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New Car, XM radio beautiful

ace2000

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I've got Sirius in the car which should still be priced the same. Just get the online version for $4 per month, and play it from your computer. Might need to upgrade your PC speakers though.
 

Passepartout

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Go to www.siriusxm.com and shop for internet radio or if you want you can listen via a computer hooked to speakers. I use an otherwise unused iPad 1 plugged into a stereo. There is an extra charge but it is less than double what you would pay for two subscriptions (home and car). If you pay annually, they include a month if you pay for 11. Some folks let their subscription lapse, then in a month or two xm sends a 'we want you back' special of like $25 for 6 months.

Jim
 
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ricoba

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You can add it to get it online, so you can listen while on your computer. Or set up a speaker system from your computer. I can't remember how much (it used to be free), but it is a pretty cheap add on for an existing account subscriber, as I remember.

Oops, just missed that ace2000 already mentioned this. :)
 

Ken555

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SiriusXM is notorious for offering special prices. Just say no a few times when calling to purchase and it's likely they'll just keep lowering the price. The only issue with this is the length of time it will take you, since calls are reported take 30-60 minutes to accomplish.


Sent from my iPad
 

easyrider

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how do I get that in my house?

Need simple instructions.

Thanks.

Go to radio shack and buy an audio cord for your laptop to your stereo. Then your good to go.

Im not sure if its still offered but I bought a lifetime subscription for $500 a long time ago.

Bill
 

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This is how I do it and it's simple.

I acquired an XM unit with a home kit and a car kit and set it up in our dining room. The antennae will need to be near a widow and south facing is best.

I then set the XM to broadcast on a frequency that's not used in my area. I then tune in any radio or stereo in the house to that frequency. The unit has a built in modulator that sends out the signal.

I can pick up the signal from my unit a couple hundred feet from the house so I use it outside with a portable radio.

When I travel I take the very small unit and the car kit and plug it into the cigarette lighter then tune in the car radio. Sometimes I have to change the frequency on the unit due to local broadcasts.

I recently bought a new Fusion and it has a trial subscription but I will let it lapse and use the unit I own. If I had unlimited funds I'd get the second subscription but for me it's not hard to take the unit to and from the car.

When on vaca we take the home kit with us and set it up in our unit. In the past several years there has only been one place we could not get a signal in the unit. I have had to run the antennae outside at some places.

I bought a lifetime subscription to save money because I knew I would keep it forever. I get 2 or 3 radio changes with that subscription. I'm still on the first so even if it dies I've got 2 more to go.

The prices were getting high so I called to cancel and they gave me a price of $300 plus tax and royalty. I couldn't resist. I had an XM subscription which includes every MLB game but no NFL. I paid and extra $100 to get the Sirius stations included so now I get everything I need.

Don't be afraid to tell them they are charging too much and if it were a little lower you'd take it.

If I left out any questions you may have feel free to email me by clicking on my blue user name.

I love satellite radio and am looking forward to the day when TV will be this easy.
 
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ace2000

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The prices were getting high so I called to cancel and they gave me a price of $300 plus tax and royalty. I couldn't resist. I have an XM subscription which includes every MLB game but no NFL. I paid and extra $100 to get the Sirius stations included so now I get everything I need.

$300 for what? What do you get, I don't follow...
 

csxjohn

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$300 for what? What do you get, I don't follow...

I get the ability to use my unit for life to pick up their broadcasts. I never get a bill.

I'll have to look it up to see how many radio changes I get but it either 2 or 3 changes. So if my current unit dies I just pick up another cheap one and keep going.

My kids will use this when I'm gone until they get to the radio change limit.
 

csxjohn

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I just want to ad that if you want to buy a unit find someone you know who is a subscriber and have them get one for you. They are alway sending out emails with units that we can buy for next to nothing, especially units that are being discontinued.
 

csxjohn

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One more explanation.

The home kit is a cradle that that has a cord that plugs in the wall and the car kit is a cradle that plugs into the cigarette lighter. They both have a receptacle for an antennae of which I have two so they stay with their respective cradle.

You just take the small receiver unit and set it in which ever cradle you want to use at the time.

This is good to get an idea of what you're looking for.

http://www.amazon.com/Satellite-Radio-Audio-Video/b?ie=UTF8&node=13816141
 

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If you have a subscription for your car you can get xm on the internet for another 3bucks a month. It is worth it. There is a Sirius xm app for android phone. Use your Bluetooth to connect to portable Bluetooth speakers and get xm in any room of the house or at your hotel. It is good deal. You can play shows on demand. You can modify your listening preferences for most music stations.
 

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I bought new car a couple months ago with three months Sirius free and indeed got a bill for around $150 to continue for a year. Two weeks later got special offer of 6 months for $25.

OP: If you are looking for lots of different types of music sans commercials most cable/satellite deals offer free on channels 8XX or 9XX
 

dioxide45

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I agree with the other suggestions of the SiriusXM internet radio. I think it is actually $3.50 a month, much cheaper than another subscription. If you have a spare iPod laying around, you can hook it up to a cradle that connects to your home stereo. Or you can just use a regular phono cable.

We had the internet radio for a while, but even at $3.50 a month, it was more than we wanted to spend for the amount we actually listened to it. We still carry a subscription in our car and have yet to pay full price even though we have now had it for five years. Keep calling and threaten to cancel and they give us 5 months for $25. Have gotten a free month once and also had some other good deals.
 

pittle

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I have a Pioneer Air Ware Portable unit that I bought in 2002 before I had XM in my car. It was great when driving the 4 hours from Topeka to Lake of the Ozarks every weekend - no commercials and lots of good music. But, now that we do not take many road trips or trips that are more than 10 minutes, we cancelled our subscriptions as we listen to local stations when driving around town. We were paying for XM on 2 vehicles and 1 portable unit that we occasionally used in the house. They do not give you great rates for the 2nd and 3rd units on a family plan like they used to - they wanted close to $300 for the 3 units per year. I thought about just renewing on the portable unit and we could use it at home and in a vehicle if we were to drive somewhere more than an hour away, but now that our travel vehicle has a USB plug and plays through the speakers, we connect our iPod or iPhone.
 

jackio

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If you have a subscription for your car you can get xm on the internet for another 3bucks a month. It is worth it. There is a Sirius xm app for android phone. Use your Bluetooth to connect to portable Bluetooth speakers and get xm in any room of the house or at your hotel. It is good deal. You can play shows on demand. You can modify your listening preferences for most music stations.

This is what we did and it works very well. DH plays it on his kindle while he is running on the treadmill, or working on the yard.
 

MRSFUSSY

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Many thanks

For all the good ideas. A wealth of knowledge at my fingertips.

Now I must decide just what to do.:)
 
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.....

I then set the XM to broadcast on a frequency that's not used in my area. I then tune in any radio or stereo in the house to that frequency. The unit has a built in modulator that sends out the signal.....
Doesn't re-broadcasting over an unused radio channel degrade the sound quality? Another poster mentioned using Bluetooth, and I think either Bluetooth or a hard-wired connection would give better sound quality.
 

csxjohn

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Doesn't re-broadcasting over an unused radio channel degrade the sound quality? Another poster mentioned using Bluetooth, and I think either Bluetooth or a hard-wired connection would give better sound quality.

I would say that the sound is excellent when using my main stereo unit. Even on the portable outside the sound is very good. I would say that the quality is as good as listening to broadcast radio or better.

There is a jack on the back of my unit that says "line out" so if I can find an audio cord I'll plug directly into my new car's stereo input jack.

Thanks for reminding me about that. I'll then try to determine if one is better than the other.

I feel that just tuning in a radio in the house or car is very convenient for me. I don't have a smart phone or portable device and don't care to pay a monthly fee for computer access. Part of the beauty of my set up is that I never get a bill to deal with.
 

x3 skier

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I have Sirius in both cars but use Pandora Free for Internet radio on my iPod at the gym. They do have a few commercials but I don't want to pay for the commercial free version. Roku also has a free Pandora station I use at home.

Cheers
 

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I would say that the sound is excellent when using my main stereo unit. Even on the portable outside the sound is very good. I would say that the quality is as good as listening to broadcast radio or better.....
I suspect the issue here is whether one lives in an area with a lot of radio stations or not. If there are a lot of radio stations, then it will be hard to find a truly clear channel for re-broadcasting from one device to another.
 

csxjohn

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I suspect the issue here is whether one lives in an area with a lot of radio stations or not. If there are a lot of radio stations, then it will be hard to find a truly clear channel for re-broadcasting from one device to another.

I live in the Greater Cleveland area and we have a ton of FM stations but there are dead spots on the dial.

I use one of those dead spots. and have no interference problems and the sound from the XM is clear with no static or distortion.

The built in modulator lets you select any of the FM frequencies available on your FM radio.

I just remembered that I do have an audio cable and use it on Vaca. I plug some small powered speakers into the back of the XM unit. I started doing this because the TS never had stereos, just cheap little clock radios.

As I think more about it my choices with my latest XM unit are to use powered speakers, plug directly into a stereo device such as a boom box, or pick a FM frequency and pick it up on a radio tuner.

Around the house I use the FM radio because I can pick up programs in my computer room, bedroom, living room, and basement where I have radios and outside if I take a portable out there.

The one inconvenience with my set up is that the tuner is in the dining room and I need to go there to make any changes but once I pick a station I usually stay with it for a while.

When I want to listen to a hockey game it stays on until that game is over or of no interest to me. When it comes to music I almost always have Bluesville on so no problem there.

On the sports broadcasts such as hockey I always get the home town radio feed and I can't listen to some games because the announcers are soooo bad it is hard to listen to.

Many of the announcer seem to forget that we're listening and not watching and when they can't even give the time of a score it drives me nuts. Sometimes I have to wait a long time to get a clock update.

Other announcers have a very un-exciting delivery and some are even hard to understand the words they are saying.

But we were talking about the hardware and not the programing.
 

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I got the lifetime subscription in 2009. Back then they were running a promotion that stated I could get lifetime for online also, under the same deal. In theory, I guess I get online for life then. The cost was about $400.

However, a couple of years ago they took my free online access away. I called and talked to the rep and he refused to help me. Then after escalating the call to a supervisor, they finally gave me the access back.

Does anyone else have the lifetime online subscription?
 

csxjohn

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They would not give it to me at the time I got my lifetime subscription.
 
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