Sirius XM. Is it worth it? What do you listen to in your Taco?

Trial expiring soon. Weighing my options.

 

My truck doesn’t even have the option.
If it did, I still wouldn’t have it.

I listen to the local radio station. Or nothing at all.

 

I had a lifetime subscription with Sirius many years ago, one day I got an email that there was a settlement with SiriusXM over the lifetime subscriptions and if you had one you could have it reactivated and it would be a true your lifetime subscription. I did the paperwork and had it tuned on in my 2019 Ram ecodiesel that I just traded in for my Tacoma. I called SiriusXM today to switch the lifetime over to the Tacoma. The deal was you could switch your lifetime subscription to new vehicles for a $75 dollar fee, but today they had a deal going and only charged $39 dollars to switch over the lifetime subscription.

I originally paid $399 for the lifetime subscription way back in 2004 so that was 19 years ago with all the years I had the subscription I more than got my moneys worth.

 

My Sirius is expiring soon, too. Going to let it go, it's a bit pricey for me. I usually listen to custom playlists on Spotify via bluetooth/phone or the radio.

 

Man, I was soo close to getting a lifetime back in ~'05 but was a broke college student and couldn't really swing it. Wish I had make it work financially back then!

 

I have lifetime on both of our vehicles. Worth every penny.

 

I couldn’t live with out my XM radio. I hate all our local stations taste in music. It’s either pop or country or heavy metal. I listen to XMU, The Spectrum, Alt Nation, NHL network, First Wave and a some rock channels too

 

I travel a lot in areas in remote Maine without cell service or AM/FM reception. It's nice having Sirius/XM when doing so. If I never frequented those places, I probably wouldn't subscribe.

 

Call them up and tell them its too expensive and you cannot afford it. They will reduce the price to about $7.00 a month including taxes. Essentially an expensive coffee. You will have to repeat the process each year when it expires. You can also do it online with a chat. Which is faster. Out west there are a lot of spaces inbetween and Sirius XM is great.

 

My personal experience with XM / SiriusXM and my opinion.

I first had a subscription to XM about 20 years back, before they merged with Sirius, and before car stereos had satellite reception built in. I had a "boom box" XM radio. I found that I only listened to two channels - Hair Nation and Ozzy's Boneyard. All the Country stations were either 1950's era, or "new" pop-country, and I have zero interest in that style. After a few months, I found that even Hair Nation and Ozzy's Boneyard played about 30% artists I knew, and liked, and 70% stuff I either had never heard of, or didn't like the style. I never even listened to the trial subscription in my Tacoma.

I have a music streaming app on my smartphone, and I download music I like, and listen to that via bluetooth connection to my Tacoma's stereo.

Everyone has their own preferences, but just like cable/satellite TV even with 100's or 1000's of channels, I only like maybe a handful, and never bother with the others. So it's debatable as to the value in having such subscriptions. We each have to make our own choices.

 

I listen to a memory stick with songs I recorded off CDs. Not willing to spend the bucks for XM.

 

I use Spotify for music and podcasts and Audible for audiobooks. Pick whatever streaming service you like and subscribe to it, then listen to anything you want whenever you want.

The stations on Sirius never impressed me any more than the local ones.

 

I bought Sirius with about two new vehicles...and each experience was basically the same for me.
I pay the $99 for a year. Once that year is up, they want me to renew (with my card that is now on file) for $260 a year. I cancel because that is ridiculous.
Now I have to find new FM radio stations to listen to (or just use Apple Music/Spotify/whatever) instead.

I'm not going down that road again. If the price remained $99 a year. I'd probably have had it for at least 7 years consistently now.

 

I pay for YouTube Premium. Gives me ad-free YouTube and YouTube Music. With YouTube music, I can download playlists to the phone (does so automatically as well) which allows me to continue listening even if I loose cell reception. Much better than any radio service IMO.

 

I allowed it to expire…but I really wanted it. They would call me…A LOT before it expired.
After it expired, they called me again. I said I was only interested in 3 years for $99 with no automatic renewal (it is a deal they have). I told them that if it was not that, I was 1000% uninterested. They said “ok” and sent me an email and that’s the deal I got.
To me, that is a fair price.

EDIT- in case someone thinks this is not true:
http://www.siriusxm.com/3for99

But I will warn you, when you put in your info, they will act like you are not eligible so they bait and switch, so pay attention. But like I said, I got mine on a phone call and they emailed me the details.

 

Never used it when I had the few free months. I stopped listen to the radio decades ago.

Just Bluetooth Podcast, youtube music or my own music.

 

I listen sometimes. The key is to negotiate for the $5 (or so) monthly rate. They will offer all sorts of other packages worth $30/month, but ultimately, they will give you the low rate if you persist.

 

I've been subscribed to Slacker (now live-whatever) since 2007. Occasionally I would get mad at them and switch to another streaming service or satellite, but always came back to slacker for a reason.

Hands down the widest variety of music, ability to turn host chatter on or off, selectable bitrates between 64-320 kbps, and the occasional stand-up or podcast thrown in. It has the option of making playlists, music on demand, or just selecting a station and letting it play radio style. And the best part is that all of it can be cached on your phone for entire weeks of listening when out of range.

The only thing it doesn't have is a large variety of podcasts - Spotify has it beat on that. But for music, Live One wins.

Its the best audio provider I have tried, and I have tried most of them.

 

I am set to renew on the 5th and called them just now for this deal and they let me know that it is only for 2016 vehicles and older and I do not qualify for the deal. So I told them to just let it not renew. He tried his best though. Told him it does not say that in the details.

 

I had been receiving subscription renewal deals from them in the mail for my Mustang, which just sits in the garage. One of the deals was for 3 years for $99. I called them and asked if they could put it on the taco. This was just after the 3 months free had ran out. They did it, no questions asked. So, I’m paying $2.75 a month.