I've decided my Christmas present this year will be a satellite radio system.

I discovered years ago that if I leave it entirely up to my wife I'll end up with $9 plastic sawhorses...:-(

I've been looking at the differences between the providers, and so far it appears to me that Sirius is cutting their own throats with their programming and customer treatment. Example: Go to the XM Radio website and you'll be able to print out a listing of every station and what type of content it plays. Try that at Sirius.Com and you're invited to sign up and listen to their broadcasts for three days via your computer - which I did.

When I went to their page that displays a 'selection' of their stations, I quickly discovered that only one station is 'live' while the rest are canned voice-only descriptions of that channel's programming. No news, no sports, no music, no audio books. etc.

The 'live' channel - which I didn't bother to listen to, so I really don't know if it was 'live' or not - is "OutQ" the Gay Talk channel. Uh-huh. Hmmm...

I would have thought something more mainstream might appeal to their demographic!

The cost of the actual reciever and various kits (car, home, boombox) seems to vary little between retailers, but I found a couple of XM-authorised dealers on eBay and I can probably save about $50 total when I get the two or three setups I'll need.

I want one for my PV, of course, but the wife wants a home setup so she can listen to old-time radio and audio books at night, and of course she's going to be traveling a lot next month and wants a portable car setup so she can take MY radio across the country with her. *sigh*

Maybe I'll surprise her with her own receiver...

Does anyone here have experiences with either of the providers or comments about whch equipment manufacturer is better? We're thinking of getting the SkyFi series...

OK, after due consideration and research, I opted for the XM setup. I got the receiver, boombox (just the plain one) and a car cradle for $170 total. An XM dealer on eBay, where else? And I still get the $30 rebate!

Now that I've been able to play with it for a few days, I can see the death of regular broadcast radio in the near future!

I have over 130 channels, little-to-no advertizing, and the sound is digital-crystal-clear! We have yet to take a road trip with it (that's this coming week when we go over to Las Vegas for a free weekend) but judging from the excellent reception I'm getting with the antenna inside the house, I expect to be able to hear complete programs without running out of signal even out in the middle of Death Valley! You certainly can't do that with traditional broadcast radio!

One little-known advantage I got was to be able to sign up for virtually the same programming through my computer. So I'm sitting here typing and listening to XM programming and I didn;t have to buy any additional gear.

And I can log in wherever I can get online. The internet connection costs $3.99 a month.

I can see that I'm going to want an additional car setup, because we have two cars - and probably a third coming up soon - and I don't like disconnecting everything just to move it to the other car for a trip. I'll leave the simpler setup in the wife's truck and buy a hard-wired kit for my PV. My stereo is 1,000 times better than hers anyway...

I'm a happy camper today!

I work in radio, for what it's worth.

In my opinion, out of the major satellite radio services that are out there, Sirius is the least likely to make it.

I am tempted to sign up with them to get the "NFL Sunday Drive" service so I can listen to my favorite team (the Cleveland Browns) play every Sunday...

Unfortunately, I don't have much time right now to go into details, but I'll be back with the rest of my rant sooner or later.
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If you listen to the radio in Portland, OR, you may know me as "Portland's Favorite Soul Brother!"

I have Sirius - it costs a few dollars more a month if you go month-to-month ($13 vs. $10), but it's cheaper if you sign up for a year. One advantage is you get to listen to through the site too. That was well worth it for me when I'm in the office.

Another reason why I went with Sirius is that at the time, XM had commercials on many of their music channels too. Given that Clear Channel is one of the owners of XM, I didn't want to take a chance on what could've ended up being just like the radio stations they own now - more commercials, more talk, less music.

I went with the Kenwood System, as it's shape worked out very well in the pocket below the radio in a 7-series. Here's a pic from my original installation ... I've long since went to direct inputs on the back.


-- Kane ... just my opinions. Either is waaaay better than the over-the-air stuff.
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Blossom II -'91 745Ti/M46 ... Bubbles -'74 144GL/BW35 ... Buttercup -'86 245GL/AW70
The Wayback Machine -'64 P220/M40 ... The ParaBox -'90 745GL/AW70

I installed an Alpine aftermarket XM receiver in my '89 740 about a year ago. I liked the XM service so much that I put an XM Roady in my wife's 850 and another Roady in my new Acura. I have been very pleased with the service and the programming. A lot of good news channels, CNN, FOX, etc, comedy channels, and any type of music you could imagine. Now they have three channels with ACC football games on Saturdays. $9.99 a month for the first one and 6.99 each for the next two radios on their family plan. I recommend XM.

I'm not too familar with Sirius, but I know they charge more per month. I'm not so sure that their deal with Howard Stern will pay off.
Here is a good website that has a side by side comparison of the features of both XM and Sirius.

http://www.cashflowbusiness.net/SIRI_vs_XM_radio.htm