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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.

Halx

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.

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Cynthetiq

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.

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brandon11983

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.

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CoachAlan

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.

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tropple

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.

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compression

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.

punx1325

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.

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Grondar

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!

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moonpie

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)

tropple

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. )

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Grondar

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.

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bendsley

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.

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brandon11983

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.

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neekap

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.

brandon11983

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

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tropple

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

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omega2K4

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.

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tropple

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.

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Delirious

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

fugue_life

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

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lemans

Go with Sirius over XM.

tropple

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

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

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spec1alk

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.

MontanaXVI

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

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tropple

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

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Delirious

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

spec1alk

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?

bofad8462

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

spec1alk

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.

mosha

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.

spec1alk

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.

screamincheetah

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.

sushiboy

Sirius, now that Howard is going there.

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farcryer

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.

beofotch5

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

beofotch5

I love your avatar.

FlatLand Flyer

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.

pottsynz

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

tropple

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.

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