Electronic Product Review: Sirius Satellite Radio

I've been a Sirius satellite radio subscriber for nearly two years now. I originally signed up mainly to listen to Howard Stern, but I've since had experience with everything the service has to offer.

Both the Stern channels offer typical Howard fare. Fans of the show will rarely be without something to listen to, as Howard 100 continually airs that morning's show 24 hours a day and Howard 101 is loaded with content from the Stern universe, like sports with Farrell and continuous insanity from alleged alien-abductee Riley Martin.

At first, I listened to the Howard channels almost exclusively. Eventually I became a little disillusioned with the constant infighting and Howard's arrogance and branched out to the nearly 130 more channels that Sirius has to offer.

The music channels are amazing. You've never experienced radio until you've heard it commercial free. Aside from a few annoying DJ interruptions, you get music 24 hours a day. The music channels are well categorized, with a channel for everyone from the aging redneck (Prime Country and The Roadhouse) to the young punk (Faction and The Punk Channel). Top 40 music is taken care of as well, with Hits 1 being the main station for pop music.

With just ten preset stations, I can pretty much always find a song on Sirius I want to listen to. I switch back and forth a lot, but I'm rarely at a loss or forced to scroll through the other channels while I'm driving.

There are also a myriad of talk channels, with content to match nearly all political and domestic tastes, from Fox News to Martha Stewart. There is a lot of niche content as well, including Blue Collar Comedy, Radio Disney, OutQ Gay radio, and Maxim. Sirius has something to cater to pretty much any taste.

Sirius has some great features for which terrestrial radio has no comparison. Perhaps the most useful is the artist alert feature. With artist alert, you can bookmark your favorite artists (the number depends on your personal receiver, mine stores 30) and receive an alert every time one of them plays on any channel. So you can be suffering through the latest Miley Cyrus tune or whatever, your radio beeps, and with one button press you're rocking out to Guns 'n' Roses, just like that.

Many of the Sirius receivers also have the ability to pause and rewind live radio. Kind of like TiVo for your radio, you can pause your tunes when you get a phone call, then resume right where you left off when you hang up. You can also rewind a live broadcast, so you can listen to the newest New Kids on the Block tune as many times as you like.

Sirius is great for the sports fan, as well. Every game in the NBA and NFL can be heard on Sirius along with all NASCAR races. I absolutely love being able to keep up with any game I'm watching, even if I have to leave the house and get in my car. It's a small thing, but I love that Sirius carries the radio broadcasts of both teams for each game, so even when the Seahawks are away, I can listen to my hometown announcer.

Another great feature for the sports fan is score update. You can set your radio to update you every time the score changes in a game, whether you're listening to it or not. You can also select a favorite team from each major league and receive an update whenever they play.

My lone personal experience with customer service at Sirius was a great one. I called to cancel my subscription because my radio had stopped working (you can't just cancel online, which is less than ideal, but having to call worked in my favor). The rep asked my reason for canceling and when I told her my radio had malfunctioned, she offered to send me a new one free of charge and credit my account for three months. I agreed and my subscription continued. A few days later, I received two refurbished Sirius receivers. As a company, Sirius is very interested in retaining their customers, especially in light of the looming merger with XM.

Signal strength has been great for me, as long as there is a clear view of the sky. Signal quality is not affected by weather, but any solid obstruction such as a parking garage or thick tree cover will affect or completely block your signal. It's honestly not that much of a concern; I rarely have to deal with it. Major cities have broadcast towers as well, so if you live in one there's a good chance you'll be able to hear Sirius anywhere. Portland, Oregon has them and I was able to get a clear signal even buried in the airport parking garage.

My least favorite part of the service is the price. At nearly $13 a month, it's a bit pricey. The service is amazing; I just wish they had a more tiered pricing strategy or that you could pay a set amount for a number of channels of your choice. I don't spend a lot of time listening to Martha Stewart, but I'm paying for the privilege, regardless. I also dislike the fact that you can't pay month-to-month, Sirius forces you to pay in three-month increments.

One more thing they don't really advertise. While the music channels are commercial-free, the talk and sports channels are not. Howard Stern, for example, still has a 10-20 minute break every hour or two. It makes sense, the radio personalities need to rest and they have to fill the space with something, but it's still a bit annoying. Sports broadcasts are usually just local station feeds, so expect local commercials during time outs.

Overall, I think Sirius is worth checking out. I've been satisfied with the service so far (and the customer service) and I don't plan to cancel anytime soon. The great music selection, cool features, and excellent sports programming would be too hard to give up.