Serious rant for anyone considering SIRIUS Radio  

I'd dump it if I were you and get XM.

XM has commercials on many of thier music channels. Also they used to not have any DJs at all but found out through complaining that people wanted to hear a DJ and thats why they have them. You just can't please everyone i guess. I don't remember commercial on Raw Dog but I havent listened because I mostly only listen to Howards channels. If you hate it drop it but don't think XM is going to be better.

JH you just can't help yourself,can you??

XM has commercials on 5 of their music channels..They have about 65 commercial free music channels..As for DJ's,thats a toss up..The channels I listen to,mostly rock and decades,except for the 60's there's not much DJ chatter,..Actually the 2 classic rock channels,46 and 49, has no DJ's...

Going from what I've read RIGHT NOW Sirius does seem to have more DJ's chatter then XM does....But I'm only going by what I've been reading lately on the sat radio forums..You can get a free XM online trial to check out your favorite music and see if there's too much( or any) DJ chatter for your likes...

BTW XM's comedy channel also has commericals...

While a few of the XM channels now have commercials (I believe clear channel technically owns the channels, so they put the commercials on), I have never in 3 years as an XM subscriber heard a commercial on XM's own music channels. The talk, news, and sports channels have some and other fillers during the syndicated show's typical commercial break, which XM has no control over.

Sirius > XM as far as music selection. IMO the only thing XM has going for it is slightly better quality. Sirius DJs I don't mind, it SURE beats listening to ads for used cars!

5 music channels with commerciasl is too many and alot when I have zero esoecially sine I pay for the service. Again Clear channel sucks. I just do not like that XM has any connection to those chickens nown as clear channel. I'm surprised this jerks at clear channel havent tried to ban the Dixie chicks from all of XM channels. What a bunch of fools at clear channel and since they have are partners with XM fools at XM as well.

Heck, in the Dallas area there's 2 nice commercial-free stations in HD Digital. Awesome quality sound. Totally free too, love it.

People pay for cabletv, 99% of none premium channels have commercials.

Sirius made an extra $1.17 of each user by having commercials. I wish they would just increase the price by $1.17 and get rid of them.

JH, That's the first intelligent thing I've heard you say. :)

This is interesting. A long long time ago...... we got cable because we didn't like commercials. Pay for TV because you don't want commercials, now look at it. Look how many channels are dedicated to info-mercials. Same thing will happen to Satelite Radio. Now, if we could only stream internet radio in our cars, that would be sweet. Internet radio is where it's at for me but I only have a 5 minute commute. Sirrius also have to pay Stern hundreds of millions of dollars in stock so they need to sell advertising, get used to it.

I didn't say ban the dixie chicks sorry Pat. i said it would be stupid to do that. Of coarse you did not read the whole post. You think people should be banned from the air waves that you disagree with? You know how many right wing noodle heads called Bill Clinton a rapist or murderer? They werent banned just look at the foaming at the mouth jerk Coulter who I call Annie like you call Howard,Howie because its not his real name. No matter how many awful things that jerk says shes on ever single news channel and show. The Dixie Chicks say one sentence in London and they are banned for life on Clear channel. well they were #1 anyway. I don't like thier music nor will i listen to it but i bought thier CD anyway!

JH,

You have no sense of humor. I purposely took what you said out of context and was being sarcastic. C'mon, have some fun, don't take everything so seriously.

I have a great sense of humor just not when it comes to killing free speach sorry.

I have had Sirius for four years and the Dj's talk about 4 minutes total a hour.

I love how people think XM or Sirius is going to be the solution to all their listening needs. If you hate commercials and DJ's so much you should invest $12.95 a month to downloading or buying all the music you like and then get an Ipod. Guess what, you'll hear no commercials nor DJ's, and you won't even be able to complain about what songs are played.

Maybe the one DJ you listen to has diarrhea of the mouth but not all of them do. It's nice to get some infor about a band that may be touring or releasing an album, as well as some occasional insight into other areas.

Sirius touts itself as having 100% commercial free MUSIC, nothing else. Even XM can't make that claim. The great thing about both services is that if there is a commercial there are 100 other channels to listen to.

The problem isn't programming it's people's expectations. If you want an idea of how many commercials can be run try listening to terrestrial radio for awhile. Nothing like 20 minutes of commercials an hour.

The problem isn't programming it's people's expectations. If you want an idea of how many commercials can be run try listening to terrestrial radio for awhile. Nothing like 20 minutes of commercials an hour.[/quote]
Not mention DJs talking endlessly! Theres this women DJ on 104.3 in NY I believe her name is Robin and Oh my god she talk forever! The station themselves has to cut her off sometimes to get the commercials in. I mean she just talks forver. She knows her stuff about classic rock but she talk too much anyway.

The DJ's on Sirius DO NOT talk for 20 minutes/hour on the music channels. The OP is full of Crap. So let's just list the inconsistency as "trolling" by the OP.

Also, commercial free music may soon come to an end. There is too much money being left on the table by both companies to let this go forever. Not that it is ever going to be like terrestrial radio and there commercial breaks, but there may be some.

They may do what happens during a Yankees radio broadcast(this is not to say that the Yankees are the only team to do this. But they are the ones where it is REALLY ANNOYING. Got too pay for that $200 million payroll somehow). Have you ever listened to a Radio broadcast by the Yankees Michael Kay, and the other douches.

Especially you XM'ers, take a listen, and you may be hearing the future of commercials on the music channels. Alot(not all because of the inning breaks) of the commercials are being done WITHIN the broadcast. Take a listen, and just shake your head.

Now when will this happen? Who knows because the expected backlash by subs will be huge. But people will get used too it eventually and realize they are mainly paying for uncensored content and the radio personalities.

Hey, I am like you. I would like to see the DJ's go away, and that may happen. They may just not renew there contracts, but I can't see the music channels being totally commercial free forever. It is just not financially responsible to do that.

XM at one time(early on in their existence) ran commercials on there music channels. People bitched that Sirius was commercial free, so they changed to commercial free music, but they, along with Sirius, will eventually switch to some commercials on the music channels. But it won't even be remotely close to the adverstising done on regular radio per hour.

I listen to ESPN, especially the Dan Patrick show. His show, along with all th ESPN talking heads, ARE LOADED with commercials that it almost becomes unbearable. Over the last 2 years they have INCREASED the total commercial time to where it feels like Dan is only talking/doing a talk show for about 15 minutes/hour.

Here is a rundown of an HOUR on the Dan Patrick show. By the way, i am guessing here, going from memory:

1pm: Show intro, but the show has not begun. Some commercials

1:03 or1:04pm to 1:15pm Dan finally comes on the air, talks about for 10-12 minutes then back to commercials

1:15pm-1:23pm Commercials and a Sportscenter update at 1:20. Again, more friggin commercials and a stupid update which should be done at the top of the hour and no more.

1:23 or 1:24pm to about 1:37pm give or take a little Again Dan talks for about 10-12 minutes and then we go back to those lovely F'ING commercials

1:37pm to 1:43pm Again commercials and another pointless Sportcenter update.

1:43pm to 1:55pm Again give or take a minute, but is only about 10-12 minutes of actual talk radio and then come MORE COMMERCIALS!!!

1:55 to 2:03pm COMMERCIALS and another Sportscenter update, and here the process repeats itself.

So Dan "ACTUALLY" has a talk show for about 36 minutes/hour. The rest is filled with commercials and sportcenter updates where it is the same damn thing over, and over, and over, etc....

Do you people want that as the norm?

Give me H. Stern(or O&A) as they give me, probably about 52-54 minutes/hour of entertaining talk, and only 6 minutes of commercials in that time.

I will GLADLY pay $12.95/month for uncensored talk, very little commercial music(if any at all), and superior content to terrestrial radio anyday.

What little Sirrius radio I have heard sounded all way to commercial to pay for. I can hear the same music for free on FM. Also, I can get much better music selection on internet radio for free. I hate talk radio, I want music.

How can you base an opinion on hearing "little Sirrius [sic] radio"?

Both Sirius and XM have a great and very diverse music selection. The mainstream channels are pretty close in their playlists. There is a somewhat deeper selection on some of the more eclectic XM channels. Neither service has anywhere near the chatter you would hear from a DJ on a typical FM station. Most channels play continuous music with only minor interruptions. Sirius has NO commerials on their music channels, while XM has a handful of channels that do play commercials.

Sure you can get a better selection from Internet radio. If you mostly listen to music at your broadband-connected computer, then there's really not much benefit to having satellite radio. Satellite really shines in the car. I can not imagine going back to listening to "regular" radio.

what kind of music do you listen to?


and tty35 is nothing more then a troll and probably an xm fanboy.

Of course he is,anyone who criticizes Sirius is obviously a XM fanboy...SBS is 2 doors down,to your left...

Why can't I base an opinion on first impressions? I already admittied to hearing little Sirrius Radio. A couple years ago, I took a road trip with my uncle who had it and wasn't too impressed. The sound really lacked fidelity for one thing. I only browsed through the music channels briefly but didn't notice anything I wouldn't hear on the FM radio. I don't listen to FM radio either. I just don't think it's come to the point where I would pay for radio.

My musical tastes cover the whole gambit, with the exception of Rap and what is called "country" music these days. I just don't know where to start. I listen to a lot of Bill Laswell and the like. Lots of Jazz (not that "smooth" jazz commercial stuff), Thelonious, Miles, Bird, etc. Improvisational bands, Grateful Dead, Umphry's, etc. Metallica, Deadguy, Yohimbe Bros, etc. Bela, Doc Watson, etc. The list goes on and on. Mostly into live performances.

I get XM through Directv and Sirius from a digital receiver that goes through a good home stereo, and Sirius (music) sounds much better. Even my cat can tell the difference.

I'm not sure if this has changed since Sirius' inception but when hooked up through a direct line input this is not the case. I used the FM transmitter and cassette adapter. Just this week I hooked up a direct line input to my radio and the SQ is VERY close to CD quality. Not quite as good but way close enough for listening in your car.

And you're nuts if you think you can get the same selection of music on trerrestrial radio. I live in the 2nd biggest market in this country and radio here BLOWS compared to the Sirius selection.

Sirius has one station, as an example, called Deep Cuts. I've heard entire albums played (approx 45 minutes) without the DJ saying a word. The Jam Bands station routinely plays 10 minute plus songs. There are very few (i.e. none) stations across the country that will do this kind of stuff more than maybe once a week.

Sirius and XM aren't out to create new kinds of music, but they will deliver it to you in a way that allows you to listen WHILE you drive across the country, with NO commercials (Sirius), and not beholden to sponsors. If someone fails to see the advantage of music on Sirius or XM over terrestrial radio they are in denial.

I never used the term "terrestrial" but again, from my limited experience with Sirrius and the XM radio through DirecTV (not even in stereo), they just don't compare to the variety of music available through the internet, unless of course you like commercials. I have a 5.1 megabit internet connection so I have no issues with internet radio. When I travel in my car I use my iPod. Personally, I just don't see what it is about satelite radio. For people who spend a lot of time in a car, I do.

Well, according to Mercury, your cat is probably a troll and a Sirius fanboy :)

The sound quality of XM is unbearable., but the sound quality of Sirius is at least listenable. I've never heard a commercial on the Jazz stations though, but when I do, that will be the end.