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Dobbs 3K

Satellite radio

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Sorry if this has already been discussed, but the threads I found from searching were way old and way short.

 

I got an XM radio for my car for Christmas. I asked for XM rather than Sirius because I wanted the MLB coverage. The specific model was the XM Xpress, which seems to be a nice little receiver. I installed it myself, and it was pretty easy, other than figuring out where exactly to run the couple wires to the back of the car. Frankly, though, I was surprised at how "clean" I was able to make my DIY installation.

 

I really like it so far...as a former radio advertising salesperson I had felt a little guilty about wanting XM, but now that I'm not working in broadcasting, I have no qualms. The commercial free music is really nice. My one small gripe is that the audio sounds a little bit too compressed...sometimes the audio sounds really good, but sometimes it sounds like you're listening to a subpar mp3 file. I may have to play with my car's limited EQ settings, though.

 

Next up, I have to get the home adapter kit so I can use the receiver with my home stereo, which should be cool.

 

Anyone else using XM or Sirius? Thoughts?

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I love it. I have XM Radio and it's a nice thing to have when you live too far away from the big cities to get their radio coverage. I listen mostly for the MLB coverage. If you get a free afternoon, check out a Cubs broadcast with Pat Hughes and Ron Santo. Sometimes the music isn't an improvement over my cd collection, but I won't complain.

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XM sub.

 

Bought it for NHL and MLB, but I stay on 202 for most of the day.

 

Having had both, I'm much happier with XM than I was with Sirius. Sirius' music channels played more hits and well-known songs, which XM also plays but isn't afraid to go deeper into an artist's collection of music, which is nice.

 

I have a MyFi, but am looking to get an Inno within the next few weeks.

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I have Sirius and am a big fan of it. I have been listening to Howard Stern for about 8-10 years now and I my mornings just weren't the same without him so I got Sirius for Christmas last year. Any previous Stern fan who used to listen but hasn't since his move to satellite should realy check it out. It is funny as ever and very entertaining. I really like the NFL coverage too. I don't really mind the music selection on Sirius as it is much better than anything on the regular radio.

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XM sub.

 

Bought it for NHL and MLB, but I stay on 202 for most of the day.

Same. The stations in Canada are a bit more limited than they are in the States (as in, you don't get them all), but I only really wanted it for the sports, and since I get all the hockey and baseball play-by-play channels (minus the spanish baseball one), I'm fine.

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Yesterday on the news they said there was a rumored merge between XM and Sirius in the works.

 

That was started by Sirius, but has been shot down numerous times by XM higher-ups.

 

It's Sirius trying to associate themselves with XM because XM is doing better.

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I have Dish Network which gives me Sirius Satellite Music channels.....I like what I have heard so far. The Hard Attack channel offers metal that I can't hear on the radio, plus a bunch of other genres that get no radio play.

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Yesterday on the news they said there was a rumored merge between XM and Sirius in the works.

 

That was started by Sirius, but has been shot down numerous times by XM higher-ups.

 

It's Sirius trying to associate themselves with XM because XM is doing better.

I heard that XM sales are down and Sirius is catching up.

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Well, Sirius is headed by Mel Karmazin, who is something of a radio wizard, so I would think they should be doing OK.

 

Kind of seems like it would be inevitable that the two companies would eventually merge, but people said the same thing about Dish and DirecTV, too.

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XM is the one drawing closer to actually making a profit, according to their 3rd quarter results. Both companies think that they're the stronger of the two, but neither is really strong enough to buy the other. Sirius is at least interested, while XM brass has come out numerous times and killed the idea of a merger. It's just not going to happen at this point. Both companies are losing money, but Sirius is losing more than XM and have seen their stock make very little noise in recent months.

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I have XM, originally mostly for MLB but I also became a big fan of O&A (Until they started their free FM show) and then I became a fan of Ron and Fez (and they just did start doing a seperate not on XM free FM evening drive show too yesterday..).

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from what I understand, XM has more subscribers, having started earlier, though in the last year or so Sirius is outselling XM quite heavily, but not enough to catch up (yet?).

 

They should probably go ahead and merge, satellite radio is a superior product but it fragments the market too much having these two.

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