Sirius and and XM both use terrestrial repeaters, otherwise reception in big cities would be a nightmare. Here is a link to the XM repeater locations: svartifoss2.fcc.gov/servlet/ib.page.FetchAttachment?attachment_key=456929. It's a mother, a 75 page scanned Acrobat document so it will open slow.

I have been an XM subscriber since 2001 and Sirius since 2004. Having had several models of radio for both services here is my 2 cents:

Reception: XM beats Sirius hands down. I think, but don't know that XM has more repeaters and their satellites are geostationary. I just get a signal on XM more than I do on Sirius. I have never had a serious problem even with my portable Inno receiver.

Programming: Music: XM beats Sirius. Sirius has interesting channels but horrible repetition. XM playlists have much more depth and more creative programmers and DJs.

News & Talk: Sirius has better News and Talk, no doubt about it. And Howard, if anyone cares for that sort of thing.

Sports: I like XM, but that is because I consider baseball THE sport for radio even though I am more of a pro football fan. There is also college footbal for those of us that live far from our Alma Maters.

Sound: Both services have some bandwidth issues; they try to stuff too many channels on their services in order to compete with each other. They try selectively to choke the bandwidth on some channels in order to offer others at higher rates. Generally classical and audiofile channels run at higher rates than say, punk, talk, or news. You get it.

Hardware: XM is usually about six months ahead of Sirius, but that isn't really an issue here.

You tend to find people that hate and love one or the other of the services, but I don't quite get this. It's not like I care if either one wins. I am not sure whether either will survive in the long run since their business model appears to be flawed as far as ever getting to a positive cash flow situation. They both shell out a lot of money they do not have to beat each other in the all star programming arena: Howard, Oprah, Dylan, etc....

eegorr wrote:
If you are looking for news you are better off with Fox on XM.

Hahahah Good one

Great post Dilda. XM has over 800 satellite repeaters, Sirius has less than 200 for those interested in actually getting a signal.

I just wish that Woot would offer the XM Inno for a decent price.

Just wanted to say...

BEST.

WOOTCAST.

EVER!

In addition, I've been with XM for a few years now and I absolutely love it. Great music stations, NHL game coverage, Opie and Anthony, etc. I had a Roady2 for a while in my car (as did my wife) until I finally decided to shell out a little more cash and use my in-dash car stereo for its XM capabilities. Great for my road trips and the signal stays strong from Jersey to Michigan, even in the mountains of PA. And hey, I'm listening to it right now thanks to XM's online feed as well, which gives me non-stop music at work everyday. This is a good buy, no doubt.

Junk! If it were Sirius I'd consider it to hear Howard Stern again. Utter crap!

Lots of misinformation here.

Sports:
XM exclusives - MLB, NASCAR (though NASCAR is going to SIRIUS in Jan)
SIRIUS Exclusives - NFL, NBA, NFL Network
Both have - NHL, College football, ESPN

Talk Radio
XM - Oprah, Air America
SIRIUS - Howard, Marth Stewart, NPR

Music:
Both have similar offerings though SIRIUS has more commercial-free channels.

Repeaters:
XM has more repeaters, however XM sattelites are closer to the horizon so they are easily blocked by buildings, mountains, etc. so they need more repeaters to due to reception problems.

If this were a Sirius deal it would have sold out in under and hour!

Does it come back to this when another item sells out? I've been seeing the speakers at 7:00 pm CST, which sold out at ~ 3pm CST. What's the deal????

My car has an Auxiliary Audio jack which I usually plug my mp3 player in to. Would I be able to plug this in to that jack?

I have this and love it. Can be a little hard to navigate if you have long fingernails, that's about the only problem. :P Otherwise, I love this item and XM.

I realize that it's late in the Woot! day for a question, but perhaps someone can help.

Does anyone know if the unit can be attached to the dashboard in some manner other than with the very sticky attachment piece with which this package comes?

Setting aside the conversation regarding XM v. Sirius, this really does seem like a great deal. 45 bucks for the unit and 3 months of service? For someone like me interested in testing the service out, it seems perfect.

Cheers,
Jner

jner wrote:I realize that it's late in the Woot! day for a question, but perhaps someone can help.

Does anyone know if the unit can be attached to the dashboard in some manner other than with the very sticky attachment piece with which this package comes?

Setting aside the conversation regarding XM v. Sirius, this really does seem like a great deal. 45 bucks for the unit and 3 months of service? For someone like me interested in testing the service out, it seems perfect.

Cheers,
Jner

Yes, it has a little clip thing you can use to mount the receiver to your airvent.

Dutchhater wrote:
Yes, it has a little clip thing you can use to mount the receiver to your airvent.

Many thanks.

You ought contact Woot for your 25 percent commission on the sale you've made.

Cheers,
Jner

Slow server at the moment.

A harbinger of things to come later tonight??

jner wrote:Many thanks.

You ought contact Woot for your 25 percent commission on the sale you've made.

Cheers,
Jner

Sweet!!

(btw - if you click the image on the main page, the big image shows all of the accessories. The vent mount thingie is right above the cassette adaptor)

Does anyone know how much the monthly service fee will be after the first free three?

jdcwdcv wrote:Does anyone know how much the monthly service fee will be after the first free three?

$12.95 for month to month and down to $9.99 for longer contracted agreements. www.xmradio.com for more details.

Look everyone.. you can pretty much find these satellite radio things on the side of the road or FREE with the purchase of a bowl of soup or all over EBAY for next to nothing($5.00 in some cases). Heres the deal .. youre getting some trial period on the service.

jner wrote:
I realize that it's late in the Woot! day for a question, but perhaps someone can help.

Does anyone know if the unit can be attached to the dashboard in some manner other than with the very sticky attachment piece with which this package comes?

Setting aside the conversation regarding XM v. Sirius, this really does seem like a great deal. 45 bucks for the unit and 3 months of service? For someone like me interested in testing the service out, it seems perfect.

Cheers,
Jner

I custom fit mine with velcro. This is a slim unit that fits well and looks good.

I wonder how many they have???

Hmm...I don't think this is a good deal. You can buy the one on ebay for $25 incl. shipping and the use a coupon code for free 3 months (just google it)

Fyi, I'm in.

Once again, here's a woot I dont really need.. but I've been loathing FM radio for a while, so maybe XM is worth checking out. I dont really have time to find tunes for the MP3 player -- my players play their 100 or so tunes over and over again. ITunes aint really for me. Occasionally (about once a month) I drive into the mountains where there is no FM reception, and XM is something I've been lusting for. Nope, I do not like the idea of paying $13/month for radio, but heck there's a few months free included w/ the hardware.

XM Internet streaming sounds like a good thing at home -- sometimes I'm up late working in the garage (yeah, developing my next billion dollar software startup) and could use radio without commercials.

And I definitely dont need Howard.

Listened to Sirius in a Hertz rental and have XM in my own car ...there's no comparison. Opie and Anthony and little Jimmy Norton are hilarious. Howard was interesting in 1989 ...

Both XM and SIRIUS offer free internet streaming. SIRIUS also offers CD quality streams (128kbps) for $3/mo.

Most Commercial free my ass.

moose1 wrote:Look everyone.. you can pretty much find these satellite radio things on the side of the road or FREE with the purchase of a bowl of soup or all over EBAY for next to nothing($5.00 in some cases). Heres the deal .. youre getting some trial period on the service.

QFT. I bought a RoadyXT package on clearance @ Sam's for $39. Had everything this deal does except the (home) A/C adaptor, which I had anyway.

XM also will sell you the RoadyXT for $39.99 direct.

This isn't hot by any means.

Sirius is better blah blah blah
XM sucks blah blah blah
Sirius is lousy blah blah blah
XM will eat your chlidren blah blah
Howard blah blah blah
Hey...just get one of each, that way, you will have one of the best, and one of the worst...On average, you will have satellite radio.
And then we can discuss:
DSL or cable...
Apple or PC...(or Linux)
Crispy or regular.
LCD or Plasma.
Democrat or Republican.

jeffcrilly wrote:Fyi, I'm in.

Once again, here's a woot I dont really need.. but I've been loathing FM radio for a while, so maybe XM is worth checking out. I dont really have time to find tunes for the MP3 player -- my players play their 100 or so tunes over and over again. ITunes aint really for me. Occasionally (about once a month) I drive into the mountains where there is no FM reception, and XM is something I've been lusting for. Nope, I do not like the idea of paying $13/month for radio, but heck there's a few months free included w/ the hardware.

XM Internet streaming sounds like a good thing at home -- sometimes I'm up late working in the garage (yeah, developing my next billion dollar software startup) and could use radio without commercials.

And I definitely dont need Howard.

Buy this, you won't be disappointed. I'm not into Howard, Oprah or any other personalities - I just like music - which you can get with either XM or Sirius. The deal is good.

digbydriver wrote:Sirius is better blah blah blah
XM sucks blah blah blah
Sirius is lousy blah blah blah
XM will eat your chlidren blah blah
Howard blah blah blah
Hey...just get one of each, that way, you will have one of the best, and one of the worst...On average, you will have satellite radio.
And then we can discuss:
DSL or cable...
Apple or PC...(or Linux)
Crispy or regular.
LCD or Plasma.
Democrat or Republican.

digbydriver wrote:Sirius is better blah blah blah
XM sucks blah blah blah
Sirius is lousy blah blah blah
XM will eat your chlidren blah blah
Howard blah blah blah
Hey...just get one of each, that way, you will have one of the best, and one of the worst...On average, you will have satellite radio.
And then we can discuss:
DSL or cable...
Apple or PC...(or Linux)
Crispy or regular.
LCD or Plasma.
Democrat or Republican.

Oh gawd, don't say apple vs PC - we had that fight two nights ago. Also, don't mention meat-eaters versus vegestupidians - we had that argument last night.

I have both Sirius, and XM, and if you like music, go with Sirius. The programming on XM is garbage compared to Sirius. We are just waiting for the free XM subscription to end before I put Sirius in my wifes car.

And just for the record, I don't listen to Howard Stern, just music and sports.

Illus wrote:I have both Sirius, and XM, and if you like music, go with Sirius. The programming on XM is garbage compared to Sirius. We are just waiting for the free XM subscription to end before I put Sirius in my wifes car.

And just for the record, I don't listen to Howard Stern, just music and sports.

I have 6 XM radios and 1 Sirius radio and I have no favorite. Hell - I just like listening to music, I don't care who provides the content.

cdemarse wrote:Most Commercial free my ass.

You must be referring to the Howard Stern Show. Man he just phones it in. What will Sirius do in 4 years when is contract is up? He barely shows up for work now. He's done. I know 4 people who will cancel in Jan. when their Sirius contract is up. They came over for Howard and are sick of his 3+ monts of vacation and 4 day workweek.

They do have discounts for extended contracts. last i cheked they were up to 5 years.
http://www.xmradio.com/service_subscription/service_subscription.jsp?refsrc=hp_gs

proc2000 wrote:Coke - Pepsi
McDonalds - Burger King
XM - Sirius

Question from a noob w/out satellite radio. If you pay upfront for the year, do they discount the $12.95/month price?

Sine Qua Non wrote:

You must be referring to the Howard Stern Show. Man he just phones it in. What will Sirius do in 4 years when is contract is up? He barely shows up for work now. He's done. I know 4 people who will cancel in Jan. when their Sirius contract is up. They came over for Howard and are sick of his 3+ monts of vacation and 4 day workweek.

Who the hell is Howard Stern??? I've never listened to him, have no intention of listening to him and could care less. This kind of reminds me of people who believes everything the National Enquirer says - "Enquiring Minds Wants to Know."

I got an mp3 player for the car, who needs XM when you can put 11 hours of mp3's on a CD.

Hey I'm at post 666

Many of the comments about Howard Stern have been about how he is uncensored on Sirius. Why is that so important? Do you mean to tell me that he can only communicate with profanity? Or is it that he can only comminicate using profanity? I'm sorry - that's not what I'm interested in - I want to listen to someone who can communicate and be humorous without the necessity of vulgarity.

WOOT OFF TONIGHT!!!!!! get ready.. 2 for Tuesday to kick it off

dainness wrote:

Who the hell is Howard Stern??? I've never listened to him, have no intention of listening to him and could care less. This kind of reminds me of people who believes everything the National Enquirer says - "Enquiring Minds Wants to Know."

What the hell is the National Enquirer? I want to know!