Most gadget heads have heard of Sirius and XM Satellite Radio by now and might even be weighing which service to sign on with as a subscriber. Both services cost about the same (under .50 cents per day if paid monthly and less if paid quarterly or annually) with XM offering 150 stations to Sirius' 120. A well respected consumer magazine investigated and was unable to give either service the edge. And so with a level playing field let us see if satellite radio makes sense.

Most of my experience comes from Sirius, but since it's all about the service, and the aforementioned consumer organization found little to differentiate either one as superior, I will continue.

First things first...all those stations? Would you count at least 12 or more traffic and weather channels for cities you don't live anywhere near as worth paying for? How about the group of stations that are not in English? I have no need of ESPN in Spanish or French or Korean. We have just gotten started and our tally of useless satellite spew is up over 25 channels. If, for example, you are a fan of the NFL and the NBA Sirius would be the one for you. But your summer would belong to XM - broadcasting Major League Baseball, NASCAR, Indy Racing League, Golf, and World Cup Soccer. College football is featured on XM with CFA action from the ACC to the PAC 10. Sirius offers major independent college football coverage.

Say you are into Hip-Hop and Trance, but couldn't give a tinker’s damn about the 6 country or 3 new age jazz stations. Is satellite radio worth the money for you? Go online and take a look at the channel listings. The number of stations is mind boggling...especially when you realize the numbers are not sequential. How many will you actually have time to listen to? Do you constantly flip stations to avoid insipid commercials or the same song you heard 45 minutes earlier as they counted down the top 20 tunes again.

How often do you listen to the radio these days? Do you spend long hours behind the wheel driving far enough that you lose the local station your radio is generally tuned to day in day out? Long distance travel is probably the best reason to subscribe to satellite radio. The stations are with you coast to coast. You can escape the fade and static when you are at the broadcast limit of the AM/FM station you have been riding with.

Gadget Alert! Satellite radio receivers are proprietary.

My choice of Sirius came after driving a rental car that had it as an OEM offering. I drove for a week and found a number of stations that were of interest to me. I did some research and after doing a cursory comparison decided (actually based on the fact I could follow Nebraska Cornhuskers football) to go with the little dog. I have had the service for just over a month and I, the jury, am still out. I have 12 stations programmed into my unit and listen to most of them throughout the week. The home unit sits unused and ignored.

It was upsetting to find that only the MUSIC STATIONS ARE COMMERCIAL FREE. There are a few commercials scattered around the comedy, old time radio, and talk stations. They are, for the most part rinky dink come-ons for earning money through real estate "no money down" or cd packages of old radio programs.

It is irksome having to pay to listen to a commercial

My advice is to do as much research as you can. Both Sirius and XM offer a free trial of sorts for 3 days. Shop for equipment online first and read up on both services.

Food for thought: if you are only in the car for a 10 minute commute five days a week and drive 10 minutes to shop twice a week would your per-hour cost for Satellite radio be worth it?

Remember. OnHamptonRoads.com welcomes reader comments on articles and reviews! The above article  is intended to stimulate comments from those currently subscribing to a Satellite Radio Service and those that might be thinking about signing on.

Mike Diana
Undecided