Need Sirius help please

[bridegirl]

DH said all he wants for xmas is sirius radio, he loves Howard Stern.

I know nothing about it! Is it like XM? Where you buy a special unit then you subscribe?

I need it in his car, his office, and our house. Can somebody fill me in?

Thanks so much!

Susy

 

[Nik's Mom]

I'd be curious to know too. I'm a big Stern fan and will need satelite radio in January.

 

[JenDaveBrendan]

I am curious to, DH and I are big Stern fans and we were wondering if we had to buy Sirius to get his show, or if we could by XM and still get it?? I heard he is also going "on-demand" on cable - anyone know any more about this??

thx- Jen

 

[bridegirl]

I should have pointed out - we have XM in one of cars already. Btw, it's great! We love the cinema channel.

Anyone out there know how to get Sirius?

Thanks for any advice,

Susy

 

[Tantorini]

I've been researching for my husband the Stern fan.. unforutnately they have not come out yet with what he wants exactly.. (he wants to be able to listen on the train.. it's not there yet)

however a few basic answers..

no it's not the same as XM.. it's like HBO vs Showtime.. each is it's own pay service, sure you can have both, but the content doesn't cross over. Howard Stern will only be available on Sirius..

You can buy a unit, and then have "docking stations" in the car, office, home - this way you're only paying for one subscription. If you don't want to bother with carrying the small unit around you can get more.. just think of it like Tivo.. the subscription belongs to the unit.. so your better deal is docking..

You can get it anywhere almost.. Best Buy, circuit city.. online sirius.com etc.. lots of options..

I wish the full color screens were already out... but since they are slow coming.. I'd go with the Sportster replay probably.. at least then you can play back 44min of pause.. which is cool..

good luck.. I know as soon as I finally choose.. they'll come out with what he wants.. (XM has it.. so it can be done) .. and then I'll be annoyed.. hehe

 

[Papa Deuce]

You can buy a unit at lots of places including big electronics stores. That is the easy part. Deciding which unit to buy can be difficult.

Big differences: Sirius has Stern, the NFL, March Madness, and NASCAR strating next year or the year after... whenever XM's contract expires.

XM has the MLB and Opie and Anthony and the Playboy channel ( I think ).

They cost the same for service ( or VERY CLOSE ) and you can listen to both on the web. And you can buy adapters to hook up to your home stereo. This is called a docking station.

I have had both services. They are both good. I switched to Sirius because of the NFL package. Music is "SIMILAR" on either service. But XM does have a more relaxed playlist, meaning a few less repeats. But I don't hear many repeats on Sirius anyway. So I don't care about that.

XM has a lot more subscribers than Sirius, and has been around longer by about a year or so. However, I have read NUMEROUS articles that say that Sirius is gaining customers at a faster rate than XM.... mostly due to Stern, the NFL, and the fact that XM will be dropping NASCAR, with Sirius picking it up.

In all honesty, I like Sirius better but both are good. It just depends on your needs. Oh, and do NOT expect "CD quality" sound on all channels. Both services alot different amounts of bandwidth to different channels as they see fit. Lower bandwidth means less quality.

EDIT: XM has a fully portable unit that you can take anywhere. Sirius has a hybrid model that seems portable but needs to be docked. But what that unit DOES have is the ability to record shows to the unit on a memory card for playback when docked. I am not fully sure of how XM's portable unit works, but is DOES NOT need to be docked.

Well, the Sirius unit is due any day now, truth be told.

 

[LoraJ]

Check out siriusbackstage.com . The forums there are very helpful in helping you choose a model for you.

 

[airhead]

I'll be looking for that docking station so i can listen to his show. I can't believe he only has a couple of weeks left! i better hurry up and get my sirius radio!!! Is it hard to set up?
Can I do it myself?

 

[Martha7]

It's really easy to set up, unless you want a professional installation in your car, then you might do what I did, which was to pay the dealer to install it. I got the Sirius Sportster unit, which can be installed in your car. I also bought the Sportster Boombox, which is a boombox, with a place in the middle, (kind of like where a cassette tape would pop in and out in an older style boombox.) You take the Sportster unit out of the car cradle, and put it in that place in the boombox, and you have your satellite radio wherever you want it! Sirius is coming out with a walkman style unit, but it's not out yet, and will be around $500! I paid less going with the Replay and Boombox. Check out www.Sirius.com for info on the set up. (Click on the "What is it?" tab.) Once you have everything in place, you call Sirius and give them the info off the unit and they activate your account. I get billed $12.95 to my credit card every month. Besides getting Howard in January, you can have the news channels like CNN, etc., as well as traffic and weather for major metropolitan areas. I love my Sirius, which I got for my birthday in August. It sounds complicated, but it isn't really. Hope you guys enjoy it! (Also, if I had two listeners, I'd get one subscription per person, since if you both drive at the same time, you'll need two units.) I'm the only real Howard fan in my family!

 

[airhead]

What you have is just what I'm looking for!
Did you buy the $189.99 package?

 

[bridegirl]

Is it the kind of thing where I will buy a bunch of stuff for xmas and then in january all my stuff wil be outdated?

I hate when that happens.

When is that walkman thingie supposed to be out?

Thanks,

Susy

 

[Tantorini]

possibly... it's such an emerging market that there is no way to control the "outdated" feel for a while..

Your best bet is to just jump in.. get comfortable with the service.. and wait until you see a piece of hardware you *have* to have.

Your question spurred on my research today.. and I'm going to revise myself.. I will get the S50 which comes with a car kit, and then buy the additional home kit.

Sure, I can only listen to pre-recorded programs (of my choosing) when the S50 is not docked, however, the color screen and small size push me over the edge.

In a few months when they come out with a fully portable device, we'll get that for Brian's commute, until then he can record stern, and then listen..

 

[Papa Deuce]

Is it the kind of thing where I will buy a bunch of stuff for xmas and then in january all my stuff wil be outdated?

I hate when that happens.

When is that walkman thingie supposed to be out?

Thanks,

Susy

No. My stuff is 3 years old. But new models come out all the time. BTW, I would wait on the "walkman thingie" until it is truly portable. Right now it still needs to be docked.

 

[lucyanna girl]

Do both have Disney music stations? Thanks

 

[LoraJ]

Yes, they both have Radio Disney.

Here is a link to some Sirius deals they have going on now:

http://shop.sirius.com/edealinv/ser...catParentID=11234&scId=11234&oldParentID=7871

 

[Miss Jasmine]

I bought DH a Sportster IR in September so he could listen to his Patriot games, and for Howard Stern when he goes on air in January. However he already has programming going on Howard 100 and it's a hoot! I love the Howard 100 News. Anyway, it came with the car kit, which we set up ourselves in DH's truck. And then I also bought the home docking kit, which we set up on our existing music system. It was VERY easy to set up. Also, I paid for the service a year in advance (you get a month free).

I want the S50 when it comes out. I know you have to listen to recorded stuff when it isn't docked but you can record sirius content AND download MP3s to it, pretty neat. While XM does have a fully portable unit I have heard less than favorable revies. The technology still needs to be worked on.

 

[Martha7]

Cool! We're like a quiet little underground group of Stern/DIS fans! I guess that makes us the DIS Whack Pack!

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Cool! We're like a quiet little underground group of Stern/DIS fans! I guess that makes us the DIS Whack Pack!

 

[airhead]

The DIS wackpack!!!!