I’m thinking of making the jump into Satellite radio. I would use it only in my car. I’m looking at the program guides for Sirius & XM and I can decide on my own which to go with. It’s the hardware choices that are a bit overwhelming. Does anyone have experience with Sat radio in their cars that they can share? When I see ads for car stereos that say “XM Ready” or “Sirius Ready” does that mean I could get one of those installed, replacing my existing unit, subscribe, and then be set? What do we think of these little portable units?
Yes. But I’m thinking I’m more likely to get some Finnish Barbership/Industrial-Disco/Gyoto Monk Tantric Chant Silent Film Score action going on the Sats.
I think it’s safe to say that members of this forum, as a group, have not exactly flocked to satellite radio. But, listen, I thought I made myself clear:
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My brother has an XM receiver (I think made by Delphi), which has a
built-in FM modulator. What this means is that the receiver takes the
signals from the satelite, then resends that signal on an FM station.
You can usually pick from 4 or 5 stations, so you don’t conflict with
any actual local channel. It’s low-power enough that only your car
and anyone who passes you will be able to pick up the signal, but
those people passing you on the highway probably won’t be tuned
to that FM station…
My brother has mounted some velcro on his dashboard, and he just
sticks the XM receiver to the velcro when he gets into the car, plugs it
into the cigarette lighter, and viola, he’s listening to XM. So, the moral
is: if you can get a receiver with an FM modulator, I’d advise you to
do so. That way, you won’t have to install a new radio in your car…
Earlier this year I was thinking about a new car and looked at the higher end honda accord. It came with xm radio installed, first 3 months free. Just get a new car. With the accord hybrid you can be very fuel efficient while going very fast.
I am quite a propeller head in the circles I travel. I love gadgets, really I do. But paying for something that people have just been able to suck out of the air (for more than a century) just seems… wrong. I still rail against having cable tv. I was using rabbit ears until I got married in 2001 (my wife insisted on being able to see ESPN for the Hockey games… she was not amused when I suggested we bag the cable service during last season’s NHL strike ) Interestingly, I always found something to watch on the dozen or so locally broadcast TV stations. Now with “expanded-basic” cable I get about 100 channels I would guess, and cant seem to find anything to watch.
Unless I was an OTR trucker with hours-long expanses of highway and no radio reception, I really wouldn’t find a use for satellite radio, commercial-free or otherwise.
I do get quite the kick from my iRiver H340 mp3 player though. This way I can program my own music content and I never get tired of it. If I want, I can listen to an entire album, select an entire genre, or go with random play (quite a head-spinner to go from “New World Symphony” to “Brass Monkey”) or make custom play-lists. And it always has my favorite new song/artist/album just a few button pushes away. The Little FM Transmitters (to rebroadcast to your car radio) have gotten better from what I have seen… Maybe that is an option.
Understood. But, sucked-out-of-the-air radio in my area is beyond awful in quality of programming. There’s a good public radio station, but they play classical music all of the time–and while it has its place in my life I don’t want a steady diet of it. What really appeals to me about satellite radio is the news stations.
Fair enough. Sucking radio out of the air doesn’t really matter if it sucks before you even get that far. All of that falls into the same bucket as the truckers. My only advice would be to buy on the high end of things and look for upgradeablity in the receiver. ( I don’t even know what these things can do, but they are reasonably new and some wiz-kid ubergeek will come out with better functionality as time goes on.. it stands that upgrades will be inevitable)
Good luck!
Some people still do! As evidenced in the very next sentence of my original post!
) Interestingly, I always found something to watch on the dozen or so locally broadcast TV stations. Now with “expanded-basic” cable I get about 100 channels I would guess, and cant seem to find anything to watch.