Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2003 13:58:11 -0400
Reply-To: Rod Smith <rodwreck@SE-TEL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Rod Smith <rodwreck@SE-TEL.COM>
Subject: Re: Free Sirius satellite radio system
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Thanks for the tip!
Just signed up and am looking forward to it's arrival.
I've been an XM radio subscriber for about a year
& I love it. Way better than over the air radio, particularly
if you live in a rural area.
I'm guessing Sirius may have a slight edge over XM though, as
they carry NPR.
Guess it will be XM for the wife & Sirius for me.
Yipee!
Thanks again;
Rod.
----- Original Message -----
From: "caverat" <caverat@ATTBI.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2003 1:59 AM
Subject: Free Sirius satellite radio system
If anyone is interested, I can tell you how to get a free Sirius satellite
radio system. I have gotten two of them for free, and one of them is
currently installed in my 89 westy. The only catch is you have to agree to
a one year subscription. Satellite radio is pretty new and just starting to
catch on - 100 channels of music, news, weather, and sports. Pretty much
all of the big auto manufacturers (Chrysler, GM, Ford, Mercedes, BMW, etc.)
are either currently offering it or plan on offering it as optional or
standard equipment in their 2003/2004 lineups. There are two providers - XM
(www.xmradio.com) and Sirius (www.sirius.com). XM has commercials on a lot
of their music channels, and Sirius is 100% commercial free on all 60 music
channels. You can see the lineup and listen to live feeds of the Sirius
music streams at their web site. I have had it for a while and it kicks
butt (my wife made me order a second one for her car). You can drive coast
to coast and not lose a signal. IMO, the Sirius comedy channel is worth the
subscription price by itself (uncensored Richard Pryor, Cheech and Chong,
Eddie Murphy, Rodney Dangerfield, Jerry Seinfield, etc.). Their classic
rock channel (The Rock) is great, and they have many different types of
rock, country, bluegrass, reggae, dance, pop, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, classical,
news, sports (all NBA games were broadcast live on Sirius), ABC, CNN, BBC,
ESPN, the Weather Channel, and a whole bunch of others. Check out their
website for a complete listing and to hear it for yourself. If you spend
any amount of time in your vehicle, you will soon wonder how you did without
it. It is basically like cable/satellite TV for your car. The monthly
subscription price is less than the cost of a CD or cassette, and the yearly
price and/or second/third subscription is discounted. I have not listened
to AM/FM radio or CDs in any of my cars since I installed the satellite
radios. XM has been out a little longer is better known at this point and
had better initial hardware, but in my opinion (as well as Sound and Vision
magazine and Fortune), the Sirius service is better in both terms of sound
and programming (Mercedes, BMW, and Jaguar will be offering Sirius, not XM).
Check it out for yourself at their website.
To get the free system under the Sirius "Friends and Family" program go to
the website www.siriusbackstage.com. On the top right of the web page you
will see a link to Sirius Backstage forums. At that link you will scroll
down to the Sirius Insiders forum. You will need to register to access that
forum (simple email and password registration). At that forum you will find
the details on how to get the free system (a phone call with the right offer
code and employee name (provided in instructions) is needed to get a tuner,
FM modulator which allows hookup to any existing radio, and antenna with no
shipping charges at all) sent to your address. The offer appears to be
still on (if you act quick - read the messages), even though the initial
message indicates that it has expired. They are essentially clearing out
first generation gear since the second generation product is out. Believe
me, the first generation works just fine. Since you may have a choice of
hardware, my personal preference would be Panasonic followed by Kenwood
followed by Audiovox followed by Jensen. Second generation plug-and-play
devices (can move from car to home with appropriate docking station) are
available for under $100 (tuner) and $50-60 (docking station, antenna) at
Best Buy, Circuit City, Crutchfield, etc. You can see both first and second
generation equipment in person at these stores.
Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. will install it for you for $50-75. I did both
of mine since it is not that difficult (constant on, switched on, ground,
antenna connections). You do require a metal surface for the
adhesive-mounted antenna to ground properly. I mounted mine under the
fiberglass luggage rack and it works fine (the antenna manufacturer tech
support manager recommended this to me). A friend of mine just has his
antenna sitting on his dash and it works okay, although you are more likely
to get occasional short dropouts. My tuner is mounted in the cabinet under
the sink, and the antenna to tuner connections pass through the corner of
the zippered screen in the poptop. I can provide pictures or installation
advice if anyone is interested.
There is literally no comparison between normal AM/FM and satellite radio.
A recent analysis report estimated between 29-45 million subscribers
(primarily from standard equipment auto OEM installs) over the next ten
years. Published reports from XM and Sirius indicate 650K subscribers now
since they started 1.5 years ago. Here's my disclaimer - I like the service
so much that I have bought stock and I want to see the subscriber numbers
grow. I've made several people aware of this offer and none of them have
been disappointed with the service after they got it. In fact, three of
them got second units for their other cars after only a month's experience
with their initial unit, also because of their spouse's insistence. Again,
listen to the service for yourself first at the Listen Now link at the top
of the www.sirius.com website. I have verified that what you are hearing on
this site on the music streams is what they are broadcasting live over the
satellite at the same time. The Rock is the best classic rock station you
will ever hear.
caverat
89 Westy
|