Sirius/XM radio in your car?
 

Hi chicks, I am wanting to badly to get Sirius/XM for my car, I get 3 radio stations and am sick of music I don't like and commercials!

I do see that the nice digital radio my son got me, that is in my Subaru, says "Sirius ready". I have looked online, and mostly the consumer in put is about renewing one's subscription, and getting good deals...however I don't see much about getting the subscription in the first place.

Are you happy with your $ spend on Sirius/XM for your car? I don't need access in my house, I have that with my DirecTV .

Can you hook up an iPod to your car? If you drive a lot, it might be a good thing. I used to drive 2 hours/day and I considered it at the time. But neither I nor my husband drive enough to consider it and usually on long trips, we rent a car and those usually have an iPod connection or XM radio.

I use my ipod too, or pandora on my iphone most of the time. I don't have any experience with Sirius, but I do know that they really don't stop calling once you buy a new car!

^ I can't stand FM transmitters. They've gotten better over the years, but the quality is still terrible :( And if I travel, I would have to constantly change radio stations.

Most newer cars have an auxiliary input or even a direct iPod/iPhone input (most likely you have something since you mentioned a new stereo in your car!). Honestly, I think using Pandora (or even paying for the ad-free version) on our phone, assuming you have a smart phone with decent internet reception, is the best bet. It goes with you, it's just as easy to use as satellite radio, and it's just as good if not better. Plus it doesn't have to cost you anything extra if you don't mind a few ads.

But if you don't have a smart phone or don't have good reception, satellite is good. I still don't think it's worth the money though. I'd rather buy a used iPod and load it up with music than pay for satellite.

thank you all for the inpu!! I don't have a good smart phone, it's just a burner I load with minutes, and I don't have an ipod, but I do like the suggestion of buying a used ipod and loading it with music :) Knew I'd get some great input! thanks! :carrot:

I like satellite radio, but it is just as repetitive as regular radio, only with more options to hear the same songs. Every 6 months my DH is arguing for the best deal he can get and they always try to get him to commit longer than he wants to. He finally just stopped the subscription. I listen to my iPod more than the radio anyway.

I've been a Sirius subscriber for years. However, the price just keeps going up and on the stations I enjoy (news, talk, comedy), the number of minutes devoted to commercials keeps going up right along with it. I'm thinking I will tell them that I won't be renewing when it comes up in May - if they cut me a monster deal I might consider sticking with it. I have to do that with my cable TV company every year - maybe this is just what the business has come to. Agreed, if it's music you like - iPod is the way to go.

I have it - I would warn that all your complaints about regular radio carry over to Sirius - they play the same 10 songs over and over again, there's never anything good on, sometimes you are simply out of range and SOL in rural areas...

That being said it's WAY more variety than you could ever hope for on terrestrial radio, and the version I have is $10/month which fits into a lot of people's budgets. They send a ton of junk mail, so plan a bonfire with friends!

My husband currently has a free trial of satellite radio in the car he just bought. He plans on continuing with it after the trial is over, mostly because of sports. Apparently the sports stations are good, and it's a way for him to listen to any college game he wants (or any other game, I guess). Personally I am not a fan of sports so that wouldn't win me over.

As for the music, I haven't found anything at all that I like. It is repetitive. It is all about listening to what THEY want you to hear. Apps like Pandora are a lot better than satellite radio, in my opinion. I also use my smart phone to stream a radio station from Chicago that I love and have been listening to all my life. So there are other options for music, in addition to the ipod as mentioned.

As for all the other stuff (talk, comedy, etc.) I haven't listened to any of that on satellite so I wouldn't be able to comment.

thank you everyone for your input! :) It is off-putting to hear that they are repetitive also. And that reception might fade in and out. Pretty rural here, so that is a major possibility. I don't even have cell service where I live..main reason why I don't have a good smart phone.

For those who do have the subscription but want to cancel due to cost, from my Internet searches, it seems that the company will cut you a deal, if you say you need to cancel due to financial problems, and if you are willing to stay on the phone for up to 20 minutes.

I also just realized that I can download music on my Kindle Fire HDX, and play that as I drive :carrot:

They absolutely cut you a deal; we were paying less than $50 a year until recently. They cut their $24 for 6 months deal down to $24 for 5 months. That and they tried telling my husband that he needed to keep a card on file so they can renew his subscription AND they wanted him to pay for the month (at full price) they left our radio on when it should have expired.

Hmm. I could get Sat radio, I can also hook up my mp3 to my radio. Mostly, I never turn on the radio in my car.

I like the quiet. It's the 15-20 minutes morning and evening, that I don't have to hear anything!:D

We used to have XM years ago and I didnt think it was worth the money. But, if you have a car with Sirius it is a free trial right now until Dec 2nd...not sure but I would think it is all over the country. Just push the satelite button and put it on channel 6 for 60s, 7 for 70s, 8 for 80s 9 for 90s to see if it works. I agree with the others that individual stations are still repetitive, there are just more genres to chose from when you get bored with one.

BTW, we live very rural (in the cornfields) and XM reception is very good all over. That is the thing we like most about it. On a road trip across the country we never lose reception or have to find a channel for each state or region. I think we have only ever lost reception in a tunnel or parking garage.

Agree with mariposssa re the reception. We've driven with Sirius into the wilds of the Upper Peninsula, and through the cornfields of the breadbasket out to Yellowstone and back. Not once did we ever have a reception problem.