XM Radio or Serrius Radio

[dacflyer]

are these 2 services using the same satalite ?

do they both recieve the same stations

i am wanting to get me a system, but unsure if its worth it..
like how often do they repeat the same songs a day.
and if they carry any european programming..
i looked on their sites, and cannot find my answers, and calling them only led me to some bad speaking person reading off of a computer screen.
i even tried to see if the sites had any way of listening to sample stations before comitting to a contract.

comments please....

[bigkim100]

Oh come on.......you havnt done your homework AT ALL
1)Neither have the same programming
2)Neither have the same monthly fees3)neither use the same hardwareAll of this could have been found out by either visiting their websites
...or visiting any one of the thousands of retailers that sell their products (most if not all carry both side-by-side) and opening up each companies literature to see what they carry.
Who really gives a damn what specific satellite they are on...which is why some poor guy that gets paid $6.00 an hour in a call center couldnt tell you what satellite their service is on.....nobody cares!!!!!!.
You purchase a receiver...activate it, install it...or hook it up...and magically music and talk appears.
Did you pick your am/fm stations on what exciter their transmitter used?. If you call up your local AM/FM station....will the person who answers the phone know the name of the company that made their transmitter..or even where their transmitter is?????????.
Come on...at least do a micron of work on your own before asking a question.
I own both sSirius and XM services and receivers....and Sirius outshines XM...hands down....PERIOD! I realise that this is simply a matter of taste...and you can get hundreds of people that will agree with me, and hundreds that wont.
As far as receiving capabilities (aka what satellite they originate from) both are exactly the same...in all ways.
The lack...or minimizing commercials is the best aspect of both services. When listening to Howard Stern, for example...its hard to imagine that often you can hear 90 minutes of programming.....before hearing 5 minutes woth of commercials. Just try getting that on terrestrial radio!!!!! where often 10 minutes of progranmming is often followed by 10 minutes of commercials...or more!!!!.

[bigkim100]

And a quick check of both Sirius and XM websites...list exactly what world-wide programming they have....BBC. CBC, PBS, ETC, ETC....This can also be found in the pamphlets that are available at any retailer that sells the product...so I dont quite understand why you cant find programming info.As far as repeated programming...songs...etc.... it depends on what you are listening to. For example Howard Stern is repeated 4x a day, while MAD DOG humour is repeated 2x a day. Music channels seem to only repeat a song 2x a day...but again...it depends on how popular a song is. Public response may demand a song is played many times a day...but lets be honest...nobody in ANY programming department will answer that question...no matter if its am/fm/CBS/NBC/BBC etc., etc. of exactly what song, and when it will be repeated.

[bigkim100]

Oh...and as far as trying their product...when I purchased my systems (again...both operate in my truck side-by-side) both came with a 30 day trial period. I dont know if this is the case NOW..but it was a few months ago. As well...MOST if not ALL retailers have both systems working...side by side in the store...allowing you to listen to both. Every Best Buy that I have ever visited, as well as Radio Shack, have active radios from both companies.

[bigkim100]

sorry to harp 0n...BUT I LOOOOVE SATELLITE RADIO.As far as if its worth it...again...you will get a hundred of people that will agree and disagree with me...but I pay approximatly $6.00 a month for SIRIUS (by far my FAVORITE)...and a few cents more for XM...and in my opinion THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY WORTH EVERY CENT ( I paid for 4 years worth of service in advance to get this fee)
Lack, or minimization of commercials
Receipion....no matter how far I travel...In can travel for hundreds of Kilometers...in any direction...and not even hear a single dropout
The ability to receive EXACTLY what I want to hear...is the BEST ASPECT. If I want to hear talk...I go to talk...if I want to hear humour...i go to humour, disco...if I want to hear disco.....etc etc etc

[dacflyer]

well the 2 places i went to here had set ups..but no actual signal indoors.. they were just playing samples..
thats why i didn't get info i was looking for.. and as far as any euro programming.. all i found was world music, that wasn't nothing european..
and anything else i think i found was news from europe..

i tried to get the trial version on my computer,,but found out its not working on my computer. because i do not use XP here..go figgure..lol
i will search elsewhere and see what i can find.. maybe someone else here has one..

thanks for your input anyway.
and yes i did do some searching.. but didn;t find what i was looking for and i also said that them operators aren;t no help either..

[haklesup]

Try googling "satellite radio forum"

If it makes sound or has a picture the AVS forum is hard to beat though there were many others that look good too.

Here's a link to their sattellite radio discussions.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=101

Once you decide on a network, the next descision is which player model. The forums have lots on that topic too. Just remember to search before you post to avoid flames.

Unless you are looking for an exclusive program like Howard Stern show the two seem pretty evenly matched to me (though I own neither). I think XM still has bigger market share but that shouldn't matter, both seem like they'll last a while yet. If you're on the fence, it might just come down to who has a better promo when you purcahse or which player you like to own (as well as the player features)

At times they practically give the players away for service contracts, try it for a year and switch if your dissatisfied. Most of the portable players are strictly recievers and you have to line in to something to listen without headphones. I think a home reciever version kind of defeats the purpose of wide area reception unless it's not your only reciever.

Personally I'm not into music listning enough to justify it. I only listen in the car and my commute is 10 min each way. Now if it worked in Asia and Europe same as the US, I might be more interested since there is a derth of english programming on TV or radio when you leave North America. A whole week of CNN headline news and HBO can get boring.

Indoor use requires an external antenna and I don't know why best buy didn't have one. Maybee the display was too far from a wall or window.

BTW, a friend had his XM player stolen recently. XM cust service locked it out and sold him a new one for well below retail. Afterall, they don't want to loose a customer. No idea what Serius would have done but I bet they would do the same.

A round about way to get that european programming (and still be portable) would be to listen using internet radio, a cellular modem and a small laptop. Not exactly compact. I never tried but an internet cell phone might recieve it directly. Anybody got a web enabled phone? can you steam audio or is it strictly page viewing? There are also a few internet radio enabled boom boxes for convenient home listning.

[bigkim100]

Yes, interior receivers require a antenna, but the way that they now get around it is that if you subscribe, you can go to the website, and listen there, instead of using the radio, by plugging in your subscription number.
The streams for people tht do not have a subsciption are limited, because if you can listen on the website...why buy a subscription.
XM has a SLIGHTLY larger share, only because they were on-air 1 year before Serius. Here in Canada where both started the same day, Serius has a considerably larger subscription base.
To be very honest...I spend more time at home and work listening to Sirius on my computer than in my car.
AS far as receiver cost, and worry about theft.....I paid $19.99 for my receiver, I have the rock-bottom of the line unit, that is about the size of a pack of cards, that only has a small display, that shows the channel that Im on (although still has a remote contol, a ac power supply, and antenna included). More expensive units have up to 2 hour digital recording time, advanced displays, etc, etc.
To be honest..once the XM subscription lapses...Ill be dropping XM in favour of 100% Sirius.AGAIN...I luv my satellite radio....and will never again listen to Terrestrial radio (which I havnt done now in over 2 years) PERIOD!

[dacflyer]

Indoor use requires an external antenna and I don't know why best buy didn't have one. Maybee the display was too far from a wall or window.

they didn;t..

i cannot listen to the trial here on my computer..because i do not have XP..
but i will try it when i goto work tomorrow,, maybe the comp at work might do it,,but the city has the internet choked badly,, its less than dial up speed...lol

i want to try it also..because FM stations drive me nuts with commercials,, especially the ones about debt , car commercials and lawyers...Grrrrr

thanks for your time......

[GoingFastTurningLeft]

XM does have a free trial thing online, and a free limited selection through another route.

I haven't gotten it yet, but the XM online 30 day trial is 69 stations and the page said it would work through media player... haven't tried that.

If you download winamp (www.winamp.com) and go into media library, then on the menu on the left go down to the internet radio stations. Under there, there is an option for "Aol radio". Under AOL radio are about 20 XM radio stations. Nothing too out there but good selections.

I listen to Channel 40 - Deep Tracks all day at work after I plugged the proxy info from IE into winamp. The only repeats I've heard in the last few weeks are the 'celebrity' hosted shows, which they repeat 3 or 4 times through the week, like Tom Petty's buried treasure or Bob Dylan's theme time radio hour.

[ian]

This might help you decide...........

Serius has Howard Stern
XM has Oprah

how easy does that make it?

[Dean Huster]

And it ain't radio. It should more properly be called XM RF. Since the 1920s, "radio" has evolved to define terrestrial broadcast programming more than the technical method of transmitter-to-receiver broadcasting. It's just too sterile to suit a guy like me who enjoys the bliss of tuning a Philco 40-180 through the BCB at night.

When listening to Howard Stern, for example...its hard to imagine that often you can hear 90 minutes of programming.....before hearing 5 minutes woth of commercials.

That IS hard to imagine. I can only imagine the sweet savor of that 5 minutes of commercials after being subjected to that idiot for an hour-and-a-half. I think the Oprah vs. Stern option is infinitely better and I can't stand her, either!

Dean