Sirius XM is upping the price for subs. It has been discussed on Orbitcast and other sites for a while. Family radios will go up from $6.99 to $8.99/month. Also listening online is now no longer "free" and instead an additional $2.99/month per radio! In my case I am currently running $19.94/month for 2 radios and internet on both. Now I will have to pay $27.92 to maintain the same services I already have. For this extra money we are getting 128kbps streams online. Yippie.

The only way you can get around this is if you lock in at a 2,3 or 5 year plan, which will lock you in for the remainder of that sub at the current price. But I'll be damned if I'm coming off hundreds of dollars for a service years in advance from a company thats stock is worth less than a dime and looking very possible to go bankrupt this year.

Anybody else thinking about switching to Slacker? With the channels being watered down after they combined, I'm just not as into it as I used to. At one time I would easily drop the cash for this. Now I'm finding myself listening quite a bit less. I think this might be the end of my subs, which I have had now since probably 2001 or 2002.

[Edited on January 27, 2009 at 4:49 PM. Reason : ]

1/27/2009 4:47:33 PM

i bumped the SiriusXM page just a few threads down...but you have more detail.



But yeah, I really think I may cancel my subscription as well. I love SiriusXMU, but i can just as easily find new music through the blog channel. I've been looking for an excuse to get the 120gb Ipod, this may be another reason.


I wouldn't mind the increase if they didn't begin charging for online radio. That's the dealbreaker right there.

[Edited on January 27, 2009 at 4:52 PM. Reason : add]

1/27/2009 4:50:08 PM

Yea back in the day my XM sub was $9.99, and then they added the online component for free with all subs when they jacked up the price to $12.95. Now I'm again paying for the online even more.

1/27/2009 4:53:20 PM

I would get an Iphone or equivalent and just use Slacker or Pandora.

The g2 would work as well, like you said. There's an official thread, I think evan has one.

http://www.slacker.com/products/everywhere/

It only costs me $30/month extra from the switch from my old cell phone to the Iphone for the data plan. If thats an option, I would do that. Now I have Simplify, Pandora, and Slacker, but not enough time.

[Edited on January 28, 2009 at 1:39 AM. Reason : ]

1/28/2009 1:33:40 AM

I, for one, am shocked that a business newly without any competition has raised its rates.

seriously, that sucks though. guess I won't be turning mine back on anytime soon.

1/28/2009 1:53:25 AM

My new truck came with a 6-month Sirius subscription. I thought about paying for it after that, but probably not now, especially since it has SYNC which makes it even easier to navigate my iPod, and the aux audio jack for my iPhone+Pandora (excellent suggestion btw jchill). Hooray for monopolies!

1/28/2009 9:05:10 AM

^yeah the pandora + iPhone + aux jack is a great idea.



I bet you have a new F150?

1/28/2009 10:41:16 AM

^Sho nuff. 09 F-150 FX4 and I frickin' love it. The navi system is badass, and it has Sirius travel link which give you gas price info by station, weather, traffic, etc. so I guess that's another reason to continue the subscription. I dunno, I'll burn that bridge when I get there.

1/28/2009 11:43:54 AM

awesome! I missed out on the SYNC/Nav package. I have an 07 KR 4x4 and it was a deal i just couldn't pass up.

1/28/2009 11:57:19 AM

I am on the Slacker Plus 7-Day Trial right now and looking at picking up a G1 on eBay for $50 just to try out their portable capability. If I like it, I will probably drop my XM account and toss my Pioneer Inno on eBay.

One question though. Can you have multiple portable units on one account? I would like to make a custom station for my wife and get her a G1 as well, but I don't want to have to pay for 2 accounts for this. Just curious if this is possible. She could just sign up for a free account. She doesn't really care about customizing the shit outta it.

1/28/2009 12:12:50 PM

/message_topic.aspx?topic=552770

try that thread. It should give you a lot of info on slacker.

[Edited on January 28, 2009 at 12:18 PM. Reason : fix]

1/28/2009 12:18:26 PM

does xm offer a lifetime deal? I dont see it on thier website but I heard it mentioned on a channel this morning.

1/28/2009 1:49:08 PM

Quote :

"pandora + iPhone + aux jack is a great idea."

def what I'll be doing.

1/28/2009 1:54:34 PM

^^yes, they say its for the lifetime of the radio though people have been able to switch theirs with some bitching and maybe or maybe not a small fee.


with the cost increase and already plummeting stock and subscribers dropping like flies i'd think twice about it.

1/28/2009 2:33:52 PM

thanks jeepin. I really enjoy my xm and i would hate to see the company go under. Ive had it for over 4 yrs and still have one year left on a 3 yr plan, so maybe they will credit some of that towards a lifetime.

ive read that some believe they will go under, but with over 20M subscribers I would think it would somehow survive. You feel pretty confident it will go under?

1/28/2009 2:50:03 PM

i dont think so, and i really hope not. I enjoy my sirius more than anything, my friends call me a "radio snob" when i pick on them about listening to terrestrial radio . I just feel like something's gotta give and thus would be really hesitant on purchasing a lifetime subscription. But no, i dont think they are going to go under.

1/28/2009 3:07:23 PM

I've been subscribing for a long time and I can see how it would be very likely for the company to go under. They have a LOT of debt that is due this year, and little cash on hand. They can't use stock to pay for it because the stock is worthless. With the credit market locked up so tight right now, its obvious that Sirius XM is trying to squeeze the current subs for all the money they can by forcing them to pay more, or sign up for longer contracts to lock in their set rate, giving the company a lot more cash on hand in the short term.

1/28/2009 3:10:03 PM

cant they go bankrupt and still continue service?

1/28/2009 3:54:42 PM

Yes, but then they could also be easily scooped up by a bigger company. If Clear Channel or another terrestrial company bought them, it could easily become a very different animal from what it is right now. Commercials could pop up on the music channels easily, or do a hybrid system where some channels are free and ad supported while some are still premium content requiring a subscription for a lower price. But I don't want to be locked in with so many questions and throwing hundreds of bucks on a "lifetime" sub (only able to use it on 4 radios and its a $75 transfer fee).

1/28/2009 7:28:28 PM

Damn, I really only listen to 4 channels: Faction for the Jason Ellis Show, Shade 45 for the All Out Show and Alt Nation and Sirius XMU for music. Really the only thing that will probably keep me paying for a while longer is Jason Ellis. He always makes me laugh on the way home from work.

1/28/2009 9:54:19 PM

Only reason I am still paying is Opie & Anthony. Honestly, I can get the rest anytime, and I really could just torrent their shows. That might be how I go in the next month once the rates are increased.

1/29/2009 6:59:22 AM

i just signed up for lifetime

3/10/2009 10:39:35 PM

this makes me sad

i had 4 receivers on my account... this just isn't worth it anymore

i might keep my main one in my car on there since i listen to it literally almost all the time, but $9/month is just too much to pay for something i only listen to occasionally

and charging for online streaming is just stupid

why did you have to start sucking, XM?

3/10/2009 10:44:38 PM

if you call in the next hour you can lock in the $7 rate for secondary radios

3/10/2009 10:49:34 PM

cuz you know we can't do this all day

3/10/2009 10:57:20 PM

motherfucker i think im regretting this already

they're refusing to change my online username. somehow the username is an ancient hotmail address that i no longer use. they won't change it to my gmail account unless i cancel my account and open a new one. oh but guess what! because my lifetime is nonrefundable i would be charged for a second lifetime subscription to get my username changed.

3/10/2009 10:59:41 PM

i'm gonna call to threaten to cancel my xm/sirius and my time warner cable tomorrow to see what kind of free shit i can out of both companies.

3/11/2009 3:21:02 AM

whoa sirius and xm merged? I missed this.

3/12/2009 10:50:33 PM

1) Yay for my Sirius lifetime subscription. Had it for two years now...it was a little over $400 we'll see if I break even or not. I switched receivers once but they agreed to not charge me the $75 after I asked nicely (yeah, I was surprised...I didn't even have to push for it)

2) Slacker is cool and all... I listen to it for hours every day at work, but they don't have the news/talk feeds that Sirius has.

3) Charging for online is friggin bullshit when you already paid for the subscription.

4) It must suck to be opie and anthony: http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/tuesday/news/ny-etradio106063873mar10,0,4625269.story

5) If anyone wants to buy my Slacker G1 player let me know. Comes in the box with everything that came with it

Quote :

"motherfucker i think im regretting this already they're refusing to change my online username. somehow the username is an ancient hotmail address that i no longer use. they won't change it to my gmail account unless i cancel my account and open a new one. oh but guess what! because my lifetime is nonrefundable i would be charged for a second lifetime subscription to get my username changed."

good luck dude. their customer service department is easily the worst i've ever dealt with over the years i've been into tech crap. they're extremely unhelpful, unwilling to budge on anything, always out to screw you etc. I'm speaking for Sirius's CS people but I assume it's all the same brand of shitty now. given this, i was surprised they let me transfer my lifetime for free but it actually happened (i heard it was easy elsewhere)

3/12/2009 11:43:57 PM

I've been thinking about getting this. Guess I won't be thinkin about it anymore

3/13/2009 12:04:10 AM

Quote :

"their customer service department is easily the worst i've ever dealt with over the years "

You must not have Time Warner Cable.

3/13/2009 8:40:50 AM

SENDING A TECHNICIAN OUT FIXES EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!11111111oneoneone

3/13/2009 3:20:11 PM

is it just me or has Sirius' internet radio connection been awful the past week or two? I'm getting unavailable messages almost daily. Usually i can connect first thing in the morning, but if i close the window for any reason it will take me several hours to be able to get it loaded up again.

can't even get on this morning period. I'm glad i'm up in a couple months. I think i'll stick with Slacker, Last.fm, and iTunes' various radio stations

3/24/2009 8:38:50 AM

Fuck. Now they're tacking on $1.98 "Music Royalty Fee".

6/16/2009 1:18:48 PM

mine renewed this last month. I think this will be my last quarter with satellite radio.

i miss listening online the most. I may do an online only thing if that is a real option. If not, then i'm over it.

6/16/2009 1:43:01 PM

Isn't PAID satellite radio supposed to be commercial free? I've never had it before and my Mom does and sure it enough, its full of freaking commercials. Or am i making an incorrect assumption?

Seems like a rip off to me.

6/16/2009 3:11:28 PM

it depends on what you are listening to.

Most news/talk channels have commercial breaks.

XM has a few channels that are ad sponsored, pink 24 comes to mind and a couple more.

Most if not all the standard music channels are commercial free.

6/16/2009 3:14:54 PM

I haven't heard commercials on any music stations that I've listened to on there. If you are listening to a football game or a race or something though you're going to get the commercials just like the people listening on regular radio. That being said...

My parents got me a Sirius unit for my car back at Christmas 2007. They purchased a year under their family plan as part of the gift. I assume they renewed it unknowingly this past year as well because it's still working. If they ever wise up and cut it off (I know my parents and I'm 90% or more sure they're unaware they're still paying for it) I won't bother to resubscribe on my own.

6/16/2009 3:16:11 PM

^ yup. on sirius, all music channels are commercial free, but all the talk channels (except for the weather/traffic channel) have commercials.

i'm thinking about not renewing my annual subscription next time it's up, as i've just been disappointed with the music programming ever since the merger. i've had sirius for 3 years now, and have listened to xm many times in rental cars the past few years as well - both played better music as single entities than they do now as a combined one.

6/16/2009 3:19:23 PM

ah, she does listen to a lot of talk. The Oprah Channel

6/16/2009 3:22:18 PM

I just want to know why it sounds like shit. Sounds like a 96kbps stream.

6/16/2009 3:30:39 PM

I listen to music non stop at work and recently switched to XM instead of Pandora. I also bought a portable radio that I can transfer from my car to my house. I am loving XM, and 2.99 is nothing to pay for a month of online music with no commercials.

6/16/2009 3:50:51 PM

Sirius is making it hard for me to keep paying them money when I only listen for one show, the Jason Ellis show, and they keep increasing the price.

6/16/2009 9:35:55 PM

^Ellis is pretty damn good. Picked up on him when I was checking out the remapped channels and Faction came up as a replacement for one of my favorites. I listened a little and kinda liked him. Then he was on Opie & Anthony and I thought he held his own quite well. He and O&A are the only two original pieces of programming that SiriusXM has to keep me on. My music listening habits are better suited to Slacker, which I have a portable unit for, and I REALLY fucking enjoy that. It sounds better, I can listen online all day long, etc. and my one year ran like $30, I think. Only reason I keep SiriusXM is that dad is paying for it, and with his new job he will be on the road a lot. Otherwise they were about 2 months away from losing 2 more subs. If I have to pay, I will drop it and just torrent Ellis and O&A.

6/16/2009 10:18:07 PM