Having just reviewed an Audi A3 with Sirius satellite radio and an active subscription, I can honestly say that I seriously enjoyed listening to Howard Stern again after months of being cut off cold turkey. It turns out millions of people followed the shock jock to his new residence on Sirius satellite radio, and the company saw a 64-percent growth in new subscribers versus the first quarter of last year. That amounts to 600,640 new subscribers, versus rival XM's addition of 398,000 new subscribers during the same periodSome would say that's a huge gain for Sirius, but XM's total subscriber base still dwarfs that of Sirius at nearly 7 millino versus 4.7 million. Either way, this was the first time I ever considered setting down my iPod and iTrip and picking up the phone to order satellite radio. But then I had to give the Audi A3 back and forgot to call.
For those interested in purchasing a vehicle with the audio entertainment of their choice preinstalled, the following links will take to you a list of automakers offering each technology as a factory installed option.
Sirius Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio
iPod integration
[Source: Reuters
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Steve @ Jul 7th 2006 3:23PM
I must be the only person on earth who doesn't like Sat Radio. Honestly though, it sounds REALLY compressed whenever I listen to it. Both XM and Sirius sound worse then an FM station and more like low bitrate MP3's. When they first came out I thought they boasted about near CD quality.
Am I the only one?
Will Wheeler @ Jul 7th 2006 3:28PM
Yeah, and they also boasted of "Commercial Free", but that is dissapearing as well.
Paul @ Jul 7th 2006 3:30PM
"It turns out millions of people followed the shock jock to his new residence on Sirius satellite radio" millions followed? you say it yourself: 600,640
Howard is a hack that couldnt adapt, wait till you see XM's growth now that O and A have exposure again, probably wont be that fast but it will be faster than Sirius. All the Howard faithful have already made the transition, now the rest will hear O and A and when their satellite purchase comes into play they will either be just as likely to go either way or to go XM.
Ken @ Jul 7th 2006 3:40PM
I prefer Sirius. I bought an Alpine head unit that was XM ready, but waited for the Sirius kit to come out. I love it. I'm probably getting a new car by year's end, and I know what I want, but am very disappointed that the manufacturer only offers XM, not Sirius. I don't care about Howard or O&A. Only Sirius has the NFL, but I still like the music channels better on Sirius.
The car I want is the new Saturn Outlook. But being GM, they will probably never offer Sirius because Ford is invested in them. Funny thing is we also have a 2006 Fusion and we can't get Sirius in that either! But to be fair they don't offer any SAT Radio for the Fusion.
Billy C. @ Jul 7th 2006 3:41PM
I was going to go with Sirius, but decided against it when they hired Stern. He panders to the portion of society that is titilated by potty jokes and dirty pictures. His political commentary is incredibly shallow. A pathetic loser of the first degree.
mark @ Jul 7th 2006 3:42PM
personally don't care for stern or o and a.. but, if stern was such a "hack" as you say, why is it that the man just made a boatload of money, doesn't sound too stupid after all..
and i've already listened to what music xm offers and what sirius offers, sirius has a more diverse selection. XM i heard the same song repeated a couple times on different channels! If I wanted that, I'd stick to FM!
Paul @ Jul 7th 2006 3:52PM
how is he a hack?
1) he claimed you cant do funny radio due to the FCC. No you cant do the dirty radio he had done for 20 years, but when you do something for 20 years dont you think it is time to change it up a bit? Howard WAS (past tense) brilliant but you can only listen to strippers getting hit with lunch meat so many times becfore it becomes... well... hacky. Others are doing brilliant radio on FCC regulated stations, he didnt want to.
2) Sirius made a terrible business decision 500 mill for 600,000 listeners? Maybe a million once it is all said and done over a few years. And dont discount all the listeners they lost by picking up stern
More power to howard. I am glad the guy cashed in and anyone of us would have. But I frankly no longer find it funny.
jnik @ Jul 7th 2006 3:55PM
I've had both systems- I started with Sirius and switched to XM after I totaled my car. Sirius was cancelling channels I was listening to. Including ones that attracted me to it in the first place. Sirius does classic rock better, but I can get classic rock anywhere on FM. XM does all other music styles better. And one of the reasons I have satellite radio is to get music not available in my hick town. Sirius has NPR, but I can get that at the top of the FM dial anywhere I go. XM has Air America, which is a breath of fresh air to anyone tired of Limbaugh and his ilk. I would like to hear Howard, but I'm not going to switch systems again just for him.
Now, if the two companies should merge, that's a whole new story.
Spankee @ Jul 7th 2006 4:41PM
Just as an FYI, Sirius is coming out with a "brain" that will allow GM's XM receivers to be converted to Sirius, so you don't have to go with an aftermarket system. Supposedly it'll be out by the end of the summer and cost in the $100 range. Also XM and Sirius have launched a joint venture that will produce radios which can decode both streams.
It looks like which type of Satellite Radio your car comes with will be less of a big deal in the future
Me @ Jul 7th 2006 5:41PM
Paul,
Typical O&A listener...reading comprehension of a third grader...
The article said that this QUARTER (as in 25% or 1/4 of the fiscal year) Sirius added 600K (K stands for thousand, as in kilo) compared to the 400K that XM added. Conservative estimates put about 20% of Stern's regular listeners (5-12 million, depending on who you ask) moved with him to Sirius almost immediately. Let's go with 8 million as a nice average number. 20% of 8 million is....don't worry I'll do the math... 1.6 million.
So...there you have it. Oh...I guess I should add fear the virus or something 'cause O&A are gonna getcha...or whatever they say. Retreating to terrestrial (meaning ground based) radio is a sure sign of success.
Moron.
Pauly C @ Jul 7th 2006 7:56PM
I had read John Neff's article; I have a few things to add. In regards to BillyC who wrote "I was going to go with Sirius, but decided against it when they hired Stern. He panders to the portion of society that is titilated by potty jokes and dirty pictures. His political commentary is incredibly shallow. A pathetic loser of the first degree." So, Billy... does this mean that you have no idea how to change the station? Your decision-making skills are child-like. What were you doing while Stern was on regular radio? It appears that you made the decision to listen quite often. With over 100+ choices, you've decided to boycott Sirius based on the programming of 2 channels?? Billy, take your ball and go home, and don't come back out until you're all grown up! -Pauly C
gbh @ Jul 7th 2006 9:32PM
Though I find Howard amusing every so often, his schtick has been about the same for 20 years.
I have Sirius just because I am often enough places where there is no broadcast band reception.
XM is better at some things, but Sirius does have NPR and some other stuff XM doesn't.
It will be interesting to see how this game plays out.
Rob @ Jul 7th 2006 9:54PM
I have XM and LOVE it! I dont listen to Stern and don't like listening to football on the radio. MLB however, is great to listen to on the radio. The music line-up on both is great, but I do wish for a Reggae station on XM. If you dont have a sat radio, get one, either, its great. And dont be surprised if GM finds a way to block its radios from picking up sirius. They do basically own XM (delphi) and will want to protect its market share. Hopefully we see the ability to record music to our cars like the portable sat recievers. Built in factory stereo with 5, 10, or 20 Gig HD in it to hold music (USB port to transfer music from our computers too). Its coming but who wants to wait?
John Denison @ Jul 8th 2006 12:44AM
I am a delivery driver and have had both xm and currently sirius. Here's what i think. As far as howard stern and opus and andy, i could give a rats ass about either show. As far as the music goes i give a slight edge to sirius though there are some channels that absolutely are better on xm. Bluesville on xm just can't be touched by the blues channel on sirius, like night and day. Also xm has a very interesting channel that covers movie music soundtracks that stands alone, sirius has nothing like it. Now enough about xm, here are the great things about sirius and why i am currently with them. On the music side of things, they have the most kick ass electronica/trance station you could ever imagine(channel 33). They cover straight up rock and roll like you could never imagine, whatever kind of rock and roll you are in to, and i mean any kind, they have. They also have the BBC radio station out of London and they play some damned good techno/trance on the weekends. Then of course there sports packages they carry will be the thing that carries them one day over the top of xm. They have the complete NFL season with announcers from both teams perspective so you don't have 2 listen 2 the other teams announcers. They do the same with COLLEGE FOOTBALL!!!!! That was a coup 2 me, college games of your choice, every week, no questions asked, pinch me i must be dreaming. AND 4 THE TRULY UNINFORMED, SIRIUS AND I THINK XM BOTH HAVE COMMERCIAL FREE "MUSIC" CHANNELS, NOT ALL CHANNELS!!!! NIETHER STATION EVER CLAIMED OTHERWISE!!!! I think that xm is a great sattelite company, they even have better reception here in Memphis; Tn., and i wish them much success, but I think sirius did themselves right with the nfl gig and the college football gig as well. Did i not mention they also have the NFL NETWORK channel, just like the one on television? Unless you are an uninterested woman, or an idiot, non sport loving man, go with sirius, you'l be glad ya did.
shiznannigan @ Jul 8th 2006 1:56AM
I havn't had an opportunity to listen to Sirius yet, but I'm incredibly happy with XM. Nice variety of music, and I've never had a complaint about sound quality. Howard, O&A, Talk Radio... I could give a shait. Talk radio is the reason I switched to SatRad in the first place. I want music in the morning, not some "zany" jackass who thinks he's funny because he says "ooah-ooah-ooah" every time his idiot sidekick so much as farts.
That said, both companies are important, a monopoly is never good for the consumer.
Tankstelle @ Jul 8th 2006 10:42AM
I've been a Sirius subscriber at 2 different points and loved it. I've been looking at getting it again, but am surprised that they don't have a full fledged reggaeton station like XM does. In NY, where Sirius is based, reggaeton is just as big as rap if not bigger.
I agree with the guy who said he went to Satellite to get away from annoying disc jockeys. I'd probably listen to Stern every once in a while, but I'd only make the jump b/c of the music.
Dan @ Jul 8th 2006 12:28PM
I'm a Sirius subscriber...
One of the biggest differences between Sirius and XM that hasn't been mentioned here is the repetition on music channels.
Sirius' music channels in a given genre generally sound like an FM station in that genre, minus the commercials. You can expect to hear monstly songs you know, with some more obscure artists/deeper tracks from artists you know mixed in here and there (Though Sirius does have some channels that are deeper, like The Vault 16, which plays deeper tracks from classic rock artists).
XM generally has deeper playlists, which means when you're listening to a station in a genre you like, you might not recognize a lot of the songs.
Personally, I'd rather hear songs I know with some deeper stuff mixed in (Sirius) than songs I don't know with some I do mixed in (XM). It's all up to personal preference though.
Also, Sirius' music channels generally have DJ's and station promos between songs (you know, like, "Broadcasting live from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame... Sirius 14, Classic Vinyl")... while on XM there are fewer DJ's and station promos, just song after song... so it basically sounds like you're listening to an iPod on random...
So, it's all a matter of what you like. I would say that if you like any type of rock, though, I would recommend Sirius.
Ken @ Jul 8th 2006 2:35PM
Dan,
I'm surprised you said that. My impression is exactly the opposite. I have Sirius and love it BECAUSE of the depth of the playlists. I always felt that XM stations were more shallow and more repetitive.
Dan @ Jul 8th 2006 9:53PM
With out a doubt sirius is far better than xm in almost every catagory.Sports ( NFL, NHL, NBA, COLLEGE SPORTS, WORLD SERIES, and next year they get NASCAR!! )The best rock and oldie stations,plus a superior variety of other stations.Not to mention Howard and Bubba The Love Sponge who is even better than Howard.I work at a place that has both SIRIUS AND XM and nobody on any of the crews listens to xm / it hasn't even been turned on since we got SIRIUS and that was over a year ago!
Dan @ Jul 9th 2006 10:10AM
Ken,
That's interesting that from your experience there's more repetition on XM. After reading some of the posts on siriusbackstage.com and seeing others talk about it too, I thought that repetition on Sirius was basically a fact.
What stations do you listen to on Sirius? I guess it depends on the genre.