Is XM Radio right for me?

November 24, 2005 11:11 PM

I like (both in theory and practice) terrestrial FM radio. But at the insistence of my girlfriend, I'm seriously considering getting XM for Christmas. If I got it, I'd want one of those XM2Go models -- the iPod/Walkman kind of things that have a built-in FM transmitter so I could use it in-car. Thoughts?

I'm particularly interested in whether XM is worth the money, and if anyone has any experience with XM2Go.

Some pertinent details: I don't drive a whole lot, but will a lot more beginning in May. I walk or ride buses most of the time now, and I'm trying to start a work-out routine, so I would listen to my radio then also.

For music, I usually listen to rock/alternative with a special taste for grunge era. (If you're in Atlanta, I mostly listen to 99X and 105.3 The Buzz and find them satisfactory, if imperfect.) And in the car, I'm very hyperactive -- I change on every commercial, and on songs I don't "feel like" right now. Would having more channels help or hurt?

Notes: I'm not really considering Sirius, but I guess if you have a strong feeling about it, let's hear it. Also, I don't care about XM's relationship with ClearChannel -- as long as the music's good...

posted by SuperNova to technology (10 comments total)

And yes, I read today's earlier thread about SatRad. I'm more concerned with "is it any good?" than "how's it work?" (But the earlier question did get me thinking about it...)
posted by SuperNova at 11:12 PM on November 24, 2005

One of the coolest benefits of XM is the sound quality, since it's digital.

An FM transmitter totally loses this benefit.

I'm not saying don't go with a fun portable thing.. but I'd consider finding a legitimate input to your car stereo, not the FM transmitter...
posted by twiggy at 11:58 PM on November 24, 2005

We have XM, and I love it. I have the SkyFi 2 Delphi unit, which is a removable unit I use in the car and also in a boombox style thing in the house. And we also can listen online, though not all channels are online (old-time radio shows aren't online, though XM has a channel of them--copyright issues). Listening online is especially good for channel-jumpers, since you can look at a whole screen of what's playing and jump around with one click, even jumping song by song.

We got XM in part because I work for MSNBC, and XM carries that and Sirius doesn't. I also like the fact that XM has more cities I drive in on its traffic/weather channels, and that those stations aren't shared (Seattle gets its own fulltime traffic/weather station, whereas I think Sirius makes Seattle and Portland share one, etc). Sportswise, XM is big on baseball (which I don't care about) and college football (which I like). Sirius has pro football and possibly some other sports.

Sirius seems to be getting the hotter new stations. I couldn't care less about Stern, but Sirius is also gettting the Martha Stewart channel. And they seem to be very devoted to one-singer channels--I think they have an all-Elvis and are adding an all-Springsteen channel.

I don't know what kind of iPod-like unit you're talking about, so I can't comment on that. I just change my main car stero from FM to AUX when I want to switch between FM stations and satellite. Listening in the house is especially nice.
posted by GaelFC at 12:08 AM on November 25, 2005

I've found that "fm transmitter in the car" thoroughly sucks. If you don't have an aux input that you can get at, what doesn't suck is an FM modulator, which is the radio equivalent of the box that let you hook a Nintendo up to an antenna input on your TV.

It's permanently installed inline on your car's antenna cable, and you plug the line out of the audio source in, and when the switch is flipped to use your audio source, it converts the audio to FM itself, and since there's no possibility of interference and signal strength is always maximum, you get the best possible FM sound ever, the sort you get when driving by the transmitter of your favorite station. I've found that the FM transmitters get "distant station" to average at best.

They were sort of hard to come by for a while, but the iPod craze sort of got things going again, and satellite radio really pushed them back into mainstream production. Most satellite radio manufacturers are producing their own these days (or re-badging someone else's, at least).
posted by mendel at 6:39 AM on November 25, 2005

And in the car, I'm very hyperactive -- I change on every commercial, and on songs I don't "feel like" right now. Would having more channels help or hurt?

This was why I bought an XM radio. Stuck in traffic with ads -- or whacky dumbass DJs -- on ever single station.

I listen to about 6 stations for music mostly: Ethel, Fred, Lucy, XMU, RhymeXL, and U-Pop. None of them have ads except U-pop has a morning that DJ talks a little much. However, nothing compared to over the air radio.

There are times when you flip through the channels and there's nothing perfect on, just like with cable TV. But it beats regular radio hands down. Especially since the stations above don't edit out the dirty words. Or faux dirty words like gun or marijuana.

[oh, and XM and Clear Channel aren't really connected anymore. CC owns less that 2% of XM and no longer does any programming]
posted by birdherder at 7:14 AM on November 25, 2005

""fm transmitter in the car" thoroughly sucks"

Amen to that, brother.
posted by ajbattrick at 7:39 AM on November 25, 2005

I use the Delphi Roady2 via fm transmitter in my vehicle and I'm perfectly happy with the sound quality.
posted by greasy_skillet at 9:45 AM on November 25, 2005

I've had limited exposure to XM (in rental cars) but I'm thoroughly unimpressed with the programming. I recommend listening to XM (and Sirius) online before you commit to either one. They both have free 3-day online trials.

FM transmitters range from Horrible to Better-Than-Nothing.

When you're considering the value of it, I'd suggest comparing it to an mp3 player.
posted by I Love Tacos at 10:11 AM on November 25, 2005

Personally, I channel-surf a ton until I find a song that I like, and love the fact that there's pretty much guaranteed to be something that I like. I know this raises the "why not just an MP3 player" question, not unlike I Love Tacos above, but I like not knowing what's up next, and my music collection isn't that expansive. I have a Roady2 as one of my units, and there's a portable option for it, so you can take it walking/jogging, which is nice. Channel 47 has an hourlong program "Faded Flannel", which I believe is Fridays at 3pm eastern. That's not the only time grunge is played, but their channels sometimes have blocks of time for specific genres.

If you're interested, you can get a MyFi for about $75 after rebate, or a Roady2 portable bundle for $80. The portable Roady costs more, obviously, but you can take the Roady out of the unit to use at home or in the car. (You could also just hookup the portable system, but I don't know how the power would work, since it uses a different power supply than just a standalone Roady2.)

The MyFi allows you to record up to 5 hours of content, but I've seen some complaints about its antenna. The antenna can be replaced, though. Both units offer XM transmitters, though the Roady2 doesn't allow transmitting while it's in the portable system (probably because the portable system has an FM recever, and they didn't want to overlap the two.)

Like the previous thread, I really do recommend checking out xmfan.com for more pros/cons. (not affiliated, just have found them to be helpful. I figured I should add this since I've linked them twice in the last 24 hrs.)
posted by sysinfo at 11:04 AM on November 25, 2005

Thanks to all who answered. Not as many responses as I'd hoped -- guess that's what I get for posting between Thanksgiving and Black Friday -- but most of the ones I got were helpful.

I've done a lot more research (and signed up for the three-day trial -- thanks, Tacos), but I'm still sort of up in the air. There was a lot of music I liked, but it was spread out over different channels, so I'm not sure that's a whole lot better than commercials. But thanks a lot for your input, and I'll definitely take it into consideration.
posted by SuperNova at 12:20 PM on November 30, 2005