XM vs. Sirius

Was thinking of getting Satellite Radio now that both of them are carrying Air America.

Any thoughts on which one was better? I'm primarily interested in indie pop and rock, psych, alt-folk and offbeat singer-songwriter type music. I looked at XM's lineup and it seems pretty weak on indie and underground music (only one station, XMU?). Is Sirius any better on this end?

It would be great to have streams of top college radio stations, and great independents like KCRW, WFMU, etc., but neither seem to have this sort of thing.

You're far better off with XM.

Overall, XM is more focused on music, and Sirius is more focused on sports and talk. XM has not only more music channels, but is programmed much, much deeper. Sirius has a very FM approach to programming, lots of hits, lots of repetition. XM is alot more eclectic and much deeper. It is also less voice tracked and the DJs will take your requests and email with you on occasion.

You will find indie and underground music primarily on XMU, which is an awesome station, but also you might then like Fungus, which is punk/surf/industrial/ska, some of the electronic/dancey stations, and then of course there's a deep classic alternative station (44), regular altenrative (47) which is different than "hard" alternative (48), and alternative hits (54). You might also like the euro-weenie pop station (29).


As for alt-folk and singer-songwriter stuff, the gold standard is really XM 50 (the loft).


Info on xm:
www.xm411.com

Info on sirius:
www.siriusbackstage.com

Cool, thanks for the info. I'll look into XM.

I'm a little wary that "alternative" means what I might hear on stations like WHF these days, though. As opposed to what I might hear on college radio.

I like all the stations you menioned other than U-Pop….if that's what they're listening to in Europe then god help them! ;)

XMU, Fred, Ethel, Lucy, Fungus, Cafe and Loft are my favourite channels….BBC World service of course is a huge bonus for me. America Left is the new liberal one that I've listened to a couple of times, and have to say, even if I'm not 100% in agreement with all their opinions it's a refreshing change to talk radio from the right wing lunatics like Limbaugh, Hannity, Savage, Liddy etc.

I have to say XMU Ethyl and Lucy are the three stations I listen to most. And i always hear new stuff on all three, but especially XMU. They even play a lot of underground hip-hop. But I always try to keep up on new mainstream stuff too, so top 20 on 20 remains a favorite. And I kinda like soime of the stuff U-pop plays, but some of it is obnoxious. Enough with the Sophie-Ellis Baxter for cryin out loud. And Mel C., she had that one good dance song….enough!

I'm probably in the minority here, but I'm more than a little disappointed with XM Radio.

It's significantly better than most of what you can get on traditional radio throughout the county, but I guess I just had super high expectations.

I think all of the stations mentioned above are good, yet I'm usually unable to pick one that I can just fix on for an extended period of time & enjoy everything I hear. They will invariably play something than I can not stand to listen to. For instance, I flipped onto channel 47 the other day. I heard a Soundgarden song - was digging it. Then an Afghan Whigs song - was loving it. Then they played Blink 182 & I couldn't change the channel fast enough.

I usually listen to music based on the tone/genre that my mood dictates. XM, for me, can often be like listening to a very haphazardly created mix tape. It's almost as if they still need to have even more choices (stations) so that they can be less eclectic on any one station.

The only time I've really appreciated XM so far is on long roadtrips where there's conversation or I'm just daydreaming. Basically, just having some commercial free tunes on. If I'm in the mood for actively listening - I've found I'm still much better off with my CDs or Ipod.

I also thought it would be a great introduction to tons of new music for me. I've only purchased one record over the past 6 months that I first heard on XM. During that time, I've probably picked up close to 100 total cds. Not a good ratio. I get much more exposure to great new music right here on this board or listening to an internet broadcast like KEXP.

That said - I do have friends that swear by it. I'd classify them as much more casual music lovers though. And I think XM is MUCH better than SIRIUS. Even though SIRIUS has better station names.

Does anyone else feel this way?

Maybe I just have A.D.D.

Originally posted by grotty:
0For instance, I flipped onto channel 47 the other day. I heard a Soundgarden song - was digging it. Then an Afghan Whigs songs - was loving it. Then they played Blink 182 & I couldn't change the channel fast enough.

That's the whole beauty of XM….if you hear a song you don't like you push the button and baddabing! There's another great song playing, no commercials. I flick channels quite a bit. I can't stand to hear REM, in fact, my ears start to bleed. So when they come on I just push one of my presets and some other great song is on….I usually hit XMU first to hear something new. I heard the Delgados the other day who impressed me.

You can't expect one station to play every single song you like, unless you're the dj.

Originally posted by Bollocks:
That's the whole beauty of XM….if you hear a song you don't like you push the button and baddabing! There's another great song playing, no commercials. I flick channels quite a bit.

You can't expect one station to play every single song you like, unless you're the dj.

Agreed - I just wish I didn't have to push the button quite so often.

Originally posted by grotty:

Originally posted by Bollocks:
That's the whole beauty of XM….if you hear a song you don't like you push the button and baddabing! There's another great song playing, no commercials. I flick channels quite a bit.

You can't expect one station to play every single song you like, unless you're the dj.

Agreed - I just wish I didn't have to push the button quite so often.

I hear you, it's such hard work…

my experience couldn't be any more different…

pre-xm, i would mostly find new music by downloading/streaming on the internet or attending shows that seemed cool. i usually work at home and listen to music 24/7.

i've had it now for about a year and virtually every CD I've bought since then (a few dozen) were things that I first heard on XM, and which probably haven't been played on HFS or sirius or anywhere else, at least not very much…

these include CDs by bent, baxter, lemon jelly, i am the WTC, royksopp, soliders of jah, scotty…

of course, there have been others that I might have found somewhere else, like the thrills, alot of stuff I *didn't* buy because I heard it on XM and it wasn't worth it, and lots of stuff that I already liked and knew about, but which is nonetheless not reliably heard anywhere else.

then there's the channels of stuff that are fun to listen to once in a while even though i'd be unlikely to ever buy CDs in the genre, like on the rocks (76) or boneyard (41).

Originally posted by grotty:
I also thought it would be a great introduction to tons of new music for me. I've only purchased one record over the past 6 months that I first heard on XM. During that time, I've probably picked up close to 100 total cds. Not a good ratio. I get much more exposure to great new music right here on this board or listening to an internet broadcast like KEXP.

That said - I do have friends that swear by it. I'd classify them as much more casual music lovers though. And I think XM is MUCH better than SIRIUS. Even though SIRIUS has better station names.

I can't disagree more. I consider myself a very insane music fan (especially when you consider how much of my time is spent "doing" something with music), and I have found a number of new bands to me on XM. Snow Patrol, Plus/Minus, Laguardia, The Swords Project, Los Halos just to name a few. If steaming radio could enter my car, perhaps there would be an issue, but until that happens, they will have to pry my sky-fi receiver from my cold dead hands before I return to real radio.

Originally posted by Bollocks:
….baddabing!

Mankie's an Andrew Dice Clay fan?

My self diagnosis has been confirmed - I must have Adult Attention Deficit Disorder. :D

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:

Originally posted by Bollocks:
….baddabing!

Mankie's an Andrew Dice Clay fan?

or a wife-cheating, coke snortin', near nephew killin', strip club owning, therapist seeing mobster-type.

Interesting to read the replies. My main fear is that they aren't idiosynchratic enough and don't really cover the stuff I like (mainly, the less-loud side of the underground - alt-folk, psych, pop, singer-songwriters) with any depth, and that, like a previous poster replied about Blink 182, there's a lack of cohesive stylistic vision on the stations.

When I used to live in Pittsburgh there was a AAA station that was sometimes good and also very frustrating for the same reason. They would play, say, Sugar and the Red House Painters, and then play Sheryl Crow and Sting and Melissa Ethridge for the next hour. No one can expect to hear nothing but songs they like, or the same style of music throughout a show, but it's nice to hear a mix of music that's carefully chosen by someone with taste that's in the same universe as yours.

Originally posted by bellenseb:

When I used to live in Pittsburgh there was a AAA station that was sometimes good and also very frustrating for the same reason. They would play, say, Sugar and the Red House Painters, and then play Sheryl Crow and Sting and Melissa Ethridge for the next hour.

WYEP eh? Sometimes you do wonder if they've ever heard of the latest innovation - the electric guitar.

Originally posted by bellenseb:
Interesting to read the replies. My main fear is that they aren't idiosynchratic enough and don't really cover the stuff I like (mainly, the less-loud side of the underground - alt-folk, psych, pop, singer-songwriters) with any depth, and that, like a previous poster replied about Blink 182, there's a lack of cohesive stylistic vision on the stations.

. . . No one can expect to hear nothing but songs they like, or the same style of music throughout a show, but it's nice to hear a mix of music that's carefully chosen by someone with taste that's in the same universe as yours.

You should do great with XMU (43), XM Cafe (45) (the deeper AAA station, as opposed to their poppier AAA station), The Loft (50), maybe folk village (15) though i don't often listen to that one…

Woxy for work

ipod on shuffle for the car.


Bliss.

i'm with grotty on this one… don't think xm would hold my interest that long. much prefer to program it myself than be programmed too. which is why emusic is still the better option imho. i can download and keep music anytime i want and then listen to anytime i want. plus kosmette has an ipod so taking loads of stuff isn't an issue.

based on smackies experiences with napster i'd check that out as well, but alas there's no osx support yet.

edit - i also tend to use the time driving in the car to audition new cds, because i'm less distracted in the car than at home..