Due to all the promotions that were being offered last year I called in regards to getting one of those "deals". At that time I had to threaten to cancel either one or both of our subscriptions to get a rate reduction.

I know that there are options like Pandora but these are not an option around here. Despite that we are midway between Detroit, Lansing, Flint and Ann Arbor and with a population of around 200K there are many dead zones, in fact in those areas cellular calls are dropped with regularity. Not to mention travelling in Northern Michigan, many dead zones there too.

Anyhow,today was the day that I had to call to renew last year's deal. I was pleasantly surprised, last year it took an online session from that I had to phone in and get transferred three times to finally get a break.

Today, probably ten minutes online chat, start to finish, better pricing, couple of bucks off last year's promotional rate for both cars. Completely satisfied today.

You got your deal because they are bleeding subscribers. There were several stories in the media earlier in the year about subscribers bailing. I am holding on to my subscription as radio stations up here generally bite. Last time I went to renew, I too had threaten to bail and when they asked why, I just said "Car Play". That cinched my deal. I renew again in October and hope its hassle free.

I had the same experience yesterday. I calendar this every year for the annual fight over what I’m going to pay. Last year I insisted on their best deal and got it after cancelling for three weeks.

This year they renewed the same deal over chat. Bada boom, no argument. So yeah, I figure they’re losing subscribers. Plus I have two radios.

About 10 years ago a buddy was able to jump on a lifetime subscription (before Sirius and XM merged). $300.

The first radio died and when he tried to transfer the account to a new radio, they tried to say the subscription was for the lifetime of the radio. That was not well received as my buddy just happened to have the original contract on hand to discuss the finer points of reading comprehension.

RE: "Car Play" -Satellite radio seems to be another industry, like pocket cameras, subsumed by the mobile phone. Better customer service and better pricing will help, but, yeah, I think their days are numbered. People can connect to online radio stations, streaming music services, and even play their own music library using the little thing already in their pocket that does almost everything else, too.

Even if one's current car-audio system doesn't support playing content from a phone, the cost of an upgraded system with Bluetooth/audio inputs would be covered in a very short period from the savings from cancelling Sirius.

And then, no deals, no contracts, no 'customer service' at all.

I'm about to cancel because of the DJs & their bullshit. Octane/Turbo/Lithium/Boneyard/Liquid Metal are all pandemic this/racism that. If I switched because of commercial free music, why the fuck do I want to listen to you?

i only use the traffic portion.

I'm fairly certain most premium subscription music services like Pandora, Spotify, and Google Play allow you to download entire albums and playlists.

I have Google Play. My subscription also gets me commercial free YouTube. I download "radio stations" and professionally created playlists on WiFi automatically. I never use cellular data for music.

With my streaming subscription, i can use it on my phone wherever I am or at home on my many audio devices, and I don't have to get multiple subscriptions for multiple vehicles. My plan can accommodate up to 5 concurrent users in my household.

The absolute best part is that I can play a specific song on demand if I want to hear it.

Cable Television and Satellite Radio is so incredibly overpriced for what it is.

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
I'm fairly certain most premium subscription music services like Pandora, Spotify, and Google Play allow you to download entire albums and playlists.

I have Google Play. My subscription also gets me commercial free YouTube. I download "radio stations" and professionally created playlists on WiFi automatically. I never use cellular data for music.

With my streaming subscription, i can use it on my phone wherever I am or at home on my many audio devices, and I don't have to get multiple subscriptions for multiple vehicles. My plan can accommodate up to 5 concurrent users in my household.

The absolute best part is that I can play a specific song on demand if I want to hear it.

Cable Television and Satellite Radio is so incredibly overpriced for what it is.

And if you live in an area where cell service comes and goes and, radio reception is limited to AM radio and farm reports, what then, cassettes?

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
I'm fairly certain most premium subscription music services like Pandora, Spotify, and Google Play allow you to download entire albums and playlists.

I have Google Play. My subscription also gets me commercial free YouTube. I download "radio stations" and professionally created playlists on WiFi automatically. I never use cellular data for music.

With my streaming subscription, i can use it on my phone wherever I am or at home on my many audio devices, and I don't have to get multiple subscriptions for multiple vehicles. My plan can accommodate up to 5 concurrent users in my household.

The absolute best part is that I can play a specific song on demand if I want to hear it.

Cable Television and Satellite Radio is so incredibly overpriced for what it is.

And if you live in an area where cell service comes and goes and, radio reception is limited to AM radio and farm reports, what then, cassettes?

I mentioned that you can pre-download or cache music in advance on your home wifi. I have hundreds of hours of music cached on my phone.

Each time I'm on WiFi, the app automatically updates playlists and radio stations. For instance, if you subscribe to a new country music releases "station", your phone will pre download several hours of music so that you can still listen when you don't have cellular signal.

There's also no limit to the number of albums and artists you can download, beyond playlists and "radio stations". I have 10-15 gigs of music from artists I like on my phone all the time.

Aside from live content (news, weather, sports), or exclusive content (Howard Stern), there is no upside to satellite radio. You listen to the same 10-20 channels, each channel has the same 40-50 songs. You can easily just download 10-20 professionally curated playlists, each with 100+ songs and have the same breadth of music as satellite radio.

Add a bunch of free podcasts or audio books, and you can have your fill of people talking too.

The audio quality is also better and you can skip and replay songs.

I still keep SiriusXM radio basically for the ease of use.

I have CarPlay and listen to my iPhone music and podcast options that are plentiful, but...

If you want no commercials (or minimal commercial breaks) and you just want to start up your truck and go, satellite radio is hard to beat. Its use is effortless. Within a few clicks of my finger, I can usually find something I want to listen to. No plugging up my phone, no picking out an artist or playlist, no cellular connection issues. Satellite radio always works.

I also enjoy the anticipation and the excitement of hearing a song I forgot about or a new song that strikes my interest.

The satellite feed has borderline audio at best but it's tolerable.

P.S. - I also listen to SiriusXM on the CarPlay app which has great audio.

My phone connects to my vehicle over Bluetooth automatically.

Music automatically resumes playing most of the time. Most of the time, it's zero fiddling. I start the car and music is playing by the time I have my seatbelt on and the car is in gear. Occasionally, if the app has been completely shut down a(phone restart), then it's one touch to start the app (either the music app itself, or to activate the phone's "driving" mode), and one touch to pick the first recommended station (based on prior listening habits for the time of day and activity).

While driving, it's "Ok Google, play some acoustic pop," or "Hey Google, play Californication by the Red Hot Chili Peppers."


My steering wheel buttons work to control play/pause, and track forward and back, on all vehicles I've used this on.

Which brings me to my next point: if the music is tied to my phone, then I also have my music when I'm renting a car or traveling.

Another feature: if you hear a song you like, say, "Hey Google, add this song to my favorites."

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
About 10 years ago a buddy was able to jump on a lifetime subscription (before Sirius and XM merged). $300.

The first radio died and when he tried to transfer the account to a new radio, they tried to say the subscription was for the lifetime of the radio. That was not well received as my buddy just happened to have the original contract on hand to discuss the finer points of reading comprehension.

I did the same thing, it includes online and vehicle so it was a gamble that paid off. The likelihood of them staying in business was very slim in those days.
I did it to get Howard Stern and I don't ever play his stations for the past few years. He sucks (Any Lib in Hollywood) at this point.

I hate them. I bought the Stilleto model radio, nearly 500 bucks. A year later they "upgraded" service and my radio no longer worked, but they would have happily sold me another for 500 bucks. I killed the service and won't go back.

quote:

what then, cassettes?

8 track

quote:

Originally posted by snidera:
I'm about to cancel because of the DJs & their bullshit. Octane/Turbo/Lithium/Boneyard/Liquid Metal are all pandemic this/racism that. If I switched because of commercial free music, why the fuck do I want to listen to you?

I had XM for maybe 15 yrs, and when my Cooper was totaled, the replacement Honda does not have a satellite capable radio,

I did not want to hook up my old ski fi unit,

I liked some of the banter , (I like Madison, even tho she has a bad case of TDS, )

Dick Blade would make me change the station in an instant,


but overall, I don't miss it, I stream from my phone, or listen to an ipod