Sirius Radio: The Case For and Against

Inspired by Fitz’s recent article about Stern moving to Sirius, here’s a point by point argument for if satellite radio is worth it, or not.

1: Commercial Free – Although Stern has admitted that he will have a few commercials, just so he can have time to set up segments, every other satellite radio channel is commercial free. Worth the cost of $13 a month, maybe.

2: The Talent – For the housewives, Martha Stewart. For the rest of us, Stern and his sidekicks. I do agree with Fitz in that Artie is the best part of the Stern show. I don’t think, however, that Artie will leave the Stern Sirius show. His Hollywood career pretty much reads like the obituaries, and I don’t think many other opportunities will present themselves for Artie. And that’s not a bad thing, because he’s great on Stern’s show. Is the talent worth the monthly subscription, probably not.

3: The Channels – Over 120 channels of any kind of music you would care to listen to; pop, rap, rock, christian, jazz, blues, classical and more. Also, sports, news, live performances, talk, traffic, weather, even religion and family programming. Worth the monthly subscription, probably.

4: The Hardware – The bad news is you have to buy the receiver. The good news is that all the receivers have built-in FM transmitters, which means you can take the receiver between your car and home stereo, and if you have a media center computer you can record the FM transmittions of Sirius broadcasts. Also, some of the receivers have internal memory, so you can record up to 44 minutes, rewind and fastforward the live broadcasts from the receiver. Also, there’s a special sport receiver that delivers scores for any college or professional sport to the display on the receiver. Is the receiver worth the money, definitely maybe.

5: The Monthly Subscription – This is what it all comes down to. Though the first three aren’t deal makers or breakers by themselves, when you take them all into account it’s a pretty sweet package. Is it worth the money, in my opinion, yes. There are a few plans in addition to the $13 monthly subscription. There is a 1 year plan for $143 (1 month free), 2 year plan for $272 (3 months free), and a lifetime plan for $500 (lifetime of 4 receivers, not your entire lifetime).

I hate to make this seem like an ad for Sirius, but in my opinion Sirius is worth it. Even without Stern and his sidekicks, you still have tons of content at your disposal whether you’re in the car, at home, at work, or anywhere else.

I stayed away from the cable TV analogy because at this point it’s cliché and isn’t really even valid. People are more comfortable paying for something they can see, as opposed to something they are just going to listen to. If you’re still not sure if you’re ready to take the Sirius plunge, check out their site for a free online trial (no credit card required).