XM radio (or sirius)

I just got XM a few weeks ago, and I will admit to being addicted.

I got XM for the MLB coverage, but sirius has EPL and the NFL.

anyway, wanted to see if anyone else had it, and what their favorite stations were.

So far my favorites are

Hank's Place
Bluegrass Junction
Unsigned
Lucy
Fred
XM comedy

and now for a random face

:shock:

 

Johnny,
I was actually just this week thinking about getting one of these for my Dad for Father's Day. I have a few questions for you on the Sirius Radio:

1. When you buy the receiver, does it come with something for you to play it at home and in the car or do you have to buy those seperate?

2. Are there any hidden costs after making the purchase? I know there is a $12.95 monthly fee which is fine, but are there others?

3. If I went to Best Buy or somewhere today and bought the receiver for $149, could I be listening to it on my way out the door or are there other accesories I need to make it work?

Thanks!

 

Personally I would go with Surius: Howard Stern and EPL, good enough for me!

 

I've got XM in my car... I bought the car stereo that came with the XM receiver. There are a lot of different forms the receiver can take. Mine is built-in to my trunk so I can't take it with me. Others, like the new Delphi, work more like an iPod and broadcast an FM signal in your car that picks up the XM signal.

As for walking out the door of Best Buy, you'll still have to go online to activate the system (and provide the credit card for billing). No hidden fees that I've found at this point...

XM Comedy makes the whole thing worthwhile... some hysterical stuff on there... and of course the 7 words you can't say on broadcast channels! Freedom of the airwaves at last!

 

There are a lot of different recievers like mr. dancing baby wang said.

SOme recievers have a built in antenna, those are the expensive ones. The most important thing taht you need to know is that there needs to be a clear view of the sky in order for the radio to get a signal. This means that the radio will not work inside a building without large windows.

Generally you will need to buy a seperate thing to play the reciever inside. I know that XM has a boombox, but also has another thing that you attatch it to if you already have speakers.

If you have a reciever, you just need to install the antenna so it can see the sky from your car (dash or rear window, or roof if you really want a good signal, mine is in my moon roof) and start the service and you should be ok

 

I have been a big XM fan for years--I got it just about the day it came out (in November 2001). Here are some thoughts:

1) The two best radios are the MyFI and the SkyFi 2. They are the best because they are portable (the MyFi more so than the SkyFi) and they can use an FM radio as a speaker (they broadcast an FM signal that an FM radio can get). If you buy the MyFi, it comes with everything you need to use it either in the house or in the car (or, since it's portable, by itself). If you buy the SkyFi 2, you also need to buy a home hit, a car kit, or both, to use it in those places.

2) Sirius does have the EPL (and the NFL), but the EPL is just one game a week, as I recall (and you can guess how often that game is ours). It is not every game. While having the NFL would be nice, XM has every MLB game and a MLB 24-7-365 talk channel (which my wife calls into the morining show regularly). Given that I love baseball, it's my favorite set of channels.

3) Both XM and Sirius broadcase the BBC World Service, which has a really good Sports Saturday and Sports Sunday show that covers the 3-5 time period in England when the games are being played. They cover all levels of the FA, not just the EPL. They also have a sports update from 6:45 AM-7 AM eastern daylight time that's good.

4) For more info on XM, go to XM411.com, or feel free to ask me.

Dave

 

Sirius actually broadcasts up to 6 EPL games per week. Using Eastern time there are up to three on Saturday morning (7-7:30, 10 AM and noon), usually two on Sunday mornings and one on Monday afternoon. If there are Wednesday night games they will broadcast one of those.

I prefer to the NBA/NFL/EPL package to MLB. That and broadcasts of all the Michigan Wolverine football games forms the basis of my preference for Sirius over XM. With regard to news and music they are pretty similar in terms of content.

Dave makes a good point about the BBC. Their news coverage is excellent and I think they do a better job of covering US politics than any domestic networks - a sad commentary.

Sirius has a boombox that enables you to take out the car unit and use it anywhere. It's true that you generally have to look around to find a good spot in a house. I've found hanging the antenna out the window works best.

Since more and more new cars have satellite built into the radio, the portable units will probably disappear and be replaced outside the car by ipods. I'm not up to speed on those but gather XM is a little ahead in this area.

 

yeah, I'm necroposting...sorry.

Anyways, for all you Sirius users out there, is BBC Radio 1 on Sirius yet? I think it was supposed to start last week or this week, or sometime soon; it will be airing on a timeshift. Now I'm thinking about getting Sirius. For some reason I can't miss the Chris Moyles Show and The Lock Up w/ Mike Davies. Sure I can listen online, but it gets quite boring sitting in front of a computer just to listen to radio.

 

And you can guess how many times that 1 game per week does NOT involve Scum or ManUre. Nottalot.

Does anyone who has Sirius think that the DJs talk WAY too much on what are supposed to be the all-music channels. Don't know why they even need the DJs, and really don't know why the DJs need to tell us their life stories after every other song. MAYBE if they talked about the music, I could stomach it, but they talk about what they and their stupid DJ friends did last weekend. I say, Sirius should fire them all and avoid the useless overhead costs. Try turning a profit AND giving the listeners what they want at the same time. What a novel approach.

Otherwise, I like it a lot. Love the NFL games. Not too wild about their handling of the EPL, for reasons stated above. Really wish they had the MLB license, but heard that XM has that locked up for like a decade. Ironically, with as much as I hate all the talking, I can't wait for Stern to make the switch.

 

Sirius just announced today that they are coming out with a "wearable," i.e. portable receiver, just like xm has had. This is a HUGE advancement for sirius but it also comes with a HUGE price tag of something like 350 bucks. At this point, the only place I can here my Sirius is in the car. I can listen online, but only to music stations (no EPL games...they don't have the license for internet broadcasts). That would be awesome to be able to listen to all stations from anywhere!!

 

Re: RE: XM radio (or sirius)

I'd go for whichever one has opie and anthony..love that inappropriate humor!

 

RE: Re: RE: XM radio (or sirius)

Well, it looks like I am going with Sirius Satellite radio. I just won a free radio and three months subscription on World Soccer Daily! Needless to say, I am quite happy about it!

 

RE: Re: RE: XM radio (or sirius)

Very nice tom....I have XM, but I guarantee that you'll never be able to listen to the regular radio ever again.

 

Re: RE: Re: RE: XM radio (or sirius)

Man!! First a Kit...now this. Good work!

 

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: XM radio (or sirius)

All you people have to do is listen. They have some good prizes on there. They give kits of your choice away three times a week and a Sirius Unit once a week. In addition, they do a monthly thing where you can win a round-trip flight to Manchester, England. good stuff.

 

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: XM radio (or sirius)

who the hell wants to go to manchester?

 

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: XM radio (or sirius)

I would...if Fulham were playing.

 

Re: RE: Re: RE: XM radio (or sirius)

Thanks Heather! As for wanting to go Manchester, I would love to go on Feb 5th when Fulham plays at Old Trafford. That trip is in the cards, unfortunately I doubt World Soccer Daily is gonna foot the bill.