XM radio?

S

Stargun007

CAGiversary!
I'm thinking about getting an XM radio system since I'm sick of the crappy stations here (25 minutes of commercials an hour, same 30 songs repeated over and over again), and it seems like satellite may be a good choice. Does anyone here have any form of satellite radio? Is it worth it? Also, how good is the reception? Is it gonna work just as well when it's clear as it is when there's a blizzard outside? I don't want to spend money and then find out that it doesn't always work.
 
I would also be interested in hearing what other think...I myself am a big rock music listener... and I only have 2 stations that come in clear enough where i live that play my type of music....
 
I have XM in the 04 TL and it is the shit!!! Clear commercial free channels with no static and GREAT sound!! I love it. The only downside is the $10 a month but i think it is worth it.
 
I rented a car that had XM radio in it. It was kinda cool being able to listen to music regardless of where I was but don't be fooled. There are still commercials played like adverts for new artists albums or upcoming concerts that may or may not be in your area. You will also loose the signal just like regular radio. The cool thing is that it's uncensored programming so you get the real thing. That could be a bad thing if you have young children though.

My 2 cents
 
My mechanic also drives a rig, and sawears by xm. Same channels coast to coast. Gets fuzzy through tunnels though. He said its allways clear as long as he is on a highway, or near one.
 
[quote name='daphatty']I rented a car that had XM radio in it. It was kinda cool being able to listen to music regardless of where I was but don't be fooled. There are still commercials played like adverts for new artists albums or upcoming concerts that may or may not be in your area. You will also loose the signal just like regular radio. The cool thing is that it's uncensored programming so you get the real thing. That could be a bad thing if you have young children though.

My 2 cents[/quote]

When did you rent the car? Since febuary i think it is XM has become commercial free and there aren't any commercials. I have not really had much of a problem with reception, yes I have lost it for a few seconds a few times but nothing at all like normal radio. And only some of the channels are uncensored, ie the hardcore hip hop channels, but most are censored.
 
I like XM. There is a hardware commitment (about $100 I think) before you can listen to anything, so if you end up not liking it you are stuck with a receiver that can't be used for anything else.

Normal radio has SO many commercials these days-more often than not you are listening to a DJ or an annoying commercial instead of music. There is a good variety of music stations on XM. Go to xmradio.com to see the channel listing.

Sirius is the other option, but I've heard the sound quality is compressed-not sure if that is still true or not.
 
Hmm. Does anyone know how good reception is in New York City? I mainly want it for my dorm next year, because the NY radio stations here all suck ass. The classic rock station has about 25 minutes of music an hour, and that may even be stretching it. The only time the radio in the NY area is ever good is at 5 pm, when Z100 is commercial free, but they usually play crappy songs during that time.

How is it with song library? I notice that the stations here seem to play about 5 old songs, and then have a few more newer songs, and then have a pretty small library which they just reply. What are the odds of me hearing the same song more than once a day on a rock station on XM?
 
personally i like SIRIUS better. If you got Dish Network, you get SIRIUS radio for FREE! Hard Attack is the best station(although it sounds like something that would be in a GTA game), because they play HARD music like Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Exhumed, and In Flames.
 
I have been tempted to jump on the Sattelite radio band wagon lately. Sirius is tempting me more and more. They have all the NFL games. Being a native Minnesotan living in Oklahoma I pretty much am stuck with Cowboys and Kansas City Football on TV. Sirius also has all the NBA games so I can hear the T-Wolves when they are not on TV. Oh so tempting. When they start offering cheaper/free hardware with committments of a year or more I will not be able to hold back.
 
[quote name='Stargun007']Hmm. Does anyone know how good reception is in New York City? I mainly want it for my dorm next year, because the NY radio stations here all suck ass. The classic rock station has about 25 minutes of music an hour, and that may even be stretching it. The only time the radio in the NY area is ever good is at 5 pm, when Z100 is commercial free, but they usually play crappy songs during that time.

How is it with song library? I notice that the stations here seem to play about 5 old songs, and then have a few more newer songs, and then have a pretty small library which they just reply. What are the odds of me hearing the same song more than once a day on a rock station on XM?[/quote]

Z100 plays the top 40 all day long, so they're not playing 'crappy.' They have much more than 1 commercial free hour during the day, too.

Best thing about XM--you can see the name of the band, station, and name of the song with the click of a button.
 
Z100 plays the top 40 all day long, so they're not playing 'crappy.' They have much more than 1 commercial free hour during the day, too.
Click to expand...

A lot of the Top 40 is crap. Occasionally you can hear some decent stuff, but I can't stand a lot of the rap and pop that's on there. And I forgot about the 8 o'clock one, simply because I usually listen to the radio in my car, and 8pm is not a time I seem to be driving at on weekdays.
 
I have XM installed in my car--it's awesome!!! I honestly can't really think of any negatives and don't see what ppl are talking about with their criticism. You hear some commercials--a few times a week. The music selection is great. If you're a fan of classic rock--or anything for that matter--you'll love XM!!! Also, like someone mentioned before, with a push of a button, you can find out the artist and song name of the current music. XM=AWESOME!!!
 
[quote name='Mustang O-Line 75']What's wrong with Kansas City football? huh?

(I'm a huge chiefs fan)[/quote]

That's cool.

It's just I don't really care about the Chiefs, that's all.



Check their websites for current promotions.

Also, if you have the upfront cash, Sirius has lifetime subscription option. Never pay a bill again! That's is something I would jump all over. After 5 years, its payed for.
 
[quote name='Stargun007']Hmm. What's cheaper- XM or Sirius? Any deals someone can give me on either one would be awesome.[/quote]

XM is cheaper
 
I had XM, made them cancel it, refund my hardware, and I offered to let them put their radio right up their ass.

Its a great idea, $10 a month, no commercials.. however they play NOTHING you want to hear.. every channel is crap music, crap comedy or crap talk radio. I mostly listen to country and I can honestly count the number of times (In 4 months) that I heard a popular song on one hand.
 
[quote name='BigNick']Isnt there a new digital radio out? If your car stereo has a decoder buit in?[/quote]
Yes my car has it..is pretty cool to see the artist/song scroll across the radio.

Anyone else have any feeback as far as Satellite Radio goes though? I want to get it..i dont know if i should get XM or Serius. Anyone else???
 
you have a good point about the repitition of the radio. i hate it too. XM I heard is alot better because you can choose your own type of music and i think it's commercial free not sure though
 
I dunno. Free Radio is good. While I'm not that most well traveled, from where I have listened to OTA radio Philly has some of the best rock and talk stations. So, I'm very happy. But I have been to markets where radio just stinks. So I guess it's YMMV.

From an piece 60 Minutes did on XM it was stated that XM wanted to be to Radio like HBO is to TV. I know a lot of people that swear by HBO. But to me, there's plenty enough on my 60+ channels to find something. And if nothings on, I always have Cspan! I feel the same about XM. There's always soemthing on regular radio and if all else fails there's 610 WIP for sports talk.
 
My wife got XM for her car, then two weeks later I wanted one. Have two now.
Love 'em.
'There's always something on regular radio.' That's true. In my case, it's always crap. We theoretically get about 30 channels, AM and FM. 10 of them are religious music or talk. 6 are 'rock', three of which are new rock, which I hate, and one is 'soft rock' which puts me to sleep. One is college, which is good some of the time. 8 or 10 are country, which I don't mind, but not that much. And about 6 are 'urban', ie, hiphop which I can't stand. Not to mention up to 22 minutes of commercials an hour.
XM offers 68 commercial free music channels; I have heard precisely three songs on XM that I *ever* heard on the radio. I have heard I believe 3 repeats on XM, and that was over a three week period.
If you like 'popular', which is generally 'whatever Clear Channel decides to play', yes, you will be disappointed in XM. I like a little variety with my music. The radio stations around me will *never* play Dead Kennedys, Anti-Heros, The Damned, PiL, Foetus, etc. And that's just off one channel 'Fungus.' Heck, I even enjoy listening to 'Audio Visions' [sort of the Enya/Tangerine Dream 'new age' stuff. Very relaxing, which helps to counter the punk on Fungus.]
Go here to see what's playing on XM right now:
http://xmfan.com/guide.php
Hit that a few times throughout the day, and see if it's stuff you would like to listen to. I enjoy listening to stuff I'm not familiar with and discovering new bands/sounds. I've even enjoyed the clean/notclean comedy channels recently, playing anything from old Laugh-In skits to Bill Cosby, Jeff Foxworthy, Dennis Miller, Guido Sarducci, etc. Right now Laugh is playing a Woody Allen piece.
Free radio is good at least pricewise, but at least in my market, unless I like 'New Alternative' or 'Hip Hop' or 'Country', I'm out of luck. Sometimes things are worth paying for--satellite radio, IMHO, is one of those things.

The ten bucks a month--how many CD's do you buy a month? That's less than one cd, and offers you exposure to millions of songs, plus special programming. [They did an all-Ramones day a while back, and on D-Day, they played ~36 hours or so of D-day broadcasting straight from the history books.]

You can go here http://xmorsirius.com/ for some info and comparatives on the two providers.
XM offered a wider playlist and was cheaper in hardware and monthly cost than XM. Both provider's websites will let you sample their wares.

Do you travel? You can travel the country and still listen to the same 'channel' with the same type of programming, rather than having to tune into 'East Podunk's Farm Report' or 'Brother Jim's Traveling Salvation Show' [No offense intended to anyone who listens to those, just saying choice is good.]

XM beats the crap off of 'regular' radio, at least in my market [Raleigh NC] and based on my tastes.
 
[quote name='daphatty']I rented a car that had XM radio in it. It was kinda cool being able to listen to music regardless of where I was but don't be fooled. There are still commercials played like adverts for new artists albums or upcoming concerts that may or may not be in your area. You will also loose the signal just like regular radio. The cool thing is that it's uncensored programming so you get the real thing. That could be a bad thing if you have young children though.

My 2 cents[/quote]

FWIW, I don't consider those 'commercials.' Some of the channels do have dj's, who speak, based on my experience, at most 5 minutes an hour. And generally they speak about the bands, or upcoming tours, or listener's requests, something musically related, not just telling jokes and laughing at the other dj's [unfunny] jokes like FM.
And XM does *sometimes* have other-channel-adverts on a channel, where they mention programming on another channel. I don't define that the same way as I do the constant car or grocery store commercials on FM. Plus, Xm channel 1 is a 'sampler' channel--it tells you how to call in to activate your radio, and talks briefly about each channel XM offers.
I have lost my signal in three places so far--once, in my garage [if I pull out even a foot, it's fine]; in about a 25 square foot area on the bottom floor of my parking deck at work; and for about 1 second while passing under a bridge. I even get a good signal in the house with the home kit, with the antenna 5 feet from the window just aimed outside.
Regarding the uncensored programming: This is true. Some channels are marked 'XL' in that they might have extreme language [Fungus, the punk station, and the Adult Comedy channel are two I know of offhand.] But you can call XM and have them block certain channels--I assume your choice--on certain radios so this won't even be an accidental issue.
 
The reception also depends on the hardware hook-up you have, if you use the non-digital connection to connect to your existing radio in car then your reception is gonna suck , it will sound like any other FM station just better music: But if you have a XM-Sirius decoder Head Unit then you will recieve the digital service direct.
 
To be accurate, the reception itself might be fine in that case, where you'll see the loss is when the signal gets sent from the satellite receiver to the head unit/stereo.
Like putting a CD in a CD player and listening to it either via an Onkyo receiver or a set of Dollar Store headphones.
In the house my sat receiver is set up with the RCA miniplugs hooked to my HT receiver. In my wife's car, she uses the wireless FM modulator, and I have the cassette adapter in my car. No, those aren't optimal hookups, but the sound varies from good to pretty good, and what I'm hearing is much better than on FM.
 
Santurio- that brought up my issue. I went over to a local car audio shop today at lunch and the man was explaining the setups for me. It seems most of the units rely on the wireless fm link which your not gunna get any better sound. If i dont have a radio that has the decoder built in what other options do i have?
 
Depends on what hardware you get. With the Roady/Roady2 you can use a cassette adapter [included with the Roady/Roady2 I believe].
With the SkyFi you can use he Car Kit which is a cassette adaptor.
Or you could get a PIE adapter like this one
http://www.xmfanstore.com/showproduct.php?id=pieoem
Note: I didn't do that. I'm using the 'basic' install with the supplied adapters and have no problems. I have no idea how difficult it is to install those PIE things, or what it entails, I just know there are ways to directly plug the Sat REceiver into your car stereo, depending on what your stereo has for inputs.
 
I have two XM systems. Got one in my car almost two years ago.. Then when my wife got her car, I bought a Roady for hers. I love it. I couldn't stand hearing the same old shite all the time on regular FM. With XM, I can listen to all different types of stuff and I wind up getting to hear bands that I never hear anymore on FM or new bands before they break. It's well worth it.

As for reception, I never have issues. The satellites are located in the south western US so if you are up in a mountain in PA or NY and you go behind something, you might get a couple seconds of drop out, but that's it. Invest in it, you won't regret it.
 
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