SIRIUS XM streaming satellite radio review

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Being cooped up indoors and away from people definitely has me looking for more ways to connect and find entertainment. That’s why I decided to try on a Sirius XM satellite radio subscription. I’m Erin TGC.com and since I wasn’t in the car, I enabled the Sirius XM app so I could listen at home or when I was out on daily walks. Here’s what I learned after spending several weeks with the service.

Getting the service up and running is easy enough. You can call the Sirius customer service centre to get yourself connected, or go to their website. (The set up for enabling your car audio is a bit different so I’ll skip that for now; you basically need your radio number from inside the car.)

Download the Sirius XM app and enter your login and password. The app is very user friendly and easy to navigate. I opted for the Streaming only package called Premier, which gives you 300+ channels from music, to talk, sports and Howard Stern.

To find some radio channels you might like, start with the Discover tab. You can see what’s available in Music, Sports, News, or Talk. The Discover tab will also recommend fan favourite channels and top-listened stations.

Got a few stations that you’re going to be putting on repeat? Tap on the station and then hit the star icon in the top right to mark it a favourite. When you go to your favourites tab at the bottom of the page, they’re all there; just like programming your presets on the car radio… only much easier!

When it comes to what I was listening to… I sampled a lot of content.
I’m loving Dr Laura’s no-nonsense advice on Triumph radio, LL Cool J’s Rock the Bells and Eminem’s Shade 45 have amazing hip hop and vintage hip hop, Symphony Hall and Chill stations are great for chill out background music to work to. There’s dedicated music stations in every genre, and ccurated by a bunch of amazing musicians.

There’s also a tonne of news and talk stations, from CNN, and Headline news, to Canada’s CBC Radio one and NPR.

While you can easily listen to your Sirius XM app online, on your phone or tablet, you can also stream to other devices like a Google Home or Amazon Alexa. Doing it is as simple as playing the show on your device and touching Deveices Available about halfway up the screen.

Choose your nearby device from the list to connect in a second. Then you can use the voice control of your smart digital assistant to play, pause and adjust volume.

Is your favourite show about to begin? Enable the reminder function and get a message just before the show starts! Make sure reminders are turned on on Settings, then click the ‘Set reminder’ button on the show you like. Does your car radio do that for you?

Let’s talk about the Benefits of Satellite radio
I’ve very quickly learned having the Sirius XM app has a lot of plusses.

Not only do you get access to a bunch of content, but you’re in control of how you access your content too. You can listen live, or restart a show from the beginning, or skim through it using the scrubber bar to skip the boring bits.

You can also go back and listen to the last few days of some shows using the app too. magic!

This has to be my biggest beef with this service: commercials. I’m old enough to remember when satellite radio started and it was meant to be commercial free; that’s what you were paying for it for. You’re still paying for it, so having to also listen to ads is a bit of an annoyance.

Some channels have ads running on the channel itself. Others, like CNN for example, where they’re broadcasting the TV signal, cut in with dedicated radio commercials during the TV breaks.

If you love sports, this entertainment package is pretty insane. Some of the higher tier packages including the All Access give you ever MLB, NFL, NBA, PGA NHL and NASCAR event and game all year long. No blackouts, no missed games, and no hunting for who’s carrying them.

From the Now Playing screen of an On Demand episode, scroll down and look for the Download button below the On Demand Episode name. You can also press and hold on an Episode to download it.

OC
Overall I can’t find much that’s negative to say about Sirius XM’s app. I love how many channels there are, and there’s content for every need and want. It’s easy to flip around, the reminders are handy and the favourites setting makes it easy to dial up my preferred stations. There’s also a tonne of choice, meaning you don’t have to be bored if you’re sitting at home, or commuting

On the downside, it’s those pesky commercials on some channels. But really, there’s so many channels (and ways to avoid the commercials) that you can sidestep them if you want to. I also wish there was more offline listening options and more content available for download.

[DEEKATHY]

My wife got us Sirius xm, she got it in the car and I have the app, we don't like local FM in our area or cable, so we been Sirius xm and Netflix, Fire Stick for 2 years now.

[Dirtbug]

Dr Laura...Im an Excavating Contractor...listened to her years ago...enjoyed her advice and bold confrontation.

[OldDood]

When I was working I had to drive 50+ miles one way to work.
Well, I used the Sat-Radio.
My 'Trick' was to turn the radio on in my vehicle. I had a Tacoma Pick Up and I had the dealer set up one 12v Plug to 'Always On'
(Just like old fashioned Cig-Lighters use to be)
Since I needed to take a shower and all that comes with waking up in the morning I would turn on my Sat-Radio in my vehicle.

THEN I would find the station/channel I wanted to listen to.. THEN PAUSE the radio.
I have a Portable 'Sportster' unit that you can pause whatever you are listening to for almost an hour and a half.
So when I was ready to drive to work with my coffee mug in hand I could jump in the truck and be off.
Since I paused about 1/2 hour of the channel I was listening to I could then Zip by any and all commercials.

This worked very well for me. I used to listen to 'Coast to Coast AM' on my Sat-Radio.
If anyone knows about this program then you know they are HEAVY with commercials.
By pausing the radio I would by pass this problem.

Also having a Life Time Subscription was very helpful as well.
(I actually had TWO Life Time subscriptions....I still do)

Also of people complain about Sirius/XM but I have very few complaints since I have had no need to contact them at all in the last 13 years.
I did just recently called them up to transfer my Life Time Sub from my older 2007 car to my new 2022 car.
Took me about ten minutes. It did cost me $35.00 for the transfer but well worth it in my opinion....

[gregoryhess]

I’ve had SiriusXM for 5 years now and I love it. They have channels for almost anything. They also have awesome promotions such as google hubs and amazon echos for little to no money at all for just subscribing. It’s also a good idea to call the retention centre so that they can get you the best deal. They’ll be able to cut the price in half. I’m currently paying $7 a month for both streaming and satellite radio so the price is hard to beat! Definitely a good service that I hope to keep for many more years to come!

[DisembodiedScreams]

Just signed up for a free trial. Enjoying it so far. I also wanted to let you know that you can't cast to your Alexa device. You have to use Bluetooth instead. And Radio Margaritaville is another great chill out station. Thanks for the in depth review.

[McmM-cvsb]

I have XM radio for quite years and it's not bad but like you said I could do without some of the commercials thanks for your info you're very lovely thank you .👍

[JaydelCorro]

We had satellite radio years ago, but since have gone completely to streaming apps for all music and podcasts. I like the freedom of choosing when to listen and downloading content. It's a different story when we go up north where internet is expensive though. Up there, satellite radio and TV is all you got.

[haroldfridkis]

I've been a SiriusXM subscriber since April 2019, and I have the All Access package, which includes NASCAR radio, one of my favorite channels!

[kclubb]

I had Sirius XM Radio for about 2 years and they will never be a customer again due to their shady work practices. In a nutshell, to get a "reasonable" price for the service, you have to call in every 6 months to say you're going to cancel the service and then they will give you a deal. I purposefully kept my payment as a one-time payment and a paper bill to help prevent me from going over that 6 months. The last time I forgot to set a reminder on my calendar to call and I was sent a bill "after my cycle already started". They of course wanted 130+ dollars for me to get 6 months of service. I nearly flipped my lid, but this is their "regular" pricing. When there are so many alternatives such as Pandora, Spotify, and other streaming services, I would push towards those instead. Especially when you are using a "mobile app" version of the service.

The part of this entire situation that baffles me the most was they charge you for a bill, that isn't sent out until after your new period has started and expected you to pay for anything beyond that date. To my knowledge bills are supposed to be sent out before the billing cycle starts and not after.

To make a long story short I am still fighting my bill over the said amount on the bill after canceling my service (which took no less than 30 minutes after getting an agent on the phone). They lost me as a customer after this stunt was pulled, and them refusing to get me a supervisor (and hanging up on me). Working in a call center, I know this is not how they are supposed to work. While I was definitely upset I made clear I was not upset with them (at least until they refused to connect me to a supervisor). Take this with a grain of salt and be careful about using this service. They have really scammy practices.

[Stefano]

Thank you for your nice unbiased review. I have had Sirius XM on my car radio since 2018. I am thrilled to have access to great Jazz music, comedy, and both BBC and PBS options. It is wonderful to not lose the signal as happens with traditional radio when you leave the broadcast area.  
Of course it turns out that one of my favorite channels is constantly infected with long commercial segments AND is also at times co-opted for sports events.
I frankly find that MORE than a little annoying since I am paying a rather hefty monthly fee for this service which SHOULD be commercial free. One of these days I will have had enough of that and will end my subscription!! But, thank you for your great discussion.

[velocci]

Also, don’t enter credit card info on their site. It doesn’t allow you to remove it

[bzedman]

I searched all over about downloading, I couldn't find a clear explanation of HOW it was done. I finally learned from here 1) what the DOWNLOAD button looked like, and 2) there's not much they allow to download. Well, no wonder I couldn't find that damn button! Yet to discover: setting up DEVICES to stream to, and I am learning there aren't that many PANDORA stations available. For instance, my favorite artist, Gillian Welch: not found.

[mikemiloserdoff]

one thing you didnt mention is that cellphone streaming is dependent on line-of-sight cell towers along major roadways. Satellite-based devices link to satellites orbiting 12, 600 miles above earth, and the signal footprint has very few areas on earth where the signal could not be reached and reception lost. Thus, reception reliability footprint is greatly enhanced when the method of signal communication is thru satellite.

[leefdog]

Hi Erin, a problem I have with the service is that sxm limits your song skipping and repeat ability.

[tomgaskajr]

I loved this review! I've been a subscriber to Siriusxm since may of last year and I love this service!

[dtork]

Erin great review. Since Serius acquiried
Pandora I can’t seem to fine the most economical way to have both. I currently still have both P premium and Serius, not sure that is the best way?

[banky]

There’s no scrubber bar for me on the app. Did they take that off??

[MarcosNYCWorldwide]

Actually, with the exceptions of iHeartRadio stations Z100 and KIIS-FM, the music channels are commercial-free.

[IronBallsMcNeese]

Rock the Bells, you aint lying!! But I was wanting to know what was different about streaming online rather than listening in my car. Not much. Thought maybe there was more to it, just subscribed to it (and to your channel). Thanks for the review. Well done.

[swiss]

does using the mobile app eat up phone data time if I only listen to music? I would not be using WIFI. I am thinking of using the phone app and running it though my harley.