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Wednesday, August 09, 2006
By Christina VanGinkel
When we purchased a new vehicle last month, it came installed with a satellite radio and a six month paid subscription to the Sirius Satellite Radio service. After a quick overview of how to access the service through the AUX button on the radio / CD console, my husband, our youngest son, and myself were fans.
When we first shopped for the vehicle, we liked the fact that it had a six CD player, yet a month later, we have yet to listen to a single CD, and that is not an exaggeration. Sirius sent us a channel lineup card right after we started using the service, which made us aware of a lot more channels than we had even realized were available, but by that time we already had our favorites.
Besides music, including country, pop, rock, hip-hop, R&B, Christian, jazz, blues, classical, Latin, international, electronic, and dance, you also have a choice of a wide variety of other listening choices. You can tune into the laugh a minute Blue Collar Comedy, or the home style Martha Stewart Living Radio, Radio Disney, or even the outrageous likes of Howard Stern, Lynn Samuels, or Alex Bennett, along with many others. If sports are more your thing, no worries there either as they have a lineup that includes ESPN Radio, ESPN News, Sports Talk & Play by Play, Nonstop NFL Talk, Sports Play by Play, NBA Radio, and more. You can also tune into Christian Talk, EWTN Radio Catholic Network, CNBC, Bloomberg Radio, CNN, CNN Headline News, NPR Now, NPR Talk, COSMO Radio, Lime, and several more news, talk, entertainment, and sports channels. Traffic and Weather for several major metropolitan areas are also available, including New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Chicago, St. Louis, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Houston, Detroit, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Seattle, Phoenix, San Diego, Tampa, and Orlando. They also have a weather and emergency channel, and you can call up and request that the Playboy Radio channel be added to your subscription as no extra charge. They truly have a lineup with enough variety that everyone is sure to find at least a few favorites to keep them listening whenever the mood strikes.
We did have a few qualms about reception, as we live rurally, and know that issues can and do come up with satellite reception during bad weather, or when physical obstacles block the path of the satellites. So far, our only problems with reception have been on a couple of country lanes that have thick tree cover. The radio signal will cut out very briefly. It comes back quickly, and when compared to the sketchy service we received from local stations, this is a minor inconvenience.
Having to travel outside of our local area about a week after getting our new vehicle, I finally had my first taste of why satellite radio is such a favorite with so many. About an hour into the trip, I realized that I did not have to flip through stations trying to find a station to my liking to come in. I had it set on New Country, channel 60 if you are taking notes, and that was it. With satellite radio, just about, wherever you might roam, you can always have your favorite stations right there with you.
If this were all not enough, Sirius also makes their 100% commercial free music, along with a sampling of their talk radio, available to listen to at home, via your computer, for no additional cost. You do not have to buy another receiver, or anything else for that matter. Just sign in with your user name and password at Sirius.com online, and in a matter of minutes you can be listening to your music favorites or the likes of Howard Stern. My only complaint about the online service is that I would love to have the full lineup of their channels available, as my favorite channel, Blue Collar Comedy is not one of those channels available online.
If you have been considering checking out satellite radio, be sure to check out Sirius Satellite Radio s they have a great lineup of channels and from my personal dealings, excellent customer service, which I had to contact when I set up the online access.
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