I finally decided to see what satellite radio is all about
If you're the kind of person who likes music, then satellite radio may be something that you should take a look at it. Have you ever sat in a car and found it almost impossible to find something decent to listen to? Aside from having a pile of CDs in the car with you, there are only a few viable options. Satellite radio offers listeners the ability to listen to a number of quality radio stations, commercial free.
There are currently two major competitors in the satellite radio market: Sirius and XM. Let's look at what Sirius has to offer consumers.
Sirius has several methods in which customers can pay for satellite radio plans. A 1-year contract costs $142.45, with 1 month free with the signing of the contract. A 2-year contract costs $271.95, with 3 months free. For those of you who want to pay month to month, it costs $12.95. Each account is capable of having up to 3 sub-accounts, which cost $6.99 per additional line.
We only ran into one major problem while initially setting up and using the Sirius satellite radio: Finding an empty FM radio station to use. If you're using the FM transmitter in the car but live in a bigger city, it is possible that you will have some distortion and receiving problems. However, you can be somewhat rest assured since Sirius has three satellites for dual band action in an elliptical geosynchronous orbit above North America.
If you have a newer CD head unit in your car, a direct couple FM modulator or AUX input will solve the above issue. The sound quality also is likely to go up if you directly connect the Sirius receiver into the CD player.
A nice touch is the ability to listen to a number of Sirius stations via the Internet without having to pay an additional fee. Although not all stations are available through the Internet, there should be enough stations to keep you pleased. If you have a regular account with Sirius, the Internet radio service is free. For those who want Sirius Internet radio only, it costs $12.99 per month.
Both Sirius and XM have a number of different gizmos that they fervently hope customers will purchase. There are a number of devices for home, car and mobile Sirius users. For example, the Stiletto 100 is the portable player that allows users to receive live Sirius programming with 2 GB of storage space.
As the popularity of both XM and Sirius continues to rise, certainly look for more accessories to be made available. A quick Google search will provide a large number of different products that are already on the market.
The service is currently available in the United States and Canada.
"The whole principle [of censorship] is wrong. It's like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can't have steak." -- Robert Heinlein
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