I Love XM Satellite Radio

Published on April 2, 2006 By MasonM In Gadgets & Electronics

I have an XM satellite radio in my truck. While on the road it's a real drag to be constantly searching for stations to list to as I travel from one area to another so satellite radio makes sense as I can listen to what I want, when I want, where I want.

With over 100 channels to pick from, there is always something good to listen to. The stations I listen to most often are:

Classical Music: I listen to a couple of the classical stations quite a bit. It's great music to listen to while driving.

Sonic Theater: This station plays a good assortment of radio dramas, plays, and "books on tape" style novel dramatizations. It can be very enjoyable and keeps the mind occupied over the miles.

Old Time Radio: This one plays the old radio shows from the golden age of radio. I love listening to the old shows like Dragnet, Gunsmoke, The Saint, and the multitude of detective dramas. What's great here is that the commercials were recorded as part of the show and you get to listen to the old ads which can be very entertaining.

Comedy: there are two comedy channels, one edited for family listening, and one not edited. I tend to listen to the latter most often. Nothing like hearing a stand up comedy act when stuck in a traffic jam.

Of course I make use of the various news channels including Fox News, CNN, CNN Headlines, and ABC news as well as the Weather Channel.

One of my favorite features is the traffic info channels, which provide traffic and weather conditions information for specific cities around the country. When I know I'm going to be shortly passing through a major city I will tune in and hear where the accidents, traffic jams, and road closures are to be found and can route myelf around them.

XM is well worth the small monthly subscription fee.

Comments

terpfan1980

on Apr 02, 2006

Glad you are enjoying XM MasonM. I have two of their portable radios subscribed to their service also. I normally leave one parked at home, and admittedly don't listen to it that often as DirecTV and XM have a deal that retransmits the XM channels through DirecTV, and I can also (of course) listen to XM through the net on either of my PCs if I want.

I have XM primarily because they carry MLB games and Sirius doesn't. In the winter months I tend to have my Sirius radio (in-dash, aftermarket) unit subscribed so I can keep up with the NFL.

Either beat the heck out of a lot of the over-filled with advertising and overly-repetitive Clear Channel style music channels, or local Sports Talk stations, though I admit to listening to a lot of the local sports talk depending on what the season is and what time I get into the truck and start my trip home after work. (I have the luxury of catching Tony Kornheiser's show locally and find it enjoyable in the a.m. hours, so typically am listening to that during morning drive).

I give major props to XM for their portable radios though. The Delphi MyFi xm2go unit is great, as is the Pioneer AirWare xm2go unit. My only real complaints about them is that they aren't as useful at baseball games as I would have hoped because of an ignorant delayed signal through the local rights holder. If they'd drop the delay, then the units would be awesome for use at the games.

Some other folks have a standard list of complaints about the xm2go series (current units at least) in that they don't do any MP3 on them, so you can't upload music to them or use them as an MP3 player. I overlook that because I didn't get them to use as MP3 players, I got them to use as Sat Radio receivers.

By the way, Sirius has their S50 units out which are also MP3 players, but are NOT portable Sat Radios -- they are portable from car to home, and can be used as a portable MP3 player, or to take pre-recorded content with you somewhere, but they aren't portable Sat Radios and can't receive programming without being 'docked' in a home or car docking station.

Finally, for the record, I have stock in both companies, small amounts, some for me, some for my wife's IRA. Very small amounts, which will probably never make me rich, but which I do cheer for each time I see them going up in the market. I don't profit directly (or even indirectly it seems) by talking about either provider, but I put the info on stock ownership out there so that I'm not accused of shilling for either provider. I like both for what they are, though I suppose if I had the $$$ for HD-Radio and had the choice of more content from that arena, I might be happy, but I do like being able to use either Sirius or XM to listen to my favorite types of stations no matter where I go.

It was great having either available last summer to listen to while on a family vacation as we drove down and up the coast. Except for having to find a station that I could 'retransmit' to on the FM band, I had no problems at all finding stations I liked no matter where I was.

Dr Guy

on Apr 03, 2006

We rented a car with XM radio one year while in California. Which was nice because we spent half the time driving, and like you noted, you dont have to worry about fade in and out stations. We mostly listened to the 60s and 70s stations that were on the dial, altho there was like 156 stations, and I did surf through them briefly.

For one who spends a lot of time on the road, XM is a great deal. But I cant see paying for it when most of the time, I am only on the road a couple hours a week.

MasonM

on Apr 03, 2006

That's one of the great things it. They have a home docking station for it so you can listen at home and subscribers can also listen online.

Dr Guy

on Apr 03, 2006

subscribers can also listen online.

Now that is a Selling point! Need a new set of speakers, but I miss my 60s and 70s.

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