Okay, now I will come clean. After a few days of exhaustive research, I decided to go ahead and take the leap into Satellite Radio. As you may recall from an earlier post, I am a fan of Christian music (PETRA, Casting Crowns, Michael W. Smith, etc.) but there are few to no Christian radio stations in our area. Technically, there are about 3, but one is across Long Island Sound and reaches us only very precise atmospheric conditions (or with a LONG antenna), one is only working from sun-up to sun-down, and one mainly plays "Focus on the Family" over and over and over again. I am also a fan of talk radio, but have gotten tired of only hearing the few hosts that appear on WABC out of NYC, since now most of them are syndicated and also appear on all of the local talk stations. I was first tempted by a store stand in Circuit City showing off Sirius radio, but finally decided to go with XM radio because: (1) it was $3 cheaper a month, (2) it had three Christian stations instead of only one, and (3) It has a 10-to-1 subscriber ration with Sirius which means if one goes out of business, it will probably be Sirius. XM was also much cleared in its contracts that you can cancel their service at any time with no penalties, so if it turns out I was back with my iPod 24/7, I could cancel the service and return the receiver and nothing lost.
I decided to with the Delphi Roady2 for my receiver. XM has a number of different receivers available (you need a special receiver for either Sirius or XM - they are not compatible), but the main 2 are the Delphi SkiFi and the Delphi Roady series. SkiFi is the BMW of receivers - it is a bit more expensive, but you can slip it into a specially-made boom-box, into a dedicated dock in your car, into a stereo system dock, etc. (Assume $100 for the receiver, plus $200 for each of these accessories.) But the Roady2 includes as part of the base package the receiver, a car kit, AND a free home kit (that you send away for) all for about $100. Pretty much a no-brainer to go for the cheaper one which includes it all, especially since online reviews indicate it works at least as well as the SkiFi for all but the most demanding users. I bought mine at Circuit City - since that was where I found it originally - though you can buy these at Wal-Mart or Best Buy as well.
Activation was easy, though there was a $9.99 fee. Surfed to XM's website (painfully slow on dial-up, but quick when I get broadband back), entered a little personal info for billing, gave them a credit card number, gave them the radio ID on the back (each XM radio has a unique ID and activating one is NOT activating any others), and within a half hour I was ready to go. (Actually, I could listen to the preview station right away, but had to wait a half hour for the other stations to unlock. My impression is that this would be faster if I had called on the phone line, but that would have cost me $5 more in fees.)
Usage has been great. I have hooked up the Roady2 to earphones and to my home stereo (I already had the part for headphone jack-to-stereo cables, though it also will come when the home kit does), and it sounds great. I just put the mini-antenna (size of a postage stamp) in a roughly-south-facing window and it comes in great. FYI, since XM is all digital, you either get near-CD-quality sound or you get nothing. No in-betweens. But other than a brief time of cut-outs when I had the antenna placed on the wrong side of my venetian blinds, there was no problem. I also have used it in my car in trips to work. The mini-antenna is magnetic, so it sticks to the body of your car, or you can just place it on your dashboard. So far, other than brief cut-outs when I pass under a bridge or am in the shadow of a cliff face (yes, we have those in New England by our highways) it has been great.
So far, my favorite station, BY FAR, is "The Fish" XM 32. It plays praise-and-worship music 24/7 with only station-identification breaks here and there - no commercials, no exraneous chatter. The selection is broad (not the same two bands singing the same 4 songs over and over) and the choices are pleasing to the ear. The two other Christian stations are less useful to me, but still nice-to-haves. XM 31 is "The Torch" which plays alternative and hard rock bands. So far, I have listened to about 20 songs on that station and have liked about 2. But maybe I am just becoming an old fuddy duddy. XM33 is an all-gospel station, and while the song selection is great and the sound quality is great, I can only take so much gospel choir in a 24 hour period. The other unexpected treat is that the Talk selections are even broader than I expected. No Rush Limbaugh (but then if you can't get him on at least 3 AM stations in your area, you probably are in Russia somewhere) but everyone else is available, from far left to solid middle to far right. I have been enjoying Bill Bennett the last few mornings, when I am wooed away from "The Fish", and love being able to switch to listen to CNN, Fox News, or C-Span's morning show when I want to. And on the way home from work, sometimes the Comedy Channels are invaluable as an antidote to the day. Nothing spells "Work is done" like a set from Jeff Foxworthy!
Overall, I am very happy with XM Radio so far. Course, it is only my first week with the service and who knows how fast such a relationship might go south. But for now, it is lost at first listen and there are no regrets. I'll keep our loyal readers apprised of future developments. (And if you have any questions for me on the service, please post them below in our Comments section.)
For any parents reading this, please be aware that some of the Rap, Rock, and Comedy stations may play some stuff that may contain profanity. However, these channels can be blocked according to your radio ID.
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