XM Radio

Anybody have this product or Sirius? Please let me know what you think before I spend $600-$700 on one of these services.

I think you can get a receiver for cheaper than that. Sirius is suspose to be expanding to all 48 states soon I think. i dont know which one is better. I've heard people say it will be gone in a year and some say its here to stay. I don't like paying monthly fees but I would rather listen to a good radio talk or music station than pay for some crappy tv service (cable, direct tv) that just shows re runs and commercials. I want one also but I'm waiting to see if price comes down on the receivers and if the subcription fee stays the same.

mrchri5 you can get cheaper radios but I am looking at a midprice range model ( that includes radio, receiver and antennae ) rather than an entry level model. I like having the extra features. As far as price goes XM is charging $10 a month and Sirius will charge $13. Whether this product will survive all I can say is when cable TV started everyone said it wouldn't last because who would pay for TV. Also quite a few auto manufacturers will be offering satellite ready radios factory installed starting next year.

Also with the satellite radio you are getting CD quality sound and Sirius is offering commercial free music stations. The other stations have limited commercials. XM is offering 36 commercial free stations ( about half of their music channels ). I am still debating which service to use XM is available nationally while Sirius will be available July 1st.

What got me started was I the only country station in my area changed format and I have nothing to listen to.

do you know of a good site to find the receivers online? After reading your post here I have been thinking about getting one myself. I listen to radio at home though. do they make home setups? Its just so much money to spend when I can get good quality music through shoutcast for free and search for whatever song i wanna listen to.

mrchri5 if you want a home model XM is the only way to go Sony make a plug and play model that looks like a radar detector and plugs into the tape deck. Than you just unplug it and bring it inside.

There is a BB for satellite radio it is brand new only 4 members.

Satellite Radio DB

Sony plug and play

Lonewolf, why don't you go ahead and take the plunge and tell us how it is. I've been thinking about this myself. I assume if one goes with XM and the Plug and Play, then some sort of home antenna is required? I will admit that the "no commercials" on Sirius sounds better but it is more $.

I have an Alpine head unit with the Alpine Xm tuner mounted in the trunk and it is great. I have not used FM or my CD changer in 4-5 months. If you get it look into the Trek antenna since it works rather well from my rear deck inside the car rather than on the roof. I went for the XM compatable head unit since I did not want any excess electronics to show. All you can see is the Alpine head unit and barely the antenna since the windows are so dark.

So William,
Was that your car I saw the other day with the really dark windows?? I love your hydrolics. How much lift would you say you have? It was jummping around pretty good at the light..... TX

I took the plunge and had XM installed in my car. I opted for an Alpine#7894 head unit and the Trk SR2 roof mounted antenna rather than the Sony Plug and Play because I still had the stock radio in the car and it was an AM/FM/Cassette.

It is excellent sound quality and now I need to replace my speakers to keep up with the radio . I decided to have XM installed after I lost the only Country station in my market. Not a problem for you folks in Texas I am sure. So I figured I would put a CD changer in the trunk. Well I went shopping and started looking at all the COOL electronics. And I started to get that glassy eyed look we all know well. I figured that with the XM who needs a CD changer I get 100 channels of digital quality sound six of which are Country stations. All for $10 a month which is less than the cost of one CD. I was in hog heaven!! Half the music channels are commercial free and all the Talk and News channels have commercials but they only last 1 to 1 1/2 minutes very short commercial breaks. Sirius the other satellite service is $13 a month and all the Music channels are commercial free while the Talk and News channels have commercials.

The channel lineups for both services are 90% of the same channels so it doesn't matter to much which one you sign up for.

I agree with William I leave it on XM all the time but I have only had it since Wednesday so it still has the neato factor.
William I also went with the Alpine Model #7894 which model did you get?
Can't say enough how great this is does for radio what cable does for TV. I was listening to one of the comedy channels ( there are 3) and heard Abbott and Costello do "Who's On First" When was the last time you heard that on the radio?

Man, you're making me jealous! I have a nice cd head unit with decent speakers. Is it possible to get some sort of XM add-on to work with my existing equipment? You know like they used to have those cd changers that would broadcast to your FM radio so you didn't have to buy a new head unit. If I could get by for a few hundred bucks I might be tempted but if it's going to cost $600 or $700 or more I'll have to pass. I think in the upcoming days I'm going to visit my local audio electronics store but if anybody has any info to share, I'd appreciate it.

Oh one more question. How is the audio quality? Better then FM? For an instance a regular FM station may provide very good reception but it doesn't have the bandwidth that a cd player does so it always pales in comparison, is the XM any better?

I see ccrane is offering a sony xm unit and a fm stereo transmitter for $300..I haven't checked the details of their deal yet..of course I bought the fm stereo transmitter 2 weeks ago for $100..think they'll give me the sony for $200..? right...
(by the way the transmitter works great. range is claimed to be 75 feet - (mm how could I increase that range?) and it transmits anything you plug it into. works on ac or 2 aa batteries...

geepondy click on the SonyPlug and Play link above and you will see also see Pioneer has a unit that broadcasts to an FM station. The only drawback is that you are than getting FM quality rather than digital quality.

I've been listening to some of the online radio stations over my cable modem. I decided I don't really have a need for xm radio. When commercials dont get on my nerves there are a few good stations from chicago and madison i can pick up.

You can find an MP3 of "Who's on First" on the Internet.
From my experience with C Crane they would probably work something out with the XM/FM transmiter, you could always say you'll return it and buy again.

witsend you can find an MP3 of almost anything on the internet. I was trying to make the point that XM gives you a better variety.

Tx no hydrolics on the car but I have been thinking of a new lift kit for my Jeep.