any prefrence between the two, interms of stations and quality and variety of music?

 

I'm happy with XM, although it took my dealership 2 weeks to install it. Don't really know much about Sirius.

XM just signed contracts to carry sports from some of the larger NCAA conferences such as The ACC and PAC 10.

XM also has local weather/traffic stations for many larger cities in the US.

 

I've had both XM and SIRIUS at the same time...

I prefer SIRIUS...more club mixes non-stop dance mixes, hip hop, old school hip hop...better signal reception and sounds better...

bobs - sf

 

Sirius has traffic reports too. From what I've heard between the two the sound quality is similar with XM and Sirius; neither are really CD quality.

The big edge Sirius had over XM for me was getting a streaming media login with the subscription. I can listen to Sirius while I work or at home. I probably use that more than I do the car tuner!

My primary gripe about Sirius has to do with their top 40 programming. Their US-1 channel is very hip-hop dominated, and there isn't really an "Adult" top 40 channel (e.g., star 98.7 in LA). I like some hip hop here and there, don't get me wrong, but some days it seems like that's all I hear on US-1. I really want something like Music Choice's "Hit list" for top 40. The Pulse is real close but is primarily a 90's station. XM seems to have a much broader choice of top hit style stations to choose from. Sirius can't see it fit to add another top 40 channle, but recently added an all Elvis channel? Argh!

The Beat - 66 makes me smile though, it's the perfect dance channel for me. A friend of mine got XM and both of us were disappointed with thier mainstream dance channels.

You can get a free streaming trial on Sirius' website if you want to get a feel for their programming. XM lets you download sample programming snippets.

-- Rob