Sirius XM

[3OctaveFart]

One of the many highly literate tech people here, can you please give an appraisal of the service?

Sirius XM came with my new ride and it has come time to decide whether I want to keep it, and I want to be sure it justifies the expense.

For whatever it's worth I enjoy its selectivity. It's been great for someone who spends a lot of time commuting.

[Ciardelo]

One of the many highly literate tech people here, can you please give an appraisal of the service?

Sirius XM came with my new ride and it has come time to decide whether I want to keep it, and I want to be sure it justifies the expense.

For whatever it's worth I enjoy its selectivity. It's been great for someone who spends a lot of time commuting.

If you enjoy it, why not?

My daughter uses Pandora a lot in her car from her after-market stereo for music.

[Dr. MD MD]

One of the many highly literate tech people here, can you please give an appraisal of the service?

Sirius XM came with my new ride and it has come time to decide whether I want to keep it, and I want to be sure it justifies the expense.

For whatever it's worth I enjoy its selectivity. It's been great for someone who spends a lot of time commuting.

Likewise. They sent me a renewal offer of $30 for 6 more months of service, which I understand if you threaten to cancel after that time they will keep renewing at that rate. I haven't tested this theory yet though. Anyway, I really like 2 of their channels: Little Steven's Underground Garage and Willie's Roadhouse; and wanted to renew just for those. Since using it in the car I also discovered that I can listen on their website or iphone app too and often will. So, I get one of their reps on their chat and ask if these internet connections are included in the subscription price. The guy says no. It's $4/month for that. So, I ask if there's a package deal where I can get it a reduced rate and he just flat out says no, that's the price and if he had a deal he would've told me. I just disconnected and then sent them an email telling them that I was willing to sign up, I was ready with credit card in hand but since I realized that they're just greedy, unreasonable pricks who are unwilling to meet anyone halfway, I decided to pass. If they'd even offered me a dollar off that rate for taking the bundle I probably would've gone for it. It'll be missed but I can live without it. 

[Mind Flayer Monk]

I love it. Couldn't live without it anymore. Commercials have just completely taken over terrestrial radio.
Price is reasonable when you consider every service in the world wants $10-15 a month for essentially what is one Sirius channel.

What was Art asking for before he quit? $7 a month or something?

[Dr. MD MD]

I love it. Couldn't live without it anymore. Commercials have just completely taken over terrestrial radio.
Price is reasonable when you consider every service in the world wants $10-15 a month for essentially what is one Sirius channel.

What was Art asking for before he quit? $7 a month or something?

I agree, for the most part. My quibble is with charging for the same service out of different devices. It makes me feel like I'm being grifted. Most places would just be happy to have your business in today's environment and offer you a number of ways to connect to it for the same price. I really think they need to pull their heads out of their asses on this one but I agree that their programming is quality, from my limited experience so far.

[albrecht]

I agree, for the most part. My quibble is with charging for the same service out of different devices. It makes me feel like I'm being grifted. Most places would just be happy to have your business in today's environment and offer you a number of ways to connect to it for the same price. I really think they need to pull their heads out of their asses on this one but I agree that their programming is quality, from my limited experience so far.

I also like the Classic Radio channel, the Rural Network, and for baseball and hockey. But biggest quibble is that I also forget my passwords. They should have one username and password for listening on smartphones and computer and have them "stay" on the app so you don't need to enter it each time. But the quality seems good and glitching or pauses as one gets with TuneIn, I Hate Media app etc.

[Hog]

I have had Sirius for years.  I only really listen to Stern.  5 more years baby.

Their 20 minute |R U still listening" alerts suck.  I should be able to stream 24/7 if I want to.

peace
Hog

[Dr. MD MD]

Ok, Gabbers. Proof that the squeaky wheel usually gets the grease. I sent Sirius a pissy letter laying out my gripe with them and then they came back and said half off the internet too. Now will you shut up and sign up?! And I said yes, yes I would. Like I said, it's basically just for The Underground Garage and Willie's Roadhouse but I've since discovered a few more interesting channels too. The Bluegrass channel is also quite good, as is B.B. King's Blues channel. I also really like The Loft, which is very eclectic and hard to pin down in terms of genre. And am I wrong in thinking that no matter what your sport or team, if they're playing you can find a live broadcast on Sirius?

[albrecht]

Ok, Gabbers. Proof that the squeaky wheel usually gets the grease. I sent Sirius a pissy letter laying out my gripe with them and then they came back and said half off the internet too. Now will you shut up and sign up?! And I said yes, yes I would. Like I said, it's basically just for The Underground Garage and Willie's Roadhouse but I've since discovered a few more interesting channels too. The Bluegrass channel is also quite good, as is B.B. King's Blues channel. I also really like The Loft, which is very eclectic and hard to pin down in terms of genre. And am I wrong in thinking that no matter what your sport or team, if they're playing you can find a live broadcast on Sirius?

I've found that Sirius, like cable and cell phone companies, will often "cut you a deal" if you bitch enough and often. In a polite manner but persistent and detail oriented. (My favorite act is to act very confused about the minutiae in billing phrases and terms, and use them against each other "your colleague I spoke with this morning said,: vaguely mention competing service offers in your area, mention by name the technicians and people you have spoken with in the past, use online chats and save them and reference them later, if you can't get a person call the Spanish line and, usually, they will xfer you to at least a second in line, save the cell phone numbers of people/techs if they call you from them, etc.) You have to be careful, especially if you accept "free" upgrades (because they won't alert you later when the "free" time period runs out, in hopes you might not notice your higher bill. Why they also try to convince you to "help the environment" and go "paperless" billing also.)

[Dr. MD MD]

I've found that Sirius, like cable and cell phone companies, will often "cut you a deal" if you bitch enough and often. In a polite manner but persistent and detail oriented. (My favorite act is to act very confused about the minutiae in billing phrases and terms, and use them against each other "your colleague I spoke with this morning said,: vaguely mention competing service offers in your area, mention by name the technicians and people you have spoken with in the past, use online chats and save them and reference them later, if you can't get a person call the Spanish line and, usually, they will xfer you to at least a second in line, save the cell phone numbers of people/techs if they call you from them, etc.) You have to be careful, especially if you accept "free" upgrades (because they won't alert you later when the "free" time period runs out, in hopes you might not notice your higher bill. Why they also try to convince you to "help the environment" and go "paperless" billing also.)

Thanks for the tips! What do like to listen to on it?

[albrecht]

Thanks for the tips! What do like to listen to on it?

Willie's Roadhouse, Old Time Radio, Outlaw Country, The Met, Rural Radio, Symphony Hall, Bluegrass ch, Elvis ch, Ozzy boneyard, and sometimes some of the CBC/BBC news. And baseball and hockey (though I find it frustrating finding the proper channels for games often.)
Their app is also a compliant, at least for me, it seems to "not remember" my login/password often. And I, having so damn many passwords for crap, can never remember it.