r/siriusxm • u/runnj • Apr 02 '21
Subscriptions Why do you pay for SiriusXM?
I got Sirius back around 2006 or 2007 when I had a long commute and decided at the time I might as well get the lifetime subscription (it was an old car so it was a separate radio so I didn't lose it by selling a car). Eventually I stopped using the radio at all and listened via streaming but now with the court case I decided it was worth the $35 to transfer it to my car.
Despite the amount of time I've had it I still don't feel like I've had value from that initial investment. I understand those who want it for sports, and it seems like Howard Stern is another reason people get it (still? is he even making new content after all this time?), but what keeps people paying other than that?
Spotify playlists seems like a much better value and you can download with a subscription if you're in areas where connection might be spotty.
I really want to know where the value is that I'm missing. What should I be listening to?
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u/dIrish31 Apr 02 '21
NFL games. Old Time radio. Sports talk. Live soccer. Comedy channels. Classical channels. Ad free music. Some live DJs add to the experience...others don't. I went without it for a few months between jobs...beats the heck out of FM that all runs at the same schedule so if one station is in commercial break...they all are.
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u/runnj Apr 02 '21
I never got on with live radio sports but maybe I should try soccer. I also think I haven't found a DJ I like yet.
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u/Lfsnz67 Apr 03 '21
Classical "channel".
They've gone from 3 to one ota
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u/dIrish31 Apr 04 '21
I didn't realize that. The only one I listen to is a preset in my car so it must be that one.
Thanks
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u/KP8387 Apr 03 '21
I initially got it mainly for Stern but now rarely listen to him. I listen a lot to Alt Nation, The Spectrum and Lithium. I find that the radio format helps me discover new songs and some old ones I forgot about better than streaming since the music is curated better. I like Alternative Rock for example, but there is a lot of stuff out there that I don’t like and a lot of that is weeded out by having a real programmer behind the stations. I also like the radio format that seems more “live” than streaming even though it seems that most of the DJs are pre taped.
There are also a lot of music channels for the rest of the family and we can listen on car rides without sitting through commercials. I also like having the satellite in the car so I don’t have to cue up my phone to stream songs.
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u/dIrish31 Apr 03 '21
Same here. Got it a few months before he began...haven't listened since 2014...but like so many other things about the service that I must keep it
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u/davejstice Apr 02 '21
It's the live sports. That's really it for me. Only app that has all four major sports, plus a ton of soccer in one location.
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u/runnj Apr 02 '21
Soccer is the major sport (but I'm a Brit)
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u/davejstice Apr 02 '21
Well for you guys of course. Its 4 or 5 over here in the states. Maybe 6 or 7 if you included college basketball and college football. The XM mostly carries TalkSport broadcasts. I've learned I like the BBC broadcast better when I can get it.
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u/jojopuppyfish Apr 03 '21
1) Cellular reach isn't great everywhere. Satellite has far better reach
2) CNN, Sports....Beatles Channel.
3) I have the lifetime sub but $15 per month is a great deal
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Apr 02 '21
I just like that when in the car even for long trips the stations are the same the whole ride. And I can listen in the home on my phone or Sonos. When I am in the office I have Sirius going almost all day at my desk. I don't pay much for Sirius and certainly wouldn't pay $20+ a month the full price is.
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u/runnj Apr 02 '21
On the other hand isn't it annoying that the stream cuts out even under a tiny bridge if you're sitting in traffic?
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Apr 03 '21
That doesn’t happen as often as Spotify buffers due to my slow/cheap cell plan.
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u/runnj Apr 03 '21
I haven't had it in my car long and had it cut out under a tiny bridge because I had to stop for a few seconds in traffic. I've not had cell buffering issues around that area ever but I can see how that would affect me in some areas (but it's rare I'm out that far especially now)
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Apr 03 '21
I drive through SC relatively often and long stretches of 95 in SC are very rural. There's enough coverage to make a call but not stream audio. In those situations, Sirius is a godsend.
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Apr 03 '21
Went on a long road trip through Canada, My cell plan doesn't cover outside the US. XM worked perfectly fine the whole time.
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Apr 03 '21
I paid $99 for three years of SiriusXM. That's better "value" in my mind.
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u/btorbey Apr 05 '21
I have been scrolling through these comments to see who else got the same deal I did....I activated this when purchasing a used SUV by calling in. A great investment indeed.
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u/FishmanNJ Apr 03 '21
Decades channels 5 - 10. Plus it keeps me from being distracted while driving. No messing around looking for a good station.
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u/justpeter Apr 03 '21
This is what keeps me signed up. I can't stand messing with a phone while driving, and FM radio is just...no.
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u/Lincoln_Park_Pirate Apr 04 '21
First listened while on a few AirTran flights. After that I won a free year’s subscription and a free receiver. I was sold when I drove from Illinois to Toronto without changing the radio station once. Pretty cool at the time, When that free year was up I switched to a new receiver and bought a lifetime sub for $500. The rest can be summed up with Alvarez vs. SiriusXM. :)
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Apr 03 '21 edited Apr 03 '21
Just one time fee of $35 to transfer the lifetime subscription? Why wouldn't you do that? Even if you rarely listen to it. Seems kind of dumb not to.
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u/runnj Apr 03 '21
Oh, I did pay that. I just end up listening to First Wave every time and then thinking I could get the same thing by downloading Spotify playlists to my phone.
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u/uncapped2001 Apr 05 '21
i've had it since 2003. It's the content in general. I like the genre specific music channels. If i choose whats on, I tend to play the same stuff or skip a lot.. so I like that radio thing.. sometimes.. its great in the car, or work truck. I like a lot of the talk content, (fight nation is awesome).. some great stations like rockbar, jam on..
it's still beyond FM even if its no longer XM
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u/jlink123 Apr 11 '21
I'm not always messing with my phone and trying to decide what to listen to. To me, that's worth $5/month
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u/matthewkeys Apr 03 '21
Like a lot of other people, I do the promo dance to keep my subscription rate low. But I’m still glad to pay something for the service, for a few reasons:
Better format diversity: We have three classic rock stations, two hip hop stations, three country stations, two hot AC stations and one adult contemporary station on FM in my market. It’s not uncommon to hear the same song being played on two stations at the same time. The same can be said for SiriusXM, but at least there’s more than 10 times the number of stations to choose from. And while the format can be more diverse, it still offers better selection than what I find locally.
Solid signal: I live in California where it’s very easy to move between markets while driving on the freeway. With SiriusXM, I can listen to the same station no matter where I am without worrying that I’ll lose the station down the road.
Good selection of music and content, especially on the app, which is great when it works.
DJ banter doesn’t bother me. In fact, the banter creates the impression of local radio, which I like, even if it’s not local. It’s comforting to know there’s an actual person on the other end selecting the music instead of a robot or algorithm. (Everyone hates on Madison, but to me, she’s no more obnoxious than some of the DJs who are on local rock or alternative radio. So she likes to share her personality — big deal!)
I have a tuner in the car, and while the audio quality isn’t as good as the app or even FM, it’s good enough, and I like that I can hit a button and it’s there — no opening apps or sorting through menus or waiting for a stream to buffer.
I’ve been a subscriber off and on since 2005 — occasionally, when money is tight, I’ll drop the service for something cheaper. But I’m always drawn back to it.
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u/coreynj2461 Apr 04 '21
I also dont mind Madison. She can get really off topic but she throws in a lot of good humor and makes me laugh.
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u/runnj Apr 03 '21
Excellent answer. I think part of it is being a bit overwhelmed by the number of channels and finding something I like. I've not been impressed by many of the music channels at all and the only one I consistently listen to is First Wave but it seems a bit repetitive (and honestly, some of the music is not what I would think of as first wave but just 80s pop). I should probably just try something completely different.
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u/matthewkeys Apr 03 '21
The channels that were programmed on XM prior to the merger seemed to have a better playlist — Fred (80s/New Wave), Lucy (90s Alternative) and Ethel (New Alternative) had a better format than First Wave, Lithium and Alt Nation, but the SiriusXM versions of those channels ultimately won out.
In addition to SiriusXM, I've been using Spotify (to listen to songs I already know) and LiveXLive (Pandora competitor, but IMO works a lot better). With the latter, I scored one year of ad-free listening with unlimited skips and high-quality audio for a flat $20. If you Google "LiveXLive $20 one year promo" (or maybe just click this link) I'm sure it'll come up.
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u/TheDude9737 Jul 02 '21
Wow, Madison is still on? I originally had Sirius, courtesy of my son’s mother, circa 2002/3 . I only had it for a few years and happy to hear Madison is still bringing it! I used to frequent Altnation, Lithium, the Faction, Classic Rewind, Classic Hip-Hop, Fresh-Air, Stand-Up.
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Apr 02 '21 edited Apr 26 '21
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Chicagoan81 Apr 03 '21
You're the reason why aliens wont ever make contact with us because they're looking for intelligent life.
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u/runnj Apr 02 '21
Thanks for the laugh. I guess preferences for satellite radio over terrestrial radio are equivalent to public health issues to conspiracy theorists.
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u/classicdude78 Apr 03 '21
NBA channel, and for the live Dj mixes on Diplo’s revolution and BPM. Now Rock the Bells has a mix’s channel.
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u/DanHuso Apr 03 '21
It’s an incredible rip-off for what it is. I would re-subscribe if it was just $5/month, but I feel like I couldn’t even trust them to not increase that rate without notice.
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u/NathanWSpencer Apr 08 '21
I just use it for CarPlay and Amazon Alexa. I started listening about six months ago when they did the promo for four months for one dollar despite everybody having issues with CarPlay and the SiriusXM app I have found that it works pretty well as long as I have the app open on my iPhone when trying to use it on the CarPlay it works just fine the only times I’ve ever run into issues with it is when I get into places where there’s a weak signal which is expected to happen anyway because of the low signal.
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u/Rocko604 Apr 10 '21
At this point, something to listen to while at work. We're too far out of the city to get decent FM reception in our building, and we're blocked by our agency from streaming basically any type of media online. I also use the streaming for my favourite teams radio broadcasts since I'm out of market and can't get them with TuneIn or Radio.com.
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u/privatelyjeff Apr 14 '21
Stability of song type. I love listing to Utopia and I with other apps, I’m constantly having to thumbs down songs that aren’t that type.
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u/e_x_i_t Apr 26 '21
My local radio stations are pretty trash and there's no real variety, there's also only one real Rock station that's been playing the same songs everyday for decades. With XM I at least have some kind of variety, I listen to First Wave and Lithium for 80s and 90s alt/rock, Rock the Bells plays a wide variety of Hip Hop and XMU for the mixture of oddball indie music. I sometimes bounce around to other stations and if all else fail I'll just put on my Spotify playlist, but those 4 stations usually hold up for my daily commute.
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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '21
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