Sirius or XM

Has anyone here ever tried out either? I'm going to be getting one or the other in the next couple of weeks and so am holding little informal polls.

I commute a couple hours a day so commercial free radio is worth every penny. Plus, I've had XM for a few days here and there with loaner cars from the dealer and it's totally addicting. Commercial free radio and the range of news stations and sports stations these services have. So that really sold me on getting either one or the other.

Sirius seems to be going places and seems to have the capital on hand to really expand and offer a great range of channels on top of the great ones they already have soon. I don't listen to Stern so that's not a factor. Plus they have the NFL channel which kicks ass. And their range of music stations seems very much to my liking.

XM... well as I said I've used them before. So I know they have stations that play music I like. My music tastes are kind of eclectic and I like a lot of indie shit you never hear on the radio so it's a big deal for me to be sure I can find music I like, and know music I like exists on XM. XM also has all the college sports stations, which is awesome.

Right now I'm leaning towards Sirius because their music station list seems like it'd have lots of stuff I like, though I haven't yet listened to be sure.
Just soliciting the experiences of others, though. :)

sirius. they have a lot of good programming, a new ceo, and are getting howard stern in january.

i would also strongly suggest their stock. it was at 5.31 last i checked, up from 2.20 not long ago. :)

I have had Sirius for over a year and love it. I would definitely recommend Sirius. Plus they have OutQ gay talk radio.

I'm getting Sirius because of Stern... and the recent hiring of Mel Karmazan as CEO is also encouraging. But damn, those Sirius receivers sure are ugly.

BD, you can sign-up for a free preview on Sirius' website

You are right Sirius had some very ugly receives but they just came out with some awesome new units check out CrutchFields site http://www.crutchfield.com/S-8GaHQqD...g=176950&avf=N I wish I would have waited to get one of the newer receivers. I love the looks of the new Sanyo CRSR-10.

That's much better, thanks Northstar! If I can get off the couch today, I'm going to BestBuy and browse.

Sirius supposedly offers more commercial free programming than XM.

The gay channel on Sirius is pretty good, I've listened online (for free!). One of the gay talk shows on that channel has gay porns as guests quite often.

I think Sirius will come out as the winner between the two.

Satellite radio will change your life. Almost as much as TIVO :) I got Sirius last year for my partner as a Christmas gift. I wasn't sure if he would ever even listen to it. Turns out we both listen to it three to four hours a day. We mostly listen to OutQ, Air America, And Alt Nation. Now doing with out satellite radio would be just as bad as doing without satellite TV. Damn I should be a Sirius salesmen!

Well I went to Best Buy last September and I bought XM Radio. It is wonderful! I could never go on a road trip now without it. I picked XM because it actually had more news channels on it. I *think* Sirius seemed to have more of a sports emphasis, which doesn't interest me. They charge a little less too I think - $10/mo vs $13. XM has a much larger subscriber base too - several million versus Sirius' 750,000.

And the music is great. For exmaple, they have 3 "gay" dance music channels. One is your mainstream dance dj channel, and then the other two are a little more relentless BPM / tweaked out themed. Then of course there is "Chrome," a sort of 70's disco channel.

There is a channel on XM Radio called Fred. It is a channel devoted to playing "progressive music" mostly from the 80s -- you will hear lots of Clash, and The Smiths, DM, The Cure. I listen to it often, as I hear music on there I haven't heard in years, and selections on albums I owned and sold ages ago. It freightens me.

They have a channel called "Cinemagic" which is a pretty good channel of movie scores. I find it to be a little "pop" --- I'd much rather listen to Raiders of the Lost Ark or North by Northwest then to the music from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.... but it's made my presets.

They also have a channel called Vox, which is all choral music, and its very pretty.

Steve

XM has been winning the race for subscribers, but with Howard Stern coming in 2005, Sirious should be the ultimate winner in the long run.

I do think that now Stern is moving over to Sirius that will ultimately become 'the' station to listen to, he has a HUGE following.

Regards,

Lee