XM vs SIRIUS

September 25, 2005 10:35 PM

Any XM Radio Users? I'm about to bolt from SIRIUS. [mi]

It pains me deeply to see SIRIUS going to the dogs. I "really" wanted to support it. I "really" wanted to see it succeed. I "really" wanted to avoid XM because of their ties to ClearChannel (and, yes -- they DO have ties and exert significant influence over their programming. XM themselves freely acknowledge this.) But, they must have the most pig-ignorant programmers at SIRIUS; if they set out to screw things up, they couldn't do more than they are now.

1.) They keep adding "hosts" to various music channels and increasing their air-time, when it is evident that people want to here the music -- not some lame-ass jabbering twit.

2.) Their in-house "liberal" talk show stations are the epitome of suckage (led by Lynn "Pound Nails In My Ears" Samuels). Since they lost "Air America" (another bone-headed move), the expectation was that they would replace it with something commensurate, but they seem happily oblivious to the gaping hole and are content to leave a heavily lop-sided representation for the Wingnuts.

3.) My personal favorite type of show is the OTR (Old Time Radio). You'd think this would be easy -- just play the damn shows, right? Unfortunately, they play the same small sampling ad nauseum, provide NO schedule, and actually CUT UP shows so that you are forever hearing part 2 of some Lux Radio Show (Imbeciles!).

4.) There is no headline news. In-freakin'-credible!!!

5.) Judging from various SIRIUS blogs, one of SIRIUS's most popular channels used to be "Raw Dog". The premise was simple: Play uncut and unedited routines from popular comedians. What a marvelous thing to be able to tune into this 24/7 for a quick smile or pick-me-up. Hard to screw that up, right? WRONG! SIRIUS found a way! Incredibly, they are giving away more and more prime airtime on "Raw Dog" to their own inhouse hosts for ultra-lame, supply-our-own-laugh-track, chit-chat. (Yes, Jim Breuer -- I'm looking at you!) Couldn't put him on a general talk band -- oh, no! Must screw up a popular channel.

6.) And the straw that broke the camels back ... they takeover 90% of the talk stations bands on the weekends to run endless sports programs!!!!! WTF!!!! I don't begrudge setting aside a large number of channels to placate their sports fans, but why are my shows sacrificed? Are they gonna give me a rebate since I am essentially subsidizing the rabid sport fans? Not bloody likely.

So, my question (cleverly disguised as a rant) is simply:

Am I going to run into this same crap at XM? (Particularly #6 -- which is especially galling). Am I just trading one ulcer for another?

This equipment is pricey; I wanna hear from any XM users before I make the same mistake I did with SIRIUS. This is pretty important to me; I don't watch ANY television; but my radio is constantly on at home.

posted by RavinDave to technology (17 comments total)

As a general answer, even if you were to switch to XM and be satisfied, there is absolutely no guarantee that you'd remain satisfied, precisely because you're hoping for a single company to supply your entire "radio-like" set of channels. It is never going to work.
posted by odinsdream at 11:09 PM on September 25, 2005

I'm a Sirius guy mainly, but I listen to XM in Hertz cars on travel often. They have baseball and hockey, which are every day sports, unlike football on Sirius which is weekend only. It appears that they dedicate channels to these sports. I've switched between baseball and talk plenty -- they seem to be different ranges. I think there is a bit less talk programming, but they do have Air America and headline news.

XM 163 always has drama, books on tape and the like. I suspect that you will really like it.

I too find that stupid Breuer show a blight on the radio landscape.
posted by Lame_username at 11:24 PM on September 25, 2005

I have noticed XM has some hosts on its "Ethel" music channel but it is still 1000% better than over the air radio.

The comedy channel pretty much keeps to playing comedy. However they do play ads on it... again not as much as you hear on regular radio --maybe a minute every 30 minutes. But it still sucks. I usually switch to another station.

Sports programming stays on its own channels so if you're not looking for it, you won't hear it -- except of house ads on other channels talking about it [usually in the local breaks of the channels that have ads like Air America and CNN].

The only time I remember them taking over music channels was for Live8 and then it was somewhat cool to switch from Paris to Rome to Philadelphia.
posted by birdherder at 4:49 AM on September 26, 2005

The irony is that I don't mind a bit of talk on music stations if it's done with restraint. The problem is that it just gets more and more and more until the music is incidental.
posted by RavinDave at 5:18 AM on September 26, 2005

I don't mind a bit of talk on music stations if it's done with restraint. The problem is that it just gets more and more and more until the music is incidental.

We could call that the "MTV syndrome."
posted by Mo Nickels at 6:26 AM on September 26, 2005

We've had XM for a couple of years now, and have no DJ issues with the stations we like. You should be aware that some channels now carry commercials.

Equipment doesn't need to be terribly expensive - the Roady2 model has recently dropped in price to $50 or so, add another $20 or so for the in-house kit. I regularly move mine between my car and house.

You can also try before you buy, kind of. XM offers a free, 3 day trial of their service via their web stream. The only hitch is the online service does not carry all of the broadcast channels.

There are two fairly vibrant online communities around the XM service: xmfan.com and xm411.com. You might want to browse around there for specific issues.
posted by SteveInMaine at 8:21 AM on September 26, 2005

I've been pretty satisfied with XM. If nothing has changed, an XM subscription will also let you listen to the satellite radio on the internet now. As people have mentioned, they do have some commercials, but I think the commercials and the chatter is basically kept to a minimum. I got the home kit free with my purchase, and have found that useful as well from time to time.

As for news, they offer basically live feeds of several news channels from tv, like CNN, MSNBC, etc. One nice touch for the sports is that they'll carry college football games from different conferences if thats of any interest.

Course, I think on their website they show you the channel options. The only disappointment and they may have corrected this, is the "NPR" wannabe channel which for an NPR junkie just didn't cut it when I listened in the past.
posted by Atreides at 8:52 AM on September 26, 2005

don't forget the massive size and heat difference in their hardware... sirius units are HUGE compared to XM, and they don't even have anything CLOSE to the xm2go technology (myfi).

xm is the directv of satellite radio.... sirius is dishnetwork. sirius will always be #2, especially based on recent programming decisions ($500million for hoo hoo howie, $7million for martha steweart, losing hockey to XM w/ the canadian satrad launch coming soon). they're doomed.
posted by hummercash at 9:04 AM on September 26, 2005

Listened to both. Love XM. The music stations are commmercial free and all the ones I listen to have very little talk within songs; the ones that do have interesting information like concert dates and band history (and Scott Weiland's next jail appearance).

XM Comedy is non-stop standup, and it's phenomenal.

Like SteveInMaine says, go check out the three-day free stream and see if you like it. I recommend Ethel (47), Squizz (48), Top Tracks (46), the 90's (09 -- I'm a sucker for bad 90's music), XM Comedy (150), Cinemagic (27)... hell, there's just a ton of great content.

Oh, and of course: O&A Party Rock!
posted by symphonik at 9:39 AM on September 26, 2005

My brother is a long-time XM fan (full disclosure, also investor). His take is that XM is doing the real work of building a network, while Sirius is trying to make a splash by paying too much money for high-profile talent.
posted by alms at 9:59 AM on September 26, 2005

I resisted XM for a long time because my daily drive isn't very long and I hate subscription fees. When a friend offered to put me as an additional radio on his sub ($7 instead of $13) I bit and am very glad I did. I've never had the issue you describe with chatter on the music channels, the weather channel for my specific area is nice (I can tune in and hear what I need in under 2 minutes; no waiting for "on the 8s" or the equiv) and the comedy channels enjoyable. I never end up listening to Air America as I thought I would because the hours I'm in the car are ones with people I don't want to hear. The selection of news is great, tho.
posted by phearlez at 10:38 AM on September 26, 2005

Oh, and of course: O&A Party Rock!

RAMONE, FETCH ME SOME HONEY AND A FUEL CELL...
posted by hummercash at 10:59 AM on September 26, 2005

XM also gives you free Internet access to all their stations if you have a subscription. Nice.
posted by kindall at 12:00 PM on September 26, 2005

XM also gives you free Internet access to all their stations if you have a subscription.

This isn't a discriminator. Both services support this.

sirius units are HUGE compared to XM, and they don't even have anything CLOSE to the xm2go technology (myfi).

This is true, although I think the gap is closing rapidly. Sirius has an iPod-like device out soon ahead of the competing XM device and they appear to have xm2go devices in the pipeline.

But the OP's questions centered around the content and I think based on their evaluation factors, XM is a better fit for them.
posted by Lame_username at 12:44 PM on September 26, 2005

I don't know about either one, except for the Stern factor on Sirius. It sounds like they are trying to create a thousand little Stern clones, which from what you stated, are just clogging things up with crap.

I'm not investing in any equipment, even though I'm a Stern fan. As this is still a relatively new media, they are really concerned about building a new listener base as well as keeping their current base.

Consider shooting some e-mails to them along with a link to this discussion. Not that you really care that much, but they might when they see how easily word of how much they suck can spread.
posted by snsranch at 2:56 PM on September 26, 2005

On preview: Eff sirius.
posted by snsranch at 3:01 PM on September 26, 2005

We have XM, and oldtime radio is my favorite also. They do post schedules online, but it sounds similar to Sirius in that you get a LOT of the same shows over and over again. Personally I would be happy if I never heard another Lone Ranger episode again, my tastes run to sci fi (X Minus One, etc), mystery (Lights Out, Suspense) and some others (Dragnet). It's a little disappointing, but I haven't noticed them playing shows out of order, which would indeed be galling.
posted by GaelFC at 9:29 PM on September 26, 2005