Posts Tagged ‘sirius’
XM versus SIRIUS
The idea of America’s biggest two satellite radio joining forces has been up in the air for almost four years. Although XM had a year’s start, Sirius came back 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 principle, each of them providing music, news, sports, etc. on their channels, but, every service has its ups and downs so we will try to discuss it in this present article.
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 music 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!”. Even 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 quantity of music being played.
Music – Rock
If you are looking for sex, drugs, and rock and roll, Sirius and XM Satellite Radios can only offer you rock and roll, on a number of 14 streams on XM and 15 streams on Sirius. The rock subgenres are to be found in a large number on the stations, overall each service being very strong 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 can 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 look up to their prestige, offering hours of hours of music, from Classical to Jazz, even Urban (Sirius feature). Both stations offer high quality tunes, making it worth all the money.
News Streams Comparison
Let’s skip to another interesting topic, news. CNN, FOX, CNBC, Bloomberg, MSNBC and many more news stations are being offered for listening in different languages. The number of streams is again near-by, XM offering a number of 11 news 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 with Sirius, if you like Q&A go XM. Anyway, it’s hard to say which one is better, but, what can I say is that both Satellites are worth paying for.
Filed under Satellite Radio
Tags:careful analysis, champion, closer look, decades, feature music, five streams, high voltage, music country, music genres, music news, music service, music streams, news sports, playboy, radios, Satellite Radio, satellites, sirius, sirius satellite radio, ups and downs, xm satellite radio, XM versus SIRIUS
Satellite radio quality and content
There are two important characteristics that recommend satellite radio as a service most people would like to have in their vehicles or homes: quality and content.
When talking about quality we mostly refer to how clear the sound output is from satellite radio when compare to terrestrial radio broadcasts. Content, on the other hand, refers to the quality of the transited material.
This is where the two giants in the satellite radio industry – Sirius and XM Radio – battle it out. The quality of the receivers and the technologies they both use are similar, but the difference can be made when it comes to exclusive high quality content.
Let’s have a look at both the satellite radio quality and content characteristics:
Broadcasting quality
The broadcast quality is, when put in numbers, of 128kb/s 44.1khz for both digital radio service providers. This is the equivalent of CD quality. Although the coverage of satellite radio, which is far superior to what any terrestrial radio station can deliver, is an important factor, the quality of the sound is what brought Sirius and XM Radio more subscribers.
There are many similarities to the way digital television worked or how cable TV has over 80% of the US population as subscribers, although they can receive free programming using UHF and VHF antennas.
It’s the same with satellite radio – although one can get free terrestrial radio, satellite radio comes at an affordable price and offer a broadcasting quality that is superior to analog radio. Also keep in mind that satellite radio is commercial free – and this is huge selling point.
The high analog-to-digital conversion quality means that there will be no sound interferences, hissing sounds and other audio disturbances characteristic to FM and AM transmissions.
This is mostly obvious when listening to music on your satellite radio system. The bass is much stronger and accurate, while the high sound levels are crystal clear. There is also a stronger mid range of sounds that you will consider to be more robust and accurate than what terrestrial radio produces.
Although someone with a trained ear will tell you the music quality is not exactly as good as CD quality, it is extremely close and for the largest majority of users this difference is not even noticeable.
Content
So now that we know how good the technological side of satellite radio really is, let’s have a look at how broadcasters are trying to improve the quality of the content they provide. One of the most interesting approaches was to fight for obtaining exclusivity over some transmissions.
For example, negotiations have been carried out between XM Radio and MLB in order for the satellite radio provider to obtain exclusivity rights to broadcast all MLB games.
In an interview to WSJ, Edison Media Research’s President Larry Rosin declared that “it is probably inevitable that baseball radio broadcasts will go to a 100% subscription model… It will happen because there’s too much money in it not to do it.”
Today, around 23% of XM subscribers are signed up to receive the MLB transmissions, so there is real potential in such a venture. Of course, this would be a terrific blow against terrestrial radio and the two sides are engaged in combat while you are reading this. Of course, content quality can also be increased by having the best people in the industry work with satellite radio.
Both Sirius and XM Radio know that someone who pays $300 for a receiver and $10 – $12 each month for a radio service wants to get the best content out there. Surprisingly, when it comes to music channels, the difference in content quality between satellite radio and terrestrial radio is made in one main topic – commercials (or rather, lack of commercials on satellite radio).
Since most of XM Radio and Sirius channels are in-house productions and only a small percentage are retransmits of terrestrial radio, this becomes an interesting aspect to consider.
Filed under Satellite Radio
Tags:analog radio, analog to digital, analog to digital conversion, broadcast quality, cable tv, cd quality, digital radio service, digital television, free programming, quality content, radio quality, radio satellite, radio station, radio system, satellite radio industry, Satellite radio quality and content, sirius, terrestrial radio broadcasts, us population, vhf antennas, XM Radio
Satellite Radio Questions and Answers
Q: Overview of satellite radio
A: Satellite radio means pay-radio or it may also be called a subscription radio. It is a little bit like the traditional one, but it has more programs than it. It’s available in Africa, Asia and Europe due to the services provided by WorldSpace and in North America by Sirius and XM Radio.
Q: What are the advantages of Satellite Radio?
A: You’ll have a wide variety of programs that includes music channels (rock, modern rock, alternative, classical, pop, hip-hop, country, jazz, electronic, Christian, Latin), weather, news, traffic, sports and entertainment channels, no commercials included. All musical channels are commercial free.
This radio has a clean, digital signal and it has almost the quality of a CD. It has no static and no interference.
You can get satellite radio not only in your car, but anywhere you like: in your house, in an Rv or boat so that you can enjoy the programming variety that this radio is offering whether you are relaxing in your sofa, if you are in a vacation or if you are in your car on a business travel. The only thing you must do is to properly install the equipment that you need.
Purchasing the equipment, you will also have information which will be displayed on the radio receiver about channels, music, songs and artists.
Q: What are the disadvantages of Satellite Radio?
A: Unfortunately, Alaska, Hawaii and U.S. Territories can’t receive the satellite radio’s signals. There are no local stations, but you will have local traffic and weather channels provided by XM and Sirius.
Q: What does XM and Sirius radio provide?
A: There a few differences between them. For example, the XM provides more that 150 channels and the other one more than 120 channels. The first has two Nascar racing channels, Major League Baseball, PGA TOUR coverage, plus ACC, Big Ten, and Pac-10 football and basketball coverage and the Sirius has Live NFL, NHL, and NBA play-by-play, plus English Premier League soccer and college sports game. But they have the same price $12.95/Month
Q: How do I install satellite radio?
A: There are a few things that are necessary to get satellite radio.
First you need a satellite radio antenna that picks up the signal from communication satellites and then delivering it to you.
Then you need a satellite radio tuner that passes the signal from the radio antenna to the receiver. There are three basic types of radio turners. There are the Plug-and-play satellite radio tuners that can be used in the car or at home or with a portable boombox wherever you have satellite signal and they only need one subscription.
There are three types of Satellite radio tuners for the car: universal tuners, “Satellite radio-ready” in-dash receivers and in-dash receivers with a built-in satellite radio tuner. The last basic type is the Home satellite radio tuners perfect for using them in-door.
The third item is a satellite radio receiver which helps you to select channels and categories, to view various songs or artists information.
Last but not least is a subscription to XM or Sirius radio that must be acquired in order to receive programming.
If you want to have the best quality sound in your car you can choose between these three options:
1. in-dash receiver with a built-in satellite radio tuner
2. “satellite radio-ready” receiver connected to an external satellite radio tuner
3. Plug-and-play satellite radio tuner connected to your car stereo’s auxiliary input.
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Filed under Satellite Radio
Tags:alaska hawaii, asia and europe, basketball coverage, built-in satellite radio tuner, classical pop, country jazz, english premier league, english premier league soccer, entertainment channels, few differences, How do I install satellite radio, major league baseball, nascar racing, new radio, Overview of satellite radio, pac 10 football, pay-radio, Plug-and-play satellite radio tuner, premier league soccer, radio receiver, Satellite Radio, Satellite Radio Questions and Answers, satellite radio-ready, sirius, sirius radio, subscription radio, tour coverage, weather channels, weather news, What are the advantages of Satellite Radio, What are the disadvantages of Satellite Radio, What does XM and Sirius radio provide, worldspace, XM Radio
Interoperable Satellite Radios
The satellite radio world is divided among the two major broadcasters, XM Radio and Sirius. Since they work on different frequencies and need specific equipment to broadcast, Sirius and XM Radio have divided the market into two groups.
While some are fans of the Sirius channels others prefer XM Radio, and the debate regarding which of the two is the best could go on forever. Some however are subscribers to both services, since they love some of the Sirius programs but also enjoy XM Radio broadcasting.
For them and for more people interested in satellite radio, there are some potential good news. Interoperable satellite radios are one of the things most of the major players in the satellite radio industry are talking about.
What are they? Basically they are receivers that can work both with Sirius and XM Radio and everything is enclosed in a single unit.
Interoperable Technologies – when Sirius and XM work together
Interoperable Technologies is the name of a joint effort funded by both Sirius and XM Radio, with the declared purpose of bringing dual-subscription satellite radios to the general market.
Founded in 2003, Interoperable Technologies has started developing the dual-mode satellite radios ever since and progress is being made with each passing month. Interoperable Technologies gets help from consultants from both XM and Sirius and their 2005 success of developing a singe unit that can receive both transmissions was a notable one.
Today, Interoperable Technologies ha a deadline of bringing the developed receiver unit to the market. The monthly subscription price is estimated to be around $26 – for which you get over 300 channels from the combined broadcasting list of the two satellite radio operators.
What the people say…
The news of the interoperable satellite radio development has triggered interesting responses among XM and Sirius satellite radio subscribers.
Here are some of the things people left on forums and discussion boards regarding this development:
“$26/month? A hell of a lot cheaper than cable TV.” Says one of the forum posters. He is right, but, of course, many will question the need to pay $26 for over 300 radio channels out of which 80% will probably never get listened to.
“Oh man! As a dual subscriber, this would be SO cool to have. Where do I sign up?” – on the other hand, of course, there are those people that don’t mind spending a little extra when they can get so much more.
“Cool idea if it ever comes to pass. Even though I only subscribe to Sirius, I would consider buying this with an eye on the future…” – for people such as this forum poster, the interoperable satellite radio system is the natural evolutionary step forward, so it is definitely worth looking into.
Implications of the interoperable satellite radio system
As you can see from the response of the potential customers, the interoperable satellite radio system is an interesting development. While Sirius and XM are lucky enough to be the only major players in this field, for now, it seems they are also ready to work together in order to consolidate their future.
Of course, offering twice the programs on a single unit is a major step forward, and from the early stages it seems that the target audience is ready to receive the single receiver unit with applause.
On the other hand, is this an initial enthusiastic response or is it genuine interest? Won’t 300+ channels become too much and won’t people start to feel like they are paying for something they are rarely using?
There will also be some interesting things to follow as far as exclusivity rights go, because each of the two broadcasters have their own original approaches to common things. Another interesting aspect to follow will be how the sales for individual Sirius and XM units will go after the dual receiver hits the market.
For many, the combined efforts of Sirius and XM tend to look like a first step towards a large scale joint venture that will lead to an absolute monopoly of the satellite radio market.
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Filed under Satellite Radio
Tags:broadcasters, discussion boards, dual mode, Interoperable Satellite Radios, Interoperable Technologies, joint effort, radio broadcasting, radio development, radio operators, radio world, receiver unit, receivers, satellite radio industry, satellite radio subscribers, satellite radios, single unit, sirius, specific equipment, subscription price, transmissions, XM Radio
