No holds barred....Which service should I select????

[cdcguard]

Well, I think I've finally come to terms with the idea of paying for radio (I'm a bit old fashioned after all). I think on payday I'm gonna get set up. Question is: Sirius or XM? I've signed up for the free 3 day internet trials for both and spent a few hours listening to them until I have "headphone hair." I'm leaning in XM's direction for the simple reason that I'm a bigger baseball fan than I'm a football fan and I like XM's blues channel a bit better.

Anyone out there think I'm making a mistake?

Also, I'd be interested in any suggestions regarding equipment etc. I'll mostly listen to it in my car and I don't need anything fancy (ie an FM modulator feeding my mid range pioneer should be A-OK, I'd think).

Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[DiscoLoveGrapes]

I've had XM for over 2 1/2 years, and I love it. There is so much to recommend on XM, and I'm rarely at a loss to what to listen to.

The upsides on XM are plenty: Baseball (big fan!), Traffic, BBC World Service, Prog Rock, Fine Tuning, and many others. There are other reasons are why I chose XM, and I haven't regretted it.

However, the major drawbacks are probably personal choice. While XM has BBC World Service (Sirius has BBC1 and BBC News, but not the World Service), their other news channels aren't all that good. All three major cable channels have audio services, with mixed resultes....Headline News and CNBC have audio feeds as well. ABC's News channel is part news, part talk shows. XMPublic Radio is a fantastic idea, but still only has one or two major shows during the week -- however the weekend lineup is one of my favorite parts of XM radio. I wish XM had WRN or PRI like Sirius does, but it's not enough to switch for me.

Anyway, I hope some of that helps. I love XM, and plan to stay with it.

 

[rad]

If MLB is important to you then you have only one choice.

 

[minorthr]

If your into MLB then XM is the way to go. I don't know about most people but I'd rather watch a football game and listen to a baseball game. Its really hard for me to just listen to a football game.

Also this hasn't really been brought up yet but XM seems to have deeper play lists the Sirius. Some times that can be really good and some times it can be really bad.

You did the right thing though by signing up for the trials so you could check them out.

 

[Chado]

I don't think you can go wrong with either. If you are able to listen to the MLB games when they are on, you should go with XM.

I am a Sirius sub and have had no issues, but sometimes I wish that I had XM for MLB.

 

[pretzelboy]

As noted, it's all about niches in programming. If you really want something that pretty much makes up your mind for you. Find the programming you like and go with it.

 

[Sirius_Rich]

You can not go wrong with either. Peruse the two "Why Me" sites and listen online to make an educated decision.

Why Me - XM

Why Me - Sirius

 

[onapartyrock]

I went with XM due to them being so far ahead of Sirius in technology, I've driven on roads in the middle of nowhere and got a ground signal...

Sirius worries me, they are investing so much money in to "names" and not "content". If Stern does not triple their listener base in the first year, I can see them having major problems and possibly being bought out by XM. I use to love this guy years ago, but he lost it... he just doesn't seem to have it in his heart anymore and I think he is just there for the paycheck now; that doesn't make for good radio.

When I say "names" I mean Martha Stewart, Richard Simmons, Tony Hawk (awful show), Lance Armstrong and Bam... people who you may want to meet, but why in the hell would you want to listen to them?

NFL -vs- MLB : God, baseball was made for the radio... football on the radio? its so much more a visual experience.

Bob Edwards was a great addittion for XM, Opie and Anthony - I have fallen in love with this show, it actually beats Stern when he was at his best.

Music is about the same, depending on your taste is a coin flip... if you love Elvis and Buffet, Sirius might hold an edge.

I had Sirius for a few months due to using a friends car while he was away on a business trip; I just didn't like it as much.

Now XM is not perfect, 152 is just clear channel shows - but the contract is almost up and word is XM is taking it over again (Clear channel had a major stock holding and forced their shows on XM). Playboy radio sucks... and its going away, the channels that costed more was a horrible idea - but they are all now free once playboy is gone.

XM is sure to get more bandwidth soon, with the contract with Homeland Defense to transmit information to troops in emergencies, word has it the are almost guaranteed FCC approval for the bandwidth addittion for ground repeaters.

I think they are getting Hockey, another decent sport on the radio since on TV you miss so much of the visual aspect of being their that the audio feed is all you need.

News... they have all the cable channels, I listen to Fox News a bit and am surprised how well not seeing the broadcast plays out. BBC is great, wish they had all the channels though (rumour that with the canadian deal they may get their new channels)

But, no matter which way you go... its better than AM/FM and you won't want to live without it.

 

[Remilk]

I am a happy XM listener and I recommend XM. I cannot compare as I have no experience with Sirius.

I am a big baseball fan and XM has MLB.

One thing I see is that the number of XM subscribers is rising faster than Sirius.

If you desire a portable, multi-environment device, presently XM2GO devices have been available since late 2004. Sirius has not yet made this type device available, though they have been announcec.

I would compare available devices and programming to make my decision.

Bob

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I have both and love them both. I use to prefer XM more, however XM Programming Quality has started to slip and Sirius is picking up the slack nicely.

I would love 1 radio which could tune both services. My desk would have a lot more room.