i am thinking about getting satellite radio but i am not sure which one is better. plus can you paint the radio antenna ?

 

Mine is Sirius and it's great. Tons of every type of music, comedy, news, etc., you can think of. My antenna is black, and but I don't know if you can paint it or not.


Black/Willow 03.5 6MT, Premium, Navi, Aero, SAT
350Z Nismo CAI

 

Both are great... I've got XM, and since it went commercial-free, there's been no nit-picking between it and Sirius. Here are the major facts on both:

Channel #s-
Sirius: 110+
XM: 121+

Music channels:
Sirius: 61
XM: 68

Sports channels:
Sirius: 11
XM: 6

Talk Streams (entertainment/kids/news):
Sirius: 20
XM: 24

Price-
Sirius: 12.95/mo, 10/mo for 1-year prepaid
XM: 9.99/mo, 8/mo for 2-year prepaid

Signal Coverage:
Sirius: 3 geosynchronous satellites, one of which is over the US at any given time. No ground signal repeaters.
XM: 2 geostationary satellites, both of which are over the US at all times. Ground signal repeaters.

These #s come straight from them. You can also read up on them at radiosatellite.org

G

2003.5 Black w/ Willow G35
Premium / Sport / Aero / Winter / Navi / Tint

 

Because of financial reasons ultimately "There can be Only One." XM is kicking the stink out of Sirus, so guess which "the One" will be?

 

The financials have been discussed before, neither has turned a profit. I believe XM has much more debt and less cash on hand...

2004 Diamond Graphite Infiniti G35 Sedan
Z Intake Tube
5% Tint
ZAINO

 

Both XM and Sirius have .5B in cash/current assets and about 2B in capital surplus. XM has about 3x the revenue of Sirius, but both are still in the red on paper. XM is forecasted to be in black ink ~2 years before Sirius.

G

2003.5 Black w/ Willow G35
Premium / Sport / Aero / Winter / Navi / Tint

 

Sorry, if off-topic [img]/w3timages/icons/wink.gif[/img]

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'04 Coupe 5AT DG/G loaded w/o spoiler (3pc Aero), BSM, splash guards, Navi, Sirius, 18" perf pkg

 

Swap? No audiophile here but I'm told you need to change the antenna and the tuner to go from Sirus to XM.


04 Blk.Coupe/6mt/nav/aero/sat.

 

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr>

Swap? No audiophile here but I'm told you need to change the antenna and the tuner to go from Sirus to XM.

<hr></blockquote>

Exactly... my implication was not explicit. I'd like to trade the equivalent factory kit (i.e. antenna & satellite receiver that's mounted in the trunk).

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'04 Coupe 5AT DG/G loaded w/o spoiler (3pc Aero), BSM, splash guards, Navi, Sirius, 18" perf pkg

 

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr>

Sirius: 3 geosynchronous satellites, one of which is over the US at any given time.

<hr></blockquote>Actually, it's two that are over the US at any given time. <blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr>

No ground signal repeaters.

<hr></blockquote>Wrong again. As I understand it, there's not nearly as many as XM, but they do have them. I run into them a lot when driving in LA.

To add to your list:

Lifetime service option
Sirius: Yes
XM: No

Internet stream of all programming included free
Sirius: Yes
XM: No

Those two things were a very big influence on my decision to go with Sirius. I use the internet streams all the time. And with the lifetime service, sure, I might be screwing myself out of some money if Sirius goes belly up, on the other hand, it's not another f'ing monthly payment to pay and it could work out in my favor. I took the risk with my TiVos and it paid off well. I'm willing to take the gamble.

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr>

Because of financial reasons ultimately "There can be Only One."

<hr></blockquote>Right. In America, we only have monopolies. Ultimately, the world will be owned by Taco Bell.

-- Rob

 

I'm going off of Sirus' report last year-- they said they had no ground signal repeaters at the end of '03-- that might've changed-- my bad. But no, at any given time there is usually one satellite over the US. This was taken from Sirius' press release a long time ago... it's geometrically impossible for two to be over the US at all times, even with their high orbit. That's what "at any given time" means.

Anyway-- yes, the internet thing's on there, I totally forgot about it. XM has it for an additional (hefty, to me) fee, and I hadn't read about the lifetime thing. Those are two strong points of Sirius.

G

2003.5 Black w/ Willow G35
Premium / Sport / Aero / Winter / Navi / Tint