Sirius Radio

jlmarta

Can anyone educate me (just basics, please - no Ph.D.  ) with regard to obtaining/installing Sirius radio in my car?

I'm totally ignorant of the subject except that I'm told it's satellite radio and there are no commercials. I don't know the best place to buy, what the cost might be, the pros/cons, etc. 

I'm primarily interested in music - smooth jazz, contemporary jazz, light classical, etc. 

And I may end up just abandoning the idea if what I learn doesn't excite me. I'm basically just exploring the notion at the moment. Any info that any of you might care to pass along will be appreciated. 

Thanks very much..... 

kswildcat

Guessing your rides existing radio is not sxm equipped.  Even then you may want to buy a tuner so you can move from vehicle to vehicle (utilizing multiple antannas).

You can buy a tuner car kit from big box store, radio shack (has really good antannas), truck stop or from sxm website (often  have specials on kits for new subscribers). Your looking at approx  $100 for a kit and I believe  $14ish a month for service.

Installing is pretty simple. Mount the mount with tuner attached (various mounts for your preference), plug antanna in and run the wire to desired location (preferably open flat surface), plug power cord in tuner and plug into cigarette lighter socket, power up the tuner and find an unused fm channel in your area, set that channel on tuner and then turn radio to that channel. Call the 800#. You will need the tuner ID number which will be on the back of the unit. 

Love sxm. Couldn't truck without it

kswildcat

Pretty good deal. Pretty good tuner, comes with car kit and a speaker setup you can take on the go or put on the porch while smoking a cigar.. $90 from sxm radio.. I was off, monthly subscription is $16

I might actually pick this up myself.. I just activated radio in truck. That jam box setup looks handy

0patience

Depending on the station, there are commercials.
Some stations there are none, but MLB stations and Comedy channels do.
It's great for when you are on a long trip, because you don't lose the channel you are listening to, but if you are in the mountain areas, you may lose signal quite a bit,

I like having it, because I it has all the baseball games on it and I can listen to my favorite teams without having to worry about blackouts of the game.

kswildcat

Tony I've been pretty fortunate with signal loss. I rarely lose signal in mountains and canyons. Some short tunnels I can go thru and not lose signal. I may be wrong but sometimes it seems it is a few seconds ahead..

I mostly listen to patriot (talk radio), hair nation, country channels and NFL channels. Patriot and NFL has commercials but music stations dont, dj may talk a bit between songs but that's it.

Only real con in my book for someone that doesn't travel much would be $16month. For me it's more then worth it. I'd pay much more not having to fiddle constantly finding a station or messing with cd's

0patience

I pay $19 for the All Access, so I can listen online too.
We got a 6 month package deal.
I don't lose signal a lot, but we are in an area with lots of mountains, so there are those times where we lose signal for 30 seconds. 

LIke you, it hasn't been a big deal for us.

0patience

Marty,
Like the guys said, if you don't have an xm/sirius radio in your vehicle, the portables are the way to go. They even make one that has a desktop kit and then can connect to your existing car stereo on an FM channel.
We bought one for my son on Amazon. It was pretty reasonable.

This is the kit my son has, we bought it, then bought the home kit too.

http://www.amazon.com/SiriusXM-Satellite-Radio-SXPL1V1-Vehicle/dp/B00I59XQKO/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1462646579&sr=8-3&keywords=sirius+radio

gripnrip

I would suggest signing up for the shortest commitment possible, then cancel. When we cancelled my wife's service (she didn't use it much and when we travel we are in my rig) they offered her 6 months for $25. When I bought my new truck (comes with 6 months of sxm "free") the guy at the dealership suggested that when renewal time comes to dicker....am told the operators can offer significant savings even on new subscriptions. I have the all access as well...nice to have the app on my phone and stream to the Bose Bluetooth speaker when outside smoking/working, or just plug in the ear buds!

jlmarta

This is great information, guys. Thanks very much. 

Hrycaj

@jlmarta I have a radio you can have. Let me know if you want it and I will find what parts I have. Based on what o find you'll know if it would be Better than a starter package

jlmarta

Hrycaj said:

@jlmarta I have a radio you can have. Let me know if you want it and I will find what parts I have. Based on what o find you'll know if it would be Better than a starter package

Let me think about it for a little while. I appreciate the offer but I need to decide if I'd use it enough for the subscription to be worthwhile. My father used to say a bargain's only a bargain if you need it. 

As it is, I'm not a heavy user of the car (or my truck) radio but that might be because of all the commercials, pledge drives, etc. Maybe if I didn't have to listen to all that crap I'd use it more. 

And im not into sports or talk radio so, for me, that just leaves music. 

Anyway, @Hrycaj, I'll definitely keep your offer in mind. Thanks very much.... 

cbuck

Hello Marty! If you spend any time in the car, it is definitely worth it. Driving to FL twice a year, and never having to change the channel alone made it worth it! Plus Red Sox games, and not having to listen on AM station was nice too!

jlmarta

Duly noted, Charlie @cbuck. I'll certainly keep it in mind. It would make our periodic trip to the casino a bit more pleasant. I think I'll plan another outing for later this month. 

Many thanks, my friend. 

0patience

I agree that never having to hunt for a channel is really nice.
I have 5 channels that are in my Favorites list and I can switch between them.

And with the MLB channels, my stereo will alert me when there is team on my MLB favorites that is on and will ask me if I want to jump to that channel.
But it's part of my stereo in my truck.

From the channels that you can choose from, there is 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s music, Jazz, Rock, Bluegrass and tons of others, plus the comedy channels and if you have grandchildren, there is Radio Disney.

The problem you have when you first get it, is trying to figure out what channels are your favorites and what you like.

When the wife and I go on trips, it's nice to have the channels we like and what we normally listen to, no matter where we are.

jsnblnchrd

Unless you have shotty cell service where you drive, I would suggest running a music app off your phone. For one, it's cheaper. Two, I didn't like not being able to skip songs on XM. Three, XM is a real pain to cancel.  You can't do it online and the call takes a good 20 minutes. So if your main thing music, do it on your phone if you can. Now if you like talk or other stuff then XM is great. They offer a lot. This isn't a bashing of XM. To each his own. Just thought I would throw in my two cents. 

0patience

jsnblnchrd said:

Unless you have shotty cell service where you drive, I would suggest running a music app off your phone. For one, it's cheaper. Two, I didn't like not being able to skip songs on XM. Three, XM is a real pain to cancel.  You can't do it online and the call takes a good 20 minutes. So if your main thing music, do it on your phone if you can. Now if you like talk or other stuff then XM is great. They offer a lot. This isn't a bashing of XM. To each his own. Just thought I would throw in my two cents. 

Running a music app or any app on my phone while driving is a total pain for me, which is why I like satellite radio.
Plus having a limited data plan on my phone, it limits that option.
I hadn't given a thought to using a phone, because there is only one carrier in my area that has good enough coverage for that type of thing.

jlmarta

jsnblnchrd said:

Unless you have shotty cell service where you drive, I would suggest running a music app off your phone. For one, it's cheaper. Two, I didn't like not being able to skip songs on XM. Three, XM is a real pain to cancel.  You can't do it online and the call takes a good 20 minutes. So if your main thing music, do it on your phone if you can. Now if you like talk or other stuff then XM is great. They offer a lot. This isn't a bashing of XM. To each his own. Just thought I would throw in my two cents. 

Some very good points, @jsnblnchrd. I already have a couple music apps and with a little forethought I can overcome the main negative point - that being the drain on my battery. If I plug the charger in when I start playing the music then that problem is eliminated. 

The apps I have are freebies and there are commercials attached but I'd probably eliminate that problem by buying some music apps, no?  I think I'll look into this a little further. 

Thanks very much, my friend. 

Wylaff

I use Spotify, and I'm a huge fan of being able to make any size playlist available offline. It stores it encrypted, but doesn't take data. I have a large list I use just for travel.

as for xm, they often offer 30 day trials. If you like it, cancel it, wait two months and they will offer the service for half off to get you back 

YankeeMan

My car came equipped with a tuner.  I love Sirius radio.  No matter where you go, you can continue with the same station you are listening to.  Yes, some do have commercials, some do not, but the music selection is great and I tend to listen to ESPN while in the car.

The3Stogies

My wife had it in her car, pretty cool.  Like how it showed the song titles and artists.  So many stations but you end up with a few favorites, mine was the redneck comedy, rock and jazz/blues stuff.  But after a while it's kinda the same.  I never got it in mine and she let hers go after a couple of years.  I have an original iPod I still use instead, set it throw it in the console and forget it..

kswildcat

Hair nation does play a lot of the same songs often. But they are good ones.

raisindot

@jlmarta, responding to your specific inquirty about music, SiriusXM as about 3 jazz stations. One "regular' (i.e., bebop, acoustic type), one or two "contemporary jazz' type stations. I think there is one classical music station, with a separate one for opera.  

jlmarta

raisindot said:

@jlmarta, responding to your specific inquirty about music, SiriusXM as about 3 jazz stations. One "regular' (i.e., bebop, acoustic type), one or two "contemporary jazz' type stations. I think there is one classical music station, with a separate one for opera.  

Yeah, I'm sorta finding the same kinda thing. I'm beginning to think that maybe an MP3/MP4 might be the way to go. Only I'm too lazy/disinclined to download my own playlists so I'm currently researching preloaded lists. Maybe I can download a list or three and use the 'shuffle' button (if there is one). 

I'm not into what you term 'regular' jazz. To me, a little contemporary is okay, smooth jazz is even better, and a smattering of classical jazz thrown into the mix works well. 

As as for the classical, I'll opt for light classical and absolutely no opera. My hearing is far too sensitive to endure listening to female sopranos - it's physically painful to me. 

I'm hoping to find a few lists containing the above kinda sounds. Of course, I could be dreaming.....  

jlmarta

Wylaff said:

I use Spotify, and I'm a huge fan of being able to make any size playlist available offline. It stores it encrypted, but doesn't take data. I have a large list I use just for travel.

as for xm, they often offer 30 day trials. If you like it, cancel it, wait two months and they will offer the service for half off to get you back 

Do you use the free version of Spotify or the paid one, @Wylaff?  And do I understand correctly that you can download playlists that can be used offline?  Can you also store those for future listening?

Are there existing playlists or must you create your own, tune by tune?

Wylaff

I use the paid. You can create your own or simply find one. If you select to make it avaliable offline, it stays avaliable until you unselect it (no limit that I have found yet) and you can have different playlists avaliable on each device.

jlmarta

Hmmmm. Okay. That sounds good. I may just give it a try for a while. Thanks a lot, Wayne. @Wylaff..... 

raisindot

If you get a free trial, just make sure you get look over the channel list and get the trial with the stations you want. They offer a bewildering variety of tiers. The basic one I thing gets you basic stuff--mostly Top 40 and some era stations, but not a lot of their "specialized" stations like the Grateful Dead channel or the comedy channels or maybe not even all the jazz or classical stations you want.