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Satellite Radio Good. If you spend much time in the car I would almost say it is a must have. The channel variety, super clear reception. Gotta love it.
Delphi Bad. The first Skyfi I received did not work at all. The replacement worked for a while but now the tuning knob functions erratically. It will skip stations and if you land on a station for more than a few seconds it will automatically change the channel. The volume knob on the boom box no longer works as intended. No matter which way you turn it the volume goes down. If it wasn't for my remote control both the receiver and boom box would be completely worthless. Speaking of the remote control. The clip mounted to the back of the remote control is inserted under the battery cover. Occasionally when trying to clip the remote to something the clip will pop off and take the battery cover and sometimes the battery with it. What a heap of junk.
I will never purchase anything from Delphi again. If that means I have to switch satellite providers so be it.
Xm radio, although pricy, offers so much more than standard radio. With non-stop music, news, sports and comedy, there is something new to listen to everyday. On the road or in the home, the xm radio SKYFI is easy to use. The car adapter offered for the SKYFI plays through a tape deck, so there isn't any interference that is common with adapters that play through an unused radio frequency. The boom box style home audio system plays loud clear digital sound, and the SKYFI plugs right into it. The boom box can run on batteries so it can go anywhere in the world and play clear audio.
Xm radio's musical variety literally offers something for everyone. From mainstream to underground, Christian to Urban, and Rock to Classical, there are too many to list. The music channels are commercial free, and there are very few repeated songs. With that fact alone, you hear something new everyday. There are sixty-seven music channels, which play a certain type of music, so there isn't overlapping. The music channels also have special programs that play a certain artist or sound. The xm radio receiver also displays the name of the song and artist name, so waiting until the end to find out who is the artist is not nessesary. Xm radio is also available online, so when an xm radio account in activated, the radio is available at a desktop or laptop. Many music channels on xm are uncensored as well.
The non-music channels offered by xm radio are mostly nationally syndicated broadcast stations such as Fox News, CNN, ABC news, ESPN, Fox Sports Radio, and C-SPAN. These stations are not operated by xm radio so they have commercials. Xm radio also offers non-stop weather channels for every major city in the continental United States. Xm radio also broadcasts every single Major League Baseball game, from opening day to the World Series. There are also family oriented channels, uncensored comedy channels, and talk radio channels. Compare this variety to standard FM AM radio, and there is a clear line between them.
Standard radio has nothing xm radio offers and besides being free there is no reason to keep listening to it. Standard radio plays generic music and there isn't any variety. Standard radio looses clarity if the listener is too far from the radio station. After listening to a FM radio station for a few hours, every song on their rotation has been played. The news stations on AM radio are sometimes very static, and mostly local. All of standard radio is censored, which can be rather bland after awhile.
If an alternative is need from standard radio, xm radio is the only choice. The variety of music alone puts itself above the competition. Easy to use, fun to listen to, xm radio has clear upper hand on the radio industry. Standard radio does not have nearly anything xm radio offers, so the decision to purchase one should be rather simply. Xm radio continues to grow in listeners, and it's no mystery why, it is clearly the best way to listen to the radio.
I live in Bermuda and with the aiming advice it gets full signal strength and the sound is really good.
If you're busy you may find yourself walking back and forth to look at the little amber display to see who the artist / song is. I ended up aiming a cheap video camera toward the display and patching it through to a 20" LCD panel so I can see this information from most any distance. Other problems are not enough presets (only 20). Customer service isn't very good. As for the programming, it's a good value for 10 bucks per month (NOTE: PRICE HAS GONE UP!). I don't care how some of the channels - ones I WANT to like - are programmed, but there's always something else playing. There are only so many characters available to see on the display, meaning that some song titles are abbreviated or clipped off entirely. You only get 20 ft of antenna cord, which is hardly enough but they will SELL you extensions, of course. Overall the sound quality is very impressive. If you get the kit for your car you will be in for a real treat.
I was researching recently on which satellite radio system I should get. I came across two choices: XM radio or Sirius Satellite radio. XM offers 130 channels while Sirius offered something like 110 channels. XM was also 9.99 while Sirius was 12.95. By comparing I decided to get the XM Delphi because of the number of channels and for the monthly price. So far its been awesome, music is crystal clear and is everything people made it to be. The only reason why I'm not giving it 5 stars is because it isnt 100% commercial free. I would say its in the range of 95% commercial free. It has any genre your looking for, including 12 news channels (MSNBC, NBC, ABC, BBC etc...), 3 Comedy Channels, and Automated Weather Channels.
I purchased the home kit simply because my home theatre system is fully compatible. So far no problems I highly recommend this product. If you are planning on purchasing this product, the activation might be a little complicated. If you activate over the Internet its 9.99 or over the phone for 14.99. Technical support is very poor for this product, however rarely will it glitch or have a problem.
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