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Sirius/XM radio and Pleasure Way Class B
How many owners use Serius/XM radio?  Is it worth it? Do you like it?

We listen to classical CD's mostly and some movie music. However, I can whistle or sing most of them by now, (repetition, repetition...)  When you can whistle most of Wagner's Das Rheingold, you have listened to it too many times.  Cyndy is really tired of my singing and whistling and I'm getting bored.

I'm a complete newbie here.  Is XM radio available everywhere?  Are there enough interesting stations and enough variety to the music?  Is the reception good? Decent classical stations?  Our Lazy Daze has the Jensen XM radio installed.  Is there anything else we need? 
2014 27 MB
Towd: Either the Jeep Wrangler or trailer containing the BMW R1200GS and 2 E-bicycles
Happy wife=Happy life
Re: Serius/XM radio?
Reply #1 –
Why not try a free thirty day trial.
SiriusXM Free Trial - SiriusXM Radio

We have used a portable XM radio for years, moving it from home to the car or LD.
When it works fine until you get far north, where the view of satellite(s) gets too low in the sky.
I have noticed the signal dropping out in northern Washington and into B.C., especially in mountainous terrain or in the trees.

Larry

Larry
2003 23.5' Front Lounge, since new.  Previously 1983 22' Front Lounge.
Tow vehicles  2020 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, 2001 Jeep Cherokee
Photo Collection: Lazy Daze
Re: Serius/XM radio?
Reply #2 –
We've had XM, now Sirius XM from Day One for our LD in 2003. It's certainly useful when traveling in remote areas, where we typically get a good strong signal and lots of program options.

But in my opinion is has gone downhill in terms of programming since the merger of the two companies. I think XM was the more innovative company when it came to programming and cared much more about what it was presenting, and much of that has disappeared under the influence of Sirius.

A good example was the elimination of the one folk channel on XM. You may or may not like folk music but I found it appalling that they couldn't keep one channel out of hundreds to cover this important genre of American music. Yet they probably now have a dozen hip hop channels. Sirius has always been about what sells.

Another annoyance has been the insinuation of advertising into what is promoted as an advertising free medium. There are actually many channels that simply rebroadcast commercial FM programming (news and sports channels for example), advertising and all. As opposed to, say, inserting some music when the ads play.

But I find S-XM's "cross channel promotion" ads even more annoying. They play at elevated volume, tend to be very intense, and usually encourage you to tune into some other S-XM channel that you have no interest in. Especially frustrating is the fact that you are already a subscriber. Why do they need to advertise to you? I guess it's the American way, just being sure that no 10 minute stretch of our lives goes without some sort of marketing interruption.

So, I'm not thrilled with it. We basically listen to a handful of channels only, much like cable TV. But when you're in some remote location it can be good to have because the alternative is no radio at all. But I think today I'd try making better use of my cell phone first. If you have a good cellular connection then you have access to all the programming that comes over the internet, at very little cost in data since audio is not particularly date intensive.

And even if you don't have cell service you can now download a lot of programming in advance. My favorite source of music these days is the various stations I've "built" on Pandora. And Pandora has a new feature which downloads to your phone several hours worth of programming from your most used stations for listening off line. You can do much the same with Podcasts, etc. Without the need for new equipment and probably for less than the cost of S-XM. And the spirit of alternative radio that many in my generation so enjoyed when we were younger is alive and well on the Internet.

Terry
2003 26.5' RB
Gardnerville, NV
Terry
2003 26.5'RB
Gardnerville, NV
Re: Sirius/XM radio?
Reply #3 –
"And Pandora has a new feature
which downloads to your phone several hours worth of programming from your
most used stations for listening off line. "

This sounds very interesting, Terry.  Can you provide a pointer to some instructions on "How To"?  We listen Pandora, having given up on Sirius for most of the same reasons you state.  It was great when it first started out, but . . . well, no need to further bash.  Suffice to say, we no longer found it worthwhile.

The new downloadable features popping up everywhere should solve a lot of problems with remote connection possibilities.

   Virtual hugs,

   Judie
Re: Sirius/XM radio?
Reply #4 –
I dropped my subscription to Sirius XM (S-XM) about two years ago.  I use Audible books and Pandora now.

Purchased a XM radio for the long solo trips to see family in Florida back in 2003 or 04.   I agree that the service and listening experience went down hill after the merger.  It was not just with folk, worse was the interment reception.  I live in Virginia.  After the merger I think S-XM changed the satellite constellation.  I had more outage time in the city (Washington DC near Constitution, a rather open area) but drastically more outage time driving under the trees and near power lines.  When I retired I just was not spending the time in the car.  With XM, listening no the computer was free with the subscription, after the merger there was a fee for that service.  Another problem with XM is how they do auto renewal.  The auto renewal fee is much larger than calling up to renew.  Once you buy anything from them they tend to hold onto the credit card number so they can auto renew your subscription.  I had to tell them not to hold the credit card info.  I will say the billing office was easy to work with and provided me a credit.  

I am considering renewing my service (3 mo if they still offer it) for a longish trip out west.  As stated earlier I use Pandora and Audible Books currently.    Pandora is not the same as a DJ.  The down side with Pandora is once you "Thumbs Up" a song that artist takes over a station.  So say you like Willy Nelson and Kris Kritofferson song and you thumbs up it, your folk music channel becomes a C&W Outlaw station.  Perhaps not a bad thing, but not what I was trying to build.   Also if there is no cell there is no music.  The issue was more troubling for my acoustic guitar station,  I liked a Mexican artist then the channel got a ton of Mexican/boarder music, which I actually like, but in small measure.  The final problem with Pandora over S-XM or any DJ radio is you miss what is current.  And even if you don't like a lot of current you miss that one song you may like very much too. 
Currently: 2008 36' Tiffin Open Road
Previously: 2007 Mid Bath
Re: Sirius/XM radio?
Reply #5 –

I actually quite "love" my SiriusXM radio.  :)

I have two Audiovox Compact Sound Systems - one I keep in my house and the other in my RV, so I just "switch out" the actual radio unit.  The Audiovox radio looks (and sounds) somewhat like a Bose radio. 

Amazon.com: Audiovox XMAS100 XM Compact Sound System: Car Electronics

In my Lazy Daze, I had the antenna installed on the roof, and I found a DC plug to power the radio.  I keep the radio on a shelf with my BluRay/DVD player near my TV.  When I'm parked, I just open the overhead bin and listen. 

It's well worth the money for me as I don't use my TV except to stream Netflix and/or watch movies.  I listen to NPR in the a.m., and really like "The Bridge" as it's music from my "era." 

Speaking of money, I found that if you call the company you can "negotiate" your yearly fee.  I've done this for the past few years and this year's renewal was $108.80 - that's about $9.00/month. 

It's totally worth it for me! 

As an Amazon Associate Lazy Daze Owners' Group earns from qualifying purchases.
Cheryl (a.k.a. Desert Diva)
1998 Lazy Daze (26.5 mid-bath)
2002 Honda CR-V
Re: Sirius/XM radio?
Reply #6 –
We terminated Sirius/XM about five years ago when it became less than desirable for a number of reasons.  Hubby has an older iPod Classic with 160 GB of space on it for music, which encompasses just about every CD or downloaded music we own.  We use that sometimes, and other times, especially at home where the WiFi is not constrained, we mostly listen to the paid edition of Pandora.

For variety, and to get around the problem of "too much of a good thing", I have about 25 or so "stations" set up, and then ask for "Shuffle".  This seems to produce a spate of similar-type genres for a while, and then shifts to something different for a while longer.  Mostly we like elevator music and that of the 20's, 30's, and 40's. 

I guess we are just easily pleased with the offerings, as I seldom make any adjustments, although they are easy to make.  If I want a bit more "twang", I throw Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed into the mix.  Jackie Gleason's music for lovers stays in place, as do my Irish Tenors and Eydie Gormé, but guitars may become more prevalent, with Roy Clark appearing unbidden.

As for the difference in cost . . . using Pandora on trips isn't an issue because my iPhone still has unlimited, but failing that, the extra GB's that would need to be purchased on a telephone plan might be commensurate with the tariff imposed by the connection to Sirius/XM, but I am not familiar with the costs of either one.

I know there was always a bit of shifting about to put up the Sirius/XM antenna in just the right spot in the Lazy Daze, sometimes requiring a cable to go across the floor, or around furniture.  Not sure there was such a lot of hassle with positioning the iPhone in the right position.  Another benefit to music directly from the iPhone is that it will play from its own speakers with enough listenability, through earphones, and also connectable to a remote speaker through bluetooth.

I've been known to play Pandora at home through an ancient iPod Touch, connecting it to a nice speaker.  I haven't tried this yet because I don't have the device, but I'm betting that Pandora will sound great directly from the four speakers in an iPad Pro!  I hope to be able to try this out for myself very soon!  ;->

Virtual hugs,

Judie
Re: Sirius/XM radio?
Reply #7 –
Judie,

I believe the offline listening on Pandora requires a paid subscription, in my case about $5/month, which I've always had (no commercials). I believe that's called Pandora 1. With that on my iPhone, when Pandora introduced this feature a few months ago it simply started automatically downloading about 500mb of music to my phone whenever I had a Wi-Fi connection. It basically downloads the current playlist for the four of your stations that you listen to the most. It may go into off-line listening mode automatically when neither Wi-Fi or cellular data are available. But you can also select it though the Pandora menu. At the bottom of the menu screen there is a "switch" to turn offline mode on or off. I usually leave it off until encountering some situation where it is needed.

But to be sure this is working go to the Settings menu and select Offline and turn it on. I believe that essentially turns on downloading. The switch described above has to do with choosing to listen off-line rather than on-line.

John,

You need to "add variety" to your stations to overcome what you describe. Go to the screen for a given station. In the upper right corner you'll see a thumbs up symbol surrounded by a dotted circle. Click on that and it will take you to a screen that shows the artists from which that station is currently created. You can delete any of those you no longer want influencing your station. It also has an "Add Variety" option where you can add artists or songs to send the station in a different direction.

At the top of that screen it also shows the number of tracks you've given thumbs up or thumbs down to. Clicking on either number brings up a list of those, from which you can delete any you wish.

I've also found that it's important to not quit giving thumbs up to songs you like. My sense is that the Pandora algorithm gives preference to what you "liked" most recently. I have found that using these features I have been able to create very complex stations offering a lot of variety across all of the music genres I like.

My favorite station constantly weaves between the folk I started with, to folk rock, to classic rock, blues, "Sinatra" style music, classical and jazz, regularly mixing in new tracks and artists somewhat consistent with past "likes" but usually also taking things in a slightly new direction. To me this is very much like the DJs of old on the best of free form FM radio from the early 70s.

I'm a big fan of Pandora. In the younger set it has been eclipsed by Spotify and the like, but those require much more musical knowledge than I maintain. I like the DJ aspect of Pandora which to me is more like the best of FM radio, which hardly exists anymore on the FM band.

Terry
2003 26.5' RB
Gardnerville, NV
Terry
2003 26.5'RB
Gardnerville, NV
Re: Sirius/XM radio?
Reply #8 –
Rereading my post I was more negitive than I wanted to be.  I loved the old XM, and if I lived in big sky country it would share time with Pandora and downloaded cds. There are advantages and problems with all the solutions. 
With respect to XM, I don't think I would purchase a radio with XM installed.  I had a Roady receiver that plugged into the aux input.  From XM I purchased an extra antennas which allowed me to move the receiver and power supply from DaVee, to the wife's car to my car.  In the Lazy Daze I learned from this forum a good place for the XM antenna.  The forward emergency hatch/vent it the bomb.  I set the antenna on the screen and keep it in place with a common steel washer.  The antenna wire is small enough to slide through the hatch door. Then a short exposed run to the curtain. For the run to the wall, the wire. Is inside plastic slide that holds the curtain up. Then down to the door and along the door weather molding to under the dash coming out above the doghouse. No wires hanging around and only a washer and jewelers screwdriver to complete the instal.
Currently: 2008 36' Tiffin Open Road
Previously: 2007 Mid Bath
Re: Sirius/XM radio?
Reply #9 –
I use Iheart radio app...can get my local radio stations along with whatever other variety I feel like (Hawaiian radio station is currently my favorite)...no adds, no fees, though I'm sure it uses some of my data, though not enough that I notice.

Sherry
Sherry
Re: Sirius/XM radio?
Reply #11 –
We have Sirius-XM and enjoy it when we're traveling.

However, we got Sirius many years ago and bought a life-time subscription which was being offered at the time.  After so many years, we've more than paid for the life-time subscription. 

Would we have it if we had to pay for it now?  Probably not, unless they have a pay-as-you-go plan where we could turn off the service when we're at home.
Linda Hylton
Re: Sirius/XM radio?
Reply #12 –
I want to thank all of you for your insights, experienced opinions, and suggestions.  Several of your ideas are things I have never considered and now have even more learning to do.  I haven't tried Pandora, I haven't considered plugging our ancient I-pod into the LD aux port, XM is a completely new idea... Wow!  I will get to researching and figure out what will work best for us.

We are planning a three week trip through Calif- Ore- Wash in July and it will be nice to have some good music, especially pieces that I can't whistle yet.

Thanks to all of you again.  This is really a great forum and it is the people who make it so!

Harold
2014 27 MB
Towd: Either the Jeep Wrangler or trailer containing the BMW R1200GS and 2 E-bicycles
Happy wife=Happy life
Re: Sirius/XM radio?
Reply #13 –
"Judie,

I believe the offline listening on Pandora requires a paid subscription, in my case about $5/month, which I've always had (no commercials). I believe that's called Pandora 1. With that on my iPhone, when Pandora introduced this feature a few months ago it simply started automatically downloading about 500mb of music to my phone whenever I had a Wi-Fi connection. It basically downloads the current playlist for the four of your stations that you listen to the most. It may go into off-line listening mode automatically when neither Wi-Fi or cellular data are available. But you can also select it though the Pandora menu. At the bottom of the menu screen there is a "switch" to turn offline mode on or off. I usually leave it off until encountering some situation where it is needed.

But to be sure this is working go to the Settings menu and select Offline and turn it on. I believe that essentially turns on downloading. The switch described above has to do with choosing to listen off-line rather than on-line."

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Terry -  Thanks for the step-by-step instructions, but nothing seems to fit with my account.  We've had the paid account (no commercials, etc.) for about five years, but now the closest I can come to seeing any possibilities for personalization or downloading is a splash screen that offers a "Premium" account for $13. a month, with the first month free.

I remember that the price went up a bit a year or two ago, but this amount is nearly five times the original.  You might want to check to see if you are still paying only $5. a month, especially if you have an auto-billing situation in place.

I'm going to go poke about at their site to see what the situation is.  Anyone with experience is invited to jump in here!! ;->

   Virtual hugs,

   Judie

Re: Sirius/XM radio?
Reply #14 –
And if you utilize Amazon Prime you can set up playlists and download the music to your phone.  Or in my case an 8" Asus tablet for playing music and as a gps using Copilot.
BTW I listened to XM many years before I retired but since the merger they have gone down in selection.
2004 26.5 MB
Enjoying retirement traveling, Rzr riding, photography, and of course the 2 grand girls!
Re: Sirius/XM radio?
Reply #15 –
There are a fews  options  I ether regard or have used very little  when I brought my new LD.   Sirius/XM radio is/was one of them.    We have a very large music collection.    Lizbeth and I enjoy all kinds of music.    We pick and choose as the mood hits us.   After the 30 or so day free listen experience we turned off the Sirius/XM radio.     Sirius/XM compresses the music so badly we just can't stand it.   Also trying to listen to music over a running V10 engine is  not a concert hall experience or even a 'Woodstock' experience.   

Solution for us is to enjoy the 'quiet' of each other, talk or pop in a homemade CD.  
personal fine art photo stuff
TF Mack | Flickr
It's all good .......
2014 Twin King
Re: Sirius/XM radio?
Reply #16 –
Quote from: colddog  - 
Sirius/XM compresses the music so badly we just can't stand it.   Also trying to listen to music over a running V10 engine is  not a concert hall experience or even a 'Woodstock' experience.   

Solution for us is to enjoy the 'quiet' of each other, talk or pop in a homemade CD.  

We got Sirius radio several years ago but let it lapse for that reason. The sound quality was very poor. I have wondered if it was just the radio. We recently had our Subaru in the shop and was given a new Forester as a loaner. It had Sirius built in and sounded fine.

Jim
Re: Sirius/XM radio?
Reply #17 –
We also paid for a yearly subscription when they had deal about 8 years ago.   Our regular car had the tuner built in.   We dropped it a couple of years later because of programming changes.  We resubscribed about three years ago for a deal of around $39 for a year but droped it again for the same reasons as stated earlier,  the quality, the reception ( we live in Washington and go regularly to Canada) and programming with commercials all contributed to our decision not to renew even if they would offer the deal again.  In our LD we never considered satellite radio since we have indash CD player with Bluetooth capability and can also wire in a musicplayer or stored music from our computers.  We would only miss the news when we are in an area of no reception.

     Karen~Liam
        98~MB
1998 ~ MB  WanderDaze
previously a 1984 Winnebago itaska- The Road Warrior, before that several VW Buses and before that a 1965 Chrysler Convertible Newport or our 1969 Chrysler La Barron with an ice box and a couple sleeping bags
Re: Sirius/XM radio?
Reply #18 –
We just bought a new Outback which came with a free 4 month trial. This is the first time I've ever had Sirius so can't compare the quality of today vs. previous years and frankly, we haven't used it much so probably will not be subscribing once the trial is over.

Some of the comments I hear on the Subaru forums is the compressed signal gives poor listening quality and that the programming tends to be repetitious.
Greg & Victoria
2017 Mid-Bath  “Nocona” towing a manual 2015 Forester
Previously a 1985 TK
SKP #61264
Re: Sirius/XM radio?
Reply #19 –
"Some of the comments I hear on the Subaru forums is the compressed signal
gives poor listening get quality and that the programming tends to be
repetitious."

Definitely one of our complaints as well.  We were tuned in to the 20's, 30's, 40's and early 50's stations, and one of the "elevator/easy listening music" stations.  Did not listen to any of the other many possibilities because of lack of interest in doing so.  And, yes, we had the subscription where we could listen in the house as well as on the road.

The repetition was there, for sure, but we didn't mind that because there were so many songs, and we didn't listen 24/7 - mostly just during meals at home, and meals and evenings on the road.  What finally pushed us not to renew was the fact that for about (seemingly) six weeks before Christmas, everything went Christmas songs - and that WAS a lot of repetition.  This, coupled with reception problems in our new home, it just didn't seem worth it any more.  I can't say that I miss it.

Since there seem to be infinite possibilities for listening to music/talk shows available through my iPhone apps, I have been unable to justify subscribing to any paid service other than Pandora.  In truth, I haven't tried Spotify (is it still extant?), or any of the other paid services, so maybe something else would suit us better.    I did listen to Apple's offering when it first came out when it was free and similar to the free Pandora, but always went back to the paid Pandora subscription.  I don't remember why.

In truth, my ancient iPod Touch still has a free Pandora account on it, and I turn it on every once in a while just to see if it still works - and it does.  I can remember back (2010) when that was our only iOS device and we used it to listen to music in the same way we do now.  We seldom heard any commercials because it wasn't on very long at a time, so that shows how really little we utilize any system.  I do remember some rather loud Rock Auto offerings!

The cost of listening to a radio station when utilizing paid GB's can stack up faster than you think.  An hour a day would use up approximately a GB per month, so if several hours a day of background music is one's use . . . that tariff could get high in a hurry.  In that case, an account that did not use a phone plan might be more cost effective, in addition to being independent of telephone signal needs.

To me, this is the same situation as using a stand-alone GPS that relies on its own satellites, as opposed to utilizing a smartphone or tablet for navigation.  There were many times that we were glad of the connection to the satellites for GPS.  This is ten-year old history, so maybe it is better now, but particularly up in the Pacific Northwest, there were a lot of telephone signal coverage problems, not the least of which was that sometimes the signal would latch onto a tower in Canada.  That was always fun to try to straighten out with Verizon.

But clearly, those were problems that were area related, and really not to do with the topic at hand.  Just a heads up.

   Virtual hugs,

   Judie  <-- Sierra Vista, Arizona
   Adventures of Dorrie Anne | Photographing the West

   Today:  Three Pepper Supreme Cheeseburger
   ***************************************
Re: Sirius/XM radio?
Reply #20 –
I have a couple hundred hours of Car Talk, free downloads from their site, plus a lot of CD's, some downloaded comedy and easy listening stuff including Prairie Home Companion, and so on on my computer.  I load several days' listening onto my iPod Nano and have the option to listen to that while in my RV or my Forester.  I still have my XM subscription in the RV, though, and I like being able to pick something that will provide background "noise" while traveling.  Using broadcast stuff, in the areas I like best I might get a handful of stations, none of which appeal to me, but with XM, if I am in the mood for "In The Mood" or the like, I can pick a channel, and drive and drive without losing the signal.  That is nice, and is why I got the XM package. 

I don't listen enough to comment on the quality of the programming.  It is not on when I am stopped, just when traveling.  If I start with something on XM and get tired of it, I will look for another channel.  If I don't find something that appeals, I switch from XM to AUX and start the iPod.

Will I renew when my current subscription expires?  I don't know.  I'll decide then.

Ken F in OR
'08 MB
Re: Sirius/XM radio?
Reply #21 –
We have Serious XM.   About 3 months after the satellite antenna was installed over the front driver's side wheel I had to move it to the roof of the RV.  Once that was done it works most of the time, even in Washington state.  It may not work if parked under enough trees, but usually works even camping in trees.  It will drop out if you have a big hill to the south of you or in tunnels, under bridges etc.  I do tune in local FM radio and listen to other things, but it is nice that the satellite radio stations are the same everywhere.  We have a pretty basic plan, less than $15 per month.
Jay Carlson
2003  LD RB
2005 Bigfoot 40MH35LX
rvingjaygwynne.wordpress.com
Re: Sirius/XM radio?
Reply #22 –
I live in the sf bay area and bought my rv in Florida. I had Sirius installed before the trip back.  I like listening to the oldies entertainment programs, Dragnet, Gun Smoke, etc. I could tune in that one station and not change it for 2700 miles if I wanted.
Dave 04 PleasureWay
2004 PleasureWay TD
Re: Sirius/XM radio?
Reply #23 –
Dave - We're caught in the Pleasure-Way vs. Lazy Daze vortex.  Assuming you are now in the Pleasure-Way, would you go back to the Lazy Daze?

   Virtual hugs,

   Judie  <-- Sierra Vista, Arizona
   Adventures of Dorrie Anne | Photographing the West

   Today:  Peppers and Sourdough Bread Appetizer
   *****************************************
Re: Sirius/XM radio?
Reply #24 –
We got XM several years ago mainly so we could listen to CSpan while on the road. Two years later they dropped CSpan! Boo-hiss.