Satellite Radio: is it worth it?
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I bought a new car last week and it comes with satellite radio, along with a 3-month trial for Sirius. I have been hearing about satellite radio for long, but never tried it. Is it worth it (it goes at 12.95 CAD a month here)?
I may be wrong here but the quality is better than FM, right? Though definitely not as good as CD or even MP3.
Regards, Nish
Nish’s thoughts on MFC, C++/CLI and .NET (my blog)
My latest book : C++/CLI in Action / Amazon.com link -
also be aware that many of the channels play commercials.
Commercials? Do you mean advertising?
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I may be wrong here but the quality is better than FM, right? Though definitely not as good as CD or even MP3.
Regards, Nish
Nish’s thoughts on MFC, C++/CLI and .NET (my blog)
My latest book : C++/CLI in Action / Amazon.com linkWhen I listen to the only channel I have (184) which tries to convince me to subscribe, the sound quality is very poor (like a poor quality MP3). I hope it is better on the music channels.
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Commercials? Do you mean advertising?
yes. some of the channels run ads between songs, just like a typical (US) commercial station.
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yes. some of the channels run ads between songs, just like a typical (US) commercial station.
Except that typical US commercial station are free. :doh:
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Except that typical US commercial station are free. :doh:
yeah, that makes the commercials suck twice as hard. i think most of the commercials are on the Top40 channels. i don't hear many on the more eclectic ones.
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i was surprised to see how quickly 200 stations could end up feeling like 5 stations playing the same crap over and over surrounded by 195 stations of stuff i would never listen to, ever. your mileage may vary
I agree here. My car also has a 6-disc CD changer in it and I tend to spend my time listing to them instead. I do occasionally dip into the comedy channel and also listen to the political channel a few times a week. I wish I could do a pay per channel option instead of one price for everything. Oh, and don't let them fool you... there are commercials. If you listen to talk stations, the comedy stations, or anything that is a rebroadcast of a syndicated show, you will have to bear with commercials. They only advertise 'commercial free MUSIC channels'. Does anyone here remember when cable TV had a cost with it and it was OK because you did not have to watch commercials? What happened there? I also don;t really like the fact that it can fade out when you are going between tall buildings, under overpasses, getting cash from an ATM machine that has a cover, etc. My crappy old AM radio used to do that also. I know it is satellite and thus line of sight, but... In the grad scheme of things, unless you are really living down to a very tight budget I like it, but if it costs me any more then I may consider dumping it just like I did for On-star.
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I agree here. My car also has a 6-disc CD changer in it and I tend to spend my time listing to them instead. I do occasionally dip into the comedy channel and also listen to the political channel a few times a week. I wish I could do a pay per channel option instead of one price for everything. Oh, and don't let them fool you... there are commercials. If you listen to talk stations, the comedy stations, or anything that is a rebroadcast of a syndicated show, you will have to bear with commercials. They only advertise 'commercial free MUSIC channels'. Does anyone here remember when cable TV had a cost with it and it was OK because you did not have to watch commercials? What happened there? I also don;t really like the fact that it can fade out when you are going between tall buildings, under overpasses, getting cash from an ATM machine that has a cover, etc. My crappy old AM radio used to do that also. I know it is satellite and thus line of sight, but... In the grad scheme of things, unless you are really living down to a very tight budget I like it, but if it costs me any more then I may consider dumping it just like I did for On-star.
Ray Cassick wrote:
dumping it just like I did for On-star.
I did that as soon as the trial period ran out. For $100 less/year and several years between notional incidents I'm more than willing to wait an extra hour for the triple A mechanic to arrive. It's illegal to block a cellphone from dialing 911, so in a true emergency I've still got a way to call for help.
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
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I bought a new car last week and it comes with satellite radio, along with a 3-month trial for Sirius. I have been hearing about satellite radio for long, but never tried it. Is it worth it (it goes at 12.95 CAD a month here)?
Just bought a Panasonic AM/FM CD radio for the car - the reason I bought this particular model is that is has a USB port on the front, I now have 2 fully loaded 4Gb sticks with all the music I could ever listen to, click onto random play and I'm away!! There is a problem though - the new job I started is only 12minutes drive from home so I don't get the benefit of 8Gb of music.
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Just bought a Panasonic AM/FM CD radio for the car - the reason I bought this particular model is that is has a USB port on the front, I now have 2 fully loaded 4Gb sticks with all the music I could ever listen to, click onto random play and I'm away!! There is a problem though - the new job I started is only 12minutes drive from home so I don't get the benefit of 8Gb of music.
*THWAP* *THWAP* *THWAP* *THWAP* *THWAP* *THWAP* *THWAP* *THWAP* *THWAP* *THWAP* *THWAP* *THWAP*
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
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*THWAP* *THWAP* *THWAP* *THWAP* *THWAP* *THWAP* *THWAP* *THWAP* *THWAP* *THWAP* *THWAP* *THWAP*
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
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Ray Cassick wrote:
dumping it just like I did for On-star.
I did that as soon as the trial period ran out. For $100 less/year and several years between notional incidents I'm more than willing to wait an extra hour for the triple A mechanic to arrive. It's illegal to block a cellphone from dialing 911, so in a true emergency I've still got a way to call for help.
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
dan neely wrote:
It's illegal to block a cellphone from dialing 911, so in a true emergency I've still got a way to call for help.
The only reason I liked it was because of the auto-notification of airbag deployment and things like that. OnStar can speak for you in case you are incapacitated. Also, you never know what happens to the cellphone in an accident. I just decided that I would live dangerously and rely on the cell for now to keep my costs down.
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Same here. My last rental had SAT Radio, but I ended up wiht occasionally one of two "classic rock" stations, and buying some CD's.
Don't attribute to stupidity what can be equally well explained by buerocracy.
My latest article | Linkify!| FoldWithUs! | sighistSounds a lot like the air stations around the metro I live. I've considered satellite as well, and one of my previous coworkers said he likes it, but I've never seen the value in it.
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dan neely wrote:
It's illegal to block a cellphone from dialing 911, so in a true emergency I've still got a way to call for help.
The only reason I liked it was because of the auto-notification of airbag deployment and things like that. OnStar can speak for you in case you are incapacitated. Also, you never know what happens to the cellphone in an accident. I just decided that I would live dangerously and rely on the cell for now to keep my costs down.
I was referring to the handsfree cellphone built into the system. If that's busted it won't be able to call for help regardless of your personal injury state.
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
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I bought a new car last week and it comes with satellite radio, along with a 3-month trial for Sirius. I have been hearing about satellite radio for long, but never tried it. Is it worth it (it goes at 12.95 CAD a month here)?
Le Centriste wrote:
Is it worth it
Not for me, but I tend to refuse to pay for things that are available free. I either play podcasts, my mp3's or a "book on tape". One nice thing about podcasts is that most of the commercials are removed. A 40 Gig iPod will hold a lot of options & I automatically download new pod casts, so I always have a selection to match my mood.
Melting Away www.deals-house.com www.innovative--concepts.com
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Trying to describe a 12m commute as being a problem.
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
Haha I see - I have done my fair share of commuting (including 7years on the road as a service engineer) in my time and have got used to being sat in the car on my own listening to the radio, so it is actually a little annoying not having time to listen anymore!
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I bought a new car last week and it comes with satellite radio, along with a 3-month trial for Sirius. I have been hearing about satellite radio for long, but never tried it. Is it worth it (it goes at 12.95 CAD a month here)?
Oh dear, I had the unfortunate pleasure of lisening to some of your US radio stations last year whilst driving around florida, cant remember the names as there were so many playing random rock i kept changing channels :-\ You should be able to get BBC Radio 1 from the UK on a time shift which plays a random mix of music with some great shows (depending on time of day), you probably wont understand most of the humor but hey it could be worth a listen ;)
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I bought a new car last week and it comes with satellite radio, along with a 3-month trial for Sirius. I have been hearing about satellite radio for long, but never tried it. Is it worth it (it goes at 12.95 CAD a month here)?
Le Centriste wrote:
Is it worth it (it goes at 12.95 CAD a month here)?
The only benefit I see in Sat radio is it's service area - great for when driving over unpopulated expanses of land (the square shaped states come to mind), a plus as FM stations fade away as soon as you leave an urban center. If you're a music nut, then it's understandable the words "digital audio" bring a smile and hopes of great listening experience. Let me tell you, the way Sirius (for example) compresses the music streams in their Sat uplink is nothing short of predatory. Bandwidth is their beast-to-tame, with SO many channels that has become a pressing issue -> more popular music channels might get 64kbps data rates, less prominent ones maybe 56kbps and perhaps even 48kbps - these are tech tidbits they don't publish in their specs sheets, at least not for public consumption. The encoding/decoding process can sometimes go by unnoticed to many users, but not for a trained ear - I have heard music on a Sirius receiver that sounds WORSE than badly encoded 128kbps MP3 files. I, for one, am not paying a monthly fee for that X| -=[ R ]=-
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I bought a new car last week and it comes with satellite radio, along with a 3-month trial for Sirius. I have been hearing about satellite radio for long, but never tried it. Is it worth it (it goes at 12.95 CAD a month here)?
It really depends on the person's situation. I was pretty convinced that paying for radio was a silly, stupid notion. We got the trial period in a new car a few years ago and found we couldn't live without it. I love listening to comedy and alternative music. I don't get those from local Atlanta stations. Yes, there are 200 channels and I only listen to a handful, but it is better than I can getting locally and CDs get old. I like to listen to new things, and XM has introduced me to a number of musicians and comedians that I wouldn't have necessarily known otherwise. It's also excellent for travel. My family makes 8-10 hour trips to visit family. We don't have to hunt for a station that isn't country in the hills of Tennessee. It's also good for the kids. There's an XM Kids station and a Radio Disney station, as well as a couple sanitized top 40 stations that are tolerable (although I tend to make them change the channel when Daughtry comes on). Honestly, you should just use the trial and see if you like it. If you find you don't use it that much, then just drop it. If you find, like we did, that you get something there that you can't elsewhere and are willing to pay for it, then keep it. Oh, BTW, I'm not sure if it is available in Canada, but we got a deal if we paid for multiple years. I'm wanting to say that the best deal was a 3 year deal (out of 1, 2, 3, and 4 year deals). Not sure you want to invest that into a company that is struggling as much as they are, though. Hope this helps. Kent