[ridgeman]

I sure like the XM on my beautiful Amazon Green (albiet with hail damage) RL but I am now approaching the half way point of the FREE trial.

Am I the only "cheeeeep" person out here in RL land or does anyone else think the monthly charge for the subscription is expensive?

Anyone?

 

[nevadagarth]

I would say that depends on what you value. I for one do NOT like commercials, especially on some stations where they last for well over 5 minutes at a time. I also have a three year old who likes to listen to XM Kids. The comedy channels are a good way to "wind down" from work on my way home and I like to listen to CNN on the way into work, since I usually don't get to watch the news in the morning.

I will definitely be subscribing once my free time is up.

 

[arteegee]

$13 a month is ridiculous. About half that would be reasonable imho.

 

[MarkF]

There is also a signup fee of $14.99. If you signup on their website it's cheaper at $9.99. A second subscription is $6.99 a month more. I do like it though. I am keeping the one in the ridge and added a second to my 03 Accord.

 

[25 Year Honda Owner]

It is a hell of a better buy than the $65 I pay a month to flip channels of the Dish TV network. There are some reception problems, not very good in the mountains. Last weekend in the Smokey mountains, I had to go to a local FM station to get reception. Otherwise a good buy.

 

[FormerF150Owner]

I re-upped for a year and found out that if you pay for the subscription for the radio in your vehicle, you get XM radio online for free. You don't have all the channels that you have in your ridge, but you get quite a few of them. While at work, I log into the XM radio online and listen to it during the day. This makes the cost a little more bearable.

 

[laserfan]

...Am I the only "cheeeeep" person out here in RL land or does anyone else think the monthly charge for the subscription is expensive?

"Expensive" is a relative term, of course.

We paid cash for our Ridge, and can "afford" the monthly cost, but chose not to because we simply don't spend enough time in the truck to make it worthwhile to us. We don't have a commute or anything, for example. And when we take it into town (you know, for grain and lard and lye & such) we go together and talk rather than turn-on the radio. I tried the CD player to make sure it worked but haven't turned it on since...

Now, having said all this, I think XM is very cool and wish like heck I could justify the cost some way. We don't even listen to baseball. Sigh.

 

[biggesthonda]

With my ridgeline this is the third XM reciever, my first i've had since 2001, then we added one to my wifes TSX, and now the ridgeline, i dont think i could commute without it, recently i switched units from in car to portable MYFI i use it on my motorcycle, & i also have the vehicle mount in my company vehicle so i would think i am getting my moneys worth, since i got in on the beginning my monthly prices are less 9.99 for the first and then 6.99 for the wifes car i havent added the biggesthonda (ridge) to my account but it should be another 6.99 a month i my own opinion if you have a commute more than an hour XM is the way to go

 

[Truckin']

There are some reception problems, not very good in the mountains. Last weekend in the Smokey mountains, I had to go to a local FM station to get reception. Otherwise a good buy.

I was expecting to lose it in the mountains of central Idaho, but it was strong and true for our whole trip. We've had a second or two loss here and there, but haven't lost the signal yet.

On the bigger question of price, I think it's outrageous to pay that much for radio. I guess I have too many years on me listening for free and only contributing to my local community radio channel.

That being said, I have come to love X Country (12) and have only listened a bit to some of the other channels. It will be a sad day when we get cut off near the end of this month.

It's won me over enough that I've actually considered subscribing. However, if I decide to subscribe, it will be after we come back from Canada in September. I understand there is no XM up there and there's no use of us paying for something we can't hear on our trip.

By then I may have gotten used to listening to my iPod, which was my original plan with getting NAV and the jack to plug my iPod into.

 

[Truckin']

I re-upped for a year and found out that if you pay for the subscription for the radio in your vehicle, you get XM radio online for free. This makes the cost a little more bearable.

This is the first I've heard about online for free. Does that mean I could log in at work or at home and hubby could log in at work too? Or is it limited to one computer with a surcharge for any additional computer? That would be more in line with their corporate pricing structure.

Could you tell me if X Country (12) is one of the stations you get?

That would make it a bit more bearable.

 

[san z]

In my opinion if you bought one CD a month it would average about the same. This way you get a variety of music for whatever you're in the mood for whenever you want it. I do wish that the players in the cars would buffer the signal by at least five minutes so you never have to worry about a dropped signal. To me the drops are the most frustrating thing about the service. I guess over all its worth it if you like a variety of music.

 

[Ridge]

I bought it. I can't have a button that doesn't work. It's not a fixed monthly rate. We did it for 3 years which brings it to about 10.00 a month.

 

[shortspark]

I don't hear well so I seldom play the radio. With hearing aids on I hear only road noise and without them I hear nothing so XM is a feature I would like but can't use. Besides, like laserfan, I don't drive any distances to really be able to sit back, enjoy the ride and the radio. If I do take a trip once in a while and want to listen to music I take along my mini disc player and ear phones. Now, if our radio had an earphone jack I would probably keep XM for about a year more just for the novelty of it.

 

[FormerF150Owner]

The only way I found out that the XM radio online was free in conjunction with your paid subscription is because my wife called for technical assistance. After my free subscription ran out, I registered online but the radio didn't activate for several hours. When my wife called for assistance, that's when they told her about getting the online radio for free on your PC. You can listen from any PC that's hooked up to the Internet. You simply register first on the XM radio website, then go back to the website on ANY PC and type in your e-mail address and your password (the one you set up during registration on the website).
You get stations 4-16, 20-34, 40-48, 50-54, 60-67, 70-78, 80-83, 90-95, 101-102, 110-113, 116, 133, 150-151, and 202. I'm not sure why the other stations are not available for the "free online".

So to answer Truckin's question - channel 32 IS included. Hope that helps.

 

[meanmachine19]

I am pondering the same question as my free trial is about to end in two weeks. I have read all the posts about negotiating a better price ($77/year) but it's a crapshoot on which rep you get on the phone, and you have to wait for the free period to 'expire'.

I love having it, but I just don't know if it's worth it. It's not the $$ issue, it's a matter of 'value'. Is it worth the money for about 7 channels that I really listen to out of their 180 or so? If I get the negotiated price, yes, because like others have stated, I don't spend a whole lot of time in my truck. My commute to work is 25 minutes each way and my days off are spent driving around in the family Ody.

So I will wait until it expires, and if I get a discounted rate, it will be worth it. When I first got it and was (erroneously) told by the salesman it was $10 a month, it seemed worth it. But $13 a month is not a good value. I'd rather put that money to better use on my truck!

 

[JMT]

Do it. I have it in all 5 of our cars and in our home and office. We even have it in our semi trucks for the pleasure of our long haul drivers (they love it) I have not listened to local stations for over a year at least and do not miss it. My 6 year old loves XM kids, she has a portable XM boom box in her room for her enjoyment.

Pay for one at 12.99 and then do the family plan for 6.99 on the others, it is worth the money. It helps pass the time while driving.

 

[ridgeman]

Boy the responses were great and about what I really feel.

I REALLY like it because of the country (yaya), Channel 151 is my wifes favorite I think and I like to switch to other styles of music to suit my mood so it is nice to have all those channels but like someone else posted I really only listen to about 6-7 and when I am in town (Taos, New Mexico) I listen to one of our local stations.

We went from Taos to Salt Lake City to Miles City Montana and then down through Cheyenne to Denver and back to Taos and the only place I lost the signal was around Greybull, Wyoming in the mountains. The clarity and quality are great but I honestly think it is really worth only about the $6.99 you pay for the second + players.

What is this about getting deals ($77 a year). Tell me more and maybe I'll hang in there for another year or two or three

 

[denvrfan]

Do it. I have it in all 5 of our cars and in our home and office. We even have it in our semi trucks for the pleasure of our long haul drivers (they love it) I have not listened to local stations for over a year at least and do not miss it. My 6 year old loves XM kids, she has a portable XM boom box in her room for her enjoyment.

Pay for one at 12.99 and then do the family plan for 6.99 on the others, it is worth the money. It helps pass the time while driving.

Couldn't agree with you more! I also have 5 radios on account. Just returned from a 700 mile roundtrip to PA. Having XM made the trip so much more bearable.

 

[hersheytx]

The bad thing about XM, its made me buy more CDs. I would maybe buy 2 CDs a year. Mostly a movie soundtrack that I got hooked on. Now I hear so many new songs from so many artists that I have never heard of.... I just started listening to CH 22 the MIX. I am amazed at what is out there. I have been hooked on Ch 16 (Country). Never bought a country ablum in my life. Just got done buying 3 this month.
Its sick. I have XM in my car and truck and listen to the online stuff at work. It really is worth them money to me. What put it over the top was the free online channels.

 

[JMT]

It is very addictive. On friday nights on #54 it is all surf punk music, brings me back to my younger (no responsibility) days. Lots of good programs all over the channels.