What is the attraction of satellite radio?????

It depends on what you want to listen to. I listen to movie soundtracks. I do not want to download them or convert them to an MP3. Sometimes I listen to New Age. I do not want to download them or convert them to an MP3. Sometimes I listen to comedy or old radio programs. I do not want to download them or convert them to an MP3. The decision comes as I am driving, not at home. I have no need for an iPod as I can't think of even 100 songs I would want to store, but that's just me. I have a total of 51 phone numbers on my cell phone (some I can remove without problems), so a 500 number phone book is unnecessary for me as well.

Fortunately satellite radio isn't an option that you have merely because it came bundled with a package. You can opt out not to have it.

 

No commercials is a big one.
For those who travel, not having to switch stations when you lose one.
Being able to listen to jazz (or other non-top-40 or country genre) other than at an early morning timeslot on an obscure underpowered station.

The problem with a MP3 player is that it'll be the same songs until you go buy new ones, while on satellite the playlist changes. (assuming, anyway, you aren't listening to one of the decades channels. I have no idea if the decades rotate playlists or just use one big one.)

Some people like having a DJ.

The compression isn't all that noticable to me on most channels. (The talk ones on Sirius used to sound like a noisy phone line, but they've improved.)

After having Sirius, there's no way I'm going back to terrestrial radio.

 

I have it for:
Music
Fox News Network
The Weather Chan.
I like the Old Time Radio.

When Something has hit the fan you have three news networks to pick from.


that is why I have it.. just wish it would display more than 10 chars on the screen

 

I was wondering the same thing, including things about TV channels and digital crap. I see all those new TVs and majority are crap. The pixels ares so visible that it's aweful to watch. I don't have a problem with my projector though. I always wondered about plasma TVs they are just crap and cost big $$$.
I get calls from my local cable provider and they offer me hundreds of TV channels and tell me how good of a deal it is. And I always ask them if I could I have just ONE channel, just one good one. They get confused. It's all about quantity andnot the quality!

 

This sorta reminds me of an old Mad Magazine cartoon where one guy saw someone listening to a radio. He said, "How can you listen to that radio? I have a cassette player (I told you it was old) and I can listen to what music I want, when I want. No annoying DJs." The other guy replied, "Can you listen to what I'm listening to now? Today's baseball game?"

 

My husband has XM in his Accord and we LOVE it. I can't wait to get it integrated into my Prius after I take ownership.

I love getting the traffic/weather reports, being able to listen to NHL games from other towns, being able to listen to all 1940's music for hours at a time, or relive high school memories with the 90's station. He likes listening to Playboy Radio and some of the punk rock channels. The comedy stations are fun to listen to on roadtrips too. And you never have to worry about the 'station' tuning out and going to static as you leave a major metropolitan area (and we do roadtrips quite often so that's a big plus for us).

It's all a matter of taste and likes/dislikes. I don't 'do' I-pods, mp3 players, or cd-burning, so it works perfectly for me.

I have Tivo for the television-don't watch or need all the channels, so I pick out which shows I want to watch and watch them when I want to, no messing w/commercials or having to be there at 8pm in order to catch the 8pm show.

 

Not to belabor the point but traveling between Idaho, Oregon and Washington; there are a lot of dead spots. Especially if one is looking for NPR, CBC, BBC type news radio. Because of my preferences, I will be going with Sirius rather than XM. Just wish Bob Edwards had signed with Sirius instead of XM.

As far as Howard Stern goes. I grew up in New York City suburbs and remember him from when he was just a pup... And he holds no appeal; not funny just crude. One can be crude and funny, but he seems to only manage crude (of course IMHO)

 

Back in October, I took my 86-year-old father on a trip (4.5 hours each way). He was very entertained by going to the old time radio channel, and I didn't have to worry about losing the signal.

 

We purchased the MyFi XM hand held receiver. It came with all the attachments for home, car and even using it for walking around the neighborhood. That way we only needed one subscription and it is so easy to take from the house to the car.

When on vacation, the AM and FM bands have become a wasteland, in my opinion. Having a satellite delivered, multi-channel system allows one to enjoy the same programming no matter where you are. That alone is awesome. You simply have to experience it to appreciate it.

We didn't "get it" either about an MP3 player until one day my wife blurted out "hon, we could put our entire CD library in one of those". Think about that. We have hundreds of CD's around here and they didn't get much use. But after getting the latest iPod we are using it all the time. So, for us, it allowed us to utilize what we already owned in the way of music.

I also have to agree with Evan. We just upgraded our TV to a Sony high definition SXRD 50 inch and you simply can not compare anything analog to it. If you are a football fan you have a better seat than if you were actually there. And many times much warmer too. (hehe) We use a High Definition TiVo and it has made a huge difference in our enjoyment of watching television. We are now in control of when we watch, what we watch and we can even skip the commercials. What more would you want? We have a motto we use alot. Ease of use promotes use. TiVo certainly is easy to use. Hence we enjoy watching our new TV too. Ask us how often we go to the movie theater anymore. Not much.

If you go looking around and view high def tv's make sure they are actually showing high definition. Many of the box pushers dont.

End of 2 cents on subject.