Why so Sirius?

In reply to jrw1621:

They also have an a-la-carte plan where you pick 50 channels for $9/month. I've had that for the past 2 years and have been really happy with it. I have a portable unit that plugs into the 3.5mm jack in the car radio and I have a dock in the house that looks like a boom box.

I also have Sirius/XM (with some sort of lifetime arrangement from GM or the dealer that originally sold it).

I have not listened to AM/FM radio in years. I either plug in the iPod or put on one of about 15 music channels depending on mood. Opie & Anthony are on XM and they never fail to make me laugh.

I don't know that I could do without it for long now, and I'm bummed because my 6 months for $25 runs out in a week or two, which means I'm going to be without it until they offer me the same deal again lol.
My car has 18 possible presets for SAT so I can generally find something.
I've got the alt stations, classic rock, lithium, rap, more classic rock stations, liquid metal, 50s-90s, comedy and more classic rock. lol

It's one of the greatest things about press cars – almost all of them have it. Loved the Boneyard, First Wave and the all-Springsteen channels.

mistanfo wrote: Does your factory radio have a USB input? 32 Gb sticks are around $30, and work as well as an iPod (at least in the car). Also, if you have an aux in 1/8" jack, I can sell you a few different Sitius or XM units for less than $50 after rebates. Disclaimer- I work at Crutchfield, sell these everyday. Don't use it myself since I am blessed with a great local radio scene. Do wish that I had it the few tea a year we road trip.

Out of curiosity, where are USB inputs usually located? My car has an aftermarket detachable-face Pioneer unit from the PO that says it has a USB port, but I don't know where.

On the original subject, that unit is on Sirius. Either the PO is still paying my subscription, or they give you free service, because mine still works. The only drawback is that it reverts to the preview channel every time I turn the ignition off, so I have to dial it all the way up to the stations I like every time, which is kind of tedious. I listen to Alt Nation, Octane, XMU, First Wave, Bluesville, and of all things the Grateful Dead channel a lot.

Wow--the death of FNX is really sad.

They were a mainstay when I lived in MA.

I've had Sirius sine '06 and I still love the service. Terrestrial radio is more and more worthless with each passing day.

I listen to so many different channels on Sirius that it's well-worth the money. Excellent variety of programming.

only a 2yr customer here and could never imagine going back and listening to commercials every 5min. Never had any issues with the weather though . So far its played thru everyone monsoon Florida has dished out.

I had xm for many years, cancelled when my radio broke. Wife just got a new car and we subscribed to sirius. She's commuting 2 hrs a day and any road trips will be in her car so....might have to add the extra channel package to get O&A and Ron and Fez again.

Trans_Maro wrote: You should be able to get a Sirius receiver for a little over $50.

Sorry, I was looking at something more like this:

http://www.tss-radio.com/products/isimple-factory-ipod-and-sirius-integration-for-ford-lincoln-mercury-vehicles-1

I have a thing against wire clutter, which was a problem in my Mazdaspeed3, and FM tuner thingies suck.

The more I read, though, the more I might just get it anyway. I have two FM music radio stations left that I listen to (WZLX classic rock and WAAF mainstream rock), but they both get repetitious, neither has DJs that hold a candle to WFNX's, and WAAF's alt-rock programming was always playing follow-the-leader.

Gamby: When the Boston Phoenix revealed they were selling 101.7 and shuttering FNX, EVERYONE was talking about it- local news, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Just like when WBCN died in 2009. We don't give a E36 M3 when the local disco station turns into a robot station into a sports talk station, but us Bostonians loves us our rock music. We've lost an institution. To you West Coast folks, imagine KROQ in its heyday being bought out and turned into an elevator music station. That's the kind of nut-punch we got from FNX's sale.

I have a portable Sirius for the big truck. I was warring out the seek button before I got. It's the best thing when you don't stay in the same listening area for long.

In reply to Duke: USB inputs on early units are generally a 2 to 3 foot long wire that exits the back of the unit and can be routed anywhere in/under the dash or the glovebox, console, etc. Newer units have an input on the face.

Sirius subscriptions are tied to the unit you activate. Some subscriptions were lifetime subscriptions, so if the original purchaser didn't transfer it to a new unit, it remained with the unit originally activated. I've also heard rumors that they aren't always the most aggressive about turning off access to units when subscriptions end. You could have either situation, but I'd recommend just going with it until it doesn't work any more. Then you can call and find out what happened.

In reply to Secretariata:

Cool, thanks for the info!

Duke: My radio has 2 USB inputs. One in front, one in back. If you buy a low profile usb stick (like this: http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Cruzer-Fit-Flash-Drive/dp/B005FYNSZA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1337566091&sr=8-2), you barely even notice it.

I fill mine with audio books. I refuse to use an ipod. I listen to the radio when I've finished an audio book and I only have a few more minutes of driving so don't feel like starting a new one.

It came in my last car stock and I got so addicted to it that I put an XM receiver in the Mazda2 the day after I got the car. Mine's usually tuned to the BBC or something similar but I also have a lot of music stations programmed in. "Chill" is really cool for cruising around late at night.

RexSeven wrote: Gamby: When the Boston Phoenix revealed they were selling 101.7 and shuttering FNX, EVERYONE was talking about it- local news, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Just like when WBCN died in 2009. We don't give a E36 M3 when the local disco station turns into a robot station into a sports talk station, but us Bostonians loves us our rock music. We've lost an institution. To you West Coast folks, imagine KROQ in its heyday being bought out and turned into an elevator music station. That's the kind of nut-punch we got from FNX's sale.

Yeah, FNX was SO hip and relevant. It's amazing that there is now no "modern rock" station in that huge market. It's a real blow to the culture of Boston, IMHO.

BCN was pretty meathead-ish, but FNX was as hip as it got. A real shame.

Get Sirius and you'll love Alt Nation and Sirius XMU, though. This vanishing of anything other than lowest common denominator radio will just make Sirius stronger, IMHO.

I don't even think Pandora has as much depth. Also, with the cell companies cracking down on data use, it's not that practical for long commutes. It's still a great alternative to terrestrial radio, though.

My ipod gets stale with the 3-5 hours it's on me during bike rides/exercise. I need actual programming, which Sirius provides.

Plus, aside from Stern, Jason Ellis is fantastic. He's really come into his own as a personality.

gamby wrote: I don't even think Pandora has as much depth. Also, with the cell companies cracking down on data use, it's not that practical for long commutes. It's still a great alternative to terrestrial radio, though.

I listen to Pandora for up to 8 hrs a day on my phone @ work. Only once have I gotten the warning that I had crossed 65% of my data usage (2GB limit). It uses far less data than you think.

I agree it does not have real programming, but when I use it at work, its pretty much just to drown out noise and help me focus.

I have had it for about 10 years now and liked xm more back when they first started. The only reason I still pay for it is because I get a big discount, I would never pay $12 a month for it.

I recently cancelled my XM subscription of 5 years since I had a portable device connected in the Si & I use lastfm at work. Now, I'm in the Boston area as well & refuse to listen to the stations here, actually I refuse to listen to FM anywhere. Personally I enjoyed it better before the companies merged. I mainly listened to the metal station & found it to cater less to what I enjoyed after the merge, plus the DJs they have are god awful. I may go back once I get an aftermarket HU in the 2, we'll see. For me FM blows & Pandora isn't as good as lastfm.

MA$$hole wrote: I recently cancelled my XM subscription of 5 years since I had a portable device connected in the Si & I use lastfm at work. Now, I'm in the Boston area as well & refuse to listen to the stations here, actually I refuse to listen to FM anywhere. Personally I enjoyed it better before the companies merged. I mainly listened to the metal station & found it to cater less to what I enjoyed after the merge, plus the DJs they have are god awful. I may go back once I get an aftermarket HU in the 2, we'll see. For me FM blows & Pandora isn't as good as lastfm.

speaking of the metal station (I'm guessing you're talking about liquid metal?" Jose isn't that bad really. But maybe I think that because he reminds me of my friend ed that moved up to maine lol.
the rest of them, except for the guy who does the history of metal stuff. that's pretty cool sometimes. devil's dozen usually has abotu 8 crap songs and 3 decent songs, with 1 good song

I've had XM for a long time. They are falling into the trap of playing the same 30 or 40 songs over and over, for instance that Gotje song 'Somebody that I used to know' got played so damn many times I got sick of it. I still like it for highway travel and the comedy channels are good, otherwise meh. Opie and Anthony leave me cold and I wish Howard Stern would put a potato in his pocket and then DIAF. That way he's gone and someone gets a baked potato.

There is a local FM station which says they play everything and that's true. They play a lot of alt rock, classic rock etc (that's probably 70% of their playlist) but then they throw in a curve ball. For instance, yesterday I heard the Jackson 5 for the first time in probably 20 years. Not that I am a big fan of pop or disco or any of that crap but it's sorta cool to have it just start playing. They also have minimal ads, compared to the run of the mill station which has 30 minutes of ads, 15 minutes of some idiot DJ trying to be the next Howard Stern blathering and then maybe 15 minutes of music every hour. And the music is the same crap over and over ad nauseam.

jrw1621 wrote: What is full price, something like $17 per month? Take the free trial, quit and do not keep it going, this should generate an offer from a "customer retention team" that will offer 5 months for $20.

This!!!

I haven't payed full price in years!

Curmudgeon wrote: I've had XM for a long time. They are falling into the trap of playing the same 30 or 40 songs over and over, for instance that Gotje song 'Somebody that I used to know' got played so damn many times I got sick of it. I still like it for highway travel and the comedy channels are good, otherwise meh. Opie and Anthony leave me cold and I wish Howard Stern would put a potato in his pocket and then DIAF. That way he's gone and someone gets a baked potato. There is a local FM station which says they play everything and that's true. They play a lot of alt rock, classic rock etc (that's probably 70% of their playlist) but then they throw in a curve ball. For instance, yesterday I heard the Jackson 5 for the first time in probably 20 years. Not that I am a big fan of pop or disco or any of that crap but it's sorta cool to have it just start playing. They also have minimal ads, compared to the run of the mill station which has 30 minutes of ads, 15 minutes of some idiot DJ trying to be the next Howard Stern blathering and then maybe 15 minutes of music every hour. And the music is the same crap over and over ad nauseam.

I flip around the Sirius music channels enough that none of it gets boring to me. It suits my needs perfectly and I'm a pretty major music snob.

Real Jazz is like getting an education, too. That doesn't exist on the terrestrial dial outside of static-y NPR.

The value of Sirius on a road trip is priceless, too.

Curmudgeon wrote: I've had XM for a long time. They are falling into the trap of playing the same 30 or 40 songs over and over, for instance that Gotje song 'Somebody that I used to know' got played so damn many times I got sick of it.

Yeah - you have to surf a little. Too many channels means they get a short playlist and variety changes are on a calendar rather than a watch. To get a fat mix of everything requires manual intervention.

My gotos are Classic Rewind, Classic Vinyl, Deep Tracks, Coffee House, The Loft, The Bridge, The Boneyard (not so much since it became Ozzy's Boneyard) and a couple jazz/classical channels. I am missing a solid classic heavy metal channel with the Boneyard having gone to E36 M3 but I listen to Raw Dog or O & A for chuckles instead.

We loved having XM in my wife's car but decided to trim our budget. It took multiple attempts to cancel the service. Each time they "forgot" to close the account and we got billed for another billing session at full price. Cue another phone call, another confirmation that our service was canceled. Then another invoice shows up that states if you do not contact them within a period of time they will auto-renew your subscription regardless. It took threatening a chargeback to finally get them to cancel for good. I think it is easier to get out of the mafia than it is to cancel XM radio.

The ads were starting to tick me off anyway. No I do not need to consolidate my debt, settle with the IRS, or get more home time while working for a great trucking company. And they play ads on all stations at once so switching doesn't make a difference. And yeah, the song rotation was starting to blow.

Now I have a tape converter and a 1st gen iPod Nano filled with podcasts, and a Blackberry with Pandora. Done.

Except for some quick stuff on the traffic channel, there's no ads on Sirius that I've ever heard.