XM Radio Listeners?

[Jordan]

I just got XM Radio installed in my car yesterday as a Christmas present, and I've gone crazy over it. There's just so many great stations, the biggest problem that I've found with it is not being able to decide what station to listen to...you just get the feeling that you want to listen to all of them at once. There hasn't been much discussion about XM around here, though, so I'm curious if any of you have installed in your car, boat, or home?

 

[Michael K]

I was thinking about buying the XM Commander sattelite radio and would also be interested what people here think of it.

Thanks
Michael K

 

[boombexus]

Forget about the radio, did you get those 19's you wanted?

 

[Shadow]

Originally posted by Jordan
I just got XM Radio installed in my car yesterday as a Christmas present, and I've gone crazy over it. There's just so many great stations, the biggest problem that I've found with it is not being able to decide what station to listen to...you just get the feeling that you want to listen to all of them at once. There hasn't been much discussion about XM around here, though, so I'm curious if any of you have installed in your car, boat, or home?

i have a friend that has XMRadio installed in his car and id like to say that its GREAT!!!👍


ummmmmmmmmmm as far as stations and stuff go.......err....i really dont know.........sorry

 

[Jordan]

Originally posted by boombexus
Forget about the radio, did you get those 19's you wanted?

Nope, I didn't. Guess I just wasn't good enough this year for ole' Saint Nick. I discussed them with my family, and they would like to spend the money on a high-end audio/video set up (plasma HDTV, etc.). I really want that too, so I'm kind of in limbo on what to choose now.

 

[Takumi Fujiwara]

I think I might get Sirius sat radio, because my new CD unit is set up for it.

 

[f1king]

I dont think I should pay for radio.

 

[///M-Spec]

I'm curious about this too. Thinking of getting Sirius on the 330i... how's reception and sound quality?

Anyone?


M

 

[emad]

it should be pretty good. They nearly went under last year because of a few bad reviews. They've since gone and taken extreme measures to ensure a high quality product.

I'd like to have XM...but I don't have my own car or a stereo in my room. My audio experience comes from my mp3 collection

 

[2ez2KiLL]

I think my mom is going to get an XM radio. But does anyone know the quality of the reception? Is it at least 192kbps (mp3wise) cd quality audio? I'm getting tired of hearing the crappy 64kbps radio+static.

 

[Pupik]

I listen to the Sirius/XM that some people have installed on thier Lexii, and it sounds great. I'd liken it to CD quality, and there's all sorts of genres of music, news, talk, and comedy to listen to.

I don't think I'd buy it because I have a ton of CD's, but I find myself listening to the DirecTV MusiChoice much more often than before, so we'll see what happens in the future.

From what I'm told, if the unit's a factory installation, then the ~$10/month charge is built into your monthly car payment, and if installed in that manner, you don't have a choice whether it's XM or Sirius.

 

[///M-Spec]

Yeah, BMW isn't giving me a choice on their dealer-installed OE unit. Its Sirius or its nothing.


M

 

[XzifT]

We got XM satellite Radio. You're right, it's great. Channel 53 (I think its the same every where) "The Fungus" and Channel I think it's 42.. 42 or 41.

I found it comical they named the Reggae Station "The Joint"

 

[Pako]

Jordan,

It's been a year now with XM, how do you like it? Any problems, or dislikes? do you also have a house receiver as well?

I am having a hard time deciding between XM or Sirius. Both seem comparable, but ......

XM transmits Online stream at 64kbps whereas Sirius only streams at 34kbps.

What are your favorite XM stations?

 

[Jordan]

Yes it has been one full year now (seems like I've had it much longer), and I still love XM, although I have finally began noticing a few of its minor annoyances. Here's a quick run-down:

Not Good:

• As they've added more and more channels, I think they've had to cut the bandwidth for each one a tiny bit, or maybe I'm just used to it now. It's still one million times better than FM, but it doesn't produce the crystal-clear sound of a CD in my G35's Bose stereo. It's really not that bad, though.
• I've heard the same song playing on more than one station more than a few times. This most often happens on the popular music stations such as Top 20 on 20, KISS, and Mix. They just seem to kind of wear the same songs out, and keep playing them long after their popularity has passed.

The Good:

• It's worth it just for all the talk/news channels alone. When you've heard enough music, or you want to use your time in the car to find out what's going on in the world, XM is perfect. Pretty much every news channel you could watch on TV is on XM, and they are all fantastic.
• There's always some type of music for whatever mood you're in, or whoever is riding in your car with you. Almost every day some station (especially like the 90's or something) will play a song you loved a long time ago, and you go crazy over it all over again.
• Girls are really impressed by it.

My favorite channels are The 90's, Top 20 on 20, KISS XM, MIX, The City, The Move, BPM, The System, XM Classics, Fox News, CNN Headline News, and Discovery Channel Radio is great for long drives. You can find more about these channels, and all the other XM channels, right here.

 

[TB]

Girls are really impressed by it.

*Runs out to buy one*

 

[pimp racer]

My brothers car came standard with it and we use it and its really great! I dont know if he still has it or not though.(the service)

 

[Pako]

Thanks for the info. My current deck is Sirius ready, but that doesn't mean I should go with Sirius. Dish Network also has Sirius, and not sure if they would tie, but if the same subscription would work for a car as well as for the Dish Network, I might consider it. Thanks again for the input.

 

[boombexus]

I got XM installed in my car about 2 months ago and I love it!

I agree with the points made by Jordan about the sound quality, but maybe I was expecting to much from the digital sound.
Jordan, is your head unit using FM Modulation to play XM?
I've heard XM in my car from both FM modulated sound and now digital sound. Digital is much better sounding by FAR, but I think I may have expected to much and the digital sound didn't meet my high expectations.

I also agree with Jordans' point about song repetition. I don't find the music channels I listen to repeat much, but I do find the comedy channels repeating some content. I've heard from others that Sirius is less repetitive and has more "live" DJ's playing the music.

I really like the comedy channel and tend to listen to it most often. Since one of the comedy stations includes explicit language (XM Comedy #150) you get to hear all the goodies. I tend to get wierd looks from others when I'm driving alone in my car and laughing my ass off.

There are just so many good channels on XM that I wish my commute was longer.

But Pako, which ever you decide to go with, I'm sure you will be happy. Sirius has equivelant stations to XM, and as you may already know, Howard Stern is going to Sirius soon. (If he's a favorite of yours.)

Another thing that you may want to consider with XM, is that they offer, for an additional $3.99 a month, XM Radio online. That means you can listen to your XM Radio on any computer. I'm considering this option now.

Another thing to consider with XM or Sirius, is that if you want to take the unit from your car to your home, you will only get FM modulated sound as opposed to the much higher quality, digital sound that you would get with a XM ready head unit. Alpine makes XM ready head units which will enable you to have digital sound in your car, and with XM's online package, you will also be able to get digital sound in your home.

Another point I'd like to mention about Alpine radios, is that they are now working on head units that will be both, XM and Sirius ready. Now you will have a choice as to which sat. radio service you want.
I think that this will become the new standard for all sat. radio ready head units.

I suppose the final thing that I'm a bit dissapointed about with sat. radio, is that I lose the signal while driving under bridges or while next to tall buildings.
I suppose this is something that would happen no matter what provider I chose, but it is a bit annoying.
I wonder if my antenna has anything to do with it as I purchased the smallest sat. antenna available.

Anyway, you will love it no matter which provider you decide on.

 

[pimp racer]

Hmmm... Weird I hear you guys say the quality is bad? In my brothers car it used to be excellent for us. Maybe it was the recpition that we were getting or maybe speakers?

 

[boombexus]

The quality is not "bad" but I think that it could be better.

If I were to put the sound quality through sat. radio in different terms, I would say that it is near CD quality sound. Which is far from bad.

I think I had unrealistically high expectations for digital sound in my car. But I still need to do some tweaking on my new head unit. I'm sure I can get even better sound out of my XM.

 

[pimp racer]

The quality is not "bad" but I think that it could be better.

If I were to put the sound quality through sat. radio in different terms, I would say that it is near CD quality sound. Which is far from bad.

I think I had unrealistically high expectations for digital sound in my car. But I still need to do some tweaking on my new head unit. I'm sure I can get even better sound out of my XM.

Oops I guess I used the wrong term there. We had almost the same quality as a CD but it really didnt matter since half the time when we are driving and listening to XM my brother does like 95 so all the wind resistance makes too much noise.

 

[194GVan]

I dont think I should pay for radio.

think of it like cable tv (or satellite for that matter) versus using an antenna. yes you pay for it, but you get loads more channels, some are censored some are not.

Ive had my original Delphi Skyfi XM for well over a year now, i love it. You can generally always find something good on, great for long road trips and such. Recently I got the little boombox so we listen to it all day at work too.

sound quality wise, it sounds perfect plugged into its little boombox. NO problems at all. It sounded perfect in my car at first, but after a while I would get some staticy interference. I just rewired it this past weekend its a little better but ive also determined my headunit is pretty much on its last days (new one on the way ). I assume the interference im getting is due to a ground not being good enough. After I rewired it it sounded better but still not perfect, which I assume is from my still questionable ground. I installed the unit myself, If you get it professionally installed i can guarantee anyone would do a better job than me, and you would not have the very MINOR sound problems I am having. When working at full potential it is very very close to cd quality. If your not an audiophile you probably wont be able to tell the difference.

So if you have XM or Sirius, what are your favorite channels?
XM:
202 Opie & Anthony 24hrs a day 👍 cant stop listening,
46 Top Tracks, 48 Squizz, 51 XM Music Lab, 150s (comedy channels), Raw XL, The Rhyme, and some others i cant think of

fyi 202 used to be a Premium Channel but recently became a standard channel (read: free). Its a talk radio show, generally very offensive but its great, often compared to howard stern but theres no censorship on XM

 

[MrktMkr1986]

I have yet to subscibe to XM Satellite Radio. I do own a couple of shares of their stock, though, so I guess that makes up for it. I OWN THE COMPANY!

A fraction of it anyway...

 

[standard235]

We had it... but when we stopped driving the car so much, we cancelled the subscription. It was great though... all the stations. Comedy channel rocked!

 

[VT]

I've been debating getting XM for a while. My current reciever is XM capable, although I will probably wait until I get my new car this summer as I'm fairly sure the reciever in it is XM capable.