Satellite radio

[squareface]

Is there a kind of satellite radio for your car that is just a little receiver and then you put your radio on a channel without a station and it picks up the satellite radio?
I thought they did but I couldn't find anything like that anywere.

[mrbeerbaitnammo]

yes there is they have them at walmart

[DrLewall]

I have the XM reciever and it works pretty well. My old YJ has the original AM/FM cassette deck and the XM unit uses the cassette to filter your tunes thru your radio..it also can use a programmed frequency to transmit satelite programs thru your soundsystem..the XM unit is a good "inexpensive" route. I think mine was abt $49 or so..now thats for the unit only, you will have to subcribe to the service and thats abt $12-15 a month..I also believe Cirius offers a unit..Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Circut City, Radio Shack are some good places to start your research.

[Rick Hallman]

Sirius does have about 4? I think? "Plug and Play" units, which does what you need it to. I got the Starmate Replay (First model.. they are on 4 now i think... :D ), and its nice, you can save songs and artists to have the radio go "Hey! That artist is on Channel 9!" if you're listening to a different channel at the time. The nice thing about the plug and plays is you can move it around, and listen to it in your house, another car, with a boom box... as long as you got the equipment.

[squareface]

I was confused about the "plug and play" because it sounds like you have to plug it into something in your car....
Does anyone have links for me please?

[Jason J Crawford]

www.xmradio.com (http://www.xmradio.com)

I bought a XM Nexus by samsung for my wife for christmas. It's really nice. It has a 1gb MP3 player built into the unit and it's portable. They had em @ wally world for $50 or for $99 @ Best Buy plus a $50 rebate.

XM is currently running a special where they will give you a free radio (a Roady XT) if you are already a subscriber -or- if you are a new subscriber and prepay for 6mos of service.

[the jeckyll22]

Sirius is the way to go.

[Cromwell]

I found out the hard way that both XM and Sirius only works in North America. If you are in the military and happen to get stationed else it they will not work. With Ipods and MP3 players I see no need for Sat Radio. You can now get up to 80gb of music and that is more then enough to travel with.

Tony

[Jason J Crawford]

XM and Sirius offer the same crap. Kinda like HBO and Cinemax. The only real decision is if you like Howard or O&A.

I'm pretty sure XM has a service that's available overseas, just under a different name. I specifically remember looking up the info when my unit first deployed to Iraq. They were offering the radios for free with paid service.

[zachv]

Originally posted by the jeckyll22:
Sirius is the way to go. X2. Sirius has been looking into buying out XM so you may as well go Sirius at the start in case the old XM receivers get outdated.

[Jason J Crawford]

Ok...now I gotta know why you guys say that one is better than the other?

[the jeckyll22]

Sirius is overall better company like Zach says they have been "talking about buying XM for a while now" Also depends if you like baseball or football better XM=baseball Sirius=football see I love football which is why I have a Sirius Plug and Play. Also not to mention Howard. The unit I have is a replay which is nice where you can pause and rewind. Go with the sirius you'll be glad you did.

[Jason J Crawford]

Better company? What, like they have better employee benefits or something?

Seriously...both services charge the same amount and have virtually the same programming. Granted there are a few differences with who is licensed to broadcast which sport, but that goes back to my original post.


As far as equipment...My XM Nexus is capable of recording up to 1gb of XM programming or MP3s as well as pausing and rewinding. Did I mention it's also portable? Slap some headphones on it and it's good to go.

So again I say it's like HBO and Cinemax. No real difference.

[Rit]

Just a side note: Serius & XM are pretty much the same. If you pre pay you will normally save a month, BUT, if you decide to drop Serius at anytime you will be charged $70.00, XM does not have a charge. XM will return the remainder of your membership.

I find Serius' and Xm's DJs talk too much but I guess that's why they're there. :rolleyes:

I've had both and Serius seems to repeat their music more often where XM doesn't seem to.

Since I haven't received a check from Howard yet, I prefer not to listen to his same ol' tired stuff. :D

[zachv]

XM= Baseball and Golf.
Sirius= NFL and NASCAR

I would rather watch paint dry while having my fingernails pulled out than to be forced to listen to baseball or golf.

It is a personal preference, and both are relatively the same music-wise, but I think Sirius has a better business plan and is growing while XM seems to be loosing steam and has lost their edge. Either way, they are both great alternatives to traditional radio, at least up here in the forgotten waste land of Schuylkill County, PA. There is a hill that I have to climb into my county and all decent radio stations die out about half way up and all I am left with is a really lame ultra regurgitated out-dated station so I thank God for satellite radio. :D

[the jeckyll22]

x2

[JeepManInNJ]

Only difference is what everyone already stated - XM for Baseball Sirius for Football. If it makes any diffference -
XM Stock - $13.85
Sirius - $3.73

So not sure who is doing better than who?

[Ben Crawford]

Originally posted by zachv:
XM= Baseball and Golf.
Sirius= NFL and NASCAR

I would rather watch paint dry while having my fingernails pulled out than to be forced to listen to baseball or golf.
:D graemlins/lmao.gif I agree. I love to watch baseball, but listen to it on the radio? Um no. Also, Golf? That would make me fall asleep while driving.

[squareface]

Just so y'all know, I got Sirius, mostly becuase of the receiver though.

[chutta]

I picked it due to familiarity previously on my Dish Network programming. Yes they have talking dj's, but serve to educate, like on the blues channel. It will double for use in the house if parked close enough to your dipole antenna of your system. The transmitter is only strong enough to reach maybe 20'.

[ZmarkZ]

in Illinois, sirius's antenna needs to face to the north. xm's antenna needs to face to the south. since my office at work faces south and my family room at home faces south as well, i have XM.

i did try sirius, but couldn't get reception at home, at work or even mobile in my car.

[Jason J Crawford]

Originally posted by Ben Crawford:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by zachv:
XM= Baseball and Golf.
Sirius= NFL and NASCAR

I would rather watch paint dry while having my fingernails pulled out than to be forced to listen to baseball or golf.
:D graemlins/lmao.gif I agree. I love to watch baseball, but listen to it on the radio? Um no. Also, Golf? That would make me fall asleep while driving. </font>[/QUOTE]Yeah and nascar is real interesting...

"...and the red car goes into the turn followed by yellow..."

Oh wait...NASCAR sucks anyway :D

[JeepManInNJ]

Guess you guys never listened to Vince Scully do a Dodgers game or Harry Caray do the Cubs on radio. Poetry in motion, don't even need to be a fan of baseball to listen to these great announcers....

[squareface]

i did try sirius, but couldn't get reception at home, at work or even mobile in my car.Yeah, the FM transmitter is the only thing giving me problems, I think it's because there are so many stations around Chicago. I'm think about getting the Aux cable to plug it right in.
The sattelite's signal has been good though, always full strength.

[Dk]

As someone who knows all too well about sirus . I can tell you beware. It doesnt work if you are in the garage, around tall trees, mts, in a tunnel, inside your home unless you have no obstructions and an antenna outside, in large cities ect. It does work outside the us to a point but they dont garentee service outside the 48 states.

The customer service is a joke! expect billing issues, and customer service reps who are told and timed to get you off the phone as fast as possible regardless if they really helped you or not.
That also includes lying if need be.
Also the lifetime plan cause its only for the life of unit you put it on, if it breaks a month later you spent all that money for nothing!

I dont want to get anyone in trouble but i have some inside info on the company that does their customer service and activations.

If it were me id just get a good mp3 player and use the money saved on downloading mp3s.

[Rick Hallman]

i've never had any issues with Sirius' customer service. Then again, i've never had to call them. And XM is the saem way when it comes to obstruction. By being nice and small, they cut back on the ability to detect fainter and fainter transmission. Tradeoff... but I know I wouldn't mind a bigger antenna for a better signal.