Bah Humbug Sirius :(

[DWS44]

Been a Sirius subscriber for nearly 20 years now and generally been happy with the service over the years. I'm not even one to b!tch too much over the price, and defended their worth even while so many folks extoll the virtues of the other streaming music services. That said, they pissed me off last two days. SiriusXM Holly has always been one of my favorite holiday stations. It came on all my radios on channel 105 this year and has been working fine since they turned it on. Well, yesterday, I couldn't get the channel in my Dad's Cadillac while I was out with him (he's been a subscriber even longer than me). I didn't have time to putz with it, though. Today, I get in my vehicle, and I don't have it either. Apparently they have decided mid-season to remove the channel from the "Mostly Music" package that we subscribe to.

If you aren't going to offer a channel, that's one thing, but to turn ON your most popular Christmas channel (like you have for the past however many years), then arbitrarily turn it back off from a particular package two weeks before Christmas...that's just a pure d!ck move, IMO.

 

[TheKrell]

They replaced the only channel I listen to, Spa, with Calm for... Ah... I think it was 3 months during which I did in fact cancel. So, that nonsense ended and Spa came back so I resubscribed.

I wish I could trade subscriptions with you for this month. I'll bet Spa is on Mostly Music. I'm now still on my 1yr promo for their highest tier... Forget what they call it. Yup; I can listen to Holly streaming (included with my car sub). Who is that on right now? Dolly Parton?

 

[fayrich]

Why not try internet radio guys. Tons of free stations covering all possible genres. Of course you will have to spring for a radio initially.

 

[Juan]

They replaced the only channel I listen to, Spa, with Calm for... Ah... I think it was 3 months during which I did in fact cancel. So, that nonsense ended and Spa came back so I resubscribed.

I wish I could trade subscriptions with you for this month. I'll bet Spa is on Mostly Music. I'm now still on my 1yr promo for their highest tier... Forget what they call it. Yup; I can listen to Holly streaming (included with my car sub). Who is that on right now? Dolly Parton?

Does your sub come with the streaming app?

 

[TheKrell]

Does your sub come with the streaming app?

I wouldn't know since I eschew apps in general. But I think "Yes".

My car sub includes one online stream. For Echoes, I can play that "one" stream on all of them, including those in my home, my auxiliary apartment in MD, or through my cell phone hot spot to the Echo in my office. I do not know what would happen if I used some other smart speaker. But I do know that I can't bring up the streaming player on my PC without endangering the streams on my Echoes.

 

[Juan]

I wouldn't know since I eschew apps in general. But I think "Yes".

My car sub includes one online stream. For Echoes, I can play that "one" stream on all of them, including those in my home, my auxiliary apartment in MD, or through my cell phone hot spot to the Echo in my office. I do not know what would happen if I used some other smart speaker. But I do know that I can't bring up the streaming player on my PC without endangering the streams on my Echoes.

I was thinking use it on a phone and blutooth it to car radio

 

[TheKrell]

I was thinking use it on a phone and blutooth it to car radio

That thought never occurred to me because I subscribe via my car radio. I suppose streaming quality is better, so that could be one reason.

If you only subscribe to one stream, it would be interesting to know what other devices, besides Echoes, allow multiple streams. Can you stream to multiple PC's or in your case multiple phones? I doubt that. Amazon may have an agreement with SiriusXM that allows all Echoes on one account, e.g. to enable their "play everywhere" command.

Does anybody else with a streaming sub have any other smart speaker they can try?

 

[Juan]

That thought never occurred to me because I subscribe via my car radio. I suppose streaming quality is better, so that could be one reason.

If you only subscribe to one stream, it would be interesting to know what other devices, besides Echoes, allow multiple streams. Can you stream to multiple PC's or in your case multiple phones? I doubt that. Amazon may have an agreement with SiriusXM that allows all Echoes on one account, e.g. to enable their "play everywhere" command.

Does anybody else with a streaming sub have any other smart speaker they can try?

Depends on how many logins they allow at the same time..or profiles would be a better word..my guess is one per subscription

 

[TheKrell]

Depends on how many logins they allow at the same time..or profiles would be a better word..my guess is one per subscription

I was hoping to get some more testing out of you! Don't you have a sub? I've done my part with extensive testing of my Amazon ecosystem of Echos in various places.

It DRIVES ME CRAZY that SiriusXM(?) wrote an Alexa skill that can't answer a simple question, such as "Alexa, what are you playing?" She just tells me the channel name, and not the song itself. If I play Amazon Music, it answers with the song title as expected. I can see the song title and artist (and on some platforms album and album art) on every other platform I can test. So I don't know how widespread this problem is. Around here, I'm the only one who seems to care.

 

[FTA4PA]

Been a Sirius subscriber for nearly 20 years now and generally been happy with the service over the years. I'm not even one to b!tch too much over the price, and defended their worth even while so many folks extoll the virtues of the other streaming music services. That said, they pissed me off last two days. SiriusXM Holly has always been one of my favorite holiday stations. It came on all my radios on channel 105 this year and has been working fine since they turned it on. Well, yesterday, I couldn't get the channel in my Dad's Cadillac while I was out with him (he's been a subscriber even longer than me). I didn't have time to putz with it, though. Today, I get in my vehicle, and I don't have it either. Apparently they have decided mid-season to remove the channel from the "Mostly Music" package that we subscribe to.

If you aren't going to offer a channel, that's one thing, but to turn ON your most popular Christmas channel (like you have for the past however many years), then arbitrarily turn it back off from a particular package two weeks before Christmas...that's just a pure d!ck move, IMO.

They replaced the only channel I listen to, Spa, with Calm for... Ah... I think it was 3 months during which I did in fact cancel. So, that nonsense ended and Spa came back so I resubscribed.

I wish I could trade subscriptions with you for this month. I'll bet Spa is on Mostly Music. I'm now still on my 1yr promo for their highest tier... Forget what they call it. Yup; I can listen to Holly streaming (included with my car sub). Who is that on right now? Dolly Parton?

This sounds sounds just like the crap satellite tv providers pull. You want this channel but it's not in this package - and you want that channel but it's in another package.

Glad we don't deal with any of that crap here any more. Good ol' broadcast radio, OTA tv and Free To Air satellite tv are just fine for us. Always something to listen to or watch. Yes you may lose or gain something here or there and it may not be tailored exactly to our tastes but it is free so no big deal.

 

[TheKrell]

Glad we don't deal with any of that crap here any more. Regular radio...

I hear you. But in the case of radio, I really reallly HATE the commercials almost as much as I do on TV. That's why I sub to Dish and use the DVR to skip them. Plus my favorite music genre, New Age, is apparently not broadcast at all in my area.

So I resort to SiriusXM for a single channel. The satellite audio quality is pretty crappy, but I don't use it for critical listening. I use it to introduce me to music and artists I've never heard of before in my nearly 70 years of living on God's green earth. I then use that information to buy high quality downloadable versions and I put that wherever I want it. But to do that, I need to know what's playing!

 

[FTA4PA]

I hear you. But in the case of radio, I really reallly HATE the commercials almost as much as I do on TV. That's why I sub to Dish and use the DVR to skip them. Plus my favorite music genre, New Age, is apparently not broadcast at all in my area.

So I resort to SiriusXM for a single channel. The satellite audio quality is pretty crappy, but I don't use it for critical listening. I use it to introduce me to music and artists I've never heard of before in my nearly 70 years of living on God's green earth. I then use that information to buy high quality downloadable versions and I put that wherever I want it. But to do that, I need to know what's playing!

For being in a rural area here in central PA we actually have some very good radio stations. A few of the best are still independent or college run so you get the good stuff as far as music because the people playing it actually care. Heck, some still let you call in with requests. One plays seven song blocks before you even hear a commercial and although we don't care for the commercials (who does) we have actually found useful info about small local businesses we did not know about. All in all it's a trade-off, not perfect, but then neither are we.

 

[Foxbat]

Regarding satellite versus streaming quality, my 2014 Ford Escape came with Ford’s “listening through corrugated pipe” sound, and streaming SiriusXM through my phone to the Sony OEM stereo system Ford installed in my Escape sounds as good as Bluetooth gets. I can also plug in to through the USB if I want album art and Artist/Title info.

I sponge off Mrs. Foxbat’s subscription. Best deal around

 

[TheKrell]

I sponge off Mrs. Foxbat’s subscription. Best deal around

Could you explain that a tad more? Her sub is for where exactly? Some vehicle other than the Escape? And this allows you to stream through your phone? (I think my sub does this, but as I said above, I don't use the SiriusXM app.)

 

[Juan]

You could try pandora

 

[jwestpfahl]

Maybe the car radio needs a satellite refresh? You could always call customer service.

 

[Juan]

Could you explain that a tad more? Her sub is for where exactly? Some vehicle other than the Escape? And this allows you to stream through your phone? (I think my sub does this, but as I said above, I don't use the SiriusXM app.)

The app has a better selection of channels

 

[TheKrell]

The app has a better selection of channels

You are not Foxbat!

So, that said, what app has a better selection of SiriusXM channels than my Platinum sub to SiriusXM which I am playing via my Echo?

 

[Juan]

You are not Foxbat!

So, that said, what app has a better selection of SiriusXM channels than my Platinum sub to SiriusXM which I am playing via my Echo?

Yes..they bought pandora and incorporated their channels

 

[TheKrell]

Yes..they bought pandora and incorporated their channels

OK, so what are you saying? Is there still a Pandora app and does it have more channels that SiriusXM Platinum?