Who here subscribes to XM radio?

[FORD]

I put off the satellite radio "bug" even longer than I did the Cell Phone thing, but I finally caved in and bought an XM tuner ($20 so what the Hell)

I got it primarily because of Air America radio, which is available on AM, but the signal sucks in the car and is nearly impossible at home, and internet streaming isn't always an option.

But there's lots of music and sports coverage on there as well, by the looks of it.

Anybody else already signed up?

[thome]

Need more info to busy to read up on it .
Wave of the future like Cable TV ?

[Keeyth]

No just haven't heard enough about it to warrant buying it. Stern is the only thing I know about that will be on it, and that's not even until next year.
Is it really worth it? Does it come in clearly thru thick corporate walls?
How much does it cost? Initial + MRC?

[Va Beach VH Fan]

I've had it a couple of months now FORD, I love it, I haven't listened to local radio since...

I've got Air America radio programmed in as well....

It's a little light on good hard rock stations that us old fuckers listen to, but there are still several to choose from...

Plenty of sports and news as well..

Another favorite of mine is the uncensored Comedy channel....

[FORD]

The uncensored part is a good selling point. If I want to listen to some stand up comedy, or if I'm in the mood for some old school rap without every other syllable bleeped out. Or even good old rock n roll that the corporate FM stations are afraid to play anymore due to the fanatical censorship of the current FCC.

Just with the Air America and sports coverage alone it seems to have the best of AM radio in a format that you can actually listen to. I also like the idea of being able to have it all accessible on a road trip without having to hunt for a new station every 200 miles. Not that I'll probably get a road trip in this summer, given gas prices and other economic factors unfortunately

[FORD]

Originally posted by Keeyth
No just haven't heard enough about it to warrant buying it. Stern is the only thing I know about that will be on it, and that's not even until next year.
Is it really worth it? Does it come in clearly thru thick corporate walls?
How much does it cost? Initial + MRC?

As I said, I got this tuner for $20. It's being shipped right now, so I'm not signed up officially yet. Subsrcription to XM is $12/month, but there are paid in advance packages and that sort of thing.

Stern is actually going to be on Sirius which is a competing sattelite network. I'm predicting though, that eventually this either becomes a VHS/Betamax type contest, and one format will disappear, or the broadcast FM corporations (Clear Channel, Infinty, Entercom, etc.) will launch their own satellite feeds using their current content.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Originally posted by FORD
The uncensored part is a good selling point. If I want to listen to some stand up comedy, or if I'm in the mood for some old school rap without every other syllable bleeped out. Or even good old rock n roll that the corporate FM stations are afraid to play anymore due to the fanatical censorship of the current FCC.

Just with the Air America and sports coverage alone it seems to have the best of AM radio in a format that you can actually listen to. I also like the idea of being able to have it all accessible on a road trip without having to hunt for a new station every 200 miles. Not that I'll probably get a road trip in this summer, given gas prices and other economic factors unfortunately

Actually the uncensored channel isn't what you think, i.e. something similar to Def Comedy Jam...

It really has a great diversity of comics...

I just took a baseball trip with my son to Cooperstown, Baltimore, and D.C....The only modifications I made was a few times that I changed the FM modulator from 88.9 to 88.5 (meaning an unused channel)....

[BrownSound1]

We have a Sirius radio at work...I catch the young guys listening to the Hair Nation station on there, which is 80's Metal. They always ask me about bands that are playing on there, and are amazed at the guitar playing. LMAO I've given many a history lesson on the art of rock guitar.

[monkeythe]

I have it and it is great. As far as which system is better it's hard to tell. Both have lots of music channels, comedy channels, and good talk radio. XM has every baseball game & Sirius has every football game. XM has O&A and Sirius is getting Stern. Regardless of which system you get, it is light years ahead of current radio

[Virgil Caine]

I've thought about getting one or the other. Does anyone know which one broadcasts rock concerts or live shows?

Thanks!

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Originally posted by Virgil Caine
I've thought about getting one or the other. Does anyone know which one broadcasts rock concerts or live shows?

Thanks!

XM has a channel for live concerts, although not broadcasted live...

http://xmradio.com/exclusivemusic/then_again_live.jsp

[monkeythe]

On XM, many of the music channels have weekly shows that features concerts (pre-recordeed from the era the channel represents)

[what waz zat]

XM has some live shows of past concerts but nothing that is current. Another cool thing about XM is that they have special "behind the music" shows about how certain albums were made with interviews with the bands. The heavy metal station runs em about once a week. XM also has 5 different sports channels and Nascar.

[Rebel]

I got a free year of Sirius with my car, it's OK. I listen to the metal station, octane, and the hair band channel some. When I listen to it though, I find myself leaving it on the all Elvis channel a bit too much lol.

I think either Sirius or XM will go by the wayside eventually, who know which though. Sirius has Stern, and the NFL, so it's got some good programming.

[WACF]

I have XM in my vehicle...the nice thing was we went camping in the rockies for a week and always had a signal...something FM can not do.

It was a hard choice between Sirius and XM...I listened to the both online to decide. XM online is included with a subscription...the sound quality is much better than Sirius...I phoned them up and they said there were no plans on improving the sound quality online.

The Rock stations are good...I listen to Boneyard mostly...the deciding factor was the wife...she loves the 80's channel and BPM(dance)...BPM was far superior on XM than the dance channels on Sirius.

The ball game converage was phenomenal...the score comes up on the display too.

I am looking forward to listening to the talk stations...