# xm or sirius better?



## Kali05 (May 20, 2005)

is xm or sirius better does anyone know?


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

Kali05 said:


> is xm or sirius better does anyone know?


try a free trial of xm online to see for your self i think that xm has better audio quality and new hard rock but sirrius has better urban http://xmro.xmradio.com/xstream/registration/registration.jsp?userForward=default http://www.sirius.com/servlet/MediaPlayerRegistration?stream=


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## RichW (Mar 29, 2002)

I like XM because of the two radio theater channels - Sonic Theater and Old-time Radio.


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

They are both out of the running for me until one or the other offeres at least some music channels without annoying stream jockeys and ads for the station I am already listening to! If I am going to pay for radio, I want nothing but music if I turn to a music channel. Even though both XM and Sirius have better music mixes, I still listen to Dish's good ol' Muzak because they have no annoying interruptions every other song!

See ya
Tony


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## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

While the ads for XM hardware are lost on me - I already have 4 receivers so I *know* about the Family Plan, the SkyFi2, etc - I appreciate the occasional program note.

I never would have known about certain Artist Confidential programs or particular guests of interest on the Bob Edwards show or that a particular group was in concert in my area.

I guess that, after putting up with 20+ minutes of commercials and countless minutes of blather per hour on terrestrial radio, a couple of minutes per hour of program notes on XM doesn't seem bad at all.


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## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

Bottom line....here a the dealbreakers......

If you HAVE to have.....

NASCAR - Go to Sirius (They take over from XM next year)
NFL - Go to Sirius
Baseball - Go to XM
Howard Stern - Goto Sirius
Opie and Anthony - Go to XM
Movie Scores (Cinemagic) - Go to XM

Re: Music......

If you like DEEP catalogs (hearing songs you haven't heard in a while), go to XM. Sirius prefers more recognizable tracks, but repeats songs that regualr radio plays a lot.

Personally, I keep hearing rumors about new head units coming soon that will receive XM AND Sirius. I have XM, but would love to be able to get Sirius for the NFL games while I am driving.


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## datwell (Jan 26, 2005)

I, for one, am very happy with Sirius! Nothing in this life is perfect, but Sirius is pretty darn good for my money! The NFL channel (124) is simply outstanding. Period. Schein & Riggins (1600 - 1900 Eastern) are my favorites, but I like all of the commentators. The Sirius NFL radio channel is just so juch better than the NFL TV Channel - if Dish doen't get the NFL channel - well, I can live anyway.

I really like the music too. Traffic info, news & talk are all there for the listening.

A few small gripes: the music selection is a bit "NewYorky" at times and their Christian-oriented programming is thin. These are small gripes though. 

Overall, I really like Sirius!

--Doug


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## RichW (Mar 29, 2002)

_their Christian-oriented programming is thin._

That's because they keep trying to throw us fat Christians to the lions!


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

BobMurdoch said:


> Bottom line....here a the dealbreakers......
> 
> If you HAVE to have.....
> 
> ...


nascar is 2007


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## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

Minor correction - NASCAR goes to Sirius in *2007*, next year it's still with XM.


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

BobMurdoch said:


> Bottom line....here a the dealbreakers......
> 
> If you HAVE to have.....
> 
> ...


 circuit city has them i think its 399


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## Roger (Aug 7, 2002)

I had both and I enjoyed Sirius more because it had better music IMO for my taste. For Hard Rock, SiRius has 80's Metal along with Hard Rock, and Heavy Metal, Classic Hard Rock or was it Metal which gave me more of a choice. While XM has a Metal channel that plays too much soft "hair" crap and their Hevay Metal Channel plays too much crap that's too hard and you can't understand what they're saying.

Sirius broke my kind of music down into more channels which use to give me more enjoyment and that along with Musak on Dish gave me one hell of a great set up.
Get Dish and get Sirius and Muzak which is the best deal IMO. I got rid of XM after a couple months because they didn't have enough channels nor broke my styles of music down enough. But that's for my musical taste only.


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## dfergie (Feb 28, 2003)

I have had Sirius for a year now, and Xm since last thursday... I have noticed that they play different music... I'm liking Comedy on xm150 as no Jim Breuer , nor Four Quotas or wise guys to interupt the comedy... it is nice to hear a little different music, But I do notice that the Classic Rock is harder to find. Xm does have more Country than Sirius which I find refreshing.


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## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

Classic Rock is pretty much the realm of Top Tracks (XM 46). It's A-1 on my presets.

For the record, my presets are:
Top Tracks
Deep Tracks
Boneyard
Music Lab
Highway 16
60s on 6
70s on 7
80s on 8
Cinemagic
Unsigned
--
Laugh USA
Sonic Theater
Radio Classics
Discovery
NASCAR
Fox News
MLB Home Plate
BBC World
Traffic & Weather - Boston
XM Comedy


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## MarkA (Mar 23, 2002)

Sirius has better satellite reception, especially important in northern states and Canada. It also has some more good programming - a better kids station, an all-Elvis station, some other stuff.

Because of their worse satellite network, XM has ten times as many repeaters... so if you live in a major city you may find XM has better reception for you.


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## dfergie (Feb 28, 2003)

I did listen to Boneyard quite a bit today...more than the rest...


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## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

I wouldn't call XM sat network "worse". It's different as Sirius and XM used different ideas. XM is using sats in geosynchronous orbit while Sirius uses sats in an ellitical orbit that "look" like they're doing a figure-8 over the western hemisphere.

It does mean that Sirius gives a better angle up north when one of their satellites is there. it also means that, just because you got reception in one spot, doesn't mean you'll always get it there (as my landlord in NJ found out trying to place his home antenna) because the satellites "move" in relation to the ground. This is less of a problem in cars.

The more/less repeaters issue is more due to how much power each one transmits at. Sirius decided on fewer, high-power transmiterrs while XM went for a more targeted approach with a higher number of lower-powered transmitters.


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

i live in nc not a big city but i had sirius and it would lose signal all the time i have xm now and i never lose signal i was once in a parking deck and still had service


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## deraz (Sep 25, 2004)

I have Sirius in my office and have had several cars with XM. I mostly listen to music (mostly blues, some classic rock) and the news stations (CNBC, CNN, MSNBC, Fox). I think they are pretty even. I do not listen to sports.

I believe they both can give you a 3 day on-line test drive. You might want to try them each before deciding?


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## reddice (Feb 18, 2003)

After listing to both XM and Sirius. I prefer XM better. On Sirius, many of the channels the dj's don't know when to shut up plus their 90's channel is pathetic playing some 90's and the crap of today. The Beat stinks. They yack to much and play too many pop remixes.


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## ntexasdude (Jan 23, 2005)

I've been sitting here in air-conditoned heaven listening to the Siruis feed on Dish Network for several hours. I heard some Janis Joplin (among others) I've never heard before. I'm fixing to get off my lazy butt and go to CC and/or BB and get a sat radio system for the car(s) and my boat. I'm sick and tired of regular radio and CD's. I'll let you know what I end up with.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

I have subscriptions to both XM and Sirius. I have both at home and XM in my truck. Both services are great and have a lot to offer. The deal breakers that Bob listed aren’t the only things that differentiate the two services but they are the major ones. Both XM and Sirius are wonderful and I take pride in saying I spend more money per moth on radio, than most people spend on TV  I could imagine not having both.

Between the commercial free music, wide varieties of music, and no censorship I couldn’t be happier. I never listen to FM or AM radio anymore. Terrestrial radio is a dying medium that I could careless about. You can’t go wrong with either service.

If you pan to do a lot of online listening XM may be better for you since you can subscribe to their online service only for $7.99 and they offer streams in both 34K and 64K where as Sirius is just 32K. XM Radio Online can also be listened to through Windows Media Player and a few other third party players and can be listened to on a PDA. 

Personally, I'm in a musical heaven and haven. Between XM, Sirius and Music Choice I have access to 168 channels of commercial free music. All I need to do is add DMX to my collection and I'll have all four major digital audio services in the US.


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## ntexasdude (Jan 23, 2005)

Just got back from BB. Bought a SkiFi2 (XM) for $170. Gonna make the wife install it.


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

ntexasdude said:


> Just got back from BB. Bought a SkiFi2 (XM) for $170. Gonna make the wife install it.


too bad you didn't look on line first for prices http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Delp...sem/rpsm/oid/123098/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do or even lower here http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=UFNTaG93UmVzdWx0cw== but any way i have a skifi2 love it by the way if anybody want you can get the mifi whole set up which is like xm with tivo for 189.99 at ebuyer also and bb has a 30 day price match just take the add you print here and the receipt


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## CrankyYankee (Feb 19, 2003)

The XM folks are crafty! Offer channels on-line that are not available on the receiver and also offer stuff on the receiver that you can't access on-line.

If you want baseball & "Special X", the XM is the way to go.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

I wouldn't call it crafty, three out of the five channels that are online exclusives were once on the satellites but removed to make room for new channels. The channels that were on the satellites that were removed featured DJs, special segments and you could send it your requests. Now their just canned internet streams on auto pilot. 

I’d do anything or sacrifice anything to have my Liquid Metal back.

As for the talk channels that aren’t offered online, this is out of XMs control due to contracts and royalties. Original programming like Bob Edwards, O&A and XM Kids can be offered since they’re XM channels. Same holds true with Sirius.


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## jackp (Jul 31, 2005)

Hello and Hi I have been thinking of getting a sat radio


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## pez2002 (Dec 13, 2002)

ntexasdude said:


> Just got back from BB. Bought a SkiFi2 (XM) for $170. Gonna make the wife install it.


you cant do it :lol:

im buying sirius soon

Soon to go back to comcast for stern on demand and comcast has GSN now so no reason to stick with dtv i wanna see the flyers and sixers this year  i still have love for directv so dont worry :hurah:


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## pez2002 (Dec 13, 2002)

Steve Mehs said:


> I wouldn't call it crafty, three out of the five channels that are online exclusives were once on the satellites but removed to make room for new channels. The channels that were on the satellites that were removed featured DJs, special segments and you could send it your requests. Now their just canned internet streams on auto pilot.
> 
> I'd do anything or sacrifice anything to have my Liquid Metal back.
> 
> As for the talk channels that aren't offered online, this is out of XMs control due to contracts and royalties. Original programming like Bob Edwards, O&A and XM Kids can be offered since they're XM channels. Same holds true with Sirius.


ron and fez soon to join ch 202 ron and fez are from 106.7 WJFK in dc


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## Spruceman (Nov 21, 2004)

I prefer XM, primarily because XM has a true easy listening channel -- Sunny 24-- about 3/4 instrumental, 1/4 vocal, very relaxing. Formatted similar to the music once played on Washington's WQMR-WGAY during the '60s & '70s. Sirius has nothing like it. The one Sirius calls easy is really more like the original adult contemporary music of the late 1970s early '80s -- or like what 94.7 played in Washington just after dropping the WJMD call and instrumental beautiful music format and became WLTT "soft rock." 

XM has a wider range of jazz offerings than Sirius, and has a New Age channel -- which the Dog doesn't have. Sirius has an all-Elvis channel, which I thought would be nice when I first heard of it, but the jabbering between musical selections can be as long as 12 minutes -- F* that!!! If I want to hear Elvis, I could dig anything by him out of my CD selection in less than 12 minutes.

If you're into all kinds of rock, rap, hiphop, Sirius would be better for you as more than half their musical offerings are in these categories. Also it's more like what you hear on FM radio nowadays. I think that XM appeals to a wider range of demographics and musical tastes than Sirius. That's good. It'd be a terrible waste of what little bandwidth there is for DARS if they were clones of each other.

XM's oldies channels hold truer to decades. Their '50s channel includes all the '50s -- not just 1955 on. XM also has a '40s channel. Sirius has an oldies wihich is essentially 1955-1969. I think XM's classical music channels are programmed better -- with hosts who once were part of the Washington DC scene once upon a time when we had 3 full-time classical stations on FM, before most of FM went to hell.-- kinda like finding long lost friends -- real pros in the classical scene. It's a shame there couldn't be as many different classical formats anywhere as there are rock formats on Sirius -- then we'd have preBaroque, Baroque, Classical, all Beethoven, Romantic, Impressionistic, Chamber, etc. etc., --- you get the idea; but how many of us would then subscribe? Only in Canada, one could find an all-Baroque satellite channel (Galaxie on ExpressVu).

No comments on the talk channels, as I use them only for weather and traffic.


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## Combow (Aug 8, 2004)

I Love XM... Sirius is not very good. it would be good if it were free... which it is with Dish Network and even there is sucks  that's a service i don't think is worth paying for.


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## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

I have Sirius on E* and XM in my car, my wife's car, and a boombox in my office. I like the mixes on XM better on most of the channels that have overlapping formats with Sirius (XMs 80s on 8 vs. Big 80s for example). Also, XM has UPop and Cinemagic, two genres that Sirius doesn't even address.

They DO have the NFL and NASCAR in 2006 and beyond. If this is critical for you then you are forced to go there. XM has Baseball. 

Rumors are circulating that dual tuner receivers are coming that can receive both XM AND Sirius. I'd like one that could get both, but I'll settle for XM if I have to choose.....


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## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

The dual-mode tuners are mandated by the FCC - it was part of the original licensing process.

What they did NOT mandate was *when* it had to happen.

So far, no rumblings of even a HINT of a date.


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## MarkA (Mar 23, 2002)

XM is losing some of it's programming advantage - Christian rock is coming to Sirius late September!


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