Plain and simple, what are the pro's and con's to XM & Sirius (i.e. more stations, better quality/reception, etc.). I looked in this forum and didn't find a thread as direct as this. If you haven't tried both, then please only list the negatives of what you have tried because the positives are incomparable if you have nothing to compare them to (i.e. quality).

Thanks.

 

Well having Sirius Radio is been the best thing I have ever owned. I love the sound qualitly and also the station selection. I feel it has a lot better the XM. I work for a car dealership that sells every car they make and I get to use both radios and still feel Sirius is better. I have always found a better sound selection and stations for the Sirius. Just my two cents....

 

Its all dependant on what you listen to. If you listen to classic/modern rock, then there is no comparision and Sirius is for you. THere was an article some months back from Edmunds.com that compared the two, and gave the upper hand to sirius in the long run. I personally have had both, done the research, cancelled my XM and even own stock in sirius now. I have 5 sirius units in 5 different cars and for intense purposes, can't stand to ride in a car without it. On the other hand, I can't find anything I want to listen to on XM

 

I have both Sirius & XM. My wife & I both like the Sirius better. Sirius plays more music that you will be familiar with where XM has deeper play lists and you will see a lot of music you have never heard of before. i n other words you will hear more repeated songs on Sirius. Next time you go to walmart go to the satellite radio booth they have setup and scroll through both the xm and Sirius by category where it shows who's playing on each channel you will recognize way more artists on Sirius. I just recently got hooked on the Maxim channel (145) it has hilarious talk shows where people call in. and they play good music on it as well. also both have free trials online of the music channels you could try out. Once you go Sirius you will never be able to go back to regular radio again.

ds

 

If you want mostly unbiased opinions, go to www.xm411.com forums. Many sirius people go there because it is the most up to date info around. Many people there have both services and/or own stock in both.

Here's the big overview:

Technology--xm has smaller, more portable units with many more features.

Business plan--sirius is flat broke, yet they keep spending money. XM knows how to run a business, and their stances on wall street reflect this. $35 a share for xm stock, $6.70 for sirius. I'd hate to invest in a system and find the company out of business or begging for a merger in a year or two. Sirius also has an enron-like way of fudging their books--they count OEM installed car units as subscriptions, even though they aren't (and many won't be) activated.

Music selection--xm has a much much larger song library than sirius. xm also tends to have channel specific songs; on sirius you will hear many of the same songs on different channels. If you want to hear the same songs over and over again, why not stay on normal radio?

Sports programming--Sirius has NFL, the games for which are at days and times when everybody is at home watching them on TV; the reason xm doesn't waste the money on it. See business plan above. Sirius also has NBA. If you are a big NBA fan, I feel sorry for you, but you belong at sirius then. Both companies carry NHL hockey this season and next, after that, NHL is strictly on xm for 8 more years. The NHL was one of Sirius's biggest bragging rights, but they couldn't afford to make the deal at a measly 10 million a year (hoo hoo stern will be getting 100 million a year). With both services just getting permission to work in canada, snagging hockey just locked up the canadian market for XM before it even opened. Once again, refer to Business Plan. Major league baseball is on xm and only on xm. Hockey and baseball are big draw sports with minimal tv coverage during the week when most of the games are. again, this goes back to business plan.
College football and basketball are carried on both; sirius carries 26 schools, but they don't publicize what they are. Perhaps one of the sirius folks could tell us what they are. XM carries the big conferences; ACC, PAC-10, and the only one that matters, the Big 10 conference.

Howard Stern--Sirius will be carrying the howard stern show in January. Unfortunately, to pay his salary, they are sacrificing quality programming (such as hockey). Personally, I think he is worthless. He had his hayday over a decade ago. I used to be a big fan. Gave up on him long ago. All he does anymore is whine and moan and surround himself with untalented people to feed his ego. When he does get to satellite, he will have no more excuses. He can no longer blame the FCC, etc. for his lack of a good show as he's done for the last 5 years. Don't forget, he will only be on four days a week and will have at least 8 weeks of vacation + holidays off the air in addition to fridays off. What a work ethic, he really cares about his listeners. Also, his breaks will be the same 20 minutes long as they are now; if sirius can convince advertisers to spend the money, they will cram every commercial possible into his show. Most likely the commercials will branch back out into other channels as well. The guy running the show at Sirius (Mel Karmizin) is a commercial radio guy. All he knows is how to run a radio company to generate advertising money. Most people go to sattelite because they are sick of 20 minutes of commercials every hour. If you want something original, real, and funny, check out the Opie and Anthony show on XM 202. These are the guys that howard steals much of his material from. Ron and Fez are also on with O&A, they are more of a 'normal' talk show, but still fabulous. The outrageous talk programming of xm and sirius will expand more and more in the very near future. Howard stern is guiding Sirius's choices, Opie and anthony are guiding xm's choices. O&A are choosing quality programs that they've had a long term respect for. Howard is choosing shows he's spent years bashing over and over again. He needs to keep his ego going, so he won't put a show on that has a chance of having more listeners than his. Think of it this way, how would you feel if your favorite sports team spent most of its budget on an old, washed up player that hasn't had a good season in 5 years just because of his name, instead of investing that $ on getting a lot more young promissing talent?

 

Thats the typical xm stock owner overview. Only problem is, the actual analyst articles don't much reflect that. Take the Motley fool for one. Not only do they like it, they own it. And that business plan you speak of, and XM's is all that different and better isn't it?

http://www.satellitesense.com/sirius-vs-xm.html

A quick break down from a non-biased writer. It goes both ways.

 

Go to the XM and Sirius web sites and try them free online for a month.

I preferred Xm, I like the MLB, soon i will like the NHL. Nascar is the same as what you get on regular MLRN radio. I also like the special live concerts. If i could get a receiver what played both then i would subscribe to Sirius also.

 

Really? can you show me a few?

what the heck are you trying to say?

Great link. The info in it is only a couple of years old and incorrect. Great job!

You honestly think Sirius's uncontrolled spending is good for stockholders?

 

I am listening to Opie and Anthony show on the XM trial, I also have a Sirius trial, but don't listen really. This Opie and Anthony show is ok, not enough to get me to buy XM for this show only but maybe it will get funnier as time goes on, right now it's just interesting. I am a tech freak, quality is quality to me and I would go with Sirius atm, I hope there are some funny shows to listen to on Sirius, I need something to keep me awake sometimes.

 

This radio show is getting better, I like the trashing of the Mathematicians daughter Ah great, I'm going to get addicted and get this rediculous quality XM. The callers audio goes in and out, fluxuates in volume, very unprofessional and I don't think it's cause I'm listening on the internet because the hosts sound fine.

 

the O&A show is not one you can make an opinion on by listening once or twice; it is a very 'inside' show. The funniest stuff you will not 'get' right away. The more you listen, the more it grows on you. And the show you are listening to now was one of their worst ones in a long time. They admit when they're having a bad show, and they did just that several times yesterday. That show was really a train wreck.

a few of their xm segments can be downloaded online here:

http://oavirus.com/xm-oav/xm-oav.html

I highly reccomend "edmund fitzgerald", "celine Dion audio", "the pervert switch" and "killer news tease" for a non-frequent listener to enjoy.

If you do not get offended by ANYTHING, then I suggest "paul McCartney news" and "paul and denise sex stories"


These are compressed mp3's from a recorded internet stream, so don't judge sound quality on them.

The official xm releases are here:
official releases

Most of the clips in here are interviews; not overly funny. The best stuff here is without a doubt "opie and anthony edited for TV", various stern toolings, and the tony danza clips.

 

forgot to mention, sports/talk/news programming on both services is compressed at a higher rate to save bandwidth; don't judge sound quality from them.

 

Sirius difenetly! O own a sirius and my bud has a xm and he says he likes mine better.I know other people who are gonna awitch from xm when their subscription is up! Opie and Anothy suck ! I don't care what you say. Bubba the love sponge was better and he sucked too! Mike Church Show sirius channel 142 is what I listen too. With sirius you don't have to pay extra for different channels , you get them all for one price.

 

Inbred, if you are looking at stock prices, I used to own XMSR. I bought it at close to $11 a share. Then it tanked. I held on to it. After about 12-18 months it climbed back out of the cellar. I sold it too soon, at $25, as it is at $35 today. Oh well. I dumped all that into Sirius at $2 a share. It's now sitting in at about $6.70, trending upward similiar to what XMSR did. Both SIRI and XMSR are analysit listed as 'BUY'. It takes a little time to recoup the huge expense of developing satellites, generating programming, and getting quality content. XM hit the airwaves first, where Sirius is about a year behind.
Only last weekend did I finally install a unit in my truck. Since I only have a few days experience with the actual service, I'm gonna wait to pass any judgements, but am more than pleased so far with the signal of Sirius (and since I don't have XM) as compared to a CD, if not better. Only the occasional bridge cuts the signal, and I can't figure that out yet, because not all bridges interfere with the signal...

 

um yep, same with xm.