Sirius or XM Radio?

[fireman451]

I'm going to get myself a satellite radio set-up for my car and home and I'm trying to make a decision on which carrier is better.

Anyone have experience with either of these satellite radio providers?

Any info you can provide will be helpful.

Thanks!

[Kryptonite]

Soccer:
Sirius has play-by-play of Premiership games, thanks to BBC 5 Live. They usually air the game on Saturday mornings at 7:30 AM ET, the one following that at 10 AM TV PPV, and the later game at noon/11 AM CT.

They also have play-by-play of the Sunday morning PPV game, and the game played Monday at 3 PM ET.


XM has rights to broadcast play-by-play of the 2006 World Cup.


Other Sports:
XM has NASCAR, NHL, and MLB.
Sirius has NHL, NBA, and NFL. The cool thing about NFL is that you can select your team's feed. If you're a 49'ers fan living in Florida, you can always listen to their feed, no matter who they're playing or when (Monday night, Sunday night, etc.)


In 2007, Sirius is getting NASCAR and XM is dropping it, at which point XM is becoming the sole provider of NHL games.


College Sports
They're split. Sirius has some college stuff, XM has others. For example, I was able to listen to the OSU/Michigan game on either team's radio broadcast, but no other Big10 stuff has come up.





I got a Sirius (for several reasons) Replay boombox and car kit. I can pause, rewind radio, exactly like TiVo, but I can't record. The boombox was $100, the receiver and cat kit came as a single package for $150 and a $30 rebate. I also got some 6 month plan discounted.

What they don't tell you, if you have a home stereo, you can buy a plug from any electronics store that you can connect your boombox headphone plug into a "line in" plug in your home stereo. It's a lot cheaper than buying a home kit and a boombox.


Payment Plans
I don't know XM's payment plans, but with Sirius, you can buy 11 months and get 1 free (aka 1 year). You can buy 22 months and get 2 free (aka 2 years).


XM also has a playboy channel that you can pay $2.99 (something like that) extra for. With Sirius, you get it all for one price.

Sirius gives you a discount on additional receivers. I believe XM does the same. Base price is $12.95 a month for both.

Sirius lets you listen online for free. XM "now offers online listening as part of your plan."


Music
Almost identical, as far as I can tell.



Various Talent and other stuff
If you're into shock jocks, XM has Opie and Anthony. Sirius has 2 channels of "Howard Stern news" with Howard coming on 1/9/06 on 2 channels, one live and one delayed at 6 AM PT.

Sirius has an all-Elvis channel, a channel programmed by Eminem, and a Martha Stewart channel. I don't know what XM has in terms of personalities.

Sirius has a feature where you can program 20 songs into your receiver, and it'll notify you when they're being played. I'm sure XM has the same thing.

As far as I can tell, the only significant difference is with sports, the elvis/martha stewart/eminem difference. XM has a walkman-style radio while Sirius has some portable device you can save it's programming onto. I've heard it compared to a "glorified iPod".

XM has a channel for unsigned bands and brand new stuff. I don't believe Sirius has this.

They both offer free trials at their websites. XM's is 3 days, Sirius has a 7 day trial.

[fireman451]

Thanks for the insightful analysis.

I believe I'm going with Sirius, the Clarion Calypso radio.

Thanks again

[Chiquitibum]

good info.

[fireman451]

Yep. I just purchased my radio, car kit and boombox for the Calypso. I just found out its being discontinued, but everything I've read on it is very positive, especially compared to other Sirius systems. Maybe Clarion is coming out with a newer model next year.

Anyway, here's the radio I purchased . . .

http://twtr.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/p2090643reg.jpg

[jec1]

nice bro is it a good investment

[dirtskier]

I have XM but I think Sirius is a slightly better service. Sirius has slightly better programming overall, and I think the music show production is done a lot better.

[Eddie26]

I have Sirius and I absolutely love it. Best Christmas present I ever got. The EPL games are great and the NFL coverage is EXCELLENT. Home and Away feeds of every team AND you get Sirius NFL Radio. It's about the only station I listen to from August-Jan.

[servotron]

I have had XM for a little more than a year and I'm overall very happy with it. It's DEFINITELY worth the 11 bucks or whatever a month.

How I can tell it's worth it:

My wife can always find something to happily sing along with in the car. Almost ALWAYS. Try that with normal radio stations.

Also with the World Cup coming up, I can use my MyFi here at work in the building and listen to the games live!! WOO!