People who spend a lot of time in their cars seem to love satellite radio. The ability to get high definition sound with uninterrupted music or talk gets these folks pumped. What are the options when it comes to satellite radio? 
The two big players are XM Radio and Sirius Radio. XM boasts 4 million subscribers, with “over 30 channels of news, sports, talk and entertainment, over 20 dedicated channels of XM Instant Traffic & Weather.” (XM website) 
The XM Radio subscription costs $12.95 a month. XM also boasts some cool playback devices to work in any kind of situation. They have a standalone satellite radio, a player to work with the car & home solutions, and many others. 
Sirius boasts 1 million customers and over 120 channels. They also offer some cool playback devices for car and home use. I would like to hear what subscribers of these services think. Please comment!
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ConsumerGuide (Sirius versus XM Radio:
the battle of the satellite bands
By Mark Bilek) compares the companies this way:
| Sirius | Commercial Free | Program Type | Commercial Free | XM Radio |
| Swing Street | Yes | ’40s (Big Band/Swing) | Yes | The ’40s |
| Sirius Gold | Yes | ’50s | Yes | The ’50s |
| ’60s Vibrations | Yes | ’60s | Yes | The ’60s |
| Totally ’70s | Yes | ’70s | Yes | The ’70s |
| Big ’80s | Yes | ’80s | Yes | The ’80s |
| The Pulse | Yes | ’90s | Yes | The ’90s |
| Road House | Yes | Country (classic) | Yes | America |
| New Country | Yes | Country (hits) | Yes | Nashville!, Highway 16 |
| The Border, Outlaw Country | Yes | Country (progrssive) | Yes | X Country |
| Country Road, Prime Country | Yes | Country (traditional) | Yes | Hank’s Place |
| WSM Entertainment | Yes | Country (talk) | ||
| Bluegrass | Yes | Bluegrass | Yes | Bluegrass Junction |
| Folk Town | Yes | Folk | Yes | The Village |
| Sirius Hits 1 | Yes | Pop (top hits) | Yes | Top 20 on 20 |
| Pop (rock) | Yes | Kiss (LA), MTV, VH1 | ||
| Pop (mix) | Yes | Mix | ||
| Movin’ Easy | Yes | Pop (love songs) | Yes | The Heart |
| StarLite | Yes | Pop (contemporary) | Yes | Sunny, The Blend, XM Live |
| Pop (soundtracks) | Yes | Cinemagic | ||
| Broadway’s Best | Yes | Pop (show tunes) | Yes | On Broadway |
| Pop (Euro) | Yes | U Pop | ||
| Pop (special) | Yes | |||
| Christian (rock) | Yes | Torch | ||
| Spirit | Yes | Christian (pop) | Yes | Fish |
| The Vault | Yes | Rock (album) | Yes | Deep Tracks |
| Hard Attack | Yes | Rock (hard) | Yes | Bone Yard |
| Yes | Rock (heavy) | Yes | XM Liquid Metal | |
| The Rock, First Wave | Yes | Rock (classic) | Yes | Fred, Top Tracks |
| Alt Nation | Yes | Rock (alternative) | Yes | XM Café, Ethel |
| Jam On | Rock (alternative) | Yes | Squizz, Fungus, Lucy | |
| The Bridge | Yes | Rock (acoustic) | Yes | The Loft |
| Octane | Yes | Rock (progressive) | Yes | XM Music Lab, XMU |
| Left of Center | Yes | Rock (unsigned) | Yes | Unsigned |
| Soul Revue | Yes | Soul (classic) | Yes | Soul Street |
| Slow Jamz | Yes | Soul (neo) | Yes | The Flow |
| Hot Jamz | Yes | Urban | Yes | Suite 62, The City |
| Praise | Yes | Gospel | Yes | Spirit |
| Heart & Soul | Yes | R&B | Yes | The Groove |
| Street Beat | Yes | Rap (classic) | Yes | The Rhyme |
| Wax | Yes | Rap (uncut) | Yes | Raw |
| Hip-Hop Nation | Yes | Rap (pop) | ||
| Pure Jazz | Yes | Jazz (traditional) | Yes | Real Jazz |
| Planet Jazz | Yes | Jazz (contemporary) | Yes | Watercolors |
| Jazz (modern) | Yes | Beyond Jazz | ||
| Jazz (Latin) | Yes | Luna | ||
| Fantasy Ballroom | Yes | Vocals | Yes | Frank’s Place |
| Sirius Blues | Yes | Blues | Yes | Bluesville |
| Mix | Yes | On the Rocks | ||
| Remix, Planet Dance, The Beat, Chili | Yes | Dance | Yes | The Move |
| Yes | Dance (club) | Yes | BPM | |
| Yes | Dance (electronic) | Yes | The System | |
| The Strobe | Yes | Disco | Yes | Chrome |
| Universo Latino | Yes | Spanish (top 40) | Yes | Aguila |
| Spanish (pop) | Yes | Caricia | ||
| Spanish (rock) | Yes | Vibra | ||
| Tejano | Yes | Tejan | ||
| Mexicana | Yes | Caribbean | Yes | Caliente |
| Horizons | Yes | World | Yes | World Zone |
| Tropical | Yes | Reggae | Yes | The Joint |
| African | No | Ngoma | ||
| Yes | New Age | Yes | Audio Visions | |
| Symphony Hall | Yes | Classical (traditional) | Yes | XM Classics |
| Classical Voices | Yes | Opera | Yes | Vox |
| Sirius Pops | Yes | Classical (popular) | Yes | XM Pops |
| Radio Disney, Kids Stuff | No | Children | No | Radio Disney, XM Kids |
| Sirius Sessions | No | Live | ||
| Fox News, CNN Headline News, ABC News & Talk, C-Span Radio, NPR Now | No | News | No | Fox News, CNN, CNN Headline News, ABC News & Talk, C-Span Radio |
| The Weather Channel, TWC (East, Central, West) | No | News (weather) | No | The Weather Channel |
| CNBC, Bloomberg | No | News (business) | No | CNBC, Bloomberg |
| News (tech) | No | cnet Radio | ||
| BBC World Service, World Radio Network, Public Radio International | Yes | News (world) | Yes | BBC World Service |
| BBC Mundo | No | News (Spanish) | No | CNN en Espanol |
| ESPN Radio, ESPN News, Sports Byline USA, Live Sports 1, 2, & 3, Speed Channel Radio | No | Sports | No | ESPN Radio, ESPN News, Fox Sports Radio, Sporting News Radio, NASCAR |
| Radio Deportivo | No | Sports (Spanish) | ||
| Sirius Comedy | No | Comedy | No | XM Comedy, Laugh USA |
| No | Extreme XM | |||
| Discovery Channel Radio, Court TV Plus, La Red Hispania | No | Talk | No | Discovery Channel Radio |
| E Entertainment Radio, Sirius Entertainment, A & E Satellite Radio, Sirius Talk | No | Talk (Entertainment) | No | E Entertainment Radio |
| Talk (books) | No | Sonic Theater | ||
| Radio Classics | No | Talk (old time) | No | Radio Classics |
| WISDOM radio | No | Talk (advice) | No | Ask! |
| NPR Talk, Sirius Left, Sirius Right, Radio Amigo | Yes | Talk (opinion) | No | Buzz XM |
| Talk (concerts) | No | XM Live | ||
| Talk (African American) | No | The Power | ||
| Radio Mujur | No | Talk (Spanish) | ||
| The World Network | No | Talk (Christian) | No | Family Talk |
| OutQ | No | Talk (Gay and Lesbian) | ||
| Sirius Trucking Network | No | Talk (truckers) | No | Open Road |
| Adult* | No | Playboy Radio(1) |
Here is another comparison from Corey Deitz of About Radio:
| SIRIUS | XM | |
| Streams | Over 130 Digital Channels total (as of 6/28/05) 65 Music (commercial free) 55 News, Sports, Talk & Entertainment 20 Traffic & Weather |
Over 150 Digital Channels total (as of 6/28/05) 67 Music (commercial free) Over 30 News, Sports, Talk & Entertainment 20 Traffic/weather in Major markets. |
| Online Listening | Yes (part of monthly fee) | Yes (part of monthly fee) |
| Cost | Monthly: $12.95 1 Year: $142 2 Years: $271 |
Monthly: $12.95 1 Year: $142.45 |
| Satellites | 3 | 2 |
| Customer Service | 24 Hours | Mon - Sat: 10AM - 11 PM EST Sun: 12 PM - 8 PM EST |
| Activation Fee | On the SIRIUS website for $5 Over the phone for $15. |
On the XM website for $9.99 Over the phone for $14.99. |
| Cancellation Fee | Cancel monthly anytime.
If you cancel your Subscription prior to the |
Cancel monthly anytime
Receive a prorated refund of the unused subscription. If you cancel your Subscription prior to the end of a prepaid Subscription or committed Subscription period, they may charge you a cancellation fee |
| Additional Radios: | (2-4) $6.99 per month | (2-5) $6.99 per month |
| Customer Service | 1-888-539-7474 customercare@sirius-radio.com |
1-800-XM-RADIO (1-800-967-2346)
listenercare@xmradio.com |
If you would like to make a comment, please fill out the form below.
I’m not sure I understand the matrix. Sirius has 4x the channels but the matrix looks about even. am i missing something?
Also the people I know that have either service love it.
I’m pumped too, but I will have to say that I will will be even more pumped when I can get Live365 in my car.
XM has more channels though i think Sirius may have a more channels within some genres. In either case, i think this is a pretty good bird’s eye view of the services. It’s kind of like a Coke or Pepsi thing. By the way, Sirius has extended their $499 lifetime fee until January 31st, 2006.
Satellite radio is nearly nonexistant in the UK. I’ve never seen one!
I love my XM radio! I’m still stuck on Deep Tracks Channel 40, catching up on all the deep cuts on the albums I couldn’t afford growing up.
I have had XM now for 2 years and I love it. Whenever I travel and I rent a car that doesn’t have XM I feel like I’m going through withdrawal. If you don’t have it and can afford it, get it - it’s grrrreaaatttt!
I have the MyFi (XM). It’s a portable unit that looks like a big mp3 player. You can get actual live satellite radio 260-something channels pretty much anywhere. I take it to the park, use the FM modulator in the car, listen at my desk at work. Sirius can not compete with that.
I’ve had XM for a couple of years now - signed up not too long ago for a 2 year contract so got it for less than $10/month which was good, as the price was going up. I tend to listen to a particular set of channels and need to branch out to listen to some of the more unusual offerings.
I like the ability to quickly remove my xm roady and take it inside the house and hook it up to my stereo. That’s a nice touch.
My wife though probably listens to it more than I do, as I tend to listen frequently to books from Audible.com while I’m on the road. I’m looking forward to an upcoming xm satellite radio you can wear on your belt and from which you will also be able to listen to Audible books.