Sattelite radio

[JohnMickish]

Thinking of maybe getting one for the car but don't know much about them yet. So you guys that have sattelite radia what do you like/dislike and do you have XM or Sirius?

[Coach1310]

I have XM. Got it for Christmas last year. I have a long commute so it is great. I use it almost exclusively for sports talk radio and the comedy stations. I have no real complaints. I have one that works as a portable walkman type, in the car and at home. If I could choose I would get Sirius. They carry the NFL. XM has MLB, NHL and some select college conference games, but I would prefer the NFL. Hope this helps

[PierBridge]

I had Sirius I really liked until I got an I-Pod and 7500 songs.

You could demo both on line to see which suits your taste.

Not sure if you need any particular sports or talk radio programs, I would say Sirius is a little more mainstream music wise, XM has a deeper play list and they also have more obscure bands.

Or you could try out my old unit I have a Plug and Play unit meaning I can use it in my car, home, boat or boom-box.

My stuff is collecting dust.

[JohnMickish]

Explain this plug and play thing.

[PierBridge]

It's a stand alone unit that can be easily moved amongst your car, home stereo, boat or boom Box.

This way you to pay for 1 subsciption and use it in multiple places.

[HaywardBound]

I have the delphi in my truck, boat, and on the mower. Mine is older, but they have better ones out now that have 50 hours of storage.

The nice thing about the portables in the Twin Cities, is they have a 'terrestrial' signal (across the ground), so you don't have to rely on an open sky to get live sat radio. Mine works in my house and in the garage. This is with XM, I'm not sure if Sirius has the repeaters, but I bet they do.

There is always the argument of why pay for radio? I am more than happy paying about $0.40 a day not to listen to commercials and also have the variety of stuff available to listen to.

[LMITOUT]

Sirius has NASCAR in January!.....and about every other sport. That's where XM has dropped the ball and not kept up, although some say that XM's sound quality is better when listening to music but both are so over compressed that it really doesn't matter one way or another. The sports programs on Sirius would be the key for me.

[LwnmwnMan2]

I've got Sirius in 2 new Dodge's I bought this fall.

I said I'd probably never even get the free subscription, but the salesman said "that's what everyone says, until they get it".

I'm an old country junkie, which everyone laughs at me, since I'm only 34, but I like the stuff from the 50's, 60's.

Anyways, it's worth it to me just to have that station.

The other thing, you don't realize until you've driven for an hour or so, and realize that you haven't heard one commercial.

It really is nice.

[HaywardBound]

Quote:

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... but both are so over compressed that it really doesn't matter one way or another.

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Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought Sat. radio is just under CD quality...but I know the quality is way better than FM?

[LMITOUT]

You're correct. I would put sat radio in between CD and FM radio when comparing audio quality.

When it was first released I was hoping that it would be CD quality but found out later that it's compressed much like .mp3s are. I believe it's a MPEG stream but don't quote me on that.

You don't have to worry about static or fade like FM which is nice, but still doesn't have the clarity of a CD.