About a month of terrestrial radio was all it took…
My XM subscription lapsed in March, but they kept the music flowing an additional month or so while leaving me regular voicemails to renew service before I experienced an “interruption.”
I figured my new(ish) and brief commute of about only 10 minutes in each direction meant I could pass on satellite radio. But the AM and FM programming wasn’t getting it done for me. Which is largely the broadcasters fault (limited selection/range, inane morning talk). However, I also have an issue specific to my Honda — when charging my iPhone in the car, my top FM station (DC 101) is blown out by static.
So I called in yesterday to learn what my XM renewal options were. I had planned to push for the half off rate, as anything more would exceed the cost of having a line-in jack installed for iPhone Pandora and Slacker streaming. As it turns out, no pushing was required and the Iowa-based phone rep offered to renew me at my previous rate ($77/yr). Unfortunately, online streaming is still an upsell for anyone who hasn’t been grandfathered. But I went ahead and gave myself a year of that, too – for something like $32.
It’s been awhile since I last had XM online streaming. And I’m pleasantly surprised by the amount of talk, in addition to the requisite music, that’s available. Also, this is my first experience using the Sirius XM iPhone app. I can’t say it’s visually beautiful (no album art, no landscape view), but it gets the job done well. Until XM and Sonos figure out how to play nicely together, I’m on the lookout for an iPhone speaker dock.
Dave I’m totally with you. I did the same thing. I just wish that Sirius would have a one price (reasonable) and also provide a way to subscribe and unsubscribe without going through their overly aggressive call center.
The promotions are perpetual and it’s time Sirius/XM just sucked it up and cut the prices to $100/yr (which is what they’ll get you for including their “royalty” fee)
I also think Sirius is making a big mistake not allowing in-application purchases for month to month streaming of their iPhone application (which BTW the same password works on their Android application).
For people with multiple devices (and kids) the $3/mo might not be all that bad a deal — though I have not yet observed what happens if multiple people attempt to log in (I believe but am not sure that Sirius has a cap on the # of logins per day).
I’ve my own issues with XM:
– I can’t express enough how much I hate the morning talk show (Morning Mash Up) on Sirius Hits 1 (20 on 20 on XM). They’ll have some inane topic like: do you like pepperoni on your pizza or do you just pick it off? Plus the ‘how dumb is Nicole’ games. It’s horrible. I’d say it’s worst than FM morning radio.
– I wish they’d just combine the lineups so we all knew what we were talking about (Sirius Hits 1 – just call it Sirius Hits 1 and put it on Ch 1 for both systems – do the same with every other channel)
– Lifetime now is a crazy price (checked recently – nearly $700 for XM + BoS + the royalty fee). I don’t see too many people doing that now.
That being said:
– I really like traveling down the road and not having to search for stations
– I have my iPod but really enjoy just listening to music someone else programmed (so it’s stuff I like but I’m not fiddling with creating playlists or going from song to song).
– I like XM’s variety of talk channels (they always beat Sirius with this)
– it’s kind of like cable to me in that I basically have maybe 6-10 channels I regularly flip around to.
– I think I’d miss it if I didn’t have it.
I’m very glad I got a lifetime Sirius subscription when I bought our Toyota.
Bought the wife a new 2009 Honda CR-V last year. It came with a free 3 month trial. “What’s this XM thing?” is what she asked me when we brought the car home. I printed out the channel line up for her so she could see what was on.
The wife is notoriously cheap, so I was thinking she would never go for a subscription. Needless to say after a month of her commuting 140 miles round trip every day to work she said “I don’t care how much it costs I LOVE XM!” Got the 2 year deal with 5 months free.
I listen to the Liquid Metal (41) and the Virus (202).
I paid for lifetime with sirius (okay, I still pay yearly!) with equity bought at .08 and sold at 1$ :-)
As an XM sub since ’02 I can’t imagine not having Sat radio. That being said the total lack of customer service has really frustrated me. They have offered me -0- deals, when I called into ask I was told I wasn’t included in them. I have 2 radios and have it set up on automatic payment for them. It really makes me mad they haven’t offered a thing to old subs like me, carrying 2 radios one with best of Sirrus as well. I enjoyed online when it was free, but I refuse to pay for it.
I bought a lifetime XM subscription in 2008 for $400 after being a customer on and off since 2006. This was before the royalty fee and separation of online. Which if I had an iPhone or an Android phone I could log in and stream with no problem.
I do have to say that every time I let my sub lapse I regretted it just a few months later and signed back up.
The point on Sonos is what baffles me about this company! Sirius works with Sonos but not xm! Same goes for my Logitech Squeezebox radio. Yes there’s a workaround but cmon, they’re the same company now!
Why aren’t they going after Internet connected TVs like Pandora. Imagine the value add they could bring to their streaming.
And one more from the soapbox – when’s the last time they had new hardware with any buzz?
I must be the odd duck out in this one. Been a sub since ’03 and just don’t listen to it. Despite the commercials I rather enjoy the radio personalities on my local stations, and the few times I’ve heard DJs on XM they’ve been beyond terrible and the sound quality in general is less than I expect and comparable to Pandora. For the $$ I’m paying, that comparison shouldn’t be made.
The only reason I haven’t cancelled is because it’s like running the gauntlet AOL style (did it once with a stand alone I had years ago). Though I’ll be honest were it not for this particular PITA I might be more reticent in cancelling and just go with a lower plan, but it just steams me that I’ve got to take time out of my day in 2010 to call some call center and argue with a rep to do what can easily be done online. Just for the principle of it I want to send them packing.
Anyway, hate to be the black cloud in this XM love fest. Sry guys…