XM or Sirius?
 

I half-ass tried a search and found nothing useful.
so here it is:
I want to get some sat radio, but do not know what the differences are between the 2 big guys. Which is better? how are they different?
I want to get a plug and play unit that I can use in my car and in my home stereo.
Any feedback?

thanks for the help.

XM came with my car. I don't use it. I listened a couple times, but it just doesn't have any music that I like. I actually think it has everything *except* the music I like. That's not saying anything to compare either because Sirrius doesn't have my kinda music either.

right now it's all about content since the two providers have exclusive deals for content. IMO XM is the larger of the two.

MTV, VH1, Playboy Radio is exclusive to XM.

Discovery Radio is on XM and Sirius.

If you want high quality music and lots of it, Sirius is the only way to go. Sirius broadcast quality is 98% of full CD audio, whereas XM is 128k MP3. Sirius also gives you 60 commercial free streams of music, and XM only gives you 40. Sirius also uses a ground based repeater system of towers to complement the satellites. You'll have less (if any) dead spots with Sirius. Sirius' system is also far more advanced than XM's. Their system can handle up to 300 commercial free music streams (still at 98% of CD audio) with no upgrades. XM cannot claim that. As far as exclusive content is concerned, NFL radio is exclusive to Sirius. They also lowered their price to $9.99 per month to compete with XM.

My main concern when buying my system was which one I though Howard Stern would jump to. I wound up buying Sirius, and he wound up staying on the air.

Funny thing is, the deck also had MP3 capability, and now that I can put around 160 songs on one CD, I haven't even bothered to subscribe to Sirius. I probably will once the NFL season starts, though.

I'm on XM with an XMPCR. I also use the eXtremePCR software. I like the alerts it gives when a favorite artist or song comes on. I catch quite a bit of good rock and jazz that way.

I often listen to BBC world service and CNN.

XM has repeaters in metropolitan areas. I wish they'd get a few more, though. In lower Manhattan the reception via repeater is spotty at times and it's almost impossible to get the satellite through most of the newer metalized windows.

You can check out xmfan.com. There's some good discussions going on over there and they don't hesitate to bash XM's weak points.

Also of note, Sirius has an exclusive on NPR.

thanks for all the input. It looks like I may go with sirius. I am in my car a lot and I am tired of my CD's and local radio. I do listen to NPR frequently.
I can see myself using it in my home as well.
THanks again.
If you have more comments keep them coming, I am reading.

I will pay for xm or sirus the day Mark and Brian (LA talkshow) broadcast there. San Diego doesn't get them and it really sucks.

Very weird.. I came here looking to make a post asking about whether XM or Sirius was better, and such a post already was at the top of the forum.

Anyway, Sirius' deal with the NFL and the fact that they will cover all games is a big draw for me.

However, XM seems to offer the better selection in terms of Sports stations.

But I did have a hardware related question.

I know that there are car adapters, head units, and antennas available for cars, and even the home, but I was wondering if there is a small, handheld, Sirius radio that can be used like a walkman or discman?

Basically, I'd like to listen to Sirius when I go for a walk, a run, or when I chill at the library.. Does such a device exist, or can you only get the radio through the home or car adapters?

Just to be clear.. All I am looking for is a personal and small radio that gets the Sirius stations, and that I could plug some headphones into. Does such a device exist?

Sorry for the repetetion.. I just want to make sure it's clear what I'm asking for, because I would consider this for my car, but if I could get a personal radio that supported Sirius, that would be sweet, because my local radio carries about 2 stations well, and I'd like to have more.

Thanks!

XM came with my GMC Sierra when I bought it, and I'm happy to say I like it. However I have a friend who has Sirius and I ride with him a lot.

Your main concern is reception. XM covers all of the continental US, while Sirius does a figure 8 type formation (leaving out certain parts of the midwest. )

Reception with either one in a metropolitan area is good. But if you travel back roads, long stretches of highway, or live in a non metro area you have problems with Sirius. Audio quality, regardless of what anyone says, is about the same, however XM does have a slight leg up on Sirius (however Sirius recently bought the company that produced their encryption and ripping codecs, and audio quality is improving).

I'm not sure about Sirius, but I know all of XM's music channels are commercial free.

Now I'm not sure if SIrius does this, but I know XM plays a lot of artists that aren't being played on regular radio stations (aka Clear Channel owned or operated). Plus XM has more stations than Sirius that don't censor the lyrics (atleast for rock). The DJs are awesome for both and in all likelyhood you can listen for hours on end without hearing the same old loop! (atleast thats been my experience with XM)

XM is better IMO, but you have to see what both offer in terms of stations. Find somebody who has Sirius or XM and see what you like on there.

-Edit-
Also, look at the pice for service. I believe Sirius is $14.95 a month and XM is $9.95 a month. Both offer discounts if you get multiple years of service (like 2 yrs for the price of one and a half)

The commercials that they do have plug other programming events on the channel. These appear in the "decades" channels and a couple others that have a "live" announcer. There aren't many.

The live concerts are great. Hell, XM Live even had an interview with Peter Frampton last week.

If you have multiple radios, the second one is $6.99.

I love my XM radios! (I bought another XMPCR just for home ;-) I admit it. I'm a geek. )

That's really good info folks, thank you!

I'd really love a personal hand-held (think walkman) device I could get satellite radio through, but I guess such a device isn't available yet.

I just think it would be amazing to be able to go running or just be "outside" and be able to get all those radio channels with such clarity.

This is something I am going to seriously consider, because I always listen to Sporting News radio on my comp, and can't get a signal anywhere else around here.

I'd get it in a second if a portable device was available, but after contacting Sirius they said that their partners that make the hardware are looking into a portabie possbility; although I assume that is a long way off yet, as nothing has been announced.

Thanks and take care.

XM has a much larger user base, since they have partnered with GM, BMW, etc. XM seems to have a lot larger cashflow because of this as well. I have XM and love it; I never listen to local radio because of XM. Also, XM has recently incorporated Weather and Traffic forcasts on the 200+ channels for major cities.

I am going to have to contradict some of the things you have stated. First off Sirius is $12.95 per month if you go month to month, and they give discounts if you sign a contract for a year or 2 years. I know you are mistaken in saying that XM's sound quality is superior to that of Sirius. As I stated before, Sirius streams at 98% of full CD audio (think 320k MP3...) and XM broadcasts all 128k MP3. All of Sirius' music channels are commercial free, they only air short commercials for upcoming special events on Sirius. Sirius also plays "underground" type music on the channel "Left of Center." Sirius does not censor any of the content.

My hearing may not be perfect, but its far from being bad, and I really can't tell the difference between XM and CD at 70mph in a car with road noise. I think that would be a moot point unless you're a serious audiophile.

My situation kinda "stuck" me with XM, as I have a Pioneer aftermarket stereo in my car and they have XM tuners that interface right into the stereo so you have no extra controls to screw around with.

Overall I enjoy XM. I think I've only clicked back over to AM a couple of times to follow up on some local news, weather and traffic. I don't know how long it's been since my radio's seen the FM band, though. I haven't found the perfect station for me, yet, though, and I doubt I ever will. Shameless site plug here, but I stream the "Beat Blender" station on www.somafm.com just because I find the music relaxing yet it keeps a nice beat and makes for relaxing background music while on the computer.

My honest opinion about the XM PRC, waste of money unless you're still stuck with a slow Internet connection. There are so many online streaming radio stations that if you can't find the "perfect" station then you just aren't looking hard enough.

And in response to your last post, brandon11983, XM does not censor any content on their channels (though you can have the "XL" channels blocked by calling customer service), but unless the channel has the "XL" designation, you'll hear the radio edits of songs with explicit lyrics.

I wasn't saying that XM censored their content, merely that Sirius did not either. Sorry if it came across that way.

XM Radio is adding Public Radio International!

They're adding Opie and Anthony as well, as a premium channel ($1.99?), but I'm not as enthused about that.

Finally having Public radio is fantastic. They'll have This American Life, WGBH, others. Man, I am jazzed!

Check their site for the latest

I've had both, XM in my old car, Sirius in my new car (came with receiver), and so far I like Sirius better. They just have more music that I actually like.

xmfanstore is selling xmpcrs without antennas for $15. It might seem silly, but if you already have an xm radio with a compatible antenna (single wire), this is a chance to add one to the computer.

Having it on a PC is great.

I have XM. It's what my Pioneer Avic-N1 supports. The music is CD Quality..

I would personally go with Sirius over xm, I had xm for a while but I began to hear patterns in the music all the time. It was getting to the point were I could predict what the next song would be on any given station... I haven't had that problem with sirius yet...

but here is a link to a cnet review that brakes down there services a little. Like they say if you are a christian rock fan then xm is the way to go, if you like talk stations then it leans towards sirius. Here ya go enjoy :)

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6466_7-...4.html?tag=dir

Go with Sirius over XM.

New: 24/7 Emergency Information Channel on XM Radio, channel 247

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...32#post1409132

I bought a new clarion touchmedia deck about 6 months ago and they had a promotion that they would give you a sirius satelite reciever for free with the purchase of a 1 yr contract to sirius. The reciever integrates with my clarion deck. The only reason I got satelite radio at all was the free deal.

The 1 yr contract was averaged 9.99 a month but also included 3 months free since I signed a 1 yr contract. Installing the antennae also cost me about $100(including the cost of the antenae).

I live in montana and moved there about 1 month after installing the deck and satelitte reciever. During the drive from san diego, CA to montana I did not encounter any coverage problems. I was able to listen to the radio the whole way. It also works flawlessly driving in the mountains of montana.

I dont know about the sound quality but I do know that I cant stand 128k mp3's. mp3 compressed music just does not have the emotion that a good CD has. Sirius isnt great either, but I have listened to XM in my uncles H2 and I feel the sound quality of sirius was better. Try this, burn some mp3's to an audio CD and play them in normal cd-audio format in your car. If you are satisfied with the sound quality, then you will probly be happy with XM's quality.

The biggest draw for me on the sirius radio is the exclusive NFL contract. This contract allows me, a transplanted chargers fan, to listen to my chargers announcer, not just the home team announcer. So a vikings fan(they are going to the superbowl but I dont think they can win) can listen to their vikings announcer, every vikings game of the season. Unlike directv's nfl sunday ticket, sirius' contract includes ALL games, including monday night football(sunday ticket doesnt include this which is just stupid). Sirius has ESPN and ESPN radio as well as a couple other sports stations. They also have a ch 124 which is NFL Radio. Its NFL, all day, every day. Its great. NFL Radio has a special segment pertaining just to fantasy football. Its a great channel.

I think the rock stations are also pretty good on sirius. I like classic rock(101 kgb fm was my station in san diego) and the classic rock channels (14/15) play some good tunes and they dont play the same song very often. I dont think I have heard them play the same song twice in one day.

Lastly, Sirius allows you to stream *most* of their channels over the internet FOR FREE. I believe all of the music channels can be streamed over the net. Only a couple talk stations can be streamed, and pretty much no sports stations may be streamed. I really wish they would stream their sports programming.

I think they also had exclusive rights to hockey and they had a contract for basketball. If they get the contract for mlb then this discussion is over. As it sits right now, sirius is the obvious choice for a sports fan. The only exclusive sports contract on XM I am aware of is NASCAR, and I love nascar but its not really enjoyable to LISTEN to racing. You have to be able to watch it.

In closing, I think the programming of sirius is better all around, but especially for sports and talk. XM is bigger just because of their GM contract. If sirius partners with ford(which is likely), they will be just as big, if not bigger, than XM.

edit: wanted to add that sirius has added weather and traffic for the 20 worst traffic congested cities in the US.

I have had XM for close to a year and was exicted when they announced back in Feb or MArch that all music stations were going commercial free. Well big friggin deal they still plug for other stations and what not on them, just no mortgage commercials or anything like that. All in all coverage has been great, sound quality has been top notch as well. As stated above I have to agree driving down the highway at 70+ MPH with windows down i seriously doubt you would notice or care if something was a 128 or 320 Mp3 quality stream.

The addition of the traffic stations has been of no interest to me at all I just never tune to them. The 4 sporting stations are all great ESPN, ESPNews, FoxSPorts, and Sporting News radio all kick ass. College football is here and I get Pac-10 ACC and Big Ten games each Saturday but am left traveling to a friends to watch the NFL games on DirecTV (no NFL for cable or XM users :( )


When I first got my unit I was looking into either, but just so happened to purchase a Pioneer head unit to put in my '96 Taurus and it was XM ready, so that is the route I took and honestly cannot say I have been upset or regret it one bit. Let me listen to Sirius for a bit and maybe I would find a reason to bash or hate on XM but as it stands right now I am happy with what I have

Streaming.... Who cares? XMPCR rocks! ;-)

Opie+Anthony on XM soon... I'd love to see Stern on there too..

i cant stand stern, but I would like to hear O&A. I never got a chance to hear them when they were broadcasting before.

does anyone have an archive of O&A broadcasts?

I heard that Sirius doesn't provide you the same portability of using the receiver in your car, home, or boat. Is this correct?

for both XM and sirius you have to purchase a contact for each reciever. So if you have a different reciever in your car, home, and boat then you need 3 different contacts. Both offer discounts for multiple recievers though.

Now, from what I understand, both offer recievers that are portable and can be plugged into a kind of 'docking station' for the reciever. The docking station is cheap and connects the reciever to your car, home, or boat.

I had Sirius for about a week. I loved the music they played but IMHO the SQ was junk! Of course I had this going through FM Modulation but during that week all I could think about is "What can I do to make this sound better?" All of the answers included bying more hardware. If its going to sound crappy to being with why not sell all the parts together? Plus the antenna looked like ass on my car and when the sunroof was open it was covered and reception sucked even more (obviously). Anyway I wouldn't think about getting either one unless its built in to the head unit.

I have an explorer. My reviewer does not need to use an FM Modulator. My antenna is not obstructed when the sunroof is open.

Did you install it yourself?

Personally, I dont understand why someone would listen to the music on either anyways. Rather than spend the $$$ for the satelite hardware, buy a deck that plays mp3 cd's and bring those with you.

I can't wait to step up to satelite radio. My budd is on XM and loves it, although I'm leaning towards Sirius based on posts in here. The reason you pay $10 a month rather than just bring in your MP3s in that it brings NEW music to you. It opens a whole lot of worlds and doors to bands and sounds you wouldn't maybe find or know about on your own. That's my thing. I love keeping up on new, good bands, and know that most magazines or local radio stations aren't going to do an adequate job of doing that for me. Most of my favorite artists are ones you wouldn't hear on commercial radio. So point is, I'd pay to make sure my horizens stay open and broad.

Sirius, now that Howard is going there.

Hardcore XM subscriber and fan, but basically the two are practically the same. You'll love either one, I believe, as long as you have relatively mainstream music tastes. Not that having non-mainstream music tastes is a bad thing, but from what I know of the programming they're not likely to be your cup of tea.

XM is larger, and in my opinion the only thing keeping Sirius alive is some deep-pocketed and stubborn backers. They've paid a fortune to get some of the things people have listed here as draws for them, and that's probably the only thing that's going to keep them alive long-term. Every Coke needs a Pepsi, and eventually we'll probably see hardware compatible with both.

Look at their programming, special features, hardware (and upcoming hardware), and take a leap. Anything that helps break the stranglehold of FM on the broadcast market is a good thing.

so far sirious has been awesome for me; at first i thought XM would win by Sirius rocks my face off
'

I love your avatar.

I have had XM for over a year now. I chose it over Sirius because they had the channels I wanted. I like hard rock and XM has one really heavy metel channel and another good hard rock channel. Sirius just didn't have anything like that.

I find myself listening to the sports stations the most though. The comedy channels are great. They play hillarious protions of both well known and unknown stand-up acts. Great for road trips.

XM has also just signed a deal with Major League Basebaal. ALL MLB games will be brodcast on XM starting next season.

I am in much agreement, SomaFM rocks! (or lulls as the case may be).
Alot of the music I'm now into (Zero 7, Beanfield) I first heard on Soma.

Over here (New Zealand) we're alloed to broadcast at low power on FM guard band freqs, added with the relativelys small size of our town/cities reception over a braod area is fairly possible. The idea of broadcasting a Soma stream so I can listen to it while I'm cruis'n about as occured to me on many occasion, though i don't know how SomaFm would feel about it :)

I've listened to streaming feeds as well. I enjoyed it at the time. But I wouldn't give up my XM. I have a couple XMPCRs. One at work and one at home (and a spare ;-) ).

Streaming is nice, I suppose, but the thing about having the XMPCR is that the SW (XtremePCR) tells me when one of my favorites is playing. Can't get that from a stream. Also, my company blocks streams. Satellite is the best way to go for me.

Article can be found HERE.

This is just what I've been looking for, and I think it will be a product that will greatly increase XM's popularity and success.

I'm just wondering how much this portable radio will be, and what it will look like. Does anyone have any additional information about this new "wearable" device?

In theory you could, as long the tag info is broadcasted too.

Yep. Sure could if it went through the firewall.

Everyone does know about audioXtract, right? It does for internet streams what TimeTrax and the myriad of other apps doo for XM.

http://www.audioxtract.com

It'll process up to eight simultaneous streams into MP3.

That seems pretty cool. Now if someone can come up with an open-source (read: free) alternative I'll be happy.

I read on CNN.com a few days ago that XM will be announcing a new handlheld walkman type device this week. Can't find that article but found this:

found at http://dcrtv.com/

Coincidently I purchased a new Pontiac Grand Prix GTP with XM just last week. I love it, however I would probably say the same about Sirius. The quality of XM, even if it is lesser than Sirius sounds better than any radio station I've ever listened to. Cars aren't necessarily the best environment to judge sound quality. I doubt if I will ever own a car without satellite radio. Its just too good.

It has hit slashdot, so it must be big news.

There are two or three free packages for XM. PCRCommander is the one that springs to mind. There's also a PERL API and I think a Python API (or maybe it's an app?) that you can get, besides PCRCommander.

Here's the story: http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/...&w=RTR&coview=

Well, I guess I'm gonna cancel my Roady2!

I've been doing lots of research about this, because I really want to get satellite radio for Chirstmas... These are the big points that I've garnered from my research (just to let you know, I'm strongly leaning toward XM)

1. Content - Look at the channels... how many channels play music that you like? XM has Music Lab with progressive rock and metal, which is really a huge deal for me.

2. Quality - This depends. In my opinion, it would be hard to distinguish quality in stock car stereo speakers and traveling 70mph on a noisy freeway. Satellite radio won't replace my CD collection at home (though since XM has ACC coverage, I might take advantage of that at home too). Both Sirus and XM have bandwidth issues. They both have a fixed bandwidth and as each keep adding channels, there will be a crunch. They might be able to improve this with the transmission technology (codec and naurals - which I believe is the processors that send the signals up to the satellite). It will be intersting to see how both companies adapt to increased bandwith crunch as they try to appeal to more customers.

3. Hardware - This is completely personal. Sirus has more options. But for me this is the last consideration, because the above two considerations are much more imporant.

On a side note, I'm curious how XM's MyFi will do (and how the recption is). It seems to me there are definitely logistic issues with that, and will be hard to complete in an area where Apple and the iPod is so dominant.

I'm hoping to go with a new SkyFi 2 this christmas... as long as there are no supply issues =)

xm
 

I have had xm for about 4 years (i think) and I like it. The only thing I don't like is that you hear a lot of the same songs over and over again. Another issue I have with it, is when I got it, the hardware didn't show the name of the artist. It would only show the first 7 letters. Now, they made it to scroll the WHOLE name, but I have to dish out $100 buckaroos to get it. That issue doesn't really matter now, but I had to vent. My advice is to go to a store, and check out the stations for a while. Pick the one you want.

Another thing XM has soon is if you have a GPS, the satellite can send traffic info to your screen directly. That is huge IMO.

up for anybody else thinking about satellite radio right now...

just saw stern on letterman, and damn if he didn't just about sell me on sirius from his comments... i don't know, though. my music tastes aren't all that mainstream, so i wonder how much music either XM or Sirius would have to offer me.

I don't think there is any Siruis compatible hardware that lets you tune the radio from the computer (XMPCR/PCRDIRECT). That's what sold me with XM. I can't give up the disk space or cpu resources to play MP3s on disk and I can't use streams at work. XM has really changed my music listening habits. Though, if Sirius had done the same thing, it would have been a toos up for me. It's the delivery and controlling software that won me over.

I don't think the MyFi is competing with iPod unless IPod now receives sat radio. The recording function on the MyFi only records from the receiver and doesn't (yet?) play pre-recorded music.


As for Stern moving? meh. His voice can't compete with Pat Benatar or Nancy Wilson ;-)

after hearing that Mel Karmazin is now the CEO of Sirius.... I'd put my bets on that one... no wonder Howard signed on with Sirius... Mel and him are good friends from way back...

Sirius
No question about that. XM has more advertising and that is why it has the name reconition but it just cannot stand up. Sirius has more options and music

A couple of issues that haven't been mentioned in this thread yet... Sirius doesn't have or need PC hardware to play from the computer. The previous poster mentions that he "can't use streams at work." I think that he means that there is a browser incompatability or that his work doesn't want the bandwidth being used for "recreational" uses. This wasn't an issue for me, but I do love being able to listen to music streams from Sirius on my PC at work or at home. This wasn't the top issue for me when selecting Sirius or XM. Let me see if I can rank the priorities of why I choose what I did.

1. Sirius offers a lifetime subscription plan where you can pay a one-time fee and that is it. This was a top priority for me since I hate recurring charges and I can do math. At $12.95/month, we'll be better off after just 3 years. Not too bad of a period for return on investment. XM did not offer a lifetime subscription. Both services offered a discount on a longer term of service.

2. Sirius offers streaming of all of their music channels through your PC with no extra hardware and at no extra cost. You can also preview their channels for free for three days to help you decide if Sirius is right for you.

3. My wife took a look at the business models of both Sirius and XM. She has an MBA, so her opinion held sway in our decision. XM has a larger subscriber base, but Sirius had a better cash-flow position and better business alliances with NFL, MLB, and NPR. She felt that Sirius would do well for years to come.

So we bought in and got a reciever unit with a car dock, a home dock, and the boombox. It has worked out pretty well for us. I like it better than I thought I would. I was pretty skeptical on the cost vs. benefit issue, but I have been pleasantly surprised. It makes our commute easier to bear. We use the Sirius as commercial-free background music when we are doing chores at home or having a dinner party. Having just moved to central Kentucky, radio choices were severly limited. Sirius has been a real benefit.

For the record, when we started looking into it seriously, I was leaning toward XM because I thought that the hardware looked better. I think that you will be happy with either of the systems you choose. As other posts have mentioned, both systems have good sound, plenty of listening choices, and a number of commercial free channels.

Im going to Sirius once Howard goes there. Ive been doing some research and it does look better. Also, since Howard is going there, I think it will just blow up.

FYI, between now and 11/24, you can get a free radio from sirius if you just pre-pay for a membership for a year. If you can get on the Howardstern.com website there are some codes on there for the offer. I didnt take advantage of it, but if somebody was gonna get sirius now anyways, its a good plan.

Hi,

Nope. I meant exactly that. The firewall where I work blocks certain protocols and filetypes.

Also, I love my XMPCR. Sirius has no similar hardware. For me, it isn't so much the content on any particular channel as it is being able to control and monitor the radio via my PC.

I agree with you about the satisfaction, either one is fine. Afterall, i can only listen to one song at a time ;-)