# Tell me about XM Sirius radio **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 25, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-xm-sirius-radio/661899 "2013-06-25T18:43:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-xm-sirius-radio/661899/41 "2013-06-26T23:47:47Z")
> [@SXM\_Help](#): > > Hi ThelmaLou - > > We are sorry to hear you had a poor experience with our website. We have read through the comments posted on this page and we appreciate everyone’s insight. As several member’s have posted, we do offer both factory installed and what we call plug and play (portable) radios. We would be happy to help you select a plan and radio that best suits your needs. When you have a moment, send us an email with your contact info to [sxm\_help@siriusxm.com](mailto:sxm_help@siriusxm.com) and we’ll be more than happy to assist you. > > Thanks, > SiriusXM Digital Care Team [Johnny Fever] It’s the [PHONE COPS](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTPzTG1Lx60)! [/JF] ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-xm-sirius-radio/661899/42 "2013-06-27T00:16:26Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Your Kindle smells funny, though.:dubious: Hey! That’s lemon verbena soap, Bubba. > [@pullin](#): > > [Johnny Fever] It’s the [PHONE COPS](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTPzTG1Lx60)! [/JF] Oh God, I loved that man. “God doesn’t like people who live in trailers.” ---
**Author:** ![Esco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9de053/32.png) [@Esco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esco)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-xm-sirius-radio/661899/43 "2013-06-27T13:11:10Z")
I’ve had SiriusXM in my car for 2 years now and never looked back. Terrestrial radio can kiss my ass! You’ll run into some dead spots, namely around skyscrapers, tunnels and high trees. But its generally not an issue. I can highly recommend ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-xm-sirius-radio/661899/44 "2013-06-27T16:24:24Z")
We don’t have tall trees or skyscrapers here, so no problem. No mountains either. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-xm-sirius-radio/661899/45 "2013-06-27T16:40:53Z")
Flat landscape here, too. But parking garages are a pain. And there are certain dead spots on the road, too. I think there may be local electronic interferance since it’s always at the same location(s). ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-xm-sirius-radio/661899/46 "2013-06-27T18:04:48Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > And there are certain dead spots on the road, too. I think there may be local electronic interferance since it’s always at the same location(s). I’ve wondered about that. I drive through Milwaukee semi-regularly, when I go up to Wisconsin to visit my family. There are a couple of spots on I-94 and I-43 in the downtown area that regularly cause momentary signal loss on Sirius (and, in both of our cars, at that), despite there not being any issues with line-of-sight to the satellites in those locations. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-xm-sirius-radio/661899/47 "2013-06-27T18:23:13Z")
I suspect you’ve got more than the number of opinions you need at this point, but I’ll just echo everyone else’s love of it. The only thing that irritates me about mine is that I can’t get a signal in my apartment building’s garage, and what I am often doing with the radio is listening to baseball games. I hate that I can’t pull into my space and just sit in the car and listen if I happen to get home during an intense moment. Anyway, get satellite, you’ll love it. I just bought a new car, and I’ve been waiting several days for the parts to come in to the dealership so they can install satellite. The wait is killing me. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-xm-sirius-radio/661899/48 "2013-06-27T18:35:47Z")
My used car came with a 3 month complimentary subscription. Unfortunately, no one bothered to tell me about it so I never tried it out. I only learned I had it when they began the phone calls asking me to subscribe. They called so often that I won’t even consider subscribing. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-xm-sirius-radio/661899/49 "2013-06-27T18:41:23Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > After having Rhapsody, MOG, Pandora, and Slacker, XM music programming drives me crazy. The music selection tends to suck on XM IMHO. Even though Pandora sucks, Pandora \> XM \> Commercial terrestrial radio. I’d put Pandora on the same level as college radio although their deficiencies are different. With Pandora I am not exposed to enough of a variety of new stuff in the genres I like, while in college radio I am not exposed to enough stuff I already know in the genres I like. In between would be great. XM seems good for the first couple hours and then they start to repeat artists. Not songs mind you but their artist list isn’t all too deep. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2013, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-xm-sirius-radio/661899/50 "2013-06-27T19:27:10Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > XM seems good for the first couple hours and then they start to repeat artists. Not songs mind you but their artist list isn’t all too deep. Very true. My wife and I have re-named some of the stations, due to this: Classic Rewind -\> The Van Halen Station\* The Bridge -\> The Cat Stevens / James Taylor Station 80s on 8 -\> The Duran Duran Station - - We drove from Chicago to Florida a few years ago, listening to Classic Rewind for a lot of the trip. At that time, they were playing a Van Halen song roughly every 60 minutes or so. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-xm-sirius-radio/661899/51 "2013-06-28T05:23:15Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Even though Pandora sucks, Pandora \> XM \> Commercial terrestrial radio. I’d put Pandora on the same level as college radio although their deficiencies are different. With Pandora I am not exposed to enough of a variety of new stuff in the genres I like, while in college radio I am not exposed to enough stuff I already know in the genres I like. In between would be great. > > XM seems good for the first couple hours and then they start to repeat artists. Not songs mind you but their artist list isn’t all too deep. All of my options require the cost of a smartphone and data, and in the case of Rhapsody and MOG subscription fees, but the music selection you get for the money is worth it in my opinion, and it is competition for XM. XM would be much better if they had several channels that just streamed other online radio stations, such as SOMA FM, SKY.FM, etc. rather than try to provide the content themselves. I imagine that the licensing fee structure for that might be pretty horrible for them to deal with though. But they could do better with the music selections. I’ve only used the XM radio that came with my car, and I can also find fault with the music channel navigation. I can only go up or down the channel line up by turning the knob up or down, hitting every station along the way. It’s like changing the channel on an old rotary tuner TV. Using a folder based navigation, based on genre (Music, Talk, Comedy, Sports) with subfolders would be much better. Maybe other XM radios can do this, but mine does not. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-xm-sirius-radio/661899/52 "2013-06-28T05:30:18Z")
Missed the edit window: sorry for the slight hijack As for exposure to new music in genres you like, by far the best as this that I have found is Rhapsody. They do a good job, and they constantly feature a variety of playlists that expose new music to me. Or you can find similar artists, influencing artists, and other works or bands that a particular artist has worked with. Better than MOG, Spotify, Slacker, Pandora, and Rdio in my experience. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-xm-sirius-radio/661899/53 "2013-06-28T11:18:50Z")
I had it in a rental car 4 years ago and really loved it. Then had it as a trial in my new VW last year and found the reception awful; no signal at every overpass, most billboard, even tall trees. And this on a major highway! My new Subaru has a trial subscription and I’m getting the same reception issue. I also notice some music will sound really “tinny”, like how radio used to sound over the internet years ago. Are there fewer satellites these days? I’m in NH, are they focusing the signal to the lower latitudes? Anyway, not a fan at all. And obviously not the car/radio, given same issue from two different makes. I plan to dump it once the trial is up. I wonder how many robocalls I’ll have to endure before I finally cave and tell them I’m not interested in continuing the service (last year it was quite a few; if I want your service, I’ll call, don’t keep calling me to ask!). ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-xm-sirius-radio/661899/54 "2013-06-28T11:20:04Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > Missed the edit window: sorry for the slight hijack > > As for exposure to new music in genres you like, by far the best as this that I have found is Rhapsody. They do a good job, and they constantly feature a variety of playlists that expose new music to me. Or you can find similar artists, influencing artists, and other works or bands that a particular artist has worked with. Better than MOG, Spotify, Slacker, Pandora, and Rdio in my experience. Agreed. I get a lost of repeats on Sirius/XM. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-xm-sirius-radio/661899/55 "2013-06-28T13:25:16Z")
> [@Dag\_Otto](#): > > I’ve only used the XM radio that came with my car, and I can also find fault with the music channel navigation. I can only go up or down the channel line up by turning the knob up or down, hitting every station along the way. It’s like changing the channel on an old rotary tuner TV. Using a folder based navigation, based on genre (Music, Talk, Comedy, Sports) with subfolders would be much better. Maybe other XM radios can do this, but mine does not. My wife’s built-in radio is like this, although she has ten presets. Mine has ten presets as well. On mine, I can go up and down channel numbers, but I can also go left and right through genres like you mention, then up and down through the channels within that genre. There’s also a _direct_ button, allowing me to directly enter a channel number, but I’ve never used it. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-xm-sirius-radio/661899/56 "2013-06-28T15:10:02Z")
I hope the XM Sirius people are still reading. They’re getting lots of great feedback. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-xm-sirius-radio/661899/57 "2013-06-28T15:16:37Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Classic Rewind -\> The Van Halen Station\* I was reminded, as I got into the car this morning, that Classic Rewind also has a major woody for Stevie Ray Vaughan, and plays the same three or four SRV songs continually. Unfortunate for me, since I just never got into SRV. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![WreckingCrew](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wreckingcrew/32/4080_2.png) [@WreckingCrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WreckingCrew)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-xm-sirius-radio/661899/58 "2013-06-28T18:25:01Z")
We had it for a year, but didn’t renew after the free trial because my wife mostly drives that car and she listens to NPR 97% of the time and paying for something you can get for free is dumb. When I had it out, there were a few channels I liked - mostly the Underground Garage. I just had it again in a rental for two days, and it reminded me of the one thing I hated about it. I often found that the music sounds a bit washy, like everything is being run through a phase filter. It probably has something to do with hitting a moving target from a satellite. My wife didn’t notice it, but I could pick up a definite slurring of the signal. I had the horrific experience of having Radio Disney on for 30 minutes with the kids in the car, and between the phasing effect and the fact that everything on that channel has been auto tuned within an inch of its life, I felt like I was listening to music with my head stuck in a 30 gallon fish tank. ---
**Author:** ![Vita\_Beata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@Vita\_Beata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vita_Beata)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-xm-sirius-radio/661899/59 "2013-06-28T18:33:57Z")
The Tundra came with a one year free subscription, and the service continued free for another perhaps 6 months. We’re slow at signing up for anything and were never contacted by anyone either by email or mail. The service finally stopped and Mr. Beata just listened to free channels. But at one point he said the XM service was back on; they were “baiting” us! “Don’t you miss this service?” It worked, too. He received an offer in the mail listing some subscription prices and they offered even lower prices when he finally called them. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-xm-sirius-radio/661899/60 "2013-06-28T19:06:20Z")
But if she does, she can amaze her friends with her satellite knowledge. 🙂 The XM satellites are in geostationary orbits, but the Sirius satellites are in geosynchronous non-geostationary [Tundra orbits](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tundra_orbit). I went to the [Heavens-Above](http://www.heavens-above.com/) website, and plotted the orbit and ground track for the three Sirius satellites. [Sirius 1](http://www.heavens-above.com/orbit.aspx?satid=26390&lat=0&lng=0&loc=Unspecified&alt=0&tz=UCT) [Sirius 2](http://www.heavens-above.com/orbit.aspx?satid=26483&lat=0&lng=0&loc=Unspecified&alt=0&tz=UCT) [Sirius 3](http://www.heavens-above.com/orbit.aspx?satid=26626&lat=0&lng=0&loc=Unspecified&alt=0&tz=UCT) They each get to over 47,000 km above Earth, higher than the almost 36,000 of geostationary orbits. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-xm-sirius-radio/661899.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-me-about-xm-sirius-radio/661899.md?page=4)