My XM experience...

[technocoy]

sirius was the trailblazer, but they spent their time wooing the car manufacturers instead of building an add campaign (in fact, chrysler funded much of sirius' initial start-up costs) there are also very few aftermarket head units that do sirius. the best thing that can happen to them now is that they get bought out by another company and rebranded/negotiated. XM has the branding team, and branding sells product. As much as i like sirius, i would suggest going with XM if you are in it for the long haul... just do a little research on the stock and what the analysts are saying.

sirius is like 3.00 a share and XM is like 25.00 a share. and now that XM has commercial free programming... well, the only thing i want that they are missing is npr.

and as for the video, XM as well as a couple other start-ups have plans for this as well.

just some info.

technocoy

i'll just plug my iPod into the new alpine head unti I'm getting!!! wait until these giants battle it out a bit. don't want to be left holding the beta deck! lol

[Joe_Black]

Hmmm... I believe SIRIUS is positioned far better than most think, and stock price is a poor indicator of a young company's performance. As for compatible units, pick up a Crutchfield catalog or just compare the line-up from BOTH XM and SIRIUS... It's about 50/50 on aftermarket equipment. SIRIUS also is releasing a tuner that will allow an XM compatible head unit to get SIRIUS, so ANY BRAND will work. Now that's saavy.

Both these companies are burning cash at an astronomical rate though. SIRIUS is really closing the gap in subscribership and has set themselves apart as the sports provider too. These two outfits will continue to distinguish themselves as individuals and should be able to share the available customer base. There can only be two satellite radio providers under the current FCC charter, and it's nice to be able to choose your flavor. SIRIUS is definitely set to springboard (Canada, sports, video, OEM deals) though whereas XM has some dark days (failing satellites, cash problems, investor pull-out) right around the corner. This next stage should set them more evenly on the market, hopefully set to prosper as equals.

[autox-racer]

Do any of you guys use the "wireless" modulator or do you have an inline unit?

My girlfriend has the home kit and wants in her car that does not have a tape deck. she would like the wireless modulator so she can take it from car to car.

anyone have experience with this kind of modulator?

thanks

[Joe_Black]

I tried the wireless modulator (built into docking station) and switched to tape-adapter as there was annoying interference noise. Considered getting the optional wired modulator, but decided to just upgrade to an MP3-capable head unit with rear auxiliary inputs. For the car-to-car solution I just found extra docking stations NIB on eBay for half what BestBuy and such was selling them.