As I’ve mentioned a time or twenty, I have a commute that’s a tad over an hour each way. I’m starting to think satellite radio might be the way to go.
Which is better, XM or Sirius?
I can’t comment on Sirius but my XM experience has been awful. I have yet to be successfully connected, and customer service is worse than useless. Two huge thumbs down.
XM has deeper playlists.
Check each services websites for programming and see what you prefer. I went with XM because they carry Major League Baseball.
ETA: I had zero problems getting connected, and service has been impeccable so far. YMMV.
Same as silenus on XM CS. I called the 800 number from a hotel room almost 3 years ago and haven’t been down yet. Get a charge on my CC every March for another year, that’s been my only interaction with them.
I’ve listened to Sirius for a few hours once, but not enough to say if one’s better (and the guy who had the Sirius has been on several road trips with me and XM and has no complaints other than not knowing the channels).
The one thing I remember about Sirius that I liked was a “favorite song” feature. By flagging a song, Sirius would alert you if that song came on a different channel than what you were listening to, at least on the player my buddy had.
I got my XM unit through a trade that was pretty hard to pass up (no, it’s not stolen) or I probably would have gotten Sirius simply based on my experience with my buddies system.
I’ve used both (though it’s been over a year since then). In terms of signal reception, sound quality and customer service, they seem comparable.
I understand there are major differences in terms of sports coverage, so check both listings.
Sirius has two NPR channels. They do not have All Things Considered and Morning Edition (presumably to avoid competition with terrestrial NPR stations), but they have pretty much everything else. XM doesn’t have NPR at all.
XM has Air America (left-wing talk radio). Sirius has a left-wing talk station as well, but its programming is not as good, IMHO.
(I’ve since canceled both because I don’t drive much, and reception at home is horrible for both satellite systems. I get my talk radio fix through podcasts.)
I have Sirius, and I listen almost exclusively to Little Steven’s Underground Garage channel. I have a few other channels on preset (two modern rock/alternative, a Sinatra channel, and classic jazz) also that I switch to from time to time.
My biggest problem is the rarity of free FM frequencies in this area that I can use to get the signal from my receiver to the car radio.
I have that feature, but never use it. Far as I can tell, it’s a standard feature for Sirius.
If your car stereo has a tape player, a tape adapter is probably your best option. Mine worked quite well. (Until someone broke into the car and while stealing the Sirius receiver, yanked on the tape adapter cord hard enough to destroy the whole tape player…)
I’ve tried three different adapters. I think the tape heads in the player are royally misaligned. All I get is static.
I got a Sirius player and 6 month subscription included in my new vehicle. I know nothing about XM, but I will be subscribing to Sirius when the 6 months runs out. I also need to register my subscription to be able to listen to Sirius via streaming on the web. Which will allow me to play Sirius via my home theater system.
Definitely take a look at both web sites and see what programming they have. They do differ in sports and talk, so you’ll want to see what each carries in order to be sure which one you will get the most use from.
I have Sirius in the car and some of the XM music stations are included in my DirecTV subscription. The playlists are indeed deeper with XM - but I dearly wish they’d name their streams something more descriptive so I knew what the hell they were playing without having to click on the station and listen to find out. Seriously - there are streams named Fred, Ethel and Lucy. How is that supposed to give me any clue what type of music those streams carry?
Of course all this may become a moot point if the FCC approves the merger of XM and Sirius, which they announced back in February.
I’ve had Sirius for 4 years now- I love it. Never any problems. Their alternative station, I feel, is superior to XM’s, which I listened to for a couple weeks (borrowed a friend’s radio to compare) and decided against. Sirius has a great opera channel, good news channels, Howard Stern, and other than that, I don’t listen to much else. Great free internet streaming, which makes listening from work possible.
I heartily endorse Sirius!
Looks like neither one of them has a world music channel, which would be what I would want. 
Beware of XM. Their customer service is the worst I’ve ever encountered. I’m sure as long as things go well, you’ll be okay, but if anything needs fixing (or, as in my case, if your original subscription was set up incorrectly), be prepared for staggering, repeated incompetence.
The BBC1 channel on Sirius plays some world music. There’s also a French-language channel that plays world music, but I don’t know if you can get it in PA - if you are close to the Canadian border you can.
Just curious, does this mean the merger fell through?
There was a big story earlier this year that the two services were merging.
A client gave me XM a few years ago. She paid for 2 years up front, and when it ran out I continued with them. I like it, although I only use it at home, and only listen one or two evenings a week.
I just found that the merger was approved, twickster, it looks like you will end up getting both unless the government stops it.
Jim
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Here are links to two satellite radio discussion boards. There are numerous threads on each comparing both services.
I’ve got XM and I prefer it to Sirius. I like most of the music channels a bit better. For sports, I like that they cover baseball as I find it easy to follow on the radio.
I just bought a new car and it came with XM. I spend most of my time listening to the comedy channels now. 