mayhemkrew wrote:

XM is 100% commercial free too. There are no ad's for any product on any
channels, this was effective March 1st.

Music channels are commercial free just like Sirius
other channels have commercials just like Sirius.

The only thing I have found with Sirius is reception is not as good as XM
(which I am sure others can attest to). When I install Sirius systems, I
have to pull the car out of the bay to get a reception signal with XM I do
not.

I have both and I am not sure reception is better on one or the other.

The problem you have is probably assciated with the terestrial boosters.
XM and SIRIUS use ground stations to fill in the gaps by big buildings
or freeway overpasses in big cities, in your shop you may just be seeing
the influence of the terrestrial (ground) repeaters....

In the sky, XM has two geostationary sats (always in the same spot
over the equator like satellite TV) and SIRIUS I guess cause there
were no more geostationary spots available or becuase it might cost
more to have the geostationary spots, have THREE sats up there, but
they move around in figure 8s over the USA... SInce they can go below
the horizon (out of view) they have to have three sats so two are always
visible to your car....

There are technical advantages and disadvantages to each of the
systems but I would say they are probably about equal technicly, and
using both I dont really notice any more drop outs from one to the other
and certainly not enough to bother me in either case....

Customers also say that it fades in and out for whatever reason and I
have read numerous complaints on various message boards with the same
complaint. Not saying this is everybody's problem, but one I ran into.

It could be, depending on where you live or even how the antenna is
mounted on the car could show performance differences between the
two services.... I would think if your anywhere near a big city like I
am the terrestrial antennas could be playing a big part... My XM at home
has the antenna looking out a north facing window but the XM antennas
in the sky are definitly SOUTH of me.. So I know that system is
looking at a terrestrial antenna, not the sky...

The other thing I noticed with Sirius systems is the music streams sound
like poorly encoded mp3 files (swishy), this is both with dedicated and RF
modulated systems. SO, this war will continue on. . .

I have heard folks say that about both XM and Sirius, for me they
both sound fine....

BTW, I have also heard folks say Sirius repeats music more often than XM
does, but I cant verify that with the channels I listen to....

Eddie Runner
http://www.installer.com/tech/



"John" wrote in message
news
Eddie,
Yes, I really do have Sirius! But I stand corrected. When I first signed
up, their marketing was "100% commercial free." They have since changed
that to "100% commercial free music." Which just means the music channels
are commerical free, but as you said, some of the others run commercials.


"Eddie Runner" wrote in message
...
John wrote:

I'll second that. I chose Sirius over XM because:
1) XM runs commercials on some channels; Sirius is 100% commercial
free

Sounds like you dont really have SIRIUS at all or you would know that
Sirius IS NOT 100% commercial free.... Sirius has MANY channels
that do have commercials...

2) Sirius has NPR and PRI stations, XM does not (or at least did not
at
the
time)

Now programing differences is a legit reason to choose one
over the other... I have both XM and Sirius so I dont miss anything...
;-)

To be honest, my biggest reason for getting satellite radio was to
escape
the incessant commercials on FM. Just knowing that XM is not
commercial-free was all I had to hear.

Both XM and Sirius are a big change from old school FM, but you
are wrong about the difference in commercials... Comparing the
two they are about even in the channels with or without commercials,
I believe the music channels on both services are commercial free, but
many other channels are full of commercials....

Eddie Runner
I got both!