Anyone have any experience with aftermarket satellite radio equipment for your auto? I’m looking for a relatively inexpensive setup. Don’t need a lot of bells and whistles. Just want to be able to listen to a ball game and maybe some good tunes on long drives (like my drive to Montana this July).
Advice on brands, models, subscription sevices, etc. would be appreciated.
Thanks.
i use xm radio in my car.
i have a 2 year subscription.
i had a delphi roady added to the oem radio in my rav4 but i recently change that out to a jvc unit.
you will have to check out the xm and sirius website to see what they offer in their programming. not sure if major league baseball is an extra fee.
I enjoy my XM satalite radio on long drives and when I camp I can open the door and listen to what ever I like. But I always sit my chair close enough so the other campers don’t have to hear what I listen to. I bought mine at the local Walmart if I remember right it was about $40. The monthly cost is well worth it.
My wife and I both have XM units I installed in our cars (before the Sirius/XM merger). If you don’t want bells and whistles (ability to record shows, internal antennas to pull unit out of car and use…fancy color displays), you can probably get a unit for around $50-75 (just a guess though).
Even though sirius and XM are the same company now… they don’t offer the same programming. If you want to listen to baseball games… I am almost certain you have to subscribe through XM (no additional charge). From what I understand, if you are a Sirius subscriber, and get the “Best of XM” package (some sports programming and Opie and Anthony)… I do not think the baseball games are available (there’s some kind of battle between Sirius/XM and MLB about the contract, this was a month ago I heard this… not sure if it is still true). It’s not true the other way around with respect to football (if you are an XM subscriber, and pay extra to get the “Best of Sirius” (football and Howard Stern’s channels), then you can listen to NFL games).
When I first got it, it was around $13 a month, an extra $7 a month for a second unit (we actually got a free reciever when signing up the extra account). If you pay for a year, the discount was that you got one free month… I think now we do a 3-yr subscription as it’s significantly cheaper.
Unless they go out of business… I’ll never listen to terrestrial radio again.
XM has baseball, Sirius doesn’t even though they are the same company. If you want MLB games you MUST have an XM capable receiver and subscribe to XM.
A dual XM/Sirius receiver is available so you can get both systems signals but if you are a Sirius subscriber and want baseball, the cost to add it to a Sirius subscription REQUIRES a dual receiver and isn’t worth it IMHO. About the only difference between the two is what sports they offer, the music channels are basically the same.
They do offer a “Best of XM” package for a Sirius subscriber but the “MLB Network Radio” channel that is included in the package is NOT live games and again it requires a dual receiver.
Bottom line at this time, if you want MLB, just get XM!
Thanks everyone! Definately want MLB so looks like XM is the way to go. I’ll do a little research on the units and see what I find out.
My Sirius /XM radio came with the car ( free 12 month subscription) .I have since renewed the subscription for at least two years and enjoy the heck out of it listening to Fox News and Classic Radio. It’s just too bad that a scum bag like howard stern is given an opportunity to spew his garbage on this otherwise super device. I have NO idea what an after market reciever costs but whatever it costs, I think it’s worth it.
Mark
I just got an email from Sirius and they are having some type of special for Mothers day.
Royce:
A word of warning: you’ll get a different story regarding service from every Sirius/XM customer service rep you talk to. Some will promise you the moon & stars, others will deny its possible. Just yesterday, a friend who has a LIFETIME subscription was told the subscription WASN’T transferable on the new car he just bought, (obviously with a new receiver) which would be a ridiculous policy if the rep was right. 45 minute of arguing got my friend the subscription transfer but the fact remains, a lot of their CS reps are clueless. While this is nothing new in business, it can be frustrating if you are new to the service or you spent a small fortune for a lifetime subscription.
Do you best to understand what you are getting for your money BEFORE making a phone call to either XM or Sirius 'cause they will confuse the daylights out of you!
I could be wrong but even though XM and Sirus are the same company now the programming differences is because they’re using both satellite networks (which are different from each other). An XM receiver and Sirus receiver side by side are picking up signals from 2 different satellites.
the rep is correct
see item 9
http://www.xmradio.com/pdf/xm_tc_050310.pdf
people need to read the TERMS AND CONDITIONS / CUSTOMER AGREEMENT