I have also been digging around the internet for information on satellite radios lately. I normally just use my iPhone for Podcasts, MLB, and music connected to my car when I'm driving. Recently I have been driving through the country in Northern Michigan more and more and then I am limited to podcasts and music stored on my phone. Streaming pandora and MLB is out.
I have been looking at their packages online and $200 annually for everything seems like the best option to me. My home Onkyo AVR supports the SiriusXM internet service so I want that in my plan. The other plans that aren't annual don't seem to include the internet option witch seems a little crazy to me.
The Roady that Tampa mentioned seems like it would be perfect for me. Easy car setup and I would never have to take it out of my car because the Onkyo would handle everything at home. One thing that I noticed is that the Roady is listed as an XM model. On their packages site I see that they have the channel lists broken down by Sirius, XM, or SiriusXM radios. There are a lot of channels listed so maybe I'm missing something but I don't really see the difference between those 3 radio types in the channel list.
Is there a difference in audio quality between Sirus and XM? Should I be looking for one of the hybrid SiriusXM models instead? Is one model more future proof than the other? I'd hate to buy a radio and find that the side I bought is being phased out. I want all the sports play by play stations and the talk stations. I would like most of the music channels available but that will probably be my least used portion so if I have to give something up that is where I would do it. Are all the sports and talk stations available on both radio types?
Sorry for all the questions. I obviously don't have much knowledge about satellite radio.
Edit: Is there any reason I shouldn't go with the Onyx model for my car instead. It's about $70 cheaper.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002Q0W80C/?tag=satell01-20 Edit 2: I found out why you didn't recommend the Onyx. After reading amazon reviews it sounds like you have to run a wire to the outside roof of your car with that model. No thanks.
Edit 3: It looks like the Roady XT also requires an antenna on the outside of my car. I was under the impression that the antenna was built in to the radio on the models they are selling now. This is the same reason I didn't sign up for satellite radio years ago and it looks like it hasn't changed. I don't want a wire running from outside my car and across my dash. Looks like Satellite radio still isn't for me.