Comments on: XM Versus Sirius

By: mike butler

mike butler — Thu, 15 May 2008 21:37:41 +0000

I recieved a notice from nco financial(a collection agency],about a$31.18 balance for not canceling after my 1 year.I was unaware that I had to cancel,luckily I paid by check or these cretins would have already deducted this.Needless to say they can wait forever for me to pay them.

By: Renee

Renee — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 18:24:23 +0000

I spent about 6 months researching satellite radio before finally making my purchase the month after Howard Stern started on Sirius (he did not factor whatsoever into my decision, I’m just giving you a timeline). I really, really, really wanted to get back into radio since all I had was my iPod and nothing else to introduce me to new and fresh music (I hadn’t listened to “terrestrial radio” since the last good rock station in Chicago [94.7] switched in the middle of the day to ANOTHER frickin’ oldies station, which another reviewer mentioned earlier). I had stayed at a hotel that offered XM satellite radio and just wasn’t at all impressed with the selection of music. I kept flipping from station to station and just couldn’t find anything I liked. I spent a couple more months researching radios and stations (the whole XM v. Sirius debate) and decided to go with a Sirius Starmate Replay. I’m really glad I made this decision! I’ve had this radio ever since (about two years now) and have not had one single problem with it. I use it in my car, at work, and at home. Although technology has improved and there are better options now (you know, two years later) this radio has really held up, considering the beating I give it (since I used to not have speakers in my computer, I would carry the unit in my purse so that I could use it both in my car and at work).
One of the best things is that the Sirius lineup is fantastic!!! I’m a huge fan of Sirius 20 Octane (modern rock)… I love the DJs, and I’m very happy that Sirius has chosen to keep the DJs more front-and-center than XM did (radio feels lonely without DJs) and plus the DJs keep me up-to-date on rock news and pending tours, which I really appreciate. I also love the other rock stations, which play such a variety of music from Jimmy Buffett (Radio Margaritaville) to classic rock (Buzzsaw) to hair bands (Hair Nation) to of course modern rock (Octane) and much, much more. I also LOVE the Blues channel!!! They keep the playlists fresh and don’t overplay most songs (there are, of course, exceptions). They have two comedy channels, one “clean” and one uncensored, which has countless times really picked up my work day. Another really cool feature of Sirius that I know of is the Octane Airforce, which you can sign up for and receive surveys including samples of songs that you can rate, and they choose the playlists on Octane partially based on how people rate the songs. I’m not sure if other stations have the same thing, but I would imagine that they do.
I listen to my Sirius satellite radio at least 8 hours per day (I use the online program to listen at work now and the receiver to listen in my car) and I’m very glad I got Sirius. I’m really nervous about this whole merger deal between XM and Sirius because there is talk that some of the Sirius channels will be pulled, and I don’t want to lose my favorites!
Although I prefer Sirius, I’m going to agree with what other people have said… if you don’t have satellite radio right now, get with the program!!! $13 a month is well worth ditching terrestrial radio. Once you get satellite, no matter what kind of music/talk radio/comedy/sports you like, you’ll wonder what you ever did without it!!!

By: Chris Turowski

Chris Turowski — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 20:44:18 +0000

I have had sirius for 2 years. I had given my first radio to my wife. The second week of decmber 2007 it was time to renew it. So we paid the amount of $309.40. Later that evening we decieded to cancel it so I called to cancel and the customer service person said no prob. well on Chirstmas EVE i recieved a call from sirius stateing that they made a mistake and charged me twice on my debit card and would have the money back in my bank account in two to three days. Well three days went by and I checked my bank account ballance and noticed that they had charged me $309.40 three times in the same day for a total of $928.20. Well I called and asked to get a refund imediatly. well they said o well try. i’m still waiting

By: bushwik

bushwik — Thu, 31 May 2007 14:45:03 +0000

Merging wrote: “What I would like to know is that XM claims people won’t have to change their radios, but will Sirius satellite owners? I’m certain that if they require Sirius owners to get new hardware they are going to lose a LOT of customers (even the die hard Stern fans!). What does everyone think about the fact that XM and Sirius are merging?
What Do You Think?”

What do I think about the merger? I think it won’t happen. FCC, FTC, and DOJ wont allow it. They both have a good argument to merge and it would be nice but they wont let it happen. Dish and DirectTV treid to merge a few years agoa and got shot down. MONOPOLIES are frowned upon big tyme in this country. Oh and the argument of which provider is better. For music aficionados its Sirius. Better program better Deejays better niches…come on 1st Wave is the shit! You cant beat that!

By: Merging

Merging — Mon, 14 May 2007 19:43:47 +0000

It looks like everyone hoping Sirius would take over are in for a disappointment. It looks like XM will be merging with Sirius and will only keep the programming that doesn’t overlap with the current XM coverage. Check this website to see the differences between the two systems…
http://www.xmradio.com/whatisxm/programming/xm-vs-sirius.xmc

And here is some info on the merger…
http://www.xmradio.com/merger/news.xmc

What I would like to know is that XM claims people won’t have to change their radios, but will Sirius satellite owners? I’m certain that if they require Sirius owners to get new hardware they are going to lose a LOT of customers (even the die hard Stern fans!). What does everyone think about the fact that XM and Sirius are merging?

By: shareholder

shareholder — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 06:50:03 +0000

Stern is washed up. He’s at the end of his line, and this is his last gig before he goes to live off his earnings (which he didnt even earn, he sucks so bad). Hopefully we won’t have to deal with him much longer

By: shareholder

shareholder — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 06:46:04 +0000

By: NUNYO

NUNYO — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 20:56:15 +0000

Dude, Travis…you need to get your fact straight..Howard is FINISHED! He’s old, and out to pasture..He has lost the edge..Do you look at stocks? Do you realize that Howie isn’t worth the money? Do you realize he takes almost 3 months vacation a year, and only broadcasts for 4 days a week? That’s WEAK RADIO..I used to listen to Howard..I used to love his show on E!..When O&A first came on XM..I thought that they ripped off Stern..All of the stuff that you hear from Howie, is the BEST OF..Thats the only good thing that he has left..When he left Terrestrial, he got his old bits, and all the good stuff…You can see a dramatic change in the way that he does things today..HE’S A SELLOUT..You can tell that he hates it, and is in it for the money..O&A are much different…They make good money…Millions so I hear…But they are fresh…They talk about stuff that makes sense…They are on XM and Terrestrial…The same station that sent them down the river years ago…HOWIE’S HOME FOR YEARS!! If that doesn’t tell you something, then you are as retarded as the rest of the Stern Fans…To put it into something that you can relate to “DUDE, GET LIVID” “I INVENTED EVERYTHING” Stern sucks now, and from now on.

By: Travis

Travis — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 04:56:25 +0000

Opie and Anthony true pioneers?

Thanks for the laugh.

By the way when Howard did sign his deal there was 600,000 in late 2004.

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 05:25:17 +0000

I have listened to both and I bought sirius and it is so much better than XM. Bubba the Love Sponge is the best. O&A is just cheap ripoffs of Stern and Bubba. The best radio on radio is diffinitly Sirius.

By: NUNYO

NUNYO — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 19:31:55 +0000

I see that there is alot of Howard Stern fans, and as many as them there are alot of anti-Stern people out there..He’s not making as big of dent as he wanted to..I seen him on Letterman…That guy is really craving some attention..Besides being a cross-dresser, (what was with that outfit?) He completely lied about the Sirius radio statistics..he said that there were only 600 thousand subs before he got with Sirius..BOLD FACE LIE!! There were over two million subs..He’s never on, and he is losing more subs than he is attracting at this point in time because of that. (I THINK THAT HOWIE AND MARTHA STEWART HAVE A SECRET LOVE AFFAIR GOING!) Hey it’s a good thing! Another thing, if you look at the stats, Sirius does not have NEARLY 6 million subs. Another claim by Howie..(MUST BE THAT HOWIE MATH “HOO HOO , TELL ‘EM FRED..) The true pioneers are Opie and Anthony..Their talk is never stale, and they DON’T talk about Howie as much as people claim..and, it doesn’t cost $1.99 a month anymore!! Who is Bubba the luv Sponge anyways? Sounds like some funny name for a spermacide! O&A proved it to me..they are so good that they were asked back by the company that fired them over two years ago!! They are truly succeeding! We get over 5 hours of uncensored radio from those guys on XM..what they bleep out on terrestrial, goes right through my XM, so you never miss a thing! Let’s just state the facts here people!

By: NUNYO

NUNYO — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 08:55:15 +0000

First of all, I have had experience with both XM, and Sirius..It seems that this debate will go on forever, (I.E. Ford, VS. Chevy.) I work construction, and I need a unit that can withstand alot of weather..(dirt, water, etc..) I researched both companies whole-heartedly, and decided there were more options with XM..I didn’t get the chance to hear either XM or Sirius before purchasing XM. With saying that, most of you would think that I had second thoughts about my choice..WRONG!! I love XM…sure sometimes the music get repetitive, but it is that way always when you are listening to music! Someone is picking the songs for you, and you don’t have an input. XM holds up in the worst conditions..My coworker had Sirius, and I was amazed at the lack of technology. It had a suction cup that was about 4 inches in diameter..I had never seen anything like it! I was amazed to say the least..I mean it reminded me of an old movie where the thief used some of those to scale the glass walls in a bank! He had that unit for less than three months, mostly on the floor of the loader, because the super suction wasn’t so super…then the power cord mysteriously kept shorting out and blowing fuses..oh that’s perfect..satelite radio that you can’t listen to!! He then bought another Sirius that had a magnetic steel connector thingy..I was again intrigued! Another 3 months went by, and that one went out..(power cord probs again!!) All the while that he was without his Sirius, he borrowed my XM..He now has an XM..(He still says that the rock channel that he listened to on Sirius, OCTANE) Was way better than any channel on XM..I tend to agree…XM needs to get their stuff together on the music part of it all…But Alas, I still had a radio when he did not..The technology in XM is far better and there is a huge range of models to choose from compared to Sirius..My suggestion? ANY SATELITE RADIO IS A THOUSAND TIMES BETTER THAN TERRESTRIAL RADIO!! Stick with what ya got..When I’m in the middle of nowhere listening to crystal clear brilliance, I remember why I purchased one in the first place!! Howard who? Pay me 500 million bucks, and I could put on a way better radio show than him..He’s old, he took the money and ran with it..(can’t say that I blame him!) He only is on 3 days a week, and takes over two months of vacation a year…let’s face it, he’s calling it in..NFL? are the majority of the people driving on a Sunday afternoon? Hell, I’m home with my friends, drinking it up and watching the game on my Plasma Screen! The only sport that I have ever listened to on the radio is baseball..I think that XM made the best choice there…And NASCAR? forget about it! I’m home then too! XM has had that channel all along, but I have never listened to it..Dale Jr. has a show on there if I’m not mistaken..I’m not here to prove who’s right or who sucks…I just wanna let the terrestrial radio world know that they are missing out on a wonderful thing..Sure it costs a little bit, but hey..In my opinion, IT’S WORTH IT!!

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 19:29:48 +0000

Siruis has fewer portable media gadgets available. However I tended to like their range of programming. That was until they hired Stern. With all due respect to Mr. Stern, his speech is not for me. Thus I’m exercising my free speech, by voting with my dollar. If he has enough supporters to make his show financially feasible without me (which I’m sure he does) then his speech will continue. That whats great about America, and free speech. On the other hand, I encourage anyone else with sentiments similar to my own, to exercise their voice, and signup on xm. Boycotting is not censorship, it is just the cruel reality of a capitalist based form of democracy. Boycotting is free speech.

By: Ch-Charlotte-NC

Ch-Charlotte-NC — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 21:31:04 +0000

XM will contiinue to bill you even after you cancel your service. I recently learned teh hard way about the scam that XM uses to keep getting your money. They called me for 3 months, and claimed that they never had anything on record for calls, asking if I wanted to keep my service. 3 months later I recieve a bill from collections stating that I owe money. I tried calling the customer service department but they refused to assist and actually hung up on me. I spoke with 4 representatives and finally a supervisor who refused to provide any remedy for the service. My goal is to ensure 10,000 people know about my experience with XM so that I can ensure no one else gets the shaft from this customer service lacking organization. There stance is that the customer is always wrong unless they have it in their notes, even when someone hangs up on you!

Charlotte, NC

By: Acura RL - Features and Fun ~ Windows Fanatics

Acura RL - Features and Fun ~ Windows Fanatics — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 06:46:00 +0000

[...] The dealership gave us one sweet deal on “last year’s” model (2006). The only thing that’s missing is an audio-in jack for my portable media players. The stereo does MP3s and WMAs and DVD audio, though – on top of XM satellite radio. I pick it up on Wednesday, so I hope to have a video experience tour uploaded for you later this week. [...]