Sirius vs. XM

[Kodos]

Leaning toward Sirius. But I figured a poll would be good.

[streetballer22]

Have Sirius and can't complain but I know nothing about XM.

[digamma]

I have XM, but my decision was based largely on the ACC's affiliation with XM.

[Aylmar]

Sirius, just for the NFL. The shows on NFL radio during the day are pretty good, if you ask me.

[bigdawg2003]

I got an XM for XMas (i'm so clever aren't I?) because of the MLB. It also has the NHL, NASCAR, ACC (as mentioned by digamma), Big Ten, and Pac 10. All I know about Sirius is that is has the NFL and Howard Stern. Does Sirius also have the NBA and the other major conferences (Big 12, SEC, etc)?

[lynchjm24]

XM, for baseball. I don't see what good the NFL is unless you work on Sundays or something.

[Lorena]

Damn, I wish I had Sirius... but no can do for now. I voted Sirius because of Howard Stern.

[Eaglesfan27]

XM for Pac 10 Sports.

[George]

Glad you posted this poll. I was wondering which one people preferred.

[Toddzilla]

I voted XM because of Opie and Anthony.

Ramoooooonnnnneeee.....

[Cringer]

Sirius has the NBA, NFL, NHL(this season only, if I recall it goes to XM only next year), NASCAR comes next year (on XM right now but they are losing it), and the NFL. And the final sport I can remember is English Premier soccer/football.

NFL Radio is a 24 hours talk channel with former GMs, coaches, and players as the hosts. They also have current players do shows, like the Barber brothers and Keyshawn. There is now an NBA channel like this but I haven't checked it out yet because I am not a big NBA guy. Sirius also has some decent original sports talk shows for racing, college sports, and other stuff that is on daily.

Stern starts soon, as does Bubba The Love Sponge and other programs on his Howard 100 and 101.

Sirius also has Martha Stewart if you care. They also have a Beattles channel, a Rolling Stones channel, Jimmy Buffet's channel. The Canadian channels are now on there. There is too much to keep listing really, there are shows and shows, and music. All as you would expect i guess.

I love Sirius, BUT....I will be honest here and not gloss over the cons. FOX News may not be on there anymore. It is still up in the air but as of now there is no contract beyond Dec. 31. This is a big deal for some people.

Another con is don't expect CD quality from either. Word is from people who have both Sirius and XM is that XM probably sounds just a touch better. But if you go in expecting CD quality you won't be happy. I have no problems with how Sirius sounds, i think it is pretty good being atleast equal to FM. XM I don't know about. There is a difference between getting Sirius through the FM transmitter or wiring it straight to your stereo/speakers. Hard wired is a little better sounding.

[Joe]

sounds like a scam

[kcchief19]

Cringer, I figured you'd go with Sirius for the trucker channel. Actually, my best friend is a reporter for Landline/OOIDA and contributes segments for their show, and I used to work with one of the editors over there. I also know the guy who just took as producer and I think host of the show. So I have a rooting interest there.

I just bought a satellite radio for my mom for Christmas and I went against my better judgement and chose Sirius. I think the music channels are comparable, but I knew she would prefer the NPR channels and Martha Stewart. I also had an eye on getting a radio for myself down the road at the discounted subscription rate, and I would want the NFL, Big XII and NPR.

I said better judgement because I worry about Sirius' viability. They still haven't made a big jump in subscribers despite pouring a fortune into the NFL and other programming. It will be interesting to see if Stern provides a boost, but I can't see that deal being profitable either, aside from the fact that it has bought them a ton of free publicity. XM is winning the battle with car manufacturers to put in factory installed radios, which is a huge key.

I decided it wasn't a huge risk going with Sirius because it's highly unlikely the company will go completely under. There has always been conjecture that the two will eventually merge or one will buy the other, so I figure even if that does happen hopefully I will not have wasted my money.

[panerd]

Originally Posted by Cringer

Sirius also has Martha Stewart if you care. They also have a Beattles channel, a Rolling Stones channel, Jimmy Buffet's channel. The Canadian channels are now on there. There is too much to keep listing really, there are shows and shows, and music. All as you would expect i guess.

Agree with everything you posted, but I thought I would clarify that Sirius does not have an all Beatles station. It would be great if they did, but they don't. They do have an all Springsteen channel, but they took away a good A/C channel for it.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by panerd

Agree with everything you posted, but I thought I would clarify that Sirius does not have an all Beatles station. It would be great if they did, but they don't. They do have an all Springsteen channel, but they took away a good A/C channel for it.

My bad, I meant all Elvis channel. Bit of a difference there, sorry.

kcchief, I have to say the trucker channel on Sirius wouldn't sway me one way or the other. The Midnight Trucking Show was someting I would listen to sometimes but I don't anymore. They have a new co-host (hope this isn't your friend) who i do not like. He has made the show too much about politics and he is clearly a heavy right-wing guy. That show has always slanted that way, but this guy makes EVERY topic into a left vs. right thing and I don't want that in a trucking based show. Their morning shows are pretty good though.

As far as the viability of Sirius, I think you may be underestimating them. They just recently went over 3 million net subscribers. They had 600,000 when Howard's move was announced. By the end of 2004 they were up to 1.1 already. So they jumped almost another 2 million this year alone. This does not take into account many new subscribers who will sign up over the next week or two, plus the next few months (because of several areas being sold out of radios and those people having to wait).

For new cars, "SIRIUS' exclusive automotive partners DaimlerChrysler, Ford and BMW represent over 40% of new cars." I have no idea what exclusive partnerships XM has, but I do know one big thing they have going for them is that they are what is usually found in rental cars and that can get people leaning their way.

Anyways I think Sirius is solid, and they are actually projected to be the first of the two to actually break even, by the end of this year.

[BYU 14]

Got Sirius for Chrsitmas and hooked it up finally today.....I was worried about the sound issue as my Friend has an older version and it sounds like shit sometimes. I got the Starmate model and I am actually impressed with how much better it sounds than my friends. I got good reception in the house and had no problem today, even in an area near the Air Force base hear that always screws up my Cell and interfered with the FM transmitter on my MP3 player as well.

I also like the fact you can sign in on a PC and get most of the content. A good enough variety of music, some good sports talk and of course Stern who I like...Raw Dog comedy channel has some pretty funny stuff too. The Starmate also has a Tivo loke feature where you can pause/rewind and save up to 44 minutes of content, pretty cool. No MLB is the only down side for me.......Don't know much about XM unfortunately.

[stevew]

Sirius cause Cam Edwards Show is on it. Support your fellow board members!

[biological warrior]

I love XM with its Jazz coverage and, Oppie and Anthony. They used to have Michael Savage (who I ocassionally listened to), and MLB coverage is great.

[Cringer]

I don't see how people can like O&A so much, they clearly steal stuff from others. I read they have a Tissue Time show coming out on XM by those guys. SOmething they stole from Howard100, even the name. Their little WOW thing they stole from Likus and his Flash Fridays. I dunno, don't want to turn this into a O&A vs. Howard thing....I just don't get it.

[Kodos]

Any thoughts on the S50?

[kcchief19]

Originally Posted by Cringer

kcchief, I have to say the trucker channel on Sirius wouldn't sway me one way or the other. The Midnight Trucking Show was someting I would listen to sometimes but I don't anymore. They have a new co-host (hope this isn't your friend) who i do not like. He has made the show too much about politics and he is clearly a heavy right-wing guy. That show has always slanted that way, but this guy makes EVERY topic into a left vs. right thing and I don't want that in a trucking based show. Their morning shows are pretty good though.

As far as the viability of Sirius, I think you may be underestimating them. They just recently went over 3 million net subscribers. They had 600,000 when Howard's move was announced. By the end of 2004 they were up to 1.1 already. So they jumped almost another 2 million this year alone. This does not take into account many new subscribers who will sign up over the next week or two, plus the next few months (because of several areas being sold out of radios and those people having to wait).

My bad on two counts. I though OOIDA's news show was on Sirius but it's on XM. So I guess I don't have the rooting interest I thought I did.

And I clearly underestimated Sirius' subscriber base. I recently skimmed an article and gleamed incorrectly that Sirius had added 600,000 subscribers and was up to 1.1 million total -- that was clearly incorrect.

Yet I still have concerns that Sirius has spent so much money -- $500 million for five years of Stern alone -- on programming and is still down 2-to-1 in subscribers than XM. Plus, Sirius apparently spends about $140 to earn each subscriber versus about $85 for XM. Neither company is profitable, but Sirius is the bigger loser -- they lost $180 million in the last quarter.

Like I said, I'm still not bullish that both companies will be standing in five years, but I'm very optimistic that people who buy a radio and a subscription won't be left in the dark. There is too much money invested on both sides to let that happen. Worse case scenario is that one company acquires the other and there is very little impact on the consumer.

[bigdawg2003]

Interesting article about how the two companies started up and how XM got to be the leader at this point in time. Thought the board would enjoy.

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/91/open_stars.html

[Hammer755]

I have neither, but my decision-making process would go as such:

MLB + Tony Kornheiser >> NFL + Howard Stern

[Cringer]

bigdawg, that is a interesting read. I always heard that XM was the leader now mainly because they had the early jump on Sirius, looks like that is only half true. Sirius actually got going first but their leadership blew it and XM was then able to start getting subscriptions first. Good thing now is that Sirius atleast has better leaders now, mainly with Karmizan as CEO.

kcchief, atleast I didn't rip on the guy you know.

Also, I found the article that predicts Sirius to break even in '06 and XM in '07.
http://www.forbes.com/2005/12/20/sir...rtner=yahootix
Even if they are wrong, I think this shows that they are fairly deadeven in this race. I know the last year has heard many rumors of a merger or buyout, but I really think that both of them are here to stay. In the end having both of them around would be the best thing I think anyways, competition is a good thing. I think once these two are profitable and on even more solid ground, it would be nice to see a third one pop up about 10 years from now.

[Toddzilla]

Another point re: profitability...

XM has just launched XM Canada, plus they get the exclusive rights to the NHL starting next season. NEVER underestimate Hockey and the Canucks.

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by Cringer

I don't see how people can like O&A so much, they clearly steal stuff from others. I read they have a Tissue Time show coming out on XM by those guys. SOmething they stole from Howard100, even the name. Their little WOW thing they stole from Likus and his Flash Fridays. I dunno, don't want to turn this into a O&A vs. Howard thing....I just don't get it.

The "Tissue Time with Allison and Beth" was a gag press release. It's for entertainment purposes only and not a real show.

Howard actually claims to have invented "WOW" from when he was ay JFK in DC. Hoo Hoo, tell 'em Fred.

And I guarantee if you give O&A a week, you'll be hooked. I'll even set you up with my XM Online account so you can listen.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by Hammer755

I have neither, but my decision-making process would go as such:

MLB + Tony Kornheiser >> NFL + Howard Stern

I think it is pretty much coming down to this now, a choice in the programming. The sad thing is is that all you really here about on each is the 'big names'. Either the sports they have, or the celebrity/known people, like Stern or O&A and the like. I would llike to see both try to focus a little more attention down the line on their lesser known shows/channels. Sirius has some good stuff that will NEVER get mentioned in news articles, and I am sure XM is the same.

[KWhit]

Originally Posted by Cringer

Sirius has some good stuff that will NEVER get mentioned in news articles, and I am sure XM is the same.

Like what? This seems like a good thread to share this kind of stuff.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

The "Tissue Time with Allison and Beth" was a gag press release. It's for entertainment purposes only and not a real show.

Howard actually claims to have invented "WOW" from when he was ay JFK in DC. Hoo Hoo, tell 'em Fred.

And I guarantee if you give O&A a week, you'll be hooked. I'll even set you up with my XM Online account so you can listen.

Actually I get O&A on my DirecTV now that XM is on there. I have listened a few times and I am fine with them, and I had listened to them before when they were in a city I used to pass through a good amount. I just prefer Stern, O&A just come off as tying to be a copy. Good to know the Tissue Time thing was a joke, because that would have been pretty bad.

As for Canada, Sirius is on par with them there, having just launched those channels and service up there within the last month. The only thing about that is that the Canadian government is positioning themselves to take down Howard Stern already because they can censor satellite up there. Meanwhile O&A is not even being looked at over on XM, and Howard fanatics are starting to point them out to the Canadian government. It will be interesting to see what happens there.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by KWhit

Like what? This seems like a good thread to share this kind of stuff.

True. Well, some of the stuff is on normal radio but not everywhere. Shows like America at Night, good overnight talk show that is NOT all political. They talk everything, and it;s pretty good. I have never actually heard the show on normal radio so I am not sure where it is on.

The David Lawrence Show is a good tech oriented show that is on normal radio too.

Faction (a music channel) actually has several shows that feature x-games guys. Tony Hawk, Kelly Slater, Bode Miller, Bam Margera, Lance Armstrong. Bode Miller did a show that did a whole break down on the international drug testing and it was pretty eye opening, all the crap they have to go through.

Maxim has it's own channel, which has three shows (repeated at night). They started out exactly a year ago, and was pretty good. For some reason they started self-censoring and it became crap. Now they ar emor elike when they started and it's not bad once again. It's 'radio for guys'. But it is not trying to be shock-jock like.

Adam Curry's Podshow is pretty good. Basically plays different podshows people put out. It has turned me onto a couple actually.

Jim Bruer's show is hilarious. It is perfect for guys around my age, 28 with a kid. Because him and all his friends are all married about the same length as I am and have young kids, and so i know exactly what they are talking about and it's funny as hell too.

Jay Thomas show is not bad at all.

Others I don't listen to much...Cousin Brucie, Richard Simmons, Bill Bradley, have weekend shows. There is the Martha Steart Channela and the Lime one, both geared towards women. They just added some more religious channels, music and shows (to offset Stern?). Disney and another Kids channel, which my daughter loves.

Raw Dog gets all the talk for comedy channels on Sirius, but Laugh Break is the clean/censored one and is much better after they changed it up some.

Plus some channels pretty cool to put on sometimes is Radio Classics, which is the old time radio shows. I can get into those sometimes. Also there is the Discovery Channel, E! Channel, ABC News & Talk, Court TV, WSM (grand ole opry?), OutQ (gay channel). Also Patriot and Talk Right (right wing talk), Talk Left (left wing). Plus you have traffic and weather channels for most/all major cities. ESPN and ESPN News (I wish they had FOX Sports but that is on XM only) and Sports Byline and some other sports talk stuff.

Really, between the music channels and everything else, it is hard to find a point of the night in which I can't find something to listen to. I am sure the same would be true on XM. They are really worth the money if you listen to radio, in the car, home, or at work. (Both let you listen to stuff online too, atleast I think XM does too).

Any XM guys want to spit out a list of some of the lesser known/talked about stuff on there I would like to hear it.

[Mustang]

Sirius Customer service was just absolutely horrible.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by Mustang

Sirius Customer service was just absolutely horrible.

There are good and bad stories. Some will defend them to the death, but I think every place has pretty crappy customer service overall so.....

Personally I have been fine with them, no problems, things going smooth and easy. But we have only dealt with them 3-4 times over the last year.

[Mustang]

Originally Posted by Cringer

There are good and bad stories. Some will defend them to the death, but I think every place has pretty crappy customer service overall so.....

I can accept some level of bad service.. (not everyone is cut out for it, could be new, bad day, etc) but, considering the number of times I talked to them and got different answers and the number of times they promised X and didn't deliver.. it was just bad.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by Mustang

I can accept some level of bad service.. (not everyone is cut out for it, could be new, bad day, etc) but, considering the number of times I talked to them and got different answers and the number of times they promised X and didn't deliver.. it was just bad.

Yeah. That sucks, I have heard some people say that on siriusbackstage forums. I have been able to do nothing but talk to them when signing up a new receiver and thats it thankfully. One reason I passed on getting the S50 is the amount of glitches right now (although most seem to be happy with it). I preffered not to have to deal with first generation problems and talking with CS to get things going right.

[panerd]

Originally Posted by Mustang

I can accept some level of bad service.. (not everyone is cut out for it, could be new, bad day, etc) but, considering the number of times I talked to them and got different answers and the number of times they promised X and didn't deliver.. it was just bad.

Yeah, my experience has been that it's really bad. It took about 9 phone calls and 7 months to get my $50 rebate. Doesn't make me want to leave the service, but I will never buy something that is discounted with a rebate again. The rebate problem seems to be more than just a handful of people also. A reasonable answer is that Sirius "outsources" it's customer service, but if this is the case than they should either

1. Take it over and eat the costs
2. Just offer the radios for $50 cheaper and take the rebate out of the equation.

Both are money losing propositions, but so is extremely shitty customer service.

[panerd]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

Got Sirius for Chrsitmas and hooked it up finally today.....I was worried about the sound issue as my Friend has an older version and it sounds like shit sometimes. I got the Starmate model and I am actually impressed with how much better it sounds than my friends. I got good reception in the house and had no problem today, even in an area near the Air Force base hear that always screws up my Cell and interfered with the FM transmitter on my MP3 player as well.

I also like the fact you can sign in on a PC and get most of the content. A good enough variety of music, some good sports talk and of course Stern who I like...Raw Dog comedy channel has some pretty funny stuff too. The Starmate also has a Tivo loke feature where you can pause/rewind and save up to 44 minutes of content, pretty cool. No MLB is the only down side for me.......Don't know much about XM unfortunately.

12 months later and the music and talk still are fresh. I do hate to be the bearer of bad news, and maybe your experience will be different, but Raw Dog gets old really fast. The comedy bits are great for the first couple of days, I thought to myself I might just listen to only this channel. Then the loop starts over and you realize there is a limited number of bits.

Like I said maybe you will have a different experience, but I have convinced two friends to sign up for Sirius and have seen them both go through the honeymoon/divorce with Raw Dog. They both love the service, as do I, but Raw Dog needs some overhual from the company.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by panerd

12 months later and the music and talk still are fresh. I do hate to be the bearer of bad news, and maybe your experience will be different, but Raw Dog gets old really fast. The comedy bits are great for the first couple of days, I thought to myself I might just listen to only this channel. Then the loop starts over and you realize there is a limited number of bits.

Like I said maybe you will have a different experience, but I have convinced two friends to sign up for Sirius and have seen them both go through the honeymoon/divorce with Raw Dog. They both love the service, as do I, but Raw Dog needs some overhual from the company.

I went through that too. Stopped listening for a while and now I know not to listen as much and it is good to me again. I have enough to listen to now that I will put on Raw Dog for a short time every few days, and doing it like that I don't every hear anything repeated anymore that I notice.

[kcchief19]

Here's a mystery to some of you more experienced users. My mom has set her receiver up at home with no problems and is using the FM transmitter to play it over her stereo with a digital receiver. After a period of time, the sound will cut out and the stereo receiver will be reading 184 instead of 88.1 for the FM transmitter. This is the on the stereo, not the receiver. If she shuts off her stereo for a few moments it will work fine again. Anybody here of this?

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by panerd

Like I said maybe you will have a different experience, but I have convinced two friends to sign up for Sirius and have seen them both go through the honeymoon/divorce with Raw Dog. They both love the service, as do I, but Raw Dog needs some overhual from the company.

XM has 3 comedy channels - 2 of them uncensored and 1 more family-oriented channel. I'm a big fan of the main comedy channel - XM 150 - and listen to it all the time. I don't think I've EVER heard the same bit more than 3 times, only a handfull I've heard twice (except for the spectacular Mitch Hedberg tribute they did this summer).

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by kcchief19

Here's a mystery to some of you more experienced users. My mom has set her receiver up at home with no problems and is using the FM transmitter to play it over her stereo with a digital receiver. After a period of time, the sound will cut out and the stereo receiver will be reading 184 instead of 88.1 for the FM transmitter. This is the on the stereo, not the receiver. If she shuts off her stereo for a few moments it will work fine again. Anybody here of this?

Can't say I have ever heard of that. Has she tried different frequencies and had the same thing?


Toddzilla, that is one pretty well documented difference between Sirius and XM. XM is said to have deeper playlists for their music channels (and comedy channels I guess?) It is not that Sirius doesn't have the library, it is that they choose to repeat some of the more popular stuff a couple times a day (for music anyways). They will put something on for a few weeks, mixed in a couple times a day maybe, then you won't hear it for a while. Sometimes it's a good system, sometimes it gives you the 'normal' radio feel. Mostly I like it, but have always thought I would like the 'deeper' playlists of XM.

[panerd]

Originally Posted by Cringer

Toddzilla, that is one pretty well documented difference between Sirius and XM. XM is said to have deeper playlists for their music channels (and comedy channels I guess?) It is not that Sirius doesn't have the library, it is that they choose to repeat some of the more popular stuff a couple times a day (for music anyways). They will put something on for a few weeks, mixed in a couple times a day maybe, then you won't hear it for a while. Sometimes it's a good system, sometimes it gives you the 'normal' radio feel. Mostly I like it, but have always thought I would like the 'deeper' playlists of XM.

I never really had a problem with the music my local radio stations played. In fact we had a 'Jack' station that I liked about 95% of the songs they played. My gripe was with more and more commericials. (I used to jog around 4:00 and would go for 10-15 minutes at a time with nothing on the 5 main channels I listened to) My other gripe was the morning zoo bullshit with a bunch of unfunny Stern and O&A wannabees sitting around and laughing at their own jokes. Eventually every channel I listened to went to this format and I switched to Sirius and love how it is basically the same type of classic rock without annoying DJ's and 25 minute commercials..

I don't want to hear deeper U2 or Metallica. If I am in the mood for early Floyd or obscure Beatles (if that is even possible) I break out my CD collection.

[Toddzilla]

I'm 1000% sold on XM. I love it to death and would never trade it in for Sirius - even if I was offered the hardware and subscription for free. Everything I like, I get from XM:

Baseball, specifically the Cubs
Virginia Tech Basketball and Football
The Tony Kornheiser Show
Opie and Anthony
Ron and Fez
Kids Music for the little whelp
Music up the wazzoo with NO COMMERCIALS


That being said, I'd choose Sirius 100 times out of 100 over commercial radio any day of the week. I will never listen to AM or FM again. Ever.

[cthomer5000]

I would never get either service unless the hardware was free or dirt cheap. I susbscribe to XM (online) specifically for the Ron + Fez show though. My father has Sirius and i've never been impressed with it. Basically i think both services are completely overrated.

[Arctus]

Sirius, due to Stern

[MylesKnight]

Stern goes to Sirius, so do I.

[stevew]

I bought a cheap Sirius receiver for 50 bucks. If its still something I have to have by next summer, i will likely buy a much nicer one. For now, though, i enjoy it, although i never had XM so its hard to compare. I live in the country and we get about 2-3 stations, and they all suck. Its nice to know that I'll can listen to something cool on my 15-20 minute ride to work.

[Bee]

I think Stern will bring (and has brought) tons of listeners to Sirius. While I don't enjoy him myself, I think his influence on the success of Sirius will be pretty significant.

[ice4277]

Originally Posted by Bee

I think Stern will bring (and has brought) tons of listeners to Sirius. While I don't enjoy him myself, I think his influence on the success of Sirius will be pretty significant.

Agreed. I just picked up a Sirius receiver, not for Stern, but for the NFL and English soccer.

I think the music services are pretty equal on both services. The deciding factor for me was what sports are offered.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by ice4277

Agreed. I just picked up a Sirius receiver, not for Stern, but for the NFL and English soccer.

I think the music services are pretty equal on both services. The deciding factor for me was what sports are offered.

Is there someplace you can find a schedule of English Soccer?

[ice4277]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

Is there someplace you can find a schedule of English Soccer?

Sirius has their schedule here, http://www.sirius.com/servlet/Conten...54246&team=all , but it only goes about a week or two out. They may just pick the best games a couple weeks beforehand, but the quantity of games looks comparable to what you might find on FSC.