I've had Sirius Satellite radio for about 4 months now. It seems as if they are playing the same songs over and over.

Anyone agree?

Are they talking more and advertising too?

 

Im having sirius installed today...doesnt sound too promising based on your posts but i'll get back to you.

 

This is misleading.

It is true that Sirius has fewer subscribers than XM (1.14m vs 3.2m for XM as at the end of 2004) This is mainly due to the fact that XM was first to market. They both continue to lose huge amounts of money. However, the subscriber growth for both companies is astronomical and they are projected to reach profitability by the end of 2006.

It is not correct to say that "Sirius is not doing nearly as well as XM" and it is misleading to say that it's stock has taken a "huge dive" - Both Sirius and XM stock have declined recently. Sirius' percentage decline was higher than XM's simply because it had risen considerably higher than XM's. Even after Sirius' decline, the fact is that Sirius' stock price has provided consistently highter returns than XM over the past 2 years. See this chart: http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/q?s=SIRI...y&l=on&z=m&q=l

I have had Sirius for the last 6 months. Before selecting Sirius, I researched both sirius and XM. Independent reviews placed its programming ahead of XM and its marketing strategy won favourable comment from the investing community. For example, Sirius was first to offer all commercial free music channels, forcing XM to follow suit.

Commercials are a non issue on the music channels and I have seen no objective information to indicate that there has been an increase of commercials on any other channels such as sport or talk. What is your basis for saying that Siruis has to play more commericials? - sounds like none, since you are an XM subscriber.

I also know a number of people who have dumped XM for Sirius, this involved the purchase of new receivers, so there was some substantial motivation for the change. Based upon my review, I decided to go with Sirius and I am happy with my choice. One of my partners currently has XM, and after a recent road trip with me, he is now considering switching to Sirius.

Ultimately the choice of satellite radio provider involves a subjective judgment - it is not possible to establish objectively which is the correct choice. However, you do need accurate facts as a starting point.

 

Threre's people who dumped XM for Sirius and there's people who dumped Sirius for XM. I've had Sirius for almost a year now and i've been completely pleased with the music content, service, and quality overall that I've received. In all honesty, comparing Sirius to XM is really just a personal preference. I usually tell people to listen to both of them for the free 3 day trials and see which one you prefer. I happen to like the DJs and the stations better on Sirius.

 

We had both services - one in each car. My 350Z had the XM. After listening to both for a perod of time, I switched the head unit and system in the Z over to Sirius. In my opinion, Sirius is much, much better.

Yes, there is some repetition, but it's no different than the repetition on FM stations. And there are losts of good Sirius chanels that feature new music.

 

The DJ's on SIRIUS are hands down better than XM. At least for Rap and R&B

 

Sirius is great. I have nothing to compare it to since I haven't tried XM but there is nothing about Sirius that I don't like. Only problem I have is one street I have to drive down to leave my house that is literally a tunnel of trees which causes the signal to cut in and out. But one shouldn't expect satellite signals to go through solid objects like that. Couldn't be happier with it. Love the DJ's. They actually have personalities! LOL

 

Yeah it's kinda like this " I like coke especially rum and coke" and "If pepsi is on sale I can drink pepsi", really cold is better but not with rum

I put my $ in sirius cuz it had the NFL and it was cheaper, I think just like cable thirty years ago there will be about 3 or 4 big dogs in this industry when this is more mainstream. I just hope the returns on the investment pans out

 

I have XM and my brother has Sirius.

Honestly it seems like Sirius has more to offer.

But I'm in my happy little rut with XM.

 

yep... this is kind of like asking "do you like Coke or Pepsi better?" With no other offerings, both of these early players will continue to grow and, as stated above, will both become profitable. It really comes down programming selection. I picked Sirius over XM because of NFL, NCAA Basketball, and Howard Stern (morning radio here sucks big time!)

Addressing JCN's original questions...

I have noticed some repetition, but not often as I rarely listen to one station ad nauseum.
The only advertising I have heard is to pump programs on their other stations which is slightly annoying. I think the level of talking between songs depends a lot on which stations you listen to most. If you listen to Sirius Hits 1, for example, you tend to get a LOT of the "coming up tonight on Sirius Hits 1", "check Sirius 19 Buzzsaw for..." and so on. On the otherhand, stations like Area 63 have very little voiceover.

 

BTW, I have noticed something else about satellite radio.

When I was shopping, I read a lot about which service had better signal, satellite, blah, blah, blah. Some folks complained about losing signal on their receiver for either service.

Well, here is what I've discovered. I have a Kenwood head unit with Sirius receiver in my Z. In my VW, I have a portable Sportster Sirius receiver that I can transfer from car to car and even into my house.

What I've found is that the portable unit has crappy reception compared to the HU receiver. In my Z, I have **never** lost signal other than travelling under a long underpass or through a tunnel or some other obvious obstruction. With the Sportster, I drop signal occasionally just driving down the highway!

I bet more of those who have signal complaints (with either Sirius or XM) are having those issues on the portable. IMO, they are just not as good a quality of product as a unit built into a car stereo. Not sure if it is the unit itself or the crappy prepackaged antenna, but I can tell a definite difference between my Z and my VW. Either way, it's still better than regular radio.