For anyone who hasn't heard it yet, it kicks ass!! I just installed the Pioneer universal FM modulator with the stock CD player and speakers yesterday and havn't been able to stop playing with it since. Sound quality and separation is drastically better than the best FM signal I've ever heard and there is always something to suit whatever mood I'm in. Well worth $.33 a day if you ask me.

Is it anything like the Radio MX you get with certain computers like Dell? CD quality, pick the genre of music and no commercials? And does the stereo disply the names and titles of songs/artists?

I've been thinking about purchasing this, but haven't had the time to head to the store for a little study of it..

Pretty much, I've never heard of that before but XM has the same features. 100 channels of pretty much any genre you can think of. About 70 are music channels and about 30 -35 of those are commercial free. Even so the commercials on the channels that have them are really not that big of a deal because there are 99 other stations you can switch to including probably at least one in the same musical genre. The controller displays the name of the station, artist and title. The quality is very near CD quality if you hook it directly to an XM compatible head unit, unfortunately you lose a little bit with the universal FM modulator but despite that it still sounds amazingly better than the best FM in my opinion. I would definitely recommend it if you are tired of hearing Britney, N'Sync and Nickelback looped continuously like all of Tampa's radio stations are.

Yeah I have had XM since november and I love it. I have the sony unit that I can take in the house. Where do you have your antenna mounted shortbus?

Bryan

XM Radio rocks! I bought the new Pioneer DEH-P8400MP unit...it looks so sweet! http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/Pioneer/CDA/CarProducts/CarProductDetails/0,1429,28914,00.html

I haven't listened to any local stations since I've had it installed! Getting my Infinity Kappa's installed tomorrow...which should make it sound so much better! I would recommend the XM radio to anyone! Costly yeah...but worth the $9.99 a month...less than $.40 a day! My installers placed the pioneer antenna in the back next to the rack mount. Its a great investment if you go on long trips...or even in trail areas where the signals are weak!

I just got XM installed last week and it does rock! It is a tad on the expensive side ($240 for an Alpine TUA-T020XM tuner, $60 for a Terk antenna, $9.99 activation, and $9.99/mo), but I feel it is well worth it, especially if you dislike hauling 374785784 CDs around everywhere. I honestly really cannot tell the difference between XM and CD quality...If anything, the quality compares to a burnt CD-R.

i'd love to get XM radio in my X (that is, right after i get my xterra... :rolleyes: ) but am right now wondering about the long term of XM. for such a steep down payment on the service, is it even a guarantee that the concept will survive? i would hate to buy all the XM stuff only to have it die 2 months later... just wondering about your thoughts

xm got damned by faint praise in the latest issue of autoweek. they called it something like a fast food music service. you should know that 12% of XM is owned by Clear Channel, the same morons that have ruined terrestial radio across the country.

XM and Sirius will probably survive. They have deep pockets for now, but once the internet is available in cars, satellite radio could become irrelevant.

I don't think XM is going anywhere. Especially within 2 months. Sirius might struggle, but both of them are going to be arround for at least 3 more years. XM has got extremley deep pockets, and both of them have allready spent millions of dollars launching two satelites into outerspace. They are not liable to give up too easily. As for internet in the car eliminating the need for XM, I don't see that really happening. Even the new 3g wirelss standard won't provide the same ammount of bandwith as two satelites. Not to mention the fact that high speed wireless interent is going to have the same problem you have today with cell phones...coverage.

Bryan

Any one try sirius yet? Getting redy to dumpa kenwood kdc-x959 in and am considering sirius for the future, but its not available in the pac nw yet

My wife got XM in her car last week and she loves it. I still can't find anything to listen to though. Fred isn't bad, but is unreliable, the rest seems just as commercial as FM radio. Maybe I havent listened to it enough to find the quality stuff.

That all depends on CARP (copyright issues with internet broadcasters).

I personally don't think the internet will have any effect. Just like I don't think the internet will have any effect on television - think about it...it's not even CLOSE right now...and when it does come close, TV will be high def (yes, I believe it will take that long for internet bandwidth issues to catch up to television).

Plus, I for one, have no desire to have internet access in my car.

Internet in the car is going too far. That is the last thing anynone needs. :rolleyes:

No one wanted a CD player in their car 20 years ago either, or a TV, or VHS, or a Playstation or a GPS.

I for one would love to have Internet access with me at any time.

Technology marches on.

i still don't want a TV or a VHS, or a DVD player. When I get in my truck it's to get away from all that crap. I can go a couple hours without checking my email.

If I had never signed up for internet, I'd still be skinny. All this technology is just making us all fat asses. Not to mention, having internet in the car is just one more distraction for people who can't drive anyway.

I’ll take XM radio; it has to be better than the all corporate owned commercial radio stations now that all sound the same. Then I can listen to music while shaving, watching TV/DVD, reading my email - doing my work, taking to a customer on one of the other 5 phones that are ringing, reading the newspaper, all while driving too. Or should I just put my 8 track in the truck?

Satellite radio is something I’ll look into, someday.

Yeah, screw Al Gore and his damn internet. I hate having all this information at my fingertips. We should even replace this message board with an enormous corkboard on which we could all post handwritten messages and replies. Of course, we'd have to locate it somewhere in Kansas so that everyone was within 2000 miles driving distance. :p

Can someone post, or send me some pics of the xm unit installed on their x? Where exactly do they put the unit if you keep the stock system, it's unclear in the previous posts.

I have the direct-connect unit (not the modulated one). I have mine mounted underneath the passenger seat.