XM Radio, worth it?

You will have a 3 month free trial to decide if it's worth it to you.

 

I read on another thread that when the three month trial subscription ends, XM sales will be contacting us, and if you hold out, they will offer better deals as low as $70 for an extended year long trial.

I need to go to the XM site and review all the stations. I like channel 7 hist of the 70, but I already stared noticing the same thing I found last time I had a trisl subscription. The songs repeat too much. I f I can find 4 or 5 stations I like, I might subscribe.

The XM traffic would be nice for major incidents, but most the time, it just says heavy traffic which is the norm most of the time, so I'm not sure it will be worth $12 plus the audio subscription. Id does provide some ammusement when traffic comes to a stop, and then one minute later, the NAV anounces Stop and Go traffic ahead and I go "You Think?"

 

If you have a long commute, satellite radio is great especially if you listen to a lot of talk stations. The amount of commercials you don't have to listen to in comparison to regular FM radio is pretty significant...

 

If you ant to listen to a lot of talk, you can download podcasts to an iPod or other mp3 player for free and use that on your commute.

When the USB port comes this fall, you can use a USB memory stick and use the MyPodder software to sync fresh podcasts to the stick from any PC with internet access.
I use it to sync podcasts at home before work for my morning commute and then sync it with my work PC a few minutes before leaving work to get updated podcasts for the evening commute.
You don't have to install any software on your work PC; it all runs from the flash drive.

 

If you travel, satellite radio is great. No hunting for stations. As for repeating songs, I hear more of that on local FM than on satellite. Also, local FM is more than half commercials. I pay for satellite to avoid the interuptions. In addition to music there are news and comedy channels to break up the mix. I like being able to have instant access to rock, jazz, classical, news, and comedy all the time, anywhere I am driving.

 

I've had Sirius sat radio on loaner cars for the last 4 years, and now after having the XM trial subscription in my Prius, I'm not a convert.

CD quality sound? Hardly.

Sound cuts out under bridges, tunnels, and in the garage (not that big a deal).

On the stations I've listened to for the last 2 weeks, too much repetition of songs.

$13 - $17 per month, plus more for nav traffic, just isn't a good value for me.

I burn MP3 CDs (would love to be able to play MP3 DVDs--8GB each for double layer--like I did in my BMW), and am anxiously waiting for the USB / iPod adapter.

 

I'm not sure if my salesman was mistaken or if it was a dealer specific promotion, but I was told that the first year of XM was free when I purchased my 2010 Prius NV.

I really do enjoy XM, but I listen to a lot of electronic music which is not commonly found on radio. It is also extremely useful if you live in an area supported by XM NavTraffic. Being able to route around accidents before I get stuck in grid-lock has saved me lots of time more than once.

I will say though, the new pricing packages of XM is somewhat frustrating to those that have had XM for many years as it used to be much cheaper. Also when the XM/Sirus merger completed, some awesome stations were axed to make space for others.

 

Can't get CNBC, CNN, etc. reporting live news on podcasts. Plus it requires a little more time and effort. I like the ease of not listening to as many commercials but not having to worry about downloading the podcasts or bringing my ipod everywhere I go. Given the 2 hours per day in the car I spend, I think its worth it.

 

Depends on what you want. If you must have completely "live" news for your commute and it can't wait until you get home, then podcasts won't work . If you want recorded talk show program, then it works.
There are more podcasts on any topic available for download than all the programs on XM. Even CNN and Wall Street Journal have podcasts. There are sports podcasts, political podcasts, comedy podcasts, podcasts about cars,technology,fitness, horses, dogs, food, weather, MTV news, celebrity gossip, wine, foreign languages, medicine, travel or whatever else you could be interested in.

If you don't have a 2 hour commute and don't take frequent extended road trips, then the cost of XM may seem excessive.

Some smartphones like Blackberrys and iPhones and can sync or stream podcasts over the air. You can just plug it into the aux input.

 

The 3 month trial should be enough for you to make up your mind whether it is worth paying for.

 

I love Satellite because I will hear songs that will never get played on regular radio and I HATE the amount of commercials on regular. I just wish the sound quality was improved.

 

I have had XM since it began offering service in my region. I love it but I also get mad at it. The audio quality can vary from OK to barely acceptable. However, I have discovered a lot of new music that I would not otherwise have been exposed to -- far more variety than you will find in most cities, with the possible exception of NYC and LA. I also enjoy listening to CNBC while commuting for financial information. Whether all that XM has to offer only you can decide.

 

I would be willing to shell out some money for a new receiver and more on the monthly if they came out with SiriusXM HD.

 

As a 3 year XM subscriber, I can say that I would never consider a car without it. However, one of my main reasons is something that doesn't seem to popular from the responses above. All the MLB games, most of the NBA games, most of the NHL games with XM and all the NFL games if you get best of Sirius (which also has Howard Stern.)

I was disappointed that after the merger some XM channels were dropped for their Sirius equivalents, but then I like square music (classical, show, standards).

I'm not sure, but before the merger classical pops for XM was in HD, but you needed a special receiver. HD radio has not taken off OTA either.

Rich N.