It seems to be working.

[vakkotaur]

The XM receiver that was sent in under warranty a couple weeks ago has been replaced. The replacement arrived late last week when nobody was around. Earlier this I week I put it in the car and it has been working as advertised and not randomly forgetting its settings. It's nice having proper reliability. It will also be nice to have the XM set in the car next weekend for the trip to and from Cedar Rapids.

Comments

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Was there a reason you chose XM over Sirius? I'm just curious. I haven't taken satellite radio very seriously (Siriusly?) because I'm sorta waiting for the fallout. It seems inevitable that one will conquer the other and then have a monopoly, jumping the subscriber rates to suit itself.

On the other hand, my new car has a "satellite-ready" radio that can be activated by addition of some sort of kit the dealer would install. I haven't looked into the prices or what you'd get, but maybe I should. I'm certainly not happy with the wasteland that is commercial radio in my area. I had fair reception of a classical station from Rockford in the old car, but the radio or antenna in the Ford isn't quite as good at capturing it, so when you go over hills you are treated to alternating reception with a loud and obnoxious rock station somewhere else. I don't mind listening to CDs, but I do like radio as well.

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

Just before Jay moved from Texas to Minnesota, a few years ago now, he looked into both Sirius and XM and found XM more to his liking. He's had an XM receiver in his car ever since. I've gotten used to that as well. There is a 'family plan' that allows additional radios in a household at a discounted rate. And as this was a gift from Jay, it made sense to with and stick with XM.

The only downside to XM seems to be that NPR went with Sirius pretty much exclusively, but most of the time that doesn't bother me as I'm usually in or near MN or WI which have good public radio coverage. I didn't realize how good until I drove to Huntsville, AL the first time. The lower end of the FM dial was filled with religious stations and I made good use of the tape deck.

I'd suggest you ask michaelmink about XM and Sirius as I recall he has, or at least for a while had, both.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

If only Sirius has NPR, that's a powerful argument for Sirius in my case. What about the BBC? Can you get a feed of BBC World Service?

You're absolutely right about many areas of the US where there is no NPR affiliate. It's even harder for the classical or folk music fans, like myself. I grew up in southern Michigan where you were never out of reach of a good FM classical station. When I moved to Chicago, there were three to choose from there, but it has dwindled to only one and that one is becoming more and more commercial in nature.

In Michigan, the NPR affiliates were usually airing classical and folk music. Here in Illinois, they are all jazz instead. I'm not particularly fond of jazz, and certainly can't take an exclusive diet of it.

The deep south is a wasteland indeed when it comes to radio. Neither classical nor NPR can be heard in many areas. I suppose classical music is just too "long hair" for them and NPR is "a bunch of liberal communists."

I don't mind that there are rock stations and country stations and easy listening stations and gospel stations. I do have trouble understanding why the airwaves in one area should be occupied only by twenty stations all of which play the same music and news commentaries, though. That's just a waste, and in that respect, satellite does sound like a good answer.

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

XM channel 131: BBC World Service. It's one of the channels I have programmed in for faster access.

Here's a list of XM channels (http://www.xmradio.com/programming/full_channel_listing.jsp?sort=number). The listings for channel 133 (http://www.xmradio.com/programming/channel_page.jsp?ch=133) might be of some interest to you.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Thanks. It appears that Sirius is the option that Ford can install and integrate directly into the existing radio. But I will still be comparing both before choosing either or neither. :)

[jmaynard.livejournal.com]

When I got my XM, it was the only one active. Sirius was still in the future. I was one of XM's first 25,000 customers. I'm still happy with it.

I don't see either one falling; I think there will be two services for the foreseeable future, unless one buys out the other.

The BBC World Service is on XM 131. XM does have a public radio channel, on XM 133.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the information. I'm not making a leap right now, but it helps to know what people think about both.