Satellite radio - XM or Sirius?

[cognito20]

My wife and I are finally taking the plunge, and subscribing to satellite radio. What are the relative advantages and disadvantages of the two satellite services, XM and Sirius, and which one do you like better, and why? I know Stern is moving to Sirius in a month or so, and while I like him I like Opie and Anthony on XM even more, so Stern being on Sirius is not going to make me choose them unless they're also better in other ways. Please help us to make an informed decision here, because on the surface I don't see a lot of difference between the two services. Thanks.

--Scott

[shant]

What sports do you like? If you like any other than baseball, you might want to get into Stern.

[shant]

http://www.radiosatellite.org/

That site should help.

[Mens Rea]

Sirius, no question. All NFL games, baby!

[cognito20]

My favorite sport is soccer (specifically English Premier League, European Champions' League, and World Cup/European Championships), but I'll admit it doesn't translate to radio very well. XM apparently is going to be broadcasting the World Cup Finals this June, but since it seems like it's going to be on one of their channels that is -normally- Spanish-language I'm not sure whether it'll be any use to me since my Spanish is about at the level of a 3-year-old. (I'm fluent in German and Russian so either of those 2 languages would be OK.) Apparently, though, they sometimes pre-empt channels for special events like that (my friend who has XM tells me that their Electronica channel has been pre-empted in favor of Xmas music until the day after Xmas, for example), so maybe it'll be English-language. If it is, that's a big plus in favor of XM. If they carried regular English Premier League matches, they'd be a slam-dunk, right there.

Baseball, I think, is the sport that lends itself best to radio coverage, and I WAS, at one time, a big baseball fan. I fell away from the game (although I still pay tangential attention) after that horrible strike in 1994, and never really came all the way back. Since I was (is??) a Blue Jays fan, that was probably exquisite timing anyway, since it's been all downhill since Carter's HR. If I had a service like this where I could listen to EVERY Blue Jays game, though, I might be convinced to get back into it. Never been a NASCAR fan and probably never will be. Hockey is my 2nd favorite of the "big" sports in the US, but both XM and Sirius have it so I don't think there'd be much to choose from there, unless one service or another exclusively carried all the Sabres games or something. I don't dislike the NFL, but it's my fourth favorite form of football behind soccer, rugby union and Aussie Rules, and I don't really follow any one team, so that's a strike against Sirius I guess.

Of course, my second-favorite sport is cricket (from living in Australia for 5 years), which no US satellite radio service will carry, ever. /images/graemlins/frown.gif

--Scott

[morgan180]

Scott,

If you love MLB go with XM. If you want NFL or other sports, plus Howard Stern go with Sirius.

I went with Sirius - very happy customer.

[surfinillini]

[ QUOTE ]
Sirius, no question. All NFL games, baby!

[/ QUOTE ]

I just got my sirius working, had antenna issues with the boombox, instead I got the home docking kit and put an antenna on my roof.


3 BARS BABY

car works fine too, I had to make a custom mount for the docking station but it's goot.

sirius and howard all the way...

only con is that I can't get reception in my offce b/c there aren't that many sirius terrestial repeaters yet...I'll have to wait until they either build more or spring for the $250 portable device that records 50 hours...

[willie]

xm

opie and anthony

nuff said

I've had XM for 6 months and would say it is worth it for the baseball alone

[willie]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Sirius, no question. All NFL games, baby!

[/ QUOTE ]



sirius and howard all the way...



[/ QUOTE ]


dude is a haaaack

down with hoo hoo howie

o&a 13min mp3 talkin on the stern to sirius deal (http://www.foundrymusic.com/opieanthony/displaymedia.cfm/div/opieanthony/id/10949/)

[surfinillini]

O & E???

They steal all their bits from the stern show, you can't be serious, their show is anything but novel...

[shant]

[ QUOTE ]
O & E???

They steal all their bits from the stern show, you can't be serious, their show is anything but novel...

[/ QUOTE ]
On top of that, the only thing they had on Stern was being uncensored and now that's gone too. I can't wait to get Sirius.

[surfinillini]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
O & E???

They steal all their bits from the stern show, you can't be serious, their show is anything but novel...

[/ QUOTE ]
On top of that, the only thing they had on Stern was being uncensored and now that's gone too. I can't wait to get Sirius.

[/ QUOTE ]


I concur on all your points...

Shant you should've gone down to the LATB 8/16 game earlier, it was a complete fishfest.

UTG raises with AA, Moma Cass calls with J2, flop comes K53 rainbow, UTG bets, Moma Cass calls, she calls down the river, hits a deuce and overcalls to the AA, awesome.

[willie]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
O & E???

They steal all their bits from the stern show, you can't be serious, their show is anything but novel...

[/ QUOTE ]
On top of that, the only thing they had on Stern was being uncensored and now that's gone too. I can't wait to get Sirius.

[/ QUOTE ]

are you serious?


you know how freakin head and shoulders their show was above howard's before they got booted for the sex for sam incident?


honestly- you've got to be kidding me......

ah well, anywho- listen to the clip at least- it's worth a laugh even if you guys think it's a bunch of bs.

[morgan180]

[ QUOTE ]
xm

opie and anthony

nuff said

[/ QUOTE ]

these guys are terrible

Opie and Anthony?
Favorite sport is soccer?
YSSCKY!

[willie]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
xm

opie and anthony

nuff said

[/ QUOTE ]

these guys are terrible

[/ QUOTE ]


and howard's act has been tired and stale for 10 years....so what ground are you standing on?

you think vulgarity will be enough to rejuvenate a 50 something has been?

[surfinillini]

[ QUOTE ]
and howard's act has been tired and stale for 10 years....so what ground are you standing on?

you think vulgarity will be enough to rejuvenate a 50 something has been?

[/ QUOTE ]

hell yes...bring back LORD OF THE ANAL RING TOSS - best bit ever...

[shant]

Hey willie, I can't really argue it with you, because I don't have XM or currently listen to O&A. I have always listened to Stern and am interested in hearing him uncensored. I'm sure O&A is entertaining as well, but I went with Sirius for Howard and the NFL deal.

[morgan180]

willie,

i enjoy howard stern. in fact don't think his act has been stale. i do think he's been limited in what he's been able to do lately and am excited to see him with no restriction. i like his interviews, his general overall malaise and his weird world.

but i digress - everyone is free to enjoy whatever they like.

[surfinillini]

[ QUOTE ]
willie,

i enjoy howard stern. in fact don't think his act has been stale. i do think he's been limited in what he's been able to do lately and am excited to see him with no restriction. i like his interviews, his general overall malaise and his weird world.

but i digress - everyone is free to enjoy whatever they like.

[/ QUOTE ]

yea...what celebreties go on O & E, stern is an icon, O & E are just copycats...are you a MANCOW fan 2?

[KneeCo]

Wow. People are actually eager to pay for the radio.

It's just sad.

[willie]

[ QUOTE ]
willie,

i enjoy howard stern. in fact don't think his act has been stale. i do think he's been limited in what he's been able to do lately and am excited to see him with no restriction. i like his interviews, his general overall malaise and his weird world.

but i digress - everyone is free to enjoy whatever they like.

[/ QUOTE ]

sweet, i enjoy a decent reply

to each his own, if you can find some bit torrents of O&A on xm you might want to give a listen or two, they're highly amusing.

[surfinillini]

[ QUOTE ]
Wow. People are actually eager to pay for the radio.

It's just sad.

[/ QUOTE ]

wow, do you have cable tv, that was never supposed to draw people, OMFG you're going to PAY for TV, the horror...

[morgan180]

willie,

i'll give it a shot - thanks.

[willie]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
willie,

i enjoy howard stern. in fact don't think his act has been stale. i do think he's been limited in what he's been able to do lately and am excited to see him with no restriction. i like his interviews, his general overall malaise and his weird world.

but i digress - everyone is free to enjoy whatever they like.

[/ QUOTE ]

yea...what celebreties go on O & E, stern is an icon, O & E are just copycats...are you a MANCOW fan 2?

[/ QUOTE ]

nah i don't like mancow, i think that opie and anthony were pushing edges that howard didn't even conceive could be reached via radio before they had the cord pulled on them.

taking a busload of bums to an upclass LI mall and setting them loose w/ 100 bucks apiece?

a sex in public contest w/ different points for different locations and the winning couple taking a prize (this is where the st patrick's cathedral incident occurred)- other spots of interest- macy's in a clothes rack, and in front of yankee stadium (2 pt conversion if you go w/ SIIHP)

and countless other acts, they were funny and still are amazing....to each his own though

i just felt the same way you did for a while- straight howard guy but i got tired of him falling back on tight restrictions being the main reason that his show failed to push any new edges.



ron and fez are on xm too /images/graemlins/grin.gif


and a quick analogy for calling them copycats....eh- it'd be like saying anyone who did standup was impersonating the original.

there are different ways to attack different material and each can be decent. howard is an egomaniac though to think that he is the originator of all things funny on the radio.

[KneeCo]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Wow. People are actually eager to pay for the radio.

It's just sad.

[/ QUOTE ]

wow, do you have cable tv, that was never supposed to draw people, OMFG you're going to PAY for TV, the horror...

[/ QUOTE ]

There's a big difference.
This doesn't really apply to people who want to get sat. radio for the sports and/or the talk shows, but for other people (the majority) who will be getting it for "Hundreds of stations of CD quality music!!" it is very sad. Singles are ads (for albums, concerts, movies, whatever).

The fact that radio stations even get away with "another block of non-stop music after this commercial break" is sad, but that happened and there's no turning back the clock, I would hope it wouldn't get too much worse though, and when I see these things selling like hot cakes, I see that it did.

[OtisTheMarsupial]

What does wifey want?

[youtalkfunny]

Looks like another chance for me to act like a broken record:

http://www.sirius.com/i/wiseguyshow/posse.gif

(That's a vote for Big Pussy's The Wiseguy Show (http://www.sirius.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Sirius/CachedPage&c=FlexContent&cid=1096483189294) on Sirius.)

[ChipWrecked]

[ QUOTE ]


(That's a vote for Big Pussy's The Wiseguy Show (http://www.sirius.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Sirius/CachedPage&c=FlexContent&cid=1096483189294) on Sirius.)

[/ QUOTE ]

That must mean he didn't draw time for whipping his girlfriend's ass.

Too much Stern-O&A stuff in this thread.

I have listened to both units for a few weeks before I decided to get XM.

<font color="red"> If you are interested in better MUSIC, get XM. </font>


Who listens to football on the radio? I live in Philly, if I want to listen to the eagles, i turn on WYSP.

[youtalkfunny]

Yeah, you need to put Big Pussy's legal woes out of mind to fully enjoy the show.

I bumped this because I'm mighty PO'd at Sirius right now.

They're using Channel 2 for Christmas music, AND THEY KEEP PLAYING THE SAME 20 SONGS OVER AND OVER. Just different versions of the same song.

You like "No Place Like Home for the Holidays"? Great! You get to hear Karen Carpenter do it...then 30 minutes later, you get to hear Perry Como's version...Kenny G due up next within the hour, same song.

I don't think I ever heard "Baby, It's Cold Outside" before this year, but I've heard four different versions of it, over and over, this week.

There are 10,000 Christmas songs out there, but I swear these guys haven't played more than a few dozen, over and over, this week.

I'm sure all this will be forgotten Sunday, when I catch the repeat of this week's Wiseguy Show.

Stern is so damn overrated...

Go with XM - Opie and Anthony are so much better 202 on XM

XM has better electronic equipment and is a smidge cheaper on a monthly basis if you buy a multi-month plan. Sirius has NPR if that matters to you. You should compare sports programming carefully if that matters to you, as they each have respective broadcast rights that vary by sport.

[ QUOTE ]
Too much Stern-O&amp;A stuff in this thread.

I have listened to both units for a few weeks before I decided to get XM.

<font color="red"> If you are interested in better MUSIC, get XM. </font>


Who listens to football on the radio? I live in Philly, if I want to listen to the eagles, i turn on WYSP.

[/ QUOTE ]

I just want to echo this. As a big football fan, I spend my Sundays watching the football package on Direct TV. So the fact that Sirius has NFL is worthless to me. I have XM, and it's great. I listen mostly to music and the baseball package. While Sirius may have equally as good musical selections, it doesn't have baseball.

[sublime]

i just got sirius and LOVE it!

the 'backspin' station RULES! howard soon will be icing on cake.

[sublime]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
xm

opie and anthony

nuff said

[/ QUOTE ]

these guys are terrible

[/ QUOTE ]


and howard's act has been tired and stale for 10 years....so what ground are you standing on?

you think vulgarity will be enough to rejuvenate a 50 something has been?

[/ QUOTE ]

stale?

lol, i laugh during his whole show and am not easily entertained.

[sublime]

[ QUOTE ]
Wow. People are actually eager to pay for the radio.

It's just sad.

[/ QUOTE ]

i thought the same until i actually set mine up and listened to it for a few days. its WELL worth paying for. the cable TV to regular TV comparison is spot on.

Here is something else to think about before buying, you may not care about this but I do:

XM is owned by ClearChannel. ClearChannel is a HUGE world wide media network that owns like 70% of the radio stations around the country. They are the reason why you can drive clear across the country and listen to the same 12 songs over and over. I personally have a problem with them because they farked up the radio industry as a career choice for me, its a story for another time. Basically CC is considered by many as "evil"

Sirius is independently owned.

Meh, some people don’t give a crap about this, but just thought I'd throw it out.

I think XM counts clear channel as an investor, I am not sure what %. Also, both products are largely owned by public share holders.

XMs Xmas channels are great. They have 5 and they are all distinct.

They started XM. See press release below. CC name is not all over XM but it's presence is felt at the stations.


Rest of release here (http://www.xmradio.com/newsroom/screen/press_release_1999_06_08.html)
[ QUOTE ]
CLEAR CHANNEL, DIRECTV, GENERAL MOTORS &amp; A PRIVATE INVESTMENT GROUP TAKE COMBINED $250 MILLION STAKE IN XM SATELLITE RADIO

Strategic Alliance to Pursue $2 Billion Emerging Satellite Radio Market XM Also Inks Exclusive Agreement to Provide Service in GM Vehicles

National, June 08, 1999 -- Clear Channel Communications Inc.; DIRECTV, Inc., a unit of Hughes Electronics Corporation; The General Motors Corporation; and a private investment group comprised of Columbia Capital, Telcom Ventures L.L.C., and Madison Dearborn Partners hit the accelerator on the emerging satellite radio market by making a $250 million combined investment commitment in XM Satellite Radio Inc. The announcement was made today by Hugh Panero, President and CEO of XM.

XM is a revolutionary new band of radio that will capitalize on direct satellite-to-receiver broadcasting technology to provide listeners in the car and at home with up to 100 channels of music, news, and entertainment available coast-to-coast with digital-quality sound. C.E. Unterberg, Towbin recently estimated the market for satellite radio to be over $2 billion by 2005.

"XM is thrilled to announce this dream-team alliance with General Motors, DIRECTV, and Clear Channel, the largest car manufacturer, the largest direct broadcast satellite company, and one of the largest and most profitable radio groups in the United States," said Hugh Panero, "as well as entrepreneurial investors like Columbia Capital, Telcom Ventures and Madison Dearborn Partners with their vast experience in the telecommunications sector."

"Our business is delivering satellite digital radio primarily to the car where most radio listening is done, and these companies with their respective expertise in the automotive, direct broadcast satellite, telecommunications, and radio businesses give new meaning to the term strategic partner," Panero added.

[/ QUOTE ]