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12 Easy Step Guides
...To Choose Between Sirius And XM Radio
Introduction | Background.I have had both a Sirius and an XM Radio since they each went live herein Minnesota. While I did get my radios and first year of service forfree due to being a Best Buy employee (at that time), I would havebought a satellite radio due to the long road trips that I take, andthe lack of decent radio in many areas of the US. Having both radiosmade it easy to compare the offerings of each company. No Longer Actively Updating This Page.Both services now offer most of the same types of programming and thesame types of sports. Rather then attempt to keep up to date withthe programming on each, I have chosen to point out the key areas wherethey differ, and let you (the reader) do the research on specific itemsthat are most important to you. A particular sport or sports team maybe carried by one service and not the other, but that could also changeeach year. The Merger.XM and Sirius have merged and are now one company. Each system uses vastlydifferent hardware, so a technical merger will not happen. At the programming level, both services now carry essentially the same channels. Post-Merger Fall-Out.Since the merger, the programming on both XM and Sirius has vastly degraded.The excellent rock music channels, Top Tracks and Big Tracks, are now gone,replaced by the chatty Sirius version. Commercials have reappeared on manyof the music channels, notably Rock At Random (XM 161). Most of the musicstations have adopted the much narrower playlist typical of what Siriusused in the past. Nearly all of the non-political talk shows have beendropped. The talk stations are mostly filled with ultra-radical hate-talkshows with hosts that do more yelling than talking. The only positive noteis that XM now has a second public radio channel. While it is still nice tohave a radio that doesn't fade out every few miles when traveling, I find itincreasingly difficult to be able to tolerate much of the programming forlengthy periods of time. |
Step #1 | Rural Coverage.Sirius wins in rural coverage area. Sirius has 3 satellites in a mediumearth orbit. As a result, you normally have two satellites visible, andat a higher angle. This higher angle prevents ground obstructions fromblocking your signal. XM uses geosynchronous orbit satellites, which arelow to the ground in North America, and you do get ground blockages. Ifind that large hills and bluffs will block XM, and even sometimes thickforests will block XM if the forests are close to the highway. Peopletell me that XM is spotty in the Pacific northwest such as Washingtonand Oregon. I have not had Sirius blocked out in a rural area. Siriusis the better choice for rural drivers. |
Step #2 | Urban Coverage.XM wins in urban coverage. This is due to XM having ground stations inmost major urban areas. While you might be blocked from seeing a satellite,the ground station will fill in for you. I have gotten solid coverage indowntown Minneapolis, even in the highway tunnels and under long bridges.Sirius, on the other hand, blanks out any time you pass under any bridge,or drive next to a building. In driving in downtown Minneapolis, Siriusis blanked out up to 50% of the time. If you want a radio for drivingaround town, XM is the better choice. But make sure that your area hasa ground station if you have a lot of freeway bridges and taller buildings. Update—Sirius has now installed a number of ground stations, but XMstill leads in this area by a factor of 10. |
Step #3 | Sound Quality.In my experience, XM has better sound than Sirius. I don’t know why. Itcould be that XM is more mature, that the XM radios are better, or XM hasbetter technology for sound. XM sounds very clear and near-CD quality.The main fault of XM is that the music is highly compressed. Sirius has alot of background noise, hiss, and the bass is highly exaggerated. Inaddition, it is even more compressed than XM. It almost sounds like Siriusis using telephone lines between its studios and transmitters, much likeolder FM radio stations used before microwave and satellite became popular.The noise and hiss are most noticeable on talk channels, while the boomybass is prevalent on music channels. You can always turn your bass levelcontrol down to compensate, but this is a hassle if you also use your FMtuner from time to time (you would need to keep adjusting your bass backand forth). |
Step #4 | Commercials.Both services give the impression that they are commercial free. This isnot true. Both services have large numbers of channels that carry largenumbers of commercials. XM has far more commercials than Sirius. XMcarries about 12 channels that have no commercial sales messages, however,they still carry XM commercials for other XM channels. The remainingchannels all have XM commercials, sales messages, and public serviceannouncements. Sirius has about 12 channels that have absolutely nocommercials or messages, about 40 more that have very little messages, andthe remainder have commercials and public service announcements like anyother FM station or TV channel. The commercials on XM are generally welldone, and usually not very obnoxious. XM used to have a tendency to runa commercial for an unrelated music channel on the channel that you werelistening to. This could be very irritating if you were listening to acountry channel, and got a 2-minute rap commercial. XM has stopped doingmuch of this based on consumer complaints. XM also used to run the same2 or 3 public service announcements over and over and over and over,sometimes the same commercial would run 6 times in a given hour. This hasthankfully stopped as XM has sold these commercial slots for realcommercials. Sirius has not sold out their commercial slots, so they runa lot of public service announcements. To summarize, if you listen tomusic, you will find far fewer commercials on Sirius. Update—as of Feb 1, 2004, XM has gone commercial free on a majorityof its music stations. Sirius has announced a pending change, but hasn’tsaid what will be changing yet. At this time, XM now has the edge in beingcommercial free on the music side. In the case of XM, commercial freedoes not mean interruption free, they still run a lot of ads for XMand promo spots for other XM channels. |
Step #5 | Programming Philosophy (Music Variety and Depth).XM and Sirius each have slightly different approaches to music programming.Both have professional DJ’s that decide what music will go on each channel.XM attempts to give their channels the feel of a live DJ from a broadcaststation, while Sirius keeps the DJ off the air, other than naming the songson some channels. XM has very narrow programming on each channel. If theysay classical music from a certain era, that is exactly what it will be.There is no cross-over between channels. It also means that you will likelyeither love or hate a given channel. I find that I get bored with channelsthat are so narrowly focused, so I end up surfing. On the other hand, XM hasa lot more specialized music channels than Sirius. Sirius has much broaderprogramming on each channel, with some overlap between channels. This meansthat the programming is more interesting, and you surf less, but it means thatthere are fewer specialized channels. I also find that XM has a deepercatalog. This is great for music geeks, but often times I find XM playingmusic that is so deep in the catalog that I am not interested, or I have noidea who it is. I get the impression that XM is trying to save money byseeking out more obscure music that is cheaper to play on-air. Sirius hasmuch more mainstream programming, and you will recognize the music that isplayed on the channels that you are interested in. I have found very littlerepetition in the songs, other than both services having a top hits channelwhere the top 20 songs are played endlessly. Note—I have since learned that XM has a rock playlist of about 200,000songs, whereas Sirius has a playlist of about 50,000 songs. This meansthat Sirius is always going to have something familiar playing, whereasXM might be deeper into the playlist than many listeners are use to. Somesay that XM ages better as you learn more songs, while others say Siriusplays a better mix. It is best to listen for yourself before making afinal choice. |
Step #6 | Public Radio Fans.If you are a fan of public radio, Sirius is your hands down choice. Siriusfeatures 3 channels, including NPR Now, NPR Talk, and Public RadioInternational (a provider of public radio shows that is not affiliated withNPR). Most of the major NPR, PRI, and APM (American Public Media) shows areincluded, such as Fresh Air, Motley Fools, Car Talk, Talk of the Nation, Marketplace, Wait-Wait, etc. The notablemissing shows are the two flagship news programs, Morning Edition and AllThings Considered. Many of the shows are repeated at night, or twice on theweekend, which gives you a higher probability of catching your favoriteprogram. XM had no public radio for the longest time, but bowed to listenerpressure by adding a single channel that carries some of the moreobscure shows from PRI. XM’s flagship public show is a one hournews interview show hosted by Bob Edwards, the long time host ofNPR’s Morning Edition. |
Step #7 | Talk Radio Fans.Talk radio fans will find a mixed bag. Neither service has the top ratedtalk radio shows such as Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Laura, Dr. Joy Brown, or DonImus. Both services have ABC radio, which has Sean Hennity, plus a fewother nationally known political talk shows. Sirius has several channelsof lessor known local hosts, including a Left and Right focused politicalchannel, and a channel focused on gay and lesbian issues. XM has less talkvariety, but has a channel with 3 powerhouse talk radio programs includingCoast to Coast AM (the former Art Bell show), Talknet (Bruce Williams), andDr. Dean Edell, and the tech talk show On-Line Tonight withDavid Lawrence. The remaining XM talk stations are dedicated toregional political shows, and a channel based on urban and black issues.Both services carry the E! entertainment station, but the radio versiondoes not include Howard Stern. Update—as of May 2004, both services carry America Left, the new liberaltalk radio network featuring Al Franken. Bothservices have reorganized their talk stations with right, center, andleft talk channels. News flash—the shock jocks are coming! Andy and Opie will join XM asa premium channel, while Sirius has Howard Stern coming in 2005 at noextra charge. Sirius is hoping that their huge investment in Stern willraise their profile and lead to a million new subscribers. Update—as of March 2005, XM discovered that almost nobody waspaying extra for Opie and Anthony. As a result, XM is raising theirfees, and making Opie and Anthony part of the base package. Thiseliminates the small price advantage that XM once held over Sirius. |
Step #8 | Sports Fans.Both XM and Sirius have ESPN and ESPN News. This gets you the baseballplayoffs, a few basketball games, and Sunday Night Football. Sirius hasseveral channels dedicated to major sports, including 40 NBA and 40 NHLgames each week. This makes Sirius the clear choice for NBA and NHL fans.XM, on the other hand, focuses more on sports talk, including Sporting Newsand Fox Sports networks. XM also has a dedicated NASCAR channel, whichbroadcasts all NASCAR races, and runs classic NASCAR when there is no liveraces to cover. Update—as of July 2004, Sirius has committed to carrying all of the NFLgames for the season this fall. As of October 2004, XM has committedto carrying all of the Major League Baseball games in 2005, from springtraining to the playoffs. |
Step #9 | Professional Drivers.Both services have a channel dedicated to professional truck drivers. Thesechannels have news, information, weather reports, and general talk that isof interest to drivers. But the content is somewhat different between XMand Sirius, so my advice is to listen to both for a while, and pick the oneyou like the best. Both services have the Weather Channel. Sirius also hasregional weather channels, which make it quicker to get to your region, andthey go more in depth on each specific region. Update—as of April 2004, XM has added city-specific traffic and weatherinformation. The initial roll-out covers 14 cities, with 7 more scheduledto roll-out in the next few months. Update—as of July 2004, both XM and Sirius now have city-specific trafficand weather for 20 major cities. XM has 20 channels, while Sirius has 10shared channels. |
Step #10 | Family Issues.On the plus side, both services offer at least one religious channel, afamily and self-help talk station, and a Christian music station. On thedown side, both services have rap and urban music that features a lot ofprofanity. These can, however, be locked out on many radios. Sirius hassome talk shows that use extensive profanity, they use profanity incommercials on otherwise safe stations, and they have p*rnographic and gaytalk on some of the mainstream channels. This may eliminate Sirius as achoice for family use. XM has the Playboy channel, but it is a premiumsubscription channel that you cannot receive unless you elect to do so andpay an extra monthly fee. On the positive side, both XM and Sirius haschannels for kids. The XM version is a Clear Channel network for kids,while Sirius has Radio Disney. |
Step #11 | Radio Displays.Radios exist for both XM and Sirius that have multi-line displays. Thiscan tell you the artist and name of a song, or allow you to see what is ona number of channels with a single glance. I have seen a number ofdifferent types of displays, include blue fluorescent, orange plasma, andblack and white LCD. The blue displays are hard to read. I haven’t founda combination of brightness and backlighting that allows me to read it.It causes the lettering to blur. The LCD’s are easy to read, but theback-lighting is so bright that it causes glare at night, yet brightsunlight can still wash it out. The orange plasma works best for me. Ican set it for low light at night, yet still read it well during thedaytime. Carefully consider the radio display on any radio that you buy.It is best to try it out in both day and night conditions, if possible,perhaps by getting a demo from someone who already has a radio that youare considering. Buying off the shelf in a store might not give you thisopportunity. |
Step #12 | Remote Controls.Make sure that the unit you are getting has a remote control. There isn’tenough space on the front of these radio units for all the features that youneed. This gets especially bad where you add a module to an in-dash stereo,where each button has multiple functions. The remotes have room for all ofthe needed buttons, plus you can run the remote without taking your eyes offof the road. One key feature of a radio is how easy is it to go from channelto channel. An early Sony unit had only channel up and down, plus 5 presets.You had to push 49 times to get from channel 1 to channel 50. You want aremote that has direct entry of the channels by pressing a numberpad. Youmay not want to do this while driving, but you want that ability to get toany random channel in 3 or 4 button pushes. |
 Official XM Radio Website |
 Official Sirius Website |
 XM411 Website |
 Sirius Backstage Website |
