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SiriusXM Platinum VIP Tier Now Includes 12 Months of Free Apple Music

drumcat said:
So a word about sound quality… I know a bit about this one.

The satellites they've used for quite some time (named 'rock' and 'roll') sit over North America in geosynchronous orbit, and they rebroadcast audio over mp2. Yes 2; that's not a typo. They only have so much bandwidth, and the codec is, by today's standards, poop.

So if you're listening in a car, or with any criticality, use the app. The app is going over mp4; their first app used mp3, but the mp4 codec is far superior. If you put it through your phone through a cabled CarPlay, it sounds pretty darn good. It's somewhere around 128AAC if memory serves. That's FAR better than the mp2 crud coming in over the air...

However, if you don't want to use data, or you're not too bothered by the quality, it's OTA. No data. Works everywhere, literally, in the continental US. To that end, it's still a pretty cool service.

I'd opine that they really are missing the marketing boat when it comes to urban/rural. They'd be wise to advertise more to middle-America, where their infrastructure is still far superior than other setups outside the burbs.

I also think they should have 3-4 channels that are always free, even if the radio is expired, etc., and run ads like free Spotify.
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That’s some extremely outdated info.
 
MrMojo1 said:
$34.99 per month is crazy high. That's $420/yr before taxes/fees.
You can negotiate for another package at a better price.

For example...
Renegotiated at term's end and renewed and got the Sirius All Access package including sports, talk radio and streaming access for $99/yr so including fees/taxes ~$130/yr.
I'll take that savings and do something else with it.

It's better than the local radio stations in my area.
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He I pay 5 bucks a month and every year ask for the same or will cancel
 
Anyone call in to find out what their "cancellation" price is? My 2 XM subs are coming up for renewal, might consider this.
 
Just here to make my usual SiriusXM complaint... now over 2 years and they STILL haven't updated their app to support Siri with CarPlay. :(
 
Ken Linger said:
If you are on (or switch to) the Platinum VIP plan, you get 12 months of Apple Music. What happens in year 2? Are they saying "Apple Music is included with this plan" or are they essentially saying "You get a 12-month trial of Apple Music with this plan?"

Updated:
Answering my own question here. According to their site, it's basically an extended trial...
  • First 12 months is on us, then $9.99 per month.
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Wait, so this isn't $34.99 after the first year? No way in hell I'm paying $34.99, I'd call first and get their "cancellation" price, but definitely no way in hell I'm paying $34.99 + $9.99 after the first year.
 
txscott said:
I struggle to find a use case for Sirius. Apple Music (or Spotify) has all the music and you can listen to that anywhere, stream to your stereo or smart speaker, headphones while running, via bluetooth in any car you are in etc. with a single subscription. Every talker has a pod cast. Terrestrial radio has local and most of those are on iHeart Radio or similar. I can't find anything Sirius offers that is unique. Perhaps more live sports, but radio broadcasts of sports has zero interest or use for me.
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For me it's having hassle free music in my car, I don't have to pull out and connect my phone every time I get in the car, I can also stream XM from my phone, with the same sub and smartphone app, wherever I am but mostly use the service tied to my car. But I just purchased a 2022 vehicle with wireless carplay, so my take on this might change this year depending on how automatic music playing is on carplay, or if I still have to mess around with opening the app and turning the music on.
 
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spinedoc77 said:
For me it's having hassle free music in my car, I don't have to pull out and connect my phone every time I get in the car, I can also stream XM from my phone, with the same sub and smartphone app, wherever I am but mostly use the service tied to my car. But I just purchased a 2022 vehicle with wireless carplay, so my take on this might change this year depending on how automatic music playing is on carplay, or if I still have to mess around with opening the app and turning the music on.
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The Sirius xm app works with (wireless) CarPlay, but is limited in what can be done.
 
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I7guy said:
The Sirius xm app works with (wireless) CarPlay, but is limited in what can be done.
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I meant ditching XM and going with something else. I'm not a huge fan of Spotify, but would consider Apple music.
 
spinedoc77 said:
I meant ditching XM and going with something else. I'm not a huge fan of Spotify, but would consider Apple music.
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Try Deezer. The Premium plan is $89.91/year, although I got it as low as $59.99 in 2020 with a Black Friday promo. New music the moment it drops, same as the other services. I'm switching back as soon as my AM three-month free promo ends.
 
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ChromeAce said:
SiriusXM is in free fall. Deals like this only show how poorly managed they are, giving their customers a taste of why they don’t need them anymore in order to temporarily boost sales numbers.

All my interactions with their website and phone customer service have been horrifying, with pricing that changed with the wind and bait and switch tactics.
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Free fall? They have 34 million subscribers and, admittedly, have flattened their growth during the pandemic (one quarter adding subs, another losing maybe 10,000). Everything from net income to revenue to margins is on the increase as well.
 
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djplong said:
Free fall? They have 34 million subscribers and, admittedly, have flattened their growth during the pandemic (one quarter adding subs, another losing maybe 10,000). Everything from net income to revenue to margins is on the increase as well.
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I'm a longtime subscriber, but really only for non Stern talk.

I'm extremely skeptical of any subscriber number they give. I believe in the past they've been called out for using all those free 3 months in your new car trials as subscriber numbers. And even then it wouldn't surprise me if they are counting those cars long after the radios have been deactivated.

Also with the 34.99 price, does that include the music license fee? The music license fee is the biggest BS out there. I believe they have admitted that whatever the charge is, i think its aroudn 6-7, is more then they pay the licensing groups. They only started charging the fee because a condition of their merger being approved was not raising the price for a number of years and apparently if they collected the increase as a "fee" it didnt violate their conditions.
 
bensonr2 said:
I'm a longtime subscriber, but really only for non Stern talk.

I'm extremely skeptical of any subscriber number they give. I believe in the past they've been called out for using all those free 3 months in your new car trials as subscriber numbers. And even then it wouldn't surprise me if they are counting those cars long after the radios have been deactivated.

Also with the 34.99 price, does that include the music license fee? The music license fee is the biggest BS out there. I believe they have admitted that whatever the charge is, i think its aroudn 6-7, is more then they pay the licensing groups. They only started charging the fee because a condition of their merger being approved was not raising the price for a number of years and apparently if they collected the increase as a "fee" it didnt violate their conditions.
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I don’t home Sirius xm stock so I don’t care about the subscriber number. I pay x dollars for the device and determined that for my feature/function I will pay x dollars and that’s a fair price for me.
 
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I7guy said:
I don’t home Sirius xm stock so I don’t care about the subscriber number. I pay x dollars for the device and determined that for my feature/function I will pay x dollars and that’s a fair price for me.
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Yes I’m not a stock holder either. But you replied to the previous poster who was questioning how long they are going to hold on that they gave 34 millions subscribers. And I’m questioning how many actual paying active listeners they have.
Because it’s a legit concern how long they will stay around before you invest in a year at the price they are quoting for the vip package.
 
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bensonr2 said:
Yes I’m not a stock holder either. But you replied to the previous poster who was questioning how long they are going to hold on that they gave 34 millions subscribers. And I’m questioning how many actual paying active listeners they have.
Because it’s a legit concern how long they will stay around before you invest in a year at the price they are quoting for the vip package.
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I guess it’s a legit concern for some. I’m not worried. I think they go out of business as fast as apple will. While it would piss me off if sirius xm “went out of business “ the day after I payed a yearly fee, the money to me, is not relevant other than the principle.
 
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BadgerRivFan said:
That’s not being cheap that’s just being smart.
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The issue where I live is that isn’t possible. I don’t have enough cell phone service to stream. I have 2 presets on my car, first row is preset channels on Sirius that work on satellite, 2nd row is channels that work only when my car has a cell phone connection (Sirius on RAM 1500 uses AT&T 4G for streaming if you have platinum). Today I’m driving Watertown to Stowe VT via Lake Placid and half of the time, I don’t have access to a cell phone connection. Same for my commute to work…no cell phone connection so satellite is wonderful when I lose service (I have Apple Music playlists. Saved offline just in case too) but a streaming only plan just doesn’t work for me on Sirius :(
 
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