XM radio?, anyone have it? like it? Options

[Mark VI]

so any one here have XM? do you like it? is it a waste of money?

[mike oliver]

I refuse to pay for radio but all my company cars have either sirius or xm.

[Mark VI]

I refuse to pay for radio.

i feel the same way. just wondering about it.

[coughlin]

sirius is pretty cheap (12 or 13 $ a month last i checked?) and if you only listen at home, you can stream it now so you don't hafta buy a radio... i dunno how the merger will be affecting this... but they had a free 3-day trial awhile back, and i barely slept checking everything out the whole time --- there were 5 country stations alone (sub-genre specific) and, of course, howard, whose show is better than ever now w/o the restrictions...

i'm in a pinch now, but i'd buy satellite radio before cable tv at this point, that shit's a rip...

This post has been edited by coughlin: Sep 20 2008, 03:53 PM

[Richard Weed]

Have it, love it, never listen to FM radio - ever. I had a three month free XM trial on my Acura, let it lapse for a couple weeks, then just got sick and tired of FM and the douchebag DJ's and moronic commercials. XM has a good selction of rock stations plus you can veer off to comedy, sports, country, blues or whatever - even the Christian rock can sound good. They're currently running a dedicated AC/DC station which is pretty cool. The punk station tends to blow. Whoever programs it loves some band called the Vandals who just suck, and overplays the Offspring.

[HomerRamone]

Have it, love it, never listen to FM radio - ever.

I have SIRIUS, and feel the same way. I have SIRIUS because of one channel, Little Steven's Underground Garage, which is unlike any other station ever (sample it free at http://www.littlestevensundergroundgarage.com/), but there's oldies and "deep cuts" classic rock and punk and new wave and free form and older R&B and old-time radio and classical and traffic/weather, plus a zillion other formats that I probably wouldn't listen to. Some of their programming can be repetitive if you listen all the time, but nowhere near as limited as broadcast radio. They ruined their standards station, however, with way too much Sinatra, and their Liberal Talk channel blows--XM's is much better. I look forward to being able to pick from both lineups in the future...

[Vieira]

Have it, love it, never listen to FM radio - ever. I had a three month free XM trial on my Acura, let it lapse for a couple weeks, then just got sick and tired of FM and the douchebag DJ's and moronic commercials. XM has a good selction of rock stations plus you can veer off to comedy, sports, country, blues or whatever - even the Christian rock can sound good. They're currently running a dedicated AC/DC station which is pretty cool. The punk station tends to blow. Whoever programs it loves some band called the Vandals who just suck, and overplays the Offspring.

The ACDC station replaced the punk station.

Have you never heard of the Vandals??

[FrankD]

sounds great, but i too am oppsed for paying for cable or sat radio.

i believe in the HD

[making monsters]

Have it, love it, never listen to FM radio - ever. I had a three month free XM trial on my Acura, let it lapse for a couple weeks, then just got sick and tired of FM and the douchebag DJ's and moronic commercials. XM has a good selction of rock stations plus you can veer off to comedy, sports, country, blues or whatever - even the Christian rock can sound good. They're currently running a dedicated AC/DC station which is pretty cool. The punk station tends to blow. Whoever programs it loves some band called the Vandals who just suck, and overplays the Offspring.

Never once heard the XM punk station (Fungus) play the Offspring. Pretty sure you're getting it confused with another one, unless you're just joking . Anyway yeah they got rid of it, to my chagrin.

Personally I find their new trend of dedicated 24 hour band stations to be pretty damn annoying and if they keep replacing their rock stations with that shit (so far they've killed at least 2 rock stations that I liked) I'm not going to have much more reason to keep my subscription.

[HomerRamone]

sounds great, but i too am oppsed for paying for cable or sat radio.

i believe in the HD

It will wind up advertiser-supported, ratings-driven, and as horrible as the regular stations owned by the same people. Not that satellite's owners are any better, but they don't have to play the same lowest-common-denominator game. As much. Yet...

[Richard Weed]

The ACDC station replaced the punk station.

Have you never heard of the Vandals??

I've heard of the Vandals, I just think they're incredibly generic and not worthy of extensive airplay. Would much rather hear other bands. I hope XM picks up the Little Steven station.

[coughlin]

I've heard of the Vandals, I just think they're incredibly generic and not worthy of extensive airplay. Would much rather hear other bands. I hope XM picks up the Little Steven station.

(serious question)
so they're only merging as financial institutions & not as far as the stations?
that seems dumb, they could make a shitload more the other way...

[HomerRamone]

(serious question)
so they're only merging as financial institutions & not as far as the stations?
that seems dumb, they could make a shitload more the other way...

http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2008/09...us-best-of.html

Sirius XM 'Best Of' Packages Announced

Starting Oct. 6, users of both XM and Sirius satellite radio will be able to order "Best Of" packages for both companies' stations. Don't get too excited here; you only get seven additional channels on each, and the cost is $4 more per month, raising the monthly fee to $16.99 from $12.99.

Now, we will admit that getting all the sports on both is nice, and getting Howard Stern on XM will make a lot of people happy. Still, for such limited content, a smaller charge increase — or no increase at all — might have been the way to go.

More information on the new a la carte packages will be released Oct. 6 as well. To see the full listings of the Best Of packages, read below.

SIRIUS on XM

• Howard 100
• Howard 101
• Martha Stewart Living Radio
• Sirius NFL Radio
• Sirius NASCAR Radio
• Playboy Radio

XM on SIRIUS

• Oprah & Friends
• NBA
• NHL Home Ice
• The Virus
• Public Radio with Bob Edwards
• College Sports
• PGA Tour

This post has been edited by HomerRamone: Sep 21 2008, 09:56 AM

[mike oliver]

Just had a very nice sony/ipod stereo put in one of my cars. Got it with some BesT Buy bucks and got it at cost cause it was recently discontinued so they had to pull it out of the display wall. Ipod stays in glove box got a remote . I love it. Dont take much to spice up my musical listening happiness .

[idjit]

I got XM radio because it allows you to listen to EVERY baseball game going on at any time. You get the home team broadcasts, and therefore get to know the guys that do the games - some of them are terrific and some are awful. (I know that this is "Sawx Nation" but it's cool to hear what's going on elsewhere - especially at this time of year, when certain games mean A LOT.) So, XM radio is worth it to me just for the baseball, but they have fantastic music as well - pretty much anything you could want. Big thumbs up!

[Horror Business]

http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2008/09...us-best-of.html

Sirius XM 'Best Of' Packages Announced

Starting Oct. 6, users of both XM and Sirius satellite radio will be able to order "Best Of" packages for both companies' stations. Don't get too excited here; you only get seven additional channels on each, and the cost is $4 more per month, raising the monthly fee to $16.99 from $12.99.

Now, we will admit that getting all the sports on both is nice, and getting Howard Stern on XM will make a lot of people happy. Still, for such limited content, a smaller charge increase — or no increase at all — might have been the way to go.

More information on the new a la carte packages will be released Oct. 6 as well. To see the full listings of the Best Of packages, read below.

SIRIUS on XM

• Howard 100
• Howard 101
• Martha Stewart Living Radio
• Sirius NFL Radio
• Sirius NASCAR Radio
• Playboy Radio

XM on SIRIUS

• Oprah & Friends
• NBA
• NHL Home Ice
• The Virus
• Public Radio with Bob Edwards
• College Sports
• PGA Tour

That's too bad, I was hoping I could pick up MLB on sirius.

[Toady]

I have XM (came with my car) and really like it. FM radio is basically unlistenable at this point. Total garbage.

The music channels are decent, you can basically find anything you like. I also like talk stations (except the political cheerleader nonsense ones), and you can always find some random talk show or just flip over to the comedy channels. Some of their behind-the-comedy interviews are excellent. The Carlin one airing just before he died was really good.

My one complaint is that I get some dropouts driving under overpasses. Just for a second, but it's annoying, similar to AM radio dropouts. Might be just my radio/antenna.