Tired of the same 40 songs for the last thirty years? Hate the obnoxious commercials? How about the boring loud mouth DJ's? Then read on....

The first thing I want to say regarding these services is that I have subscriptions to both XM and Sirius. My personal position is that both services offer equal value programming and unique value programming that is subjective to the individual. With that said, let’s look at the key points of the service, hardware, reception, audio quality, programming, and, worthless opinions on various satellite enthusiast forums, aka: entertainment.

Most new buyers are asking for suggestions as to which receiver to buy. Rule one, all satellite receivers receive and decode either Sirius or XM's radio signals. Many models are available for both providers and come with various features and foot prints. There is an ongoing hardware feature race between the providers, so what looks good today will change tomorrow, hence my first rule.

My suggestion is to visit each provider’s web site and review each receiver’s offering to get an idea of what features you would like. Yes, it requires you to work a little but if you ask a question like this on an Internet forum, you are going to get opinions, most of which are worthless because the poster states his opinion but not why, then the thread will turn in to arguments (aka: pissing contest) and you will still be left wondering.

I suggest not to used a receiver that is built in like on GM vehicles, or are specific to a head unit. If you are going to pay a subscription fee, then pay the fee for a receiver that is portable and can be used in other vehicles, your home, a boom box, or anywhere else you would like.

The hardware I use for XM is the Delphi SkyFi II with both home and car mounts and the boom box. For Sirius, I have the Sportster Replay with car and home mount kits.

Outside of program offerings, this is the biggest difference between each service and the most important to you.

XM

Right now, XM has three satellites in geosynchronous (just like the TV satellites) orbit. Two of the satellites cover the western side of the US and the other covers the eastern side of the US. XM had issues with the west bird thus causing the launch of the third satellite in to the east position and moving the east bird over to help the ailing west bird.

If you live in southern Florida, the XM satellites are around 60 degrees above the horizon. If you live in Fargo the XM satellites are only 35 degrees above the horizon. The lower elevation for the northern folks causes signal drops. For example, any obstruction to the south of your antenna mount that obstructs the line of site to the satellite will cause signal lost, like passing a semi or driving a road that has tall trees with heavy foliage. Underpasses and tunnels not covered by repeaters will also cause signal loss. The lower elevation also limits where you can mount your XM antenna. In many vehicles, the rear deck or front deck won’t work. You are limited to the roof of the vehicle.

Sirius

Sirius has three satellites in a unique figure eight orbit which avoids the problems posed by geostationary satellites. At any one time at least one satellite is overhead at an elevation of better than 68 degrees for the continental US. At this elevation, nearly over head, signal loss is limited to bridge under passes and tunnels that are not covered by repeaters. This higher elevation also reduces the number of terrestrial repeaters Sirius has to maintain in cities for their signal to be heard. Antenna location in your vehicle can be on the rear deck or the front dash with out any signal reception issues.

I’ve read on internet forums that folks have had issues locating a Sirius antenna inside their home with out experiencing signal loss. I have my Sirius antenna inside my home, single story wood and shingle roof with out any issues. I also have not had any issue with getting an XM signal either. I live north west of Pontiac, Michigan. By the way, both services suggest mounting the antenna outside, free of obstruction.

In my vehicles (2005 GTO and 2006 HHR) I’ve never had a signal drop on Sirius but have on XM because of trees and trucks. The XM drop outs are temporary but annoying. The Sirius antenna is mounted under the dash plastic behind the cluster on the HHR, on the back deck of the GTO next to the XM antenna. On the HHR, the XM antenna had to go on the roof.

The lure of satellite radio is not so much the audio quality of the broadcast but the contents of the broadcast. All the satellite music channels are much better than FM radio and are near CD quality. The contents of both providers are fantastic, you can select what ever genre your interested in and dial it up. Don't fall in to the audio quality arguments, it's a frivolous argument given the excellence of the existing audio quality of both providers. Let's take a look at audio quality just for fun. Keep in mind that the audio quality is very subjective and the most argued topic on the Internet satellite radio forums. Sound quality is determined by:

How you get the audio from your satellite receiver in to your stereo has a great deal to do with the quality of the sound. If you FM modulate the satellite audio in to your stereo, then you can expect FM quality audio. Some FM modulators really suck and are very bassy. In both my vehicles, I have the audio feed going in to the AUX input. The HHR’s radio has an AUX input on the front of the radio. In the GTO, I replaced the factory stereo with a Kenwood system. In my home, I use the built in FM modulators of the receivers. Both receivers do a darn good job with the Sportster doing a bit better in level and clarity.

I primarily listen to the Blues channels of both providers (both on channel 74) and sometimes on the classic rock or old vinyl channels. I have no complaints on the quality of the audio. Think about it, in a car, the ambient noise far exceeds any ability to detect any flawed audio quality in their transmissions. At times, the providers may play with the audio quality but this happens seldom and is over in a day or so. On my home stereo system, the music is near CD quality, the difference is not worth arguing about (though you will find many that want too and with out justification to their opinion). The bottom line, both providers sound much better than FM broadcast.

Programming

A visit to each provider's web site will give you their channel lineup. They are both well paralleled, where one has NFL the other will have NHL, Howard or O&A and it goes on. I guess you will have to decide which programming lineup pleases you the most, or do what I did, just get both.

Satellite Radio Forums

Sirius Back Stage is a pleasant  forum with good information and generally helpful advise. It lacks the typical forum trolls and it's members appear to be educated and offer up reasons to their opinions.

XM Fan and XM 411 are two forums I've found for XM radio enthusiasts. Both forums seem to have an overage of trolls. I've also noticed that you see a lot of slamming comments with out justification. You will see comments like, "that channel sucks" or "Sirius' sounds quality is terrible" or, "that radio is a piece of crap". I just don't understand why folks make comments like this, but it does make for interesting reading. If I was XM Radio, I'd find away to get my trademark off both of those sites.

One Last Word

Sirius offers a "life time subscription", this is for the life time of the radio, you actually buy the subscription for the radio and not you. Do the math and see if it is worth it for your needs.

Subscriber numbers for each provider is somewhat obscured. It is reported that Sirius claims a subscriber each time a vehicle is built with a factory Sirius radio. XM claims a subscriber each time a GM vehicle with factory XM installed is sold, this is because of the free three month trail. The actual number of paying subscribers less the churn is most likely a closely kept secret.

If you would like to find the XM satellite elevation at your location, then visit the Satellite Position Calculator and select your city and one of the three XM satellites, XM Rock or XM Rhythm west, or XM Roll east.

Interested in real time satellite tracking, check out Orbitron.