Anybody RENEWING their Sirius XM Contract?

[user 1096]

My Sirius XM radio year-long "test" runs out in a couple of weeks. Because most i3s are sold to metropolitan residents who do not use them for long-distance travel, I wondered if anyone else was enthused enough about the service to begin paying for it?

I'll also note that satellite reception is momentarily dropped fairly often.

I won't. We have a good selection of stations here (classical, news/talk, rock, oldies, hip-hop/cRap, alternative, some jazz (shows), etc. that are even broadcast in HD. The only thing missing is the AM section on the i3 radio, and as I joked with the salesman, BMW figured nobody who listens to Rush will buy this car anyway....(incorrect assumption...lol).

 

[jadnashuanh]

If you listen to certain sports events that were broadcast only over AM radio, you may want to keep the Sirius account. If you lived in a small city in the middle of nowhere, your choices of radio stations may not be good, and you may want to keep it. Mine expires in two days...I'm not renewing it. With my BEV, I really can't get out of range of the radio stations I like to listen to, and while I did use my account to listen on line occasionally, there are other, free services that can provide nearly the same thing, and sometimes with better audio quality.

 

[Sparky]

I know I'm in the minority, but I think XM is total crap. The programming and overcompression are just intolerable to me. I had a lifetime contract in an Aston, and never listened to it. Most cars bundle the receiver with other options because they get a big incentive from. Sirius XM. I wish there was a delete option for the bundles.

 

[epirali]

I know I'm in the minority, but I think XM is total crap. The programming and overcompression are just intolerable to me. I had a lifetime contract in an Aston, and never listened to it. Most cars bundle the receiver with other options because they get a big incentive from. Sirius XM. I wish there was a delete option for the bundles.

Amen, you are not as much in minority as you think!

 

[jadnashuanh]

While it was free, I mostly used it to listen to voice...music was pretty poor.

 

[spinball]

No way would I pay for it. Too many other options.

 

[NoMoreGas]

Like the NYC traffic reports and like the comedy and Radio Classics. I will be paying for it.

 

[drb]

I used it long before I had my i3. The diversity of programming from classical to Broadway and pop music and the many news choices is just unbeatable. Except for books on tape--that can't be beat--I wouldn't have a car without Sirius XM. I do not expect great sound quality in a car given the ambient noise and other distractions. I leave good sound to my home stereo and theater system. My one-year anniversary is coming up on July 31. I will definitely renew.

 

[easports82]

I'd had XM since 2005, starting with a Honda Accord then transferring to my X3 in 2012. I dropped it earlier this year after I switched mobile service because I didn't see the value in it anymore. Between OTA radio and streaming on my phone, I can hear what I want and I didn't have a compelling reason to continue with them.

 

[SSi3]

Nope, it's of little use for us considering all the other options for bringing music into the car... plus SiriusXM Canada was relentlessly calling me twice a day from a third party call centre, I assume they were trying to get me to sign-up early before my 12 months is up, I don't know as I never got to speak to them. When I was able to answer it hung up on me or left me with dead air. So I put my number on the call centre's do-not-call list and voila they actually stopped calling!

 

[mindmachine]

My Sirius XM radio year-long "test" runs out in a couple of weeks. Because most i3s are sold to metropolitan residents who do not use them for long-distance travel, I wondered if anyone else was enthused enough about the service to begin paying for it?

I'll also note that satellite reception is momentarily dropped fairly often.

I won't. We have a good selection of stations here (classical, news/talk, rock, oldies, hip-hop/cRap, alternative, some jazz (shows), etc. that are even broadcast in HD. The only thing missing is the AM section on the i3 radio, and as I joked with the salesman, BMW figured nobody who listens to Rush will buy this car anyway....(incorrect assumption...lol).

What a waste of money never!!!!!!! Too many other higher quality ways to listen to music.

 

[MGS9500]

I have had it for years and continue to use it. I live in a midwest area and the choice of stations is abysmal. I love listening to multiple news sources including BBC and NPR. Getting financial updates from CNBC and Bloomberg is great. Also, the streaming choices are nice.

I also pay for the option of getting it on any other device. This allows me to play music at work or stream it to a speaker.

I know there are multiple competitors, but for the streaming cable to radio options, news, financial, NPR, music, I continue to subscribe.

 

[jadnashuanh]

I tend to agree, if you have another decent source(s), it's not a good choice, but if you don't, especially if you're listening to voice, and you have little choice, it's not bad.

 

[jelloslug]

I have had siriusxm for years and years and I don't think I will renew the trial in my i3. I have been mostly listing to Pandora or Spotify for free.

 

[Sparky]

R U listening to spotify using your cell data?

 

[panda3]

We just have one active account with the web version.
Keeps cost down since Sirius doesn't want to give us the $30 for 6month option anymore.

 

[mindmachine]

I know I'm in the minority, but I think XM is total crap. The programming and overcompression are just intolerable to me. I had a lifetime contract in an Aston, and never listened to it. Most cars bundle the receiver with other options because they get a big incentive from. Sirius XM. I wish there was a delete option for the bundles.

I second your opinion, XM-sirus what a total joke. No I will not be renewing as I have never listened to it yet in 10 months of ownership. Poor quality sound and way too much talking.

 

[Technicks]

I have the Sirius right now, used it once.

I highly, and i mean HIGHLY recommend Google Play Music instead through Bluetooth from your smartphone.
It's $10/mo, unless you only want to use the upload/playback feature (See #3 below) - that feature is absolutely free.
Here are some cool things it can do:

1. Find almost any song and artist, including TONS of international music!
2. Just like Pandora, you can start a radio from every song. Unlike Pandora, it doesn't repeat songs after 20 tracks.
3. Google lets you upload up to 50,000 of your own songs from your desktop computer that you can listen to or download to another device anytime (up to 300meg/song)
4. They give you suggestions on what you may like - and this feature works quite well!
5. You can always click on a song, go to "View Album" and see what other songs are there and even play entire albums, or you can see related artists, and related songs. This is very addictive... i end up doing this for a long time then realize i just wasted 2 hours staring at my phone...
6. Has unlimited skips, and you can scroll down to see what tracks are coming up
7. You can SAVE your radio stations and playlists and playback from any other device.
8. Track info gets displayed on the car's display.

And much much more...

And before you ask, no, i don't work for Google, i just really like Google Play Music.

Forgot to add: It streams in high quality at 320KBPS+ if you select that option. It's off by default due to usage plans on cell phones, but if you have a lot of data, turn this feature on.

 

[jelloslug]

R U listening to spotify using your cell data?

My cell company does not count music steaming as data usage.

 

[cmj912]

Here's a question:

I have a loaner 2016 328i which has an active Sirius/XM radio. I notice that ALL album info and art is shown in the iDrive display - even for XM songs - not just when I have my iPhone plugged in and am using Apple Music. It displays a nice picture of more radio information in the iDrive display in split screen even though it seems like the 3-series screen is slightly smaller.

Is this a setting I haven't activated in the i3 or is this something the 328 does that the i3 doesn't? Just wondering.

I also note that the navigation "repeats" the instructions with arrows and text below the speedometer BUT the voice in this particular series has problems with pronunciation where my i3 does not...