XM or Sirius Radio?

Which one should I get and how to best hook it up to my Alpine CDA 9827.
http://tinyurl.com/29ebe


Thanks

CC?

What's the scoop on XM?

They have NO say in programming.

I have SIRIUS and can't do without it.
Also go to

www.siriusbackstage.com



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

Sound quality is comparable (advantage no one)

XM recently removed the ads from their music streams, to match Sirius IIRC (advantage no one)

XM part owned by ClearChannel... yuck (advantage Sirius)

Sirius has 3 NPR, 1 CSPAN, 1 BBC (advantage Sirius)

Sirius carries the full programming day of AAR, XM only has partial AAR (big advantage Sirius)

Sirius has a dedicated GLBT talk stream... more lefty cred (advantage Sirius)

XM is $3/mo cheaper (advantage XM)

If you buy a 3 year subscription (why not?) then XM is closer to $8 a month.

One thing is for sure. Once you get Satellite Radio you'll be hooked. It's the greatest things since crunchy peanut butter.

I think we're still in the "couple of bucks" ballpark (Sirius price over XM, that is).

XM charges $4 a month for internet access....Sirius is free.

XM also has "premium" channels that they charge extra to receive. Sirius' channels (including Stern's in the future) are all part of the base cost.

And the ClearChannel thing is sooo overblown. Its a damned small percentage (about 2%...nonvoting) and getting smaller.

advantage XM

Sirius has BBC, PRI, WRN. Those 2 kinda trumps BS-NBC.

http://www.siriusradio.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Sirius/CachedPage&c=Page&cid=1065475754139

.

early this year and love it. I'm no fan of CC either but I haven't seen any signs of their usual heavy handed programming. XM does have more channels of programming and their Delphi produced car and home units are smaller and more compact. I travel in a variety of vehicles and can install my Roadie in any of them in a matter of minutes.

As for integrating it into your present car stereo, if you have AV inputs then it's just a matter of plugging the mini stereo output of the XM unit into those inputs. Otherwise you have the option of using the supplied cassette adapter or a FM modulator.

Hope this helps.

I might just get Sirius about sattelite radio!

The only full stream news that serius has is fox. XM has MSNBC as well as fox. I have talked with serius about this several times because I am stuck in a year contract with them. They show no plans to balance Fox with anything, even if it is just MSNBC. Both have air america. The music seems about the same.

Sirius has CNN, BBC News, the World Radio Network, CNBC, Bloomberg Radio, and C-SPAN radio. CNN is on 104. The BBC, which I think is the best of the radio news channels, is on 114, and for an even more global perspective, the World Radio Network is on 115.

Lets see....Sirius has Fox...AND CNN, Bloomsburg, 2 NPR streams, PRI, BBC, World Radio Network, ALL of Air America (XM doesnt), OH and one other Talk stream dedicated entirely to the left.

It's awesome. It's getting 3 channels programmed by Howard Stern and it already has one programmed by Eminem. If you like Free Speech, and I do, get sirius. It's only gonna get better now that Viacom's Mel Karmazin has taken over.

I ordered XM a week ago. I added UPS 2nd day delivery but it still has not arrived a week later.

I chose XM based on price. Sirius sounds like it has a slightly better lineup but I am not sure it is worth the additional monthly fee. Also, a friend of mine works for XM and was able to get a good discount on the hardware.

How is the satellite reception in an office building? I have an outside window but it faces north.

I bought the Skyfi2 receiver with the boom box indor adapter. I am getting a staccato like noise from the radio. Is this normal? The reception is OK but at lower volumes this is very annoying. The noise is in the background at a low volume.

It really should be digital quality. What kind of sat strength are your showing on your receiver? It could be something so simple as not a good speaker connection or bad satellite placement maybe?

Whether you're Gay or not, it's a GREAT station...

www.sirius.com/outq

Air America - Sirius 100% XM - partial programming
- Sirius: Mike Malloy
- XM: Alan Colmes

Sirus also has Sirius Left: Tom Hartman, Young Turks, etc.

Sports: Sirius: NFL, NBA
XM: MLB

I actually prefer the music programming on Sirius. I think similar channels still sound better on Sirius (programming wise)

XM is a few months ahead in hardware.

Think about this. This is a digital process, not too different in principle from the Videocypher process that was used to scramble satellite cable channels. It can't be too complicated to have a modestly fast computer do the descrambling; the same thing was done with Videocypher.

It's not that I don't want to pay for the service; I do. However, I don't like the monopoly each service has over its manufacture of receivers. It's as if you had to buy an NBC receiver to receive broadcasts from your NBC affiliate.

The original reason people broke the satellite scrambling process on satellite was because HBO was unwilling to sell its service to individual satellite subscribers; they wanted to work only through the cable companies. It took DirecTV and Dish to get them to change their minds, and sell legal descramblers and service to individuals.

I want these companies to open their receiver technology to other manufacturers. There is no reason that such a simple receiver should cost $100 or more - and be incapable of being listened to unless you buy a lot of other expensive gear into which to insert that receiver, at home or in the car. Until the hardware cost comes down and the receivers are meant to really work, I refuse to participate. (Although I might listen in if there are some descrambler plans out there...)

I think lineup on Sirius is a little better but not worth the extra subscription fee. This is a subjective decision based on you listening tastes. Both are vastly superior to AM/FM especially if you live in the Bible Belt like I do.

I just wish XM would add NPR but I can get that on FM almost anywhere.