DailyTech - Sirius Satellite Radio First Impressions

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Blog: Gadgets Sirius Satellite Radio First Impressions
Michael Hoffman (Blog) - January 19, 2007 12:41 AM

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9 comment(s) - last by Spivonious.. on Jan 21 at 4:55 PM

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.

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No reason to use it

By viperpa on 1/19/2007 5:08:52 PM , Rating: 2

Nothing against satellite radio but why would I need it if I have a IPod. I have a 30 gig IPod directly hooked to my Kenwood car deck. My Kenwood deck is Sirus accessable but I never signed up for it. The only thing I don't have is the programming like Nascar and Stern which I can do without.

RE: No reason to use it

By tmok2007 on 1/19/2007 6:05:18 PM , Rating: 1

quote:
why would I need it if I have a IPod

Howard Stern

Parent

RE: No reason to use it

By ultimatebob on 1/21/2007 12:55:46 AM , Rating: 2

Unless you have a library of 50,000 songs that you keep updated daily, you're not going to be able to compete with the variety of offerings on Satellite Radio. Both XM and Sirius have over 100 channels, some of which cater to specific tastes. For example, both Sirius and XM have channels that just play 80's music if that's your thing.

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XM Radio

By Kougar on 1/19/2007 8:40:53 PM , Rating: 2

Just looked up XM's pricing, it's an exact match for the prices you've listed for Sirius, unsurprisingly.

Definitely agree Satellite radio is great. I've heard all kinds of new songs and lesser known groups that'll never reach FM radio in most cities. I don't own an iPod, and I'd rather resubscribe to XM or Sirius than have one as with an iPod you always listen to the same music over and over... With satellite radio, depending on the stations it will always be something new especially if you frequent more than just a few channels.

I don't have XM radio anymore, got to be to many problems with linking radio accounts for the discount. I deactivated it last May, and ironically enough last week got a "Welcome to XM" letter and a bill for a 3-month package claiming that I had reactivated the radio, when infact it has not even been turned on since May. According to them their computer claims I activated it last May, which they couldn't explain. Despite saying otherwise they are still sending me bills for it... hopefully you'll find Sirius to be better than this.

RE: XM Radio

By Kougar on 1/19/2007 9:10:50 PM , Rating: 2

Called again to ask what is going on... (Should note the first bill arrived just before Xmas, actually, last week was the second bill) My account has a note on it that I called and had the radio again deactivated, but apparently it never went through. Again. Ensured my radio account is being deleted this time, lets see if XM has a magic undelete account problem to go with the mysterious account reactivation problems...

Parent

Howard Stern

By Ogi on 1/19/2007 8:33:45 PM , Rating: 2

Howard Stern, just one more reason to keep using my iPod.

Ogi

Can't justify gainst ipod

By anuj12 on 1/21/2007 12:37:53 AM , Rating: 2

why would I need it if I have a IPod

Can't see why...

By Spivonious on 1/21/2007 4:55:48 PM , Rating: 2

Unless I'm going on a trip, I'm rarely in the car for more than 15 minutes at a time. Keeping a few CDs in the car is more than enough for my normal driving. Going on a trip? Pack a few more CDs in. If I get tired of my CDs, turn on the radio. There's enough stations that one of them will be playing a song that interests me.