How Do XM And Sirius Satellite Radio Compare?
If you want to take advantage of the satellite radio boom which
is picking up steam with almost every passing day, you only have
two major choices if you live in the US, either XM or Sirius.
Both providers offer high quality, digital programming with over
100 channels to listen to so you can never run out of something
good on the radio.
But what are the differences between the two services? It makes
sense to figure that out in advance and make the right decision
for you, as the equipment that you buy that enables you to
receive the signal from one of the providers, cannot be used
with the other provider if you decide that you want to make a
change for some reason. So that means that examining the
programming options from both XM and Sirius is an important step
in the buying process, as it will be very expensive if you
decide to change after the equipment has been purchased.
In actuality though, there are more similarities between the two
providers than there are differences, especially in the field of
music. Each has over 60 channels of music to tune into including
all of the major generes like pop, hip-hop, blues, all kinds of
rock, country, jazz, classical, as well as dance music and music
by the decades (70s, 80s, 90s, etc.) So in this area, either one
will no doubt provide you with all the music programming that
you could ever need.
The differences in programming start to show up in the talk
radio and sports radio sections though. In sports, XM broadcasts
baseball games and Nascar, whereas Sirius has committed to more
overall sports programming including all NFL footbal games, most
NBA games, NHL, and Nascar. So if you are a sports fan, the
differences can be important in this area.
In talk radio, one of the biggest draws for Sirius is Howard
Stern. Of course, his radio show has been very popular for many
years and has lots of listeners, so if he is a favorite of
yours, you can only find him on Sirius. But there are other talk
shows available as well, although Sirius tends to attract more
celebrity talk shows hosted by the likes of Martha Stewart,
Jimmy Buffet, and more. One other advantage in the talk area, is
that Sirius also carries NPR, which has a wide fan base as well.
The list is constantly changing though, so check the latest
channel lineup to see what talk channels are being offered at
this point.
Both services offer always-on, everywhere service that is
available no matter where you live in the US, and the equipment
for receiving each service is pretty extensive, with XM maybe
having a slight edge in the portability field.
So look over the channel lineups carefully, choose your provider
and enjoy the next step in high quality, digital entertainment.