SIRIUSXM: Still Lazy After All These Years (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

I’ve had SirusXM off in my car for the past 9 months. They repeatedly played the same songs on the Rock channels, and I grew tired of it. So for the last year they’ve been trying to woo me back. Today, they offered a deal that I could no longer pass up. $4 a month for 12 months. I actually got it more for my wife than myself. She’s not really into my classic rock CD collection, so when she’s in the car now, I can just throw on a soft rock station, and she’ll be happy.

As long as you can talk the phone reps down in price (which still seems to be the case), and pay what you want, then SiriusXM is not a bad option.

There is a major announcement on the way around November 4th during their earnings call. It will concern major changes to their software platform. Also rumor is that you won't be able to negotiate pricing anymore. Not sure how accurate the latter rumor is. While I expect some positive changes in their app and online experience, I don't expect they will be putting any effort into managing their music channels. For the past 15 years, they have been content in playing the same few songs day in and out despite the rising number of complaints.

 

[Mike Frezon]

It will be interesting to hear what THAT'S all about, Ron.

Something tells me it might mark the end of my SiriusXM subscription. I just don't get enough out of it.

The worst part for me is my 2013 Honda CR-V built-in XM receiver only goes up to about channel 235. So anything above that is lost to me. I could get the upper channels on my phone app and then bluetooth connect to my car system, but I always find it too much bother, I guess.

I think what will interest me is what changes they are planning to make since I hear they are continually desperate to increase subscriber numbers (and, thusly, advertising rates).

 

[Capt D McMars]

It will be interesting to hear what THAT'S all about, Ron.

Something tells me it might mark the end of my SiriusXM subscription. I just don't get enough out of it.

The worst part for me is my 2013 Honda CR-V built-in XM receiver only goes up to about channel 235. So anything above that is lost to me. I could get the upper channels on my phone app and then bluetooth connect to my car system, but I always find it too much bother, I guess.

I think what will interest me is what changes they are planning to make since I hear they are continually desperate to increase subscriber numbers (and, thusly, advertising rates).

I hear ya, for me...my 2018 Audi Q7 has ports for thumb dives, so I just load them up with music from home and I'm good...between the two thumb drives I have access to over 30 hours of varied artists and geners...win -win !! Not the shrunken, lack luster repeat until your ears bleed Hitlist...and I am serious/xm!!

 

[jim_falconer]

Appears that the Deep Tracks channel has become internet-only now. This service just gets worse and worse

 

[Ronald Epstein]

There's a lot of stuff coming out of SiriusXM this week.

The service had a huge corporate event featuring CEO Jennifer Witz with a little help from the network's biggest star, Howard Stern.

Basically, they are putting all their eggs into their streaming app which will see a major facelift next month.

However, my concern is that they will continue the programming mindset of keeping a limited amount of rotated music on all their channels as they have been doing for over 14 years. You can put a new coat of paint on everything but if you are not properly curating your music, people are going to get bored and go elsewhere.

To date, music on the 70s on 70 still plays the same songs on a daily basis.

SiriusXM brings back iconic dog mascot, unveils new logo and refreshed streaming app

SiriusXM rolled out a refresh of its corporate brand on Wednesday, a move that will also see changes to its cornerstone audio services made in the near future.

thedesk.net

As far as Deep Tracks is concerned:

SiriusXM Messed With Their Classic Rock Channel. Boomer Listeners Aren't Happy

SiriusXM listeners are angry over the satellite radio service moving its classic-rock rarities channel Deep Tracks.

www.rollingstone.com

Seems there has been a lot of backlash on this move. Technically the channel is still available through car radios as it moved to 308, but unfortunately, a lot of older vehicles on the road are using outdated radios that cannot access the upper channels. So, yes, those listeners are being thrown to the app to hear that channel.

I find SiriusXM making changes all the time since I find myself regularly having to update the presets in my car. Another fairly recent move is the company removing the weather and traffic channels completely which I think was a pretty stupid thing to do given that it was a great way of instantly obtaining the latest conditions without having to search for an AM station while traveling.

 

[Chip_HT]

I didn't have to adjust the presets in my car (2016 Subaru Forester) with the recent channel changes. The presets automatically pointed to the new channel numbers.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I didn't have to adjust the presets in my car (2016 Subaru Forester) with the recent channel changes. The presets automatically pointed to the new channel numbers.

I have a 2022 Corsair and had to relocate or delete channels that were moved or became obsolete.

However, I did notice yesterday that the logo for SOUL TOWN was changed to SMOKEY'S SOUL TOWN but essentially, the channel didn't move and there was only a name change.

 

[Dennis_H]

There's a lot of stuff coming out of SiriusXM this week.

The service had a huge corporate event featuring CEO Jennifer Witz with a little help from the network's biggest star, Howard Stern.

Basically, they are putting all their eggs into their streaming app which will see a major facelift next month.

However, my concern is that they will continue the programming mindset of keeping a limited amount of rotated music on all their channels as they have been doing for over 14 years. You can put a new coat of paint on everything but if you are not properly curating your music, people are going to get bored and go elsewhere.

To date, music on the 70s on 70 still plays the same songs on a daily basis.

SiriusXM brings back iconic dog mascot, unveils new logo and refreshed streaming app

SiriusXM rolled out a refresh of its corporate brand on Wednesday, a move that will also see changes to its cornerstone audio services made in the near future.

thedesk.net

As far as Deep Tracks is concerned:

SiriusXM Messed With Their Classic Rock Channel. Boomer Listeners Aren't Happy

SiriusXM listeners are angry over the satellite radio service moving its classic-rock rarities channel Deep Tracks.

www.rollingstone.com

Seems there has been a lot of backlash on this move. Technically the channel is still available through car radios as it moved to 308, but unfortunately, a lot of older vehicles on the road are using outdated radios that cannot access the upper channels. So, yes, those listeners are being thrown to the app to hear that channel.

I find SiriusXM making changes all the time since I find myself regularly having to update the presets in my car. Another fairly recent move is the company removing the weather and traffic channels completely which I think was a pretty stupid thing to do given that it was a great way of instantly obtaining the latest conditions without having to search for an AM station while traveling.

Deep tracks is the main station I listen to 95% of the time with an occasional change to Classic vinyl or Tom Petty. I only have it in my wife's car and it does get 308. It did not change the preset for me. I had XM in mine when it first came out with Music Lab and the concert station. Deep tracks is the only reason I've kept it, so if they kill that, I'm out.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Deep tracks is the main station I listen to 95% of the time with an occasional change to Classic vinyl or Tom Petty. I only have it in my wife's car and it does get 308. It did not change the preset for me. I had XM in mine when it first came out with Music Lab and the concert station. Deep tracks is the only reason I've kept it, so if they kill that, I'm out.

A few thoughts...

SiriusXM is all about repetition on their music channels. It seems like they pick a few hundred songs they know were popular on the charts and that's all they will play day in and day out. If you listen to a particular channel on a daily basis you get bored rather quickly. That's the huge downside of the service; no matter how many complaints they get, it doesn't change.

I hear that doesn't happen on channels like DEEP TRACKS and LITTLE STEVEN'S UNDERGROUND GARAGE. I guess it's because they go off the mainstream expectations and it's a lot easier to throw in odd tracks because it is what people expect when they come to these channels.

I enjoy DEEP TRACKS as well but it seems like the service moves the more unpopular channels up the chain to keep the popular ones together on the lower end of the channel spectrum.

Outside of Howard Stern, the only reason I still subscribe is the included app which is about to be revised. There are a plethora of channels you can only get on the app which are much better than the satellite channels. They are pretty oddly focused, but some may cater to your tastes.

The nice thing about the app channels is, that there are no DJ interruptions. It's all music and you can skip songs you don't like. Additionally, since it's internet-delivered, the sound quality is significantly better. Remember, on satellite radio channels, the music is being broadcast at the lowest bitrate possible.

Of course, the app uses your phone's data, but if you have an unlimited plan, it doesn't matter. It's also more expensive to have the app streaming option on your plan but it does add a significant amount of music channels.

Finally, if you have Carplay or Android Auto, the app works very well in the vehicle and you can preset many of the channels you like as favorites, making it easy to access.

In all, I find the service's strength in music to be through their app rather than their radio.

 

[Brian L]

I didn't have to adjust the presets in my car (2016 Subaru Forester) with the recent channel changes. The presets automatically pointed to the new channel numbers.

Unfortunately, my 2015 911 can’t tune to 308. Deep Tracks was one of my preferred channels so this does indeed piss me off.

 

[jim_falconer]

My car (2015 Camaro) radio only goes up to 205 on XM, so losing Deep Tracks on channel 28 is quite infuriating

 

[Chip_HT]

My year of low-priced Platinum was due to run out on January 10, so I jumped on the chat to cancel. Their first counteroffer was the Music and Entertainment at the same price for 24 months. I said no. Then they were going to offer Platinum at a higher price for 24 months. Again, no. Finally, they offered to extend my current Platinum pricing for another 12 months.

The only downside is that now the new cycle is based off of the 19th of the month. They did prorate and I had to pay a couple of bucks to adjust the cycle. It would have been nice to just have the payment on the 10th continue to be the same price.

 

[Malcolm R]

State of NY is suing Sirius because of their cumbersome cancellation process:

New York sues SiriusXM, accusing company of making it deliberately hard to cancel subscriptions

New York’s attorney general has filed suit against SiriusXM, accusing the satellite radio service of making it intentionally difficult for its customers to cancel their subscriptions.

www.wcax.com

 

[Chip_HT]

“Like a number of consumer businesses, we offer a variety of options for customers to sign up for or cancel their SiriusXM subscription and, upon receiving and reviewing the complaint, we intend to vigorously defend against these baseless allegations that grossly mischaracterize SiriusXM’s practices,” Jessica Casano-Antonellis, a company spokeswoman, said in a statement.

The part of the story that I didn't rely in my previous post was where I tried to cancel over the weekend, but it directed me to the chat, which wasn't available at the time.

And the chat wasn't phrased as "what if we offer you this?" It was phrased as "we can sign you up for this package as soon as you say yes." If my end goal was to completely cancel my subscription and not come back, I would have been incredibly annoyed.

 

[TonyD]

Sirius has sent out an email essentially Telling subscribers something to the effect that there will no longer be refunds prorated out for cancelling.
So if you have a sub being a month or a year or longer they will not give you a prorated amount in a refund.
So you’re stuck with it until your subscription ends.

This seems similar to what I got from Walmart+
I opened the app and saw a pop up that suggested I signup for W+ for a year. I pressed the popup expecting to go to the next screen with the offer but No. I was signed up for a year of W+.
I called to get it cancelled and refunded but that didn’t happen But I didn’t realize it until a week or so later when the refund didint go through.
Checked their terms and found out about the cancellation policy.

 

[Jeffrey D]

Heads up for Billy Joel fans- an announcement on the limited engagement channel that a new single is being aired tomorrow. This might be the first time he has written and recorded new material since the River Of Dreams record- 31 years ago!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Heads up for Billy Joel fans- an announcement on the limited engagement channel that a new single is being aired tomorrow. This might be the first time he has written and recorded new material since the River Of Dreams record- 31 years ago!

Yes, been keeping an eye (or ear) on this as it has been announced across Facebook and TikTok.

Looking forward to hearing it. Thanks, Jeffrey.

 

[Jeffrey D]

Turn The Lights Back On- his first new song in 17 years, according to the dedicated channel.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Turn The Lights Back On- his first new song in 17 years, according to the dedicated channel.

EDIT: Now that I have listened to this, I think it's pretty decent. It sounds like a Billy Joel song with its hard beats and piano accompaniment. The vocals sound slightly off but I attribute that to Billy being 74 years old. He's lost power in his voice.

 

[Jeffrey D]

EDIT: Now that I have listened to this, I think it's pretty decent. It sounds like a Billy Joel song with its hard beats and piano accompaniment. The vocals sound slightly off but I attribute that to Billy being 74 years old. He's lost power in his voice.

Yes his voice just isn’t the same any longer.
He never was a virtuoso, but he definitely sung with attitude and passion.