[Rob Hood]

OK, I'm up for renewal on my XM subscription, and I've got free Sirius in my VW Jetta for a few more days. Since sampling the Sirius for the last couple of months, I do like their music selection (classic rock and country stations primarily) better than XM. Both carry the same newstalk stations I listen to as well. I do like XM's traffic coverage better than Sirius' for the Phoenix area, however, although IMO neither does a better job of traffic coverage than the local AM/FM stations. Sirius has NASCAR, but since I'm no longer making 7-hour road trips, that's not necessarily a high priority for me. My XM is portable between my truck and Z, but the Jetta is integral to the OE radio and I would rather be portable (which I know I can get with Sirius as well).

So, who has which one and likes/dislikes? Is it a tomay-to/tomah-to issue? Less filling? Tastes great?

[00 Trans Ram]

I've had XM for about 4 years now. When they came out, I made my decision based on the total number of stations offered (XM has the edge), number of stations I'd actually spend time on (XM has more rock stations, but Sirius has the Hair Band station - its a draw) and coverage. When I say coverage, I mean possibility of losing a signal. I read a magazine article in Sound and Vision magazine that compared the 2 in the same car. The XM won out in the country and it was a draw in the city (something to do with the location of XM satellites vs Sirius satellaite placement).

I now have 4 XM radio subscriptions (1 house, 1 tow vehicle, 1 per daily driver) and love them. My mom recently bought a new BMW with a Sirius. As I was helping her program the stations in, I couldn't help but notice how few channels there really are. I'm used to scrolling for days on XM - I was through the whole lineup in a few minutes on the Sirius.