This is pretty cool. I've slowly become an XM convert while listening on my commutes. I could do w/o the commercials but other than that, I like the variety of content.
XM Radio on DirecTV
I was under the impression that XM did not have any commercials. I figured it was one of the draws of XM. Looks like I was mistaken.
I thought the same too, until I actually started listening.
Interesting. I guess the only reason to get XM is the better quality sound. How much better is it though? Also, how good is the reception... does it ever break up. My parents live out in the boonies, I go out there quite often and the radio always breaks up at several spots... its really annoying.
While oldskool is perfectly capable of answering for himself, I'll jump in share some of my experience.
The commercials on XM are relatively few and far between - much less than you'd find on regular radio. If you're planning to use XM in the car, there are different methods of obtaining a signal (with varying degrees of clarity). I'm on the bottom rung of the ladder -- I tune my car radio to 87.1 or whatever's lowest on the dial, and voila -- XM radio. Alternately, there are ways to wire the XM receiver directly to your car stereo and obtain better fidelity in the process. Mine already sounds as good as regular radio, so I'm not compelled to bother futzing with it more.
My parents live in Florida, and I've driven from Nashville to Florida listening to the same station without signal loss. That is definitely a selling point to me. And the programming is great. I've been turned on to dozens of artists I never would have heard otherwise, and the tuner display tells me exactly who it is and what the name of the song is.
I'm not sure I'd be particularly interested in paying to have a tuner in the house as well, but for the car I've found it pretty tough to beat. I hardly ever listen to CDs anymore while I'm driving.
In reply to:
Interesting. I guess the only reason to get XM is the better quality sound. How much better is it though? Also, how good is the reception... does it ever break up. My parents live out in the boonies, I go out there quite often and the radio always breaks up at several spots... its really annoying.
The satellite reception works in the very same (exact!) principal as GPS. As long as the signal between the XM antenna and the sky isn't obscured the reception will be the same regardless of your location, within the parameters of the XM coverage areas.
The home adapters for the mobile units have antennas that shoot through the ceiling and roof of the home but the sound quality from the mobile receiver ain't what I'd consider hi-fi (more like AM radio, imo) if you're connected to a decent home system. PolkAudio makes a quality sound unit for the home (XRt12) but requires a dedicated subscription...for me it's only downfall.
I miss my DirecTV
For the logest time I was actually subscribing and paying for it in Canada using a P.O. box but they started cracking down on us Canucks having DirecTV and..........it was all over..........and I want it back!
Anybody in the US want half there DirecTV bill paid every month?
I agree, the positive is being able to listen to the same station for long drives. I won a Tao portable receiver, that also records 5 hours. W/ my home docking station, the home antenna is fantastic. In the car, the antenna is so-so, granted I only put it on the dash because I don't want a wire run outside the car door. I use a cassette adapter because the built in FM transmitter is crap, IMHO.
I wouldn't call it CD quality sound, but close. I agree, it's hard to listen to CDs w/ XM. I can also try new music very easily. And w/ so many channels, when a commercial comes on, it's not hard to switch to another channel.
However, I still wouldn't give up my iPod.
But it will be nice to use the optical output of my HD Tivo and just listen to XM that way, hopefully that'll be cleaner than the docking connection via RCA.
Just to clarify a point, XM only has commercials on the talk radio channels, and, as mentioned, they are few and far between.
The music channels are 100% commercial free except for a seconds-long station identification every half hour or so.