It’s that time of year. No, not holiday shopping. Rather, annual rate increase notices. And, next up is Sirius XM, who just hit me with a letter that indicates my online streaming add-on will increase from $3.50/mo to $4/mo. A fifty cent increase is pretty insignificant, yet these sorts of notifications may motivate folks such as myself to examine our usage scenarios and competing offerings. As it turns out, I mostly listen to Sirius XM in the car and would probably get more phone, tablet, Sonos enjoyment by re-upping with a more customizable Internet Radio service like Slacker… for the same $4. (It also looks like my satellite rate will eventually go up, but not quite yet as I agreed to an annual package.)
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You should consider AOL Slacker radio for $4/month.
It allows you to select and download a variety of stations for online/offline listening.
Let's you skip any songs you do not like.
The free version only allows skipping up to 6 songs every few hours and no offline listening mode.
Yes! Couple that with the always stellar customer service at XM and I'm renewing, finally again after swearing them off 5 years ago.
Wait. No I'm not. Just die already and reincarnate as a competitive company that didn't ship their operations overseas. Then I'm back in. Why, I'd probably even pay more.
I don't get why they go to market as two different companies. And then expect me to do a promo/renewal shuffle? Unify their channel lineups and offer me $100 per year for two cars and I'll pay. Otherwise, pass.