all of Company A units could be sitting in the closet, not making Company A any money.

With the big two NA Satt Radio companies, it's different. Each subscriber represents someone willing to pay money every month for the service that company provides. Apparently, about two million more people currently think that XM provides a better service than Sirius.

As far as XM or Sirus being for me, I don't own either one. I just sell both of the products at work and simply see XM as the better deal and better service of the two.
 
[quote name='UncleBob']Exactly. And XM has the better content - which is why they have more subscribers and are making more money (well, I guess, technically, they're losing less money...)[/QUOTE]

ROFL yeah that non exclusive O and A content as well as 30 minutes of oprah's friend 1 time per week

Lets see

I get 24/7 stern. Bubba (which is far better than I ever imagined) They did a live broadcast of a Dice Clay comedy show, not to mention the various other bit shows like bob levy, Andy dick, jackie martling, riley martin, mastertape (20 years of classic stern shows) etc..

Thats just on 2 channels

It doesnt matter how many channels you have, its how good the channels you have are.

You can get O and A free, why would anyone pay for it? They tried making people pay for O and A and they got 35,000 total subs.

Stern brought over 3 million subs, I think that gives people a good idea which service has better content.

The fact that Clear Channel is in bed w/ XM is another huge reason to avoid it IMO
 
[quote name='UncleBob']With the big two NA Satt Radio companies, it's different. Each subscriber represents someone willing to pay money every month for the service that company provides. Apparently, about two million more people currently think that XM provides a better service than Sirius.[/quote]

Agaim you're not addressing the fact that Sirius is growing faster then XM. In the period between 3rd Q 2005 and 3rd Q 2006 Sirius increased their listner base by over 3 million while XM only increased by 2.1 million. Even with Sirius announcing that they're going to fall below their initial project 6.3 million subscribers, they still are breaking 6 million this year. As you said, subscriptions are what matter and as it stands right now, XM will be #2 by 2008.

[quote name='UncleBob']As far as XM or Sirus being for me, I don't own either one. I just sell both of the products at work and simply see XM as the better deal and better service of the two.[/QUOTE]

So essentially you're arguing for no reason in particular. Do you have XM stock or some sort of sales incentive with the company?
 
[quote name='expane']The fact that Clear Channel is in bed w/ XM is another huge reason to avoid it IMO[/QUOTE]

And the fact that Sirius bent over backwards for the RIAA while XM is standing up to them means...?

[quote name='expane']Stern brought over 3 million subs, I think that gives people a good idea which service has better content.[/QUOTE]

I think it's obvious that if you like Howard Stern, you'd be wise to choose Sirius. However, for those who don't care for Stern or his brand of entertainment, you have to look a little deeper into the two to figure out which one is right for you.

This brings up an interesting thing though. If, for what ever reason, Howard Stern was no longer on Sirius (decides he wants out of his contract, death, whatever) - how badly would Sirius be damanged? Stern pretty much pulled their collective butts out of the fire... It'd be interesting to see what happened if this particular basket were to loose its eggs...

[quote name='furyk']Agaim you're not addressing the fact that Sirius is growing faster then XM. In the period between 3rd Q 2005 and 3rd Q 2006 Sirius increased their listner base by over 3 million while XM only increased by 2.1 million. Even with Sirius announcing that they're going to fall below their initial project 6.3 million subscribers, they still are breaking 6 million this year. As you said, subscriptions are what matter and as it stands right now, XM will be #2 by 2008.[/QUOTE]

Can I borrow that Crystal Ball for a second? I want to see if the PS3, 360 or Wii will win this round...

[quote name='furyk']So essentially you're arguing for no reason in particular. Do you have XM stock or some sort of sales incentive with the company?[/QUOTE]

No, I just wanted to throw in my two cents about which company provides a better service for the buck.
 
[quote name='expane']and as was previously mentioned, XM has commercials on their music, whatever the excuse is, at the end of the day sirius is 100% commercial free music, XM is not

Also XM has opie and anthony, which is FREE on regular radio.

so you are basically paying for the exact same thing you can get free elsewhere... pointless[/QUOTE]

Do you know how to read? Its been mentioned several times that XM only has commercials on 4 CHANNELS, due to those channels being programmed by Clear Channel. This was due to a court case CC brought against XM. CC was a early investor in XM, althought I believe they no longer own any of the company, but still have a agreement in place with XM to provide some programming.

I'll add my 2 cents. I sub to both, but listen to XM mostly. I preffer XM's music. Its more musically diverse and the channels I listen to the most dont have annoying DJs like the comparable Sirius channels do. I like Sirius' sports better (with the exception of baseball), but for talk, I love XM. The shows I listen to the most are mostly only on XM as far as sat goes. As far as the Howard/O&A stuff goes, I dont listen to either, though for O&A, they usually do a 2-4 hour show exclusively on XM after thier morning CBS show. I cant stand Bubba personally, but I occasionally will listen to Ron and Fez, O&A's second bananas.

My preffrences are decidedly XM, but I believe you cant lose with either service. Besides, they way both XM and Sirius operate, Im sure we will see either a merger or one buy the other for the medium to survive.
 
Jesus and the idiots come out of the woodworks.

We'll just start with this.

[quote name='expane']ROFL yeah that non exclusive O and A content as well as 30 minutes of oprah's friend 1 time per week

Lets see

I get 24/7 stern. Bubba (which is far better than I ever imagined) They did a live broadcast of a Dice Clay comedy show, not to mention the various other bit shows like bob levy, Andy dick, jackie martling, riley martin, mastertape (20 years of classic stern shows) etc..

Thats just on 2 channels[/QUOTE]

You only get 3 hours of O&A free. There's still 3 more uncensored hours, plus old CLASSIC skits and Ron & Fez.

So it all boils down to opinion.

Do you want to listen to things like the eggnog challenge or girls riding a sybian?

[quote name='expane']Stern brought over 3 million subs, I think that gives people a good idea which service has better content.
[/QUOTE]

Yes, Stern fans followed him therefore SIRIUS MUST BE BETTER :drool:

[quote name='furyk']So essentially you're arguing for no reason in particular. Do you have XM stock or some sort of sales incentive with the company?[/QUOTE]

PEOPLE HAVE OPINONS WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTT :roll:

-----------

Again, it's all preference.

If anybody is interested in satellite radio, just check out both free trials online and go from there.

Any choice is still better then FM or HDRadio.
 
[quote name='uli2000']My preffrences are decidedly XM, but I believe you cant lose with either service. Besides, they way both XM and Sirius operate, Im sure we will see either a merger or one buy the other for the medium to survive.[/QUOTE]

As much as I hate to say it, "QTF".

Both Sirius and XM are 100 times better than standard AM/FM. And in ten years, I'd almost bet one or both will not survive in something resembling its current form. ;)
 
i do want to also state that XM at one point was charging extra for some stations.. I'm not aware if they are doing it still but that at the time of my purchase was also a factor.
 
[quote name='Sporadic']PEOPLE HAVE OPINONS WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTT :roll:[/QUOTE]

Typically, people have strong opinions supporting or distancing themselves from a product if they have interest in either purchasing that product or a competing product. I just found it odd that someone who has ample opportunity to buy one or the other but hasn't is seemingly chomping at the bit to discuss this. It's like screaming Linux is better then PC in a Mac forum. I just find it odd that someone would defend something when they seemingly have not or have no plan to invest in what they're defending.

[quote name='UncleBob']Both Sirius and XM are 100 times better than standard AM/FM. And in ten years, I'd almost bet one or both will not survive in something resembling its current form. ;)[/QUOTE]

Eh. The market supports Direct TV, Dish, and Voom (sort of). I doubt either will just vanish or merge. I could see one of the bigger media companies buying out the "loser" in the satelite war. Also the Wii/PS3/360 argument isn't valid because two of those systems haven't even been out for a month yet. Sirius and XM have both been out for quite some time now. A statement saying that Sirius will overtake XM if current sale trends continue isn't hocus pocus. It's fact. Sirius has been adding new subscribers faster then XM. Unless Sirius bottoms out or XM drastically increases it's subscribers, Sirius will overtake XM.
 
[quote name='furyk']Eh. The market supports Direct TV, Dish, and Voom (sort of). I doubt either will just vanish or merge. I could see one of the bigger media companies buying out the "loser" in the satelite war. Also the Wii/PS3/360 argument isn't valid because two of those systems haven't even been out for a month yet. Sirius and XM have both been out for quite some time now. A statement saying that Sirius will overtake XM if current sale trends continue isn't hocus pocus. It's fact. Sirius has been adding new subscribers faster then XM. Unless Sirius bottoms out or XM drastically increases it's subscribers, Sirius will overtake XM.[/QUOTE]

The market supports Dish and DirecTV, yes. The current market does not, however, support XM and/or Sirius Radio. Companies are pouring money into these two (and losing quite a bit of money because of it). Unless something drastic changes, again, I doubt you'll see both companies around in their current form in ten years. But that's just Armchair Quarterbacking.

Oh, Nintendo sold over one million Wii units in less than half a month. If this trend continues, Nintendo will sell a total of 51 million units by the end of 2008. GO Nintendo!
 
[quote name='UncleBob']The market supports Dish and DirecTV, yes. The current market does not, however, support XM and/or Sirius Radio. Companies are pouring money into these two (and losing quite a bit of money because of it). Unless something drastic changes, again, I doubt you'll see both companies around in their current form in ten years. But that's just Armchair Quarterbacking.[/quote]

What's to say the market won't change? Both Sirius and XM offer service that is clearly better then their competitor (commercial radio), and it's only a matter of time before people start treating it as something like cable, a given bill that you pay, but who do you pay that bill to. With the amount of money dumped into both companies already, particularly from the auto industry, I doubt anyone will bail out when both companies are still adding a healthy number of subscribers every quarter.

[quote name='UncleBob']Oh, Nintendo sold over one million Wii units in less than half a month. If this trend continues, Nintendo will sell a total of 51 million units by the end of 2008. GO Nintendo![/QUOTE]

3 years |= 3 weeks. Or if you want to keep it in video game terms, you could tell the PS1 beat the N64/Saturn in 3 years. You could tell the PS2 beat the Xbox/GC after 3 years. You can tell that Sirius is signing up more new subscribers in the past year then XM has at a rate of 3/2. It's not unheard of to make rational and reasonable predictions from a place where there's limited competition after a series of years, not days or weeks. Though you know that and are simply trolling at this point.
 
I believe the biggest factor in which service will survive will not be based on who has the larger subscriber base or who will be profitable first, but the FCC. When the FCC set up the spectrum for satellite radio in the late 90's, they athorized four licenses for satellite radio. XM and Sirius each got one, another company still holds one, and the other was surrendered back to the FCC due to not having a plan to use the spectrum, if memory serves me correctly. Both XM and Sirius are bulging at the seams using what little spectrum they got. Up to this point, XM has done a better job of managing thier spectrum by being a little better with the compression technology. Sirius is testing a compression technology that would let them carry much more programming that they currently have the capability to do, but it would not be compatible with any existing Sirius equipment. About 3 years ago, XM bought some wireless spectrum from a wireless company, but the FCC said that they couldnt use is for video as they wanted. Both companies have stated they would like to branch out to in vehical video, multi channel music (XM is currently doing this on 2 channels), and other ways to change the way we listen to radio. If the FCC was to reauction the spectrum license, or the other company (cant remember what they are called) was to sell their license to either company, that would be the biggest factor in who survives. Would you rather have 150+ channels of radio or 250+ channels of multi channel music, talk, and sports plus video (Im sure D*and E* would love that)?

BTW, Voom hasnt been around for a couple of years now. It was purchased by E* and they currently carry the voom channels in their hi def packages.
 
[quote name='furyk']What's to say the market won't change? Both Sirius and XM offer service that is clearly better then their competitor (commercial radio), and it's only a matter of time before people start treating it as something like cable, a given bill that you pay, but who do you pay that bill to. With the amount of money dumped into both companies already, particularly from the auto industry, I doubt anyone will bail out when both companies are still adding a healthy number of subscribers every quarter.[/QUOTE]


Look at the cable industy. The tech has been around since the 50's, but cable didnt start to become a big buisness untill the late 80's/early 90's. Why? Cable was clearly better than broadcast TV, but tons of people said "why pay for it when I can get if for free?" Almost everyone I know who has listened to sat radio for any length of time has ended up subscribing, but there will allways be a large amount of people who wont pay for radio when they can get it for free, wheter its superior or not. With TV, you see what you are paying for, but it can be a little harder to see that with radio. The people I know who say they wont subscribe to sat radio say things like why pay for radio when Im only in the car for no more than one hour per day. They dont reallize that radio/music is all around them. They may listen to it at work, either on the radio or on a overhead muzak type system. The stores they shop at usually have music on in the background. Its getting that person to wake up and reallize that they can listen to it almost anywhere.
 
[quote name='furyk']What's to say the market won't change? Both Sirius and XM offer service that is clearly better then their competitor (commercial radio), and it's only a matter of time before people start treating it as something like cable, a given bill that you pay, but who do you pay that bill to. With the amount of money dumped into both companies already, particularly from the auto industry, I doubt anyone will bail out when both companies are still adding a healthy number of subscribers every quarter.



3 years |= 3 weeks. Or if you want to keep it in video game terms, you could tell the PS1 beat the N64/Saturn in 3 years. You could tell the PS2 beat the Xbox/GC after 3 years. You can tell that Sirius is signing up more new subscribers in the past year then XM has at a rate of 3/2. It's not unheard of to make rational and reasonable predictions from a place where there's limited competition after a series of years, not days or weeks. Though you know that and are simply trolling at this point.[/QUOTE]

Okay, one half of your post is telling me how the market could easily change and the other half of your post is telling me how it's perfectly okay to make predictions based on current market trends alone. You call it trolling, I call it common sense.
 
how can you possibly say that XM has a better hold on their subscribers?

#1 - they are losing subscribers.
#2 - they had to bring Clear Channel in to compete, and actually use their content on regular radio..i.e. non-exclusive content. SO some of that money you spend on your subscription is wasted because people who don't pay for XM can hear some of your content that you pay for.
#3 - They didn't lower subscription rates because they could afford it. They did it to keep subscribers.
 
[quote name='DJSteel']how can you possibly say that XM has a better hold on their subscribers?

#1 - they are losing subscribers.
#2 - they had to bring Clear Channel in to compete, and actually use their content on regular radio..i.e. non-exclusive content. SO some of that money you spend on your subscription is wasted because people who don't pay for XM can hear some of your content that you pay for.
#3 - They didn't lower subscription rates because they could afford it. They did it to keep subscribers.[/QUOTE]

#1 - They aren't "losing" subscribers. They're adding them - although not as many as Sirius.
#2 - Yeah, they "brought" Clear Channel in... back when they created the company. Clear Channel was an initial investor in XM. It's not like the folks at XM just up and decided they needed Clear Channel...
#3 - I don't think they've "lowered" their rates. In fact, a few years ago, XM was $9.95/month with the $2.95 for the "special" channels. Now, instead, it's just $12.95/month. I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound like "lower" rates to me.

And yet, as happy as everyone is to throw out Clear Channel when talking about XM, no one seems to want to take up the bag to talk about Sirius and the RIAA.
 
okay let's talk about the RIAA.. they want to get rid of the S50.. no biggy really the Stiletto is brought in a the big daddy.
 
I'm talking about how, Sirius, much like Microsoft, just threw their hands in the air and caved into the legal pressures of the RIAA, paying them an undisclosed amount for every recordable unit being sold (S50, Zune, etc).

Meanwhile, XM (dispite their 'nasty' Clear Channel connections), is actually refusing to pay the RIAA "per unit sold" on their Inno and Helix and is fighting them every step of the way.. the way it should be, since the RIAA's arguement doesn't make a lick of sense in this case. (And I'm usually 'defending' the RIAA's rights when it comes to illegal downloading and such).

I have to say, I'm surprised and proud that XM is fighting the RIAA when even Microsoft just rolled over.
 
[quote name='UncleBob']I'm talking about how, Sirius, much like Microsoft, just threw their hands in the air and caved into the legal pressures of the RIAA, paying them an undisclosed amount for every recordable unit being sold (S50, Zune, etc).

Meanwhile, XM (dispite their 'nasty' Clear Channel connections), is actually refusing to pay the RIAA "per unit sold" on their Inno and Helix and is fighting them every step of the way.. the way it should be, since the RIAA's arguement doesn't make a lick of sense in this case. (And I'm usually 'defending' the RIAA's rights when it comes to illegal downloading and such).

I have to say, I'm surprised and proud that XM is fighting the RIAA when even Microsoft just rolled over.[/quote]

dude.. do you know how much money Clear Channel has??
 
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