Spotify Killed the Sirius Star

FWIW.... Sirius/XM Internet streams are 128k AAC. Not bad...not great. But that's a damn whale better than most of their sat feeds which range from 24-32k.

Relatively, as a music service, it's expensive (even at their retention rate) with sub par SQ compared to Spotify, Apple, Tidal, etc.. A big part of why is their "exclusive" non-music programming--sports, news, Stern, yada as well as the mortgage on their space birds. So in whole, Sirius/XM holds considerable Poke N Play value for many.
 
I don't find the sound quality to be all that bad. Maybe it's because I have an old xm skyfi 2.
 
I tried that route, as a Prime member, but their software is so slow, clunky and frustrating that I had to re-sign with Spotify.
Interesting, never had a problem with the software but could not tell the difference between Pandora, Spotify, Tidal and Amazon with my equipment for what I use it for- background music.
 
I use Sirius. My new car came with a three month trial and I reupped it for a year at a discount.

It's ok. I wish they had a station that fully aligned with my current listening preferences. Still, I've found some good new (or new to me) music on there. Sound quality to my ears is acceptable for a noisy car environment.

I think it's a joke that they even try to charge $15.99/mo or whatever it is - I don't know of anyone who pays full price. I think they should just do a $6 flat rate for everyone with no additional discounts and they'd probably get more revenue.

Streaming services are great but they aren't quite as easy as the one button operation of a built in Sirius setup. And on my car at least sometimes it's a pain to get the phone connected to the car.
 
I use Sirius. My new car came with a three month trial and I reupped it for a year at a discount.

I I think they should just do a $6 flat rate for everyone with no additional discounts and they'd probably get more revenue.

Bingo! I told them that I'd pay 6 bucks a month just for Howard but they were instant on charging a premium for it. Too bad because I've had the sat radio in my cars since Howard moved to satellite and have never subscribed. I ain't paying 15 bucks a month to listen to Howard or anyone else. And since I use Amazon, all I need is an aux cord and "Alexa, play Bob Marley" done.
 
I don't think Sirius is doomed just yet, but if auto manufacturers decide to abandon it, they probably wouldn't last long. The service is great for people that don't care about SQ and just want a lot of variety with a touch of a button, while having coverage in the middle of nowhere. I just bought a new vehicle and it came with some sort of 5 year Sirius travel link subscription and a year of SiriusXM (covering every channel and also giving me access anywhere...including mobile). The deal is sweeter this time around, so it could be that they realize music streaming is breathing down their neck. I rarely listen to it, though. I prefer Apple Music and podcasts.

As a side note, no one has "hijacked" AM. The stations available, which around here is more sports talk than anything, are there because they get ratings and advertising fees. Those other formats that have failed just weren't entertaining enough to attract listeners. That may be one good thing about SiriusXM, for some, because they offer more variety because they can afford to let others pay for stuff few are listening to. It is similar to cable TV in the way people pay for a lot of stations they have no interest in. Heck, I am sure it was built into the price of my car, but it feels like a freebie since it isn't a line item on the sticker....that is probably why auto makers like it.
Music on AM radio was doomed by the wide availability of FM stereo and the miserable failure of AM stereo largely due to the FCC's experiment in letting the "free market" decide the standard.
 
Music on AM radio was doomed by the wide availability of FM stereo and the miserable failure of AM stereo largely due to the FCC's experiment in letting the "free market" decide the standard.

As a side note, Spanish language AM radio suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks. In case anyone was wondering.
 
I signed up for the 30 day free trial of Tidal a couple or 3 weeks ago. I'm going to keep it. I can sometimes hear the difference between it and Spotify (not always) and the sound quality is worth the extra $10 a month to me. I'm going to cancel Spotify. Having said that, I do like the Spotify interface better. Oh, and I also bought a Bluesound Node 2 with MQA built in. As far as Sirius/XM, I have it in my car. In that environment the sound quality isn't as important to me and regular radio around here is not to my liking.
 
Bingo! I told them that I'd pay 6 bucks a month just for Howard but they were instant on charging a premium for it. Too bad because I've had the sat radio in my cars since Howard moved to satellite and have never subscribed. I ain't paying 15 bucks a month to listen to Howard or anyone else. And since I use Amazon, all I need is an aux cord and "Alexa, play Bob Marley" done.
I have seen car setups that have a Dot setup with a wifi hotspot. I get pretty much the same thing from Siri, so I haven't tried it in the car, but it looked interesting. If I was into Amazon Music I might try it. I bet you can use the phone as a hotspot, but I would guess it would take time to get them in sync when you started the car.
 
Personally I think Sirius is too heavy on the throwback/oldies/fossil rock stations, and too heavy on the artist-dedicated channels. They need more variety, and more newer music.
 
I have seen car setups that have a Dot setup with a wifi hotspot. I get pretty much the same thing from Siri, so I haven't tried it in the car, but it looked interesting. If I was into Amazon Music I might try it. I bet you can use the phone as a hotspot, but I would guess it would take time to get them in sync when you started the car.

Oh wow that would be cool. Expensive without unlimited data, but cool. The 2nd generation dot syncs up very quickly (seconds) with wifi so no bluetooth is needed, but I haven't used Bluetooth with it yet so I don't know. However, my 2006 Lexus still has a cassette deck (thank you, Japan!) so all I do to get Amazon or any of the other streaming services OR hard drive playback is shove a cassette adapter into the player and I'm rocking. Not the best sound quality, despite the "Mark Levinson" stereo but who cares when you're going 80 miles an hour? Not me, I just want AC/DC as loud as possible.
 
Personally I think Sirius is too heavy on the throwback/oldies/fossil rock stations, and too heavy on the artist-dedicated channels. They need more variety, and more newer music.

Yes! We had it in my wife's car for three months free when we first bought it and I thought the exact same thing. Free streaming services were much better and have a better (seemingly) selection of music both new and old. Plus the lack of being able to influence the playlist is a big minus for satellite. Not to mention commercials.
 
I use a bluetooth fm transmitter in my work truck and the Amazon app. Works great, as a bonus I can also stream my nas throuth the plex app but I bought the lifetime pass back when it was 50$
 
Yes! We had it in my wife's car for three months free when we first bought it and I thought the exact same thing. Free streaming services were much better and have a better (seemingly) selection of music both new and old. Plus the lack of being able to influence the playlist is a big minus for satellite. Not to mention commercials.

I think their target demographic is older and not as into the streaming services. Although I will say that I think Pandora (at least) has a fairly limited playlist also. In fact Sirius may have more. Its just they rarely play it all.
 
Yes! We had it in my wife's car for three months free when we first bought it and I thought the exact same thing. Free streaming services were much better and have a better (seemingly) selection of music both new and old. Plus the lack of being able to influence the playlist is a big minus for satellite. Not to mention commercials.
In the car, a lot of people don't want to mess with their phones (definitely not talking about the lady in front of me in the turn lane this morning!) and using the satellite built into their radio with all of their favorite presets is ideal. It is not my preference, but it does explain why a lot of people choose satellite.
 
I think their target demographic is older and not as into the streaming services. Although I will say that I think Pandora (at least) has a fairly limited playlist also. In fact Sirius may have more. Its just they rarely play it all.

LOL I think a lot of media need to start keeping in mind that "older" doesn't mean 1955 anymore. I'm 50 and I was 20 in 1987 not 1957 but I guess they know who will pay for the service. I certainly won't.
 
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