When we bought our 2019 GMC Terrain nearly three years ago from the local GM dealership, it included a free SXM trial. We tried it, but there were constant signal/audio drop-outs, plus we have most radio stations in Ottawa and the Valley available to us, as well as MP3s on USB drives and Spotify Premium on my phone, so we decided not to renew. Naturally, SXM kept calling and mailing us afterward, begging us to come back.

The majority of the time, the radio in our Terrain is on Ottawa's Hot 89.9, and when we go on longer drives together, I'll build a Spotify playlist and download the songs to my phone for offline use... avoids using mobile data, and keeps the music playing when we're in major dead zones such as the Addington Highlands and Bon Echo areas.

I re-signed for 24 months at $5 a month.  One car can get it, don't use it much.  I have an old Google audiocast.  Hooked it up to the receiver in the house and cast from the SXM app.  I will cancel when the time comes most likely.

Agree with you Aaron. I've had SiriusXM in my car(s) for several years now. On long commutes or drives to the cottage, it was an excellent alternative to mind-numbing conformity of the AM/FM band and gave me access to a wealth of music, talk and sports programming. Now that I can stream much of the same quality content through my phone app, SiriusXM may no longer fit my needs. I'm giving it a few more months before I make up my mind to cancel my subscription.

I keep it because I listen to hard rock and metal. Most of which doesn’t get played on radio. The songs that I do listen to that may get played on regular radio are edited down so much that it doesn’t sound good. So I keep the SiriusXM and I also use Apple Music on my phone for other stuff. I enjoy listening to the Sirius on my phone when I am out running errands and not in the car. But I also have playlists of music on Apple Music and when I find good songs on a Sirius station I add it to my playlists.

My issue with it when I had it for free when the car was new and still persists today (except not when using the actual Sirus XM phone app) is the horrible sound quality.  Its like a bad MP3 from back in the day with the low bitrate distortion.  Literally  hurts my ears and is worse when played on a good system. 

Last edited by markow202 (February 1, 2024 2:39 pm)

RadioActive wrote:

markow202 wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

My new car came without an option for SiriusXM or a test period, and although I think the radio operating system in it (beware of Mazda 3s!) is horrible, I'm grateful for the lack of the satellite option. There was no way I would ever subscribe to this service, but like Forward Power, I've heard they never stop bugging you to renew. Who needs the constant huckstering and hassles?

Love the Mazda 3! 

So do (did?) I, having had three of them over the years. The old kind made it easy - six AM choices and 12 FM on the radio, with a tuning and a volume knob. You could change stations or tune manually without ever looking at the radio. 


Not with the new kind. True, it has a "favourites" screen where you can pick the stations you like, but forget manual tuning while you're behind the wheel. To get to that particular menu takes so long and so many screens, you'd definitely have an accident if you tried it in traffic. Plus they have this round "Commander" joystick that is very awkward and the number of menus you have to go through and then click through to get to where you want is absolutely absurd.

So I agree with you on the Mazda 3s - of old. The new ones are a nightmare, A classic case of improving something so much, you made it almost unusable. I find it happens a lot these days.

I still have the older one (2013) bought new and yes it has the older school radio with the knob and center tuning knob.   Reception is decent.   I think all the newer cars have the same menu touchscreen stuff so its not just Mazda.  Actually from what ive seen, the Mazda one is still the one thats nicely put together let alone the car itself.  Its great and fun. 

However in the car rarely listen to radio itself its mostly my streamed music. 

Last edited by markow202 (February 1, 2024 3:00 pm)

The free radio apps and streaming services  are killing this  business model 

Last edited by cash (February 1, 2024 5:23 pm)

Those who use Spotify may want to take note of this:

Spotify tells CRTC it may raise prices if it faces fees related to Online Streaming Act

 

I have used the service since 2018 and for a music geek like me it's worth having.

I have it in one car but I don't use that car much and so I use the APP to listen in the older car. I have six music channel favorites. Deep Tracks, 60;'s Gold, Underground Garage, The Loft, The Beatles Channel and the Grateful Dead Channel. I listen in the car once or twice per week and occasionally at home.

Deep Tracks does play a lot of the music I heard on progressive FM in the 70's like Caravan, Pentangle and so many others. Today I heard Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine by Country Joe and the Fish and I have not heard that on terrestrial radio for decades.

Undergrounds Garage is very eclectic and not strictly garage rock but that is the basic inspiration. Today I heard Sheila by Tommy Row, Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere by the Who and a track by the Nervous Eaters. They also play quite a bit of 60's R&B. The only place on the radio that regularly features Power Pop like the Dwight Twilley Band and the Raspberries. Once upon a time I used to hear sets like this on WUWU FM from Buffalo.

Anyway with the recent downgrade of Deep Tracks channel number , think I should start recording that and the other channels I like before they are gone. I have done some recording of the service over the last 5 years but it's been to experiment by recording to the unwieldly 8 track format or put the service through my AM stereo transmitter. 

Could me a moment like 1983/84 when I realized that I had to save Gary Storm's Oil of Dog program on WUWU for posterity and recorded hours of it. Was basically the last truly free form radio  ( on a commercial station) I heard in these parts and it was clear that such freedom would not last.

 

Last edited by Fitz (February 2, 2024 12:35 am)

tvguy wrote:

I disagree with RadioAaron.  I believe that on the $18.99 monthly fee (lowest pricing for cars) the monthly copyright fee is 95 cents CDN. 

I believe the tariff in Canada for SXM for 2024-2025  is as follows:
At present, the only such service operating in Canada is SiriusXM Canada. The proposed royalty rate for 2024-2026 is 5% of service revenues, subject to a minimum fee of 50¢ per subscriber per month. The proposed tariff adjusts the minimum fee in concert with the higher percentage of revenue royalty.

Not sure how this is a contradiction.

SXM pays 5% of revenues to royalties, while Spotify pays 70%.

That's why you can't skip ahead in SXM playlists. 
 

TuneIn and iHeart combined are cheaper and offer better content than Sirius.
The decade channels and national HD subcarrier channels on iHeart are commercial free and less repetitive than Sirius, and iHeart offers free playlists.
On TuneIn Premium you get all of the sports you need and commercial free versions of all of the major news networks with segments from a couple of hours ago inserted over the commercial breaks.
The only thing missing is the NFL. For that you just bookmark WestwoodOneSports.com. The player loads up perfectly on mobile.

I really wanted to like satellite radio but on top of everything else, with the poorly encoded sound, especially on the non-music stations, and its use of Billboard’s sales charts you hear songs frequently that weren’t big hits on radio for good reason. It’s just not that good.

I understand that for blues, jazz and metal it’s good but I don’t listen to those formats.

I've tried them and not really enjoyed them.

I like AAA formats, and I felt like Stingray's was just being programmed on one person's personal taste and not to attract/keep an audience.

brian451 wrote:

Then they tried to offer me a different plan but I would lose the sports play by play and the Howard stern channels. And it would still be more than my current rate. The new rate would still be about 160 a year. With less channels. 

I should threaten to quit. See if they make me that offer. It would be ideal for me. I have zero interest in sports and less than zero interest in Howard Stern.
 

On a Sirius note, I was saddend  to see that Mojo Nixon passed last week at 66. He was the afternoon host of the Outlaw Country channel and a musician .