Have you tried both? Which do you prefer & why?
Thanks,
dh
I ditched satellite radio for podcasts. Not only are they free, there is far more content available.
I’ve tried both. I strongly prefer Sirius. The reasons why? Mostly content. I am a big Stern fan. I also found the music channels to be much stronger on Sirius. There is only one channel I miss from XM, and it was only a channel I ocaisionally listened to, and that was Cinemagic.
I ditched satellite radio for podcasts. Not only are they free, there is far more content available.
Are there music podcasts, too? So far, I’ve only subscribed to business lectures and talk radio type of shows.
Sirius vs. XM: As far as music channels, I’ve found them to be about the same. I was an XM listener for years but recently switched to Sirius because I bought a portable live radio. Both offer free online listening with your subscription.
At work, I drive a lot of different cars, and some of them have satellite radio. I find in general I prefer Sirius. The music channels seem more in tune with my tastes, and the comedy is much better. When I’m stuck in traffic, comedy is the best way to relieve my frustration–makes a big difference in how I feel when I finally arrive.
I also seem to like the Sirius radios better. Most of the XM vehicles I have driven were GM products, and I was not fond of the controls on their radios. You would probably get used to them if you used them for a while, however.
There are music podcasts. And the money I’ve saved in subscription fees has gone to substantially increase my personal music collection as well.
Purely depends upon your listening habits. I have/had both (XM in the Odyssey, Sirius in the Mercedes, XM portable). I prefer XM as they have deeper playlists and less repeating. Also have more of the sports I listen too. Don’t care about Howard Stern anymore. Sirius had better talk radio and station “mixing” where XM stations are definitely more uniform in what they play (which I like).
This was my answer to the XM or Sirius question in another forum:
For non-music considerations, just compare whats available on each service’s website and decide what you prefer (and how much non-music radio means to you).
For music, the biggest difference is that XM has deeper playlists than Sirius, so it ends up being a matter of taste and how much you will listen to music. If you only listen an hour or two a day, you may feel like you never get to hear the songs you like the most on XM and Sirius may be a better fit for you. If you listen eight or nine hours a day, you may be ready to throw a Sirius receiver against the wall by about the fourth time their 90’s station plays Bobby Brown’s Humpin’ Around in the same day, and you would probably appreciate XM’s more diverse offerings.
For me, its mostly music for about 9 hours, and I’d rather listen to my neighbor’s dog bark all night than listen to Stern, so XM is the choice. Good luck!
Wolfwood, can you tell me how to get to some of the music podcasts?
I’m still pretty happy with XM and not yet ready to dedicate a lot of time to data management just to hear my music, but I foresee a time when the non-music considerations of both satellite services will overwhelm the quality of the music stations.
Not sure as I have only experienced Sirius. But I am web streaming Howard Stern as I surf the web. This is important to me as I spend most of my day in a ‘cube farm’ where I can barely see a window let alone pick up a satellite. Thus with Sirius I am able to stream my music/news/howardstern to the cube. Is webstreaming available to XM users?
By the way, Howard is a completely different show on Sirius, the limits/restrictions of the FCC are gone. I’m sure this would upset many people, but I love it!
M
Just use iTunes. Inside of iTunes go to the store and click podcasts. There is a music category and then you can click ‘see all’ to browse all of them. There are also some music podcasts that are not in the music section, such as podrunner, so you might want to browse some other categories besides music. And you can always do a text search.
I’ve only tried XM, and only because it was a gift.
Pros- good depth of music, as has been mentioned. I don’t know how it compares with Sirius, but you can listen to some relatively obscure music on XM- definitely plenty of music that doesn’t get much terrestrial airplay.
Cons- More and more of the XM channels seem to be selling ads. Again, no idea how this compares to Sirius, but it’s pretty freakin’ lame to have to listen to commercials over satellite radio.
- The comedy channels play the same stuff over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and . . . . you get the idea.
I spend a LOT of time in my vehicle listening to the radio. Overall, I’m happy with XM. I would prefer if it were commercial free, and I’d like it if they didn’t play the same comedy bits over and over again. But the music is diverse and they have a decent selection of news channels.
Plus, they don’t carry Howard Stern, so that’s good for ten points right there.
For the record, all of the non-music stations on XM air commercials, and until recently none of the music stations did.
Then a lingering agreement with Clear Channel (who used to be a part owner in XM) came back to bite the company. Clear Channel enforced an old agreement that forced XM to air commercials on four hit music stations that CC programed. XM created commercial free stations with identical formats to make up for it, but CC’s action forced them to lose the moniker of “100% commercial free music stations”. They’ll be stuck with those stations until sometime in 2008.
You’ll see a “cm” in the station ID for those 4 stations that CC is airing commercials on, the rest should be commercial free.
There are music podcasts. And the money I’ve saved in subscription fees has gone to substantially increase my personal music collection as well.
You can substntially increase your personal music collection on $13 a month?
There is a cd trading service called lala. 100% legal and you can trade cds with people for only $1.75.