Saturday, March 29, 2008

XM versus SIRIUS

Do you ever feel like you know just enough about satellite radio to be dangerous? Let's see if we can fill in some of the gaps with the latest info from satellite radio experts.

The idea of America’s biggest two satellite - radio joining forces has been developing in the belief for halfway four years. Although XM had a year’s start, Sirius came ferry on the market, eventually with both companies sharing the market in half. So, what’s to choose? XM or Sirius?
First thing’s first. XM and Sirius are based on the same spring, each of them providing music, news, sports, etc. on their channels, but, every service has its ups and downs so we will try to consult with it in this present drama. A careful analysis shows that XM Satellite Radio provides a total of 136 streams, where two are premium channels ( Playboy and High Voltage ), twenty - one are traffic and weather based channels and nine are sport - dedicated ones. On the other hand, Sirius offers a total of 119 streams, the premium streams not being available. Let’s take a closer look now on two – music and news - of the categories that the two major satellites are battling.

Music streams comparison

The number of orchestration streams that both services offer is pretty much the same: 65 on Sirius and 68 on XM Satellite Radio but the difference is not in the number, but in the music genres that the radios offer.

Music – Decades

XM is the absolute champion in providing the music by decades because you can listen to the 40’s music, service not available on Sirius. Still, you can listen to the 90’s hits together with the current hits on Sirius Satellite Radio, which is an interesting feature.

Music – Country

“Ride’ em cowboy! ”. Exact if you’re not a cowboy, you can listen to country - related songs on both Satellites. Classic country or country hits are to be heard as well as alternative country or country mixes, the last two features being available only on Sirius Satellite Radio. Regarding the number of streams that both Satellites offer, XM offers a total of five streams and Sirius offers four, the champion in this category being XM due to the quality and the amount of melody being played.

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Music – Rock

If you are looking for sex, drogs, and rock and roll, Sirius and XM Satellite Radios can only offer you rock and roll, on a unit of 14 streams on XM and 15 streams on Sirius. The rock subgenres are to be found in a large unit on the stations, overall each service being very bulk in this category.

Music - Dance and Latin

If you want to boogie, you can do that on both Satellites, listening to one of the six streams provided by Sirius or four streams provided by XM. Be careful though, because you contract become a clubber maniac! And if you’re strong enough, the Latin pop stream, Mexicana and tropical music streams can really drive you crazy. XM Satellite Radio as well as Sirius Satellite Radio offer three streams.

Music – Other genres

Regarding other genres, both satellites really noticing up to their fame, offering hours of hours of music, from Classical to Jazz, even Urban ( Sirius feature ). Both stations offer high quality tunes, making it worth whole the money.

News Streams Comparison

Let’s skip to another interesting topic, news. CNN, FOX, CNBC, Bloomberg, MSNBC and multitudinous more news stations are being offered for listening in different languages. The quantity of streams is again near - by, XM offering a number of 11 story streams, not like Sirius, which offers 13.

Bottom line

It’s pretty hard to say which station is better, XM and Sirius being tied musically but in news and sports, Sirius holding the edge. To make a little joke, if you are a fan of Stern go obscure Sirius, if you twin Q&A go XM. Anyway, it’s hard to say which one is sharpened, but, what can I say is that both Satellites are worth paying for.

Don't limit yourself by refusing to learn the details about satellite radio. The more you know, the easier it will be to focus on what's important.

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