Satellite radio ( for vehicle and or cottage)

[splashhopper]

So, just before Christmas i purchased a "new2me" 2003 Dodge Ram ( 2 dr 2 wheel drive with full cap).

 

Got an EXCEPTIONAL deal on it. And just in time as the torque converter in my caravan was giving me some signs that it was about to go any day.

 

The truck actually has a CASSETTE PLAYER in it . Oh well, I can buy something for the truck with the dough I saved on it.

 

I do have a 50w Pioneer AM/FM/CD player in the caravan that I could pull out before I sell it. (It doesn't play MP3's though or have a jack to hook mine up with.)

 

I just WANT a reasonable new system in the truck and don't want to pay an arm and a leg for it.

 

I would like a satellite radio in it as a few of my friends have them and I am blown away by the clarity and the variety of channels that they can pull in. I don't live in the big city, so tall buildings won't be an issue for me, and I don't live where there are all kinds of tunnels to deal with either.

 

I do have a portable MP3 player that I could plug in to the satellite receiver.

 

 

Now with all that said, here are my questions:

 

1) What service provider and why ?

 

2) What kind of power should I be looking for? ( 2 dr cab) I am NOT a metal head either but I do like a few classic AC DC tunes cranked every once in a while.

 

3) Should I get a separate cd/mp3 player vs using the jack that seems to come with all the receivers these days ?

 

4) I am hoping to buy another trailer in the not too distant future and would also like to use the satellite radio out of the truck there. This is NOT a key feature for me though. Any suggestions?

 

 

If you own a satellite radio system, please advise.

 

Thanks again.

 

Splashhopper

Edited January 2, 2011 by splashhopper

[cwpowell]

I have a Sirius satellite radio and couldn't be happier with it!

 

The boom box that you can buy for it is phenomenal.

[BUSTER]

I have a Sirius satellite radio and couldn't be happier with it!

 

The boom box that you can buy for it is phenomenal.

DITTO

[archer379]

i have a sirus radio and you can have it if you wanti on;y used it for part of one summer didnt care for it.

[splashhopper]

nobody else has satellite in their vehicles ?

[Tom McCutcheon]

Sirius and XM are going to merg as one in Canada, the same as they are in the States soon. It all depends on what you like to listen to. The music is basically the same but talk hosts and sports are different. If you listen to baseball and hockey then XM is the way to go. If basketball and football is your thing then go with Sirius.

My brother has XM on his boat for the baseball and music and Sirius in his truck. Both are excellant however I think when the two merg he will probably switch the one in the truck over to XM programming.

 

Tom.

[Fisherman]

And why would anyone pay good money to listen to music when there's more stations out there than you can shake a tuner at.

[splashhopper]

Sirius and XM are going to merg as one in Canada, the same as they are in the States soon. It all depends on what you like to listen to. The music is basically the same but talk hosts and sports are different. If you listen to baseball and hockey then XM is the way to go. If basketball and football is your thing then go with Sirius.

My brother has XM on his boat for the baseball and music and Sirius in his truck. Both are excellant however I think when the two merg he will probably switch the one in the truck over to XM programming.

 

Tom.

 

........................................................................

 

SIRIUS Canada and XM Canada Announce Merger

 

Today marks another important and exciting milestone in the five year history of SIRIUS Canada. We have announced that SIRIUS Canada and XM Canada have made the decision to combine the two companies in a merger that results in a united company with more than 1.7 million subscribers.

 

This announcement has no immediate impact for subscribers. SIRIUS Canada will continue to operate as it does today, offering the 120 channels of commercial-free music plus the sports, talk and news you love.

 

The merger is subject to regulatory review and approvals including the Canadian Radio-television & Telecommunications Commission and CSR (parent company of XM) shareholders. The companies will continue to operate independently until the merger is complete and regulatory approvals are received. As we go through this regulatory process, we plan to provide additional updates as they become available.

 

As we begin the process to merge the two companies, SIRIUS Canada will continue to keep our focus on providing very best listening experience available. Thank you for supporting SIRIUS Canada’s five year journey and we’re thrilled to have you with us as we enter into an exciting new era in broadcasting.

 

For further details on the merger, please visit sirius.ca/press.

 

Sincerely,

 

Mark Redmond

President and CEO, SIRIUS Canada

 

 

November 24, 2010

[Tom McCutcheon]

I knew that happened back in November but they also added that it would be sometime in 2011 (early spring) when the merger was complete. At that time they would provide a combined program list from both XM and Sirius and you would choose your music, talk shows or sports as you like, similar to bundles on TV.

If I read the article right.

 

Tom.

 

It really does make a difference for reception in certain areas, especially if you are driving 3 or 4 hours and listening to a ball or hockey game.

Edited January 2, 2011 by Tom McCutcheon

[splashhopper]

i think u are right tom..

 

I could never get decent signal at my trailer.... was in the trees 50 yards away from Lake Huron.

 

Most towers are set to send their signals north and south along that stretch of lake to stop the skip from crossing across border.

 

Would get listening to some decent station somewhere and damn, zzzzzz lost again.... lol

 

Same thing happens when i am "trolling back roads" looking for off beat places to fish for bass and brookies

[ColdH20guy]

And why would anyone pay good money to listen to music when there's more stations out there than you can shake a tuner at.

 

Santa brought me a Sirius satellite boom box/auto combo..so far so good. I love the fact there are no commercials and can tune into my favourite (oldies 60's on 6!)anytime. The programming was at half off (6.50/month or so)..

I can simply listen in the van and bring the receiver in the house to the boombox...

Great so far..and yes I know you are paying to listen to music but thats everyone's choice I guess not to listen to tons of commercials..we'll see how it is going in 6 months when the prgramming is supposed to go back up....

[spincast]

Got satellite 3 years ago for the car. Now its either my cds or serious. Only time I listen to commercial radio is for local immediate weather and road conditions (as in driving into Toronto, 680 / cbc tells me which one will be double and which one will be triple the time it should take to drive there). You can always burn yoour music to a CD and play it on that. My car came with CD MP3 player - so I can get over 4 hours of music on a cd in MP3 format

I do find that the playlists get repetitive after a while, but the sheer number of channels helps to offset that. Artist alert is a very cool function - program 7 or 8 of your faves and you can almost always have at least one of them on at a time - same as record function is cool.

I haven't brought it inside to a boombox, although thought about it. Likewise I haven't taken it out on the boat yet - but thought about that. Most of the time when I'm fishin I just want to enjoy the scenery - but I coudl if I wanted to in less time than it takes to tie the boat down.

You can listen to some interesting commentary if your as cynical as I about politicians,

The playboy channel is NOT what you think it might be

As to why would I pay for radio - I guess the same reason I have cable. I could get radio for free, but it aint worth it.

Oh - and if you drive to say, Cochrane On or some even less travlled areas - you can still get all the channels you want, crystal clear, all the way. You just have to reset the input channel once or twice.

Oh - and the comedy channels are great at breaking up a long stretch of boredom.

but that's just my opinion.

[craigdritchie]

Sirius is pretty good. Radio came with the truck, so not sure what to say there. I like that there are no annoying commercials to speak of, except on the Howard Stern channel and even then, they're not very frequent. Sound quality is awesome. I think it's worth the $15 / month.

[danc]

Tiffany Granath.

[BUSTER]

And why would anyone pay good money to listen to music when there's more stations out there than you can shake a tuner at.

 

 

NOT at the cottage

Edited January 2, 2011 by BUSTER

[fishing n autograph]

i had xm....

 

when they merged the programming and music began to suck hard....didn't renew it

[danc]

Don't be afraid to play hardball with these guys (Sirius) either. I started my subscription with them 2 years ago. To make a long story short, I was supposed to get 3 months free when I activated, and nobody at Sirius would give it to me, although everyone I talked to agreed that I was eligible. So I sold my radio with the year long subscription and got my money back. I was done with them. A year later I got another year subscription charged to my visa. I phoned them and gave them a blast because of the poor customer service that I received a year earlier and told them that I sold everything and was done with them. They offered me a free Starmate 5 radio and a year subscription for half price. Ok. I'll give it another shot. I just finished my year and can honestly say that I like it a lot. So it's time to renew. Dec. 24th I got the charge to my visa. Now, Dec. 24th isn't the best time of the year for an annual $300.00 visa charge. So I phone them and tell them that I want to go month by month until April or so, just to get the annual charge away from the Xmas bills. Just like that they offer me a $50.00 credit on my annual fee. It doesn't take my annual fee away from Xmas, but I'll take it. Bottom line guys is that you can deal with them. That satellite is up in the sky, and they either get your "x" number of dollars a month, or they don't. Don't be afraid to make a phone call and complain about something. It's worked for me. And get the boom box. It's awesome. It gives me so much more listening time.

[irishfield]

Sorry Splash... I'm just finally calming down after my 8 track player ate my Fleetwood Mac Rumours tape !

[Joey]

My son bought me an XM Satellite Radio with Boom Box 3 years ago for Christmas. We love it. I have the boombox at home, but when we go away, we take the unit with us and play it camping, in a cabin, anywhere really, and always get reception (unless it rains sometimes).

 

We bought the unit that fits the truck and just transfer the face from the boom box to the truck for the ride, then back to the boombox when we get there.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Joey

[DRIFTER_016]

I have had both XM and Sirius and Sirius is way better for me.

XM starts to lose signal in Northern Alberta and Sirius has much better signal up in the far North. I also like NASCAR and it was unavailable on XM.

As for listening to music, when you got like 3 stations and they all SUCK!!!

Any sat radio is good.

[Doctrt]

Stern Rules! Bababooey! Now available on your IPhone!

[Chris]

Dec. 24th I got the charge to my visa. Now, Dec. 24th isn't the best time of the year for an annual $300.00 visa charge.

 

Hi, I just renewed my subscription to Sirius for a year for $119.00. This was because they had a special where you get a discount for 6 months. Even at full price it was only going to be something like $142.00 for the year. And this includes being able to play it on my computer as well as on the sattelite radio in my truck.

 

And why would anyone pay good money to listen to music when there's more stations out there than you can shake a tuner at.

 

No commercials, good reception just about anywhere, many, many stations to choose from, just to mention a few reasons. I just hope pay-radio doesn't go the same way pay-TV went. Remember back when pay-TV was introduced the selling point was that you will pay for the new TV stations but there would be no commercials, as subscriptions would replace advertising revenues. Then they started to have station identification commercials because that was not really advertising....right? Then they started having ads to support the stations sponsors because that wasn't really advertising.....right?. Over time we now have more commercials than ever on pay-TV (except for the Movie Channel I believe).

 

Anyway, I had the same opinion....why pay when you can get radio for free. But it came with my new truck, and I found I really liked it, and for about $10/month, hey why not!

[lew]

Anyway, I had the same opinion....why pay when you can get radio for free. But it came with my new truck, and I found I really liked it, and for about $10/month, hey why not!

 

Same thing for me Chris, the new truck came with Sirius free for 6 months and I liked it so I continued the subscription. For around 40 or 50 cents a day for the music I like it's pretty cheap entertainment. It's usually 50's rock and when I want a laff it's Blue Collar Radio.

 

Very nice not having to listen to commercials 1/2 the time.

[tjsa]

And why would anyone pay good money to listen to music when there's more stations out there than you can shake a tuner at.

 

I do not have a satellite radio yet, but up here in NW Ontario, travel outside of Thunder Bay N or NW, even SW more than an hour or so, or even less in places, all you are going to get clear is CBC Radio One. We just do not have the population density of Southern Ontario to merit re-transmission tower prices for our local radio stations. Also, along the north shore of Superior between Terrace Bay and Wawa, and Wawa to Sault. Ste. Marie, pretty sketchy along that area from what I can recall. Also, between Geraldton area, and Kirkland Lake/Timmins?? whichever is first, long stretches of no reception of anything other than CBC.

 

That's where XM or Sirius works great.

 

Depends where you live.