Need opinions for the new commuter vehicle.
2-3 hours a day driving, I'll need something to occupy the mind.

Kinda depends. Sirius works with Kenwood, while XM is with Alpine and Pioneer. Look at what available. Technically, I believe Sirius gives you more channels and more commercial free channels, but I'm not positive. Its also still being built, so it might not yet be available in your area. Prices should be similar.

XM is owned by ClearChannel. ClearChannel sucks and is destroying radio across America. XM only has 2 birds up, and they are stationary. Sirius has 3 that orbit, meaning a better signal across more of the USA. Commercials on most of XM, Sirius is almost commercial free.

Sirius will win this battle, easily.

I personally have XM and even though it is PART owned by clear channel the quality is pretty high. I forsee this battle being like the Beta/VHS battle even though Sirius might be a better choice they arn't going to last. Sirius just dosn't have as deep as pockets as XM and its going to be a long arduous battle for supremecy and I don't think Sirius can outlast XM. Besides the high angle eliptical orbits of Sirius's satelites is a less reliable signal than XMs geostationary dual satelite method.

Bryan

Ain't that the truth. :rolleyes:

Doubtful. XM has a HUGE lead to market. They will both survive, in my opinion. Until one tries to buy the other.

XM's has commercials - but they are almost non-existant. Sirius claims 100% commercial free, which I believe is a lie. They carry news channels - those play their own commercials.

Sirius has three birds - but they aren't stationary, and at most times, there are only two in line of sight. XM's biggest issue with their birds - they are fairly low on the horizon, so the further north you go, the more dropouts you may encounter.

I orderd a Kenwood Sirius system just yesterday. I picked Sirius based on the content. I went to each providers site and looked through their channel listings. I like Sirius' content better than XM. Fewer commercials, more channels, also Sirius has NPR, XM doesn't.

Clarion Jensen, and Kenwood are the vendors for Sirius. Pioneer, Sony, and Alpine do XM.

That was my only beef with XM...until it was pointed out to me that the NPR stations (I think there are two) on Sirius - do NOT carry Morning Edition or ATC - the most popular NPR shows.

That is the only glaring omission on XM. Everything else - as was explained to me by David Lawrence (he's on C|Net) - "six of one, half dozen of the other."