jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I've had portable XM radios in my cars for years, and they're great when traveling. I don't have to listen to farm reports or local politics when I'm a few hundred miles from home.

Two problems: the cost has gone up; their customer support has never been good, and it has gotten worse. I used to be able to go online and find subscription prices with no trouble. They used to have a Lifetime subscription, but that wasn't listed on their site. Instead, you had to call.

Calling XM is not as pleasant as you might think, so getting something accomplished can take a long time, and it can be hit or miss. I got an email that one of my radios that was up for renewal had not been paid because I am no longer using that credit card. i had to phone XM to settle this. It took a long time to set up another card and cancel the radio that was due for renewal. Lots of "One moment, please."

Right now, I have a Lifetime subscription on a radio built into my car. I can transfer it (at a cost) if I sell the car. Fortunately, it is through a Pioneer XM module, so I can remove it and put it into another car. Sadly, Lifetime is no longer available for new radios. I have a radio in the house that's coming up for renewal in a few months, but I don't know if it's worth $10 a month. I have FM, CDs and an iPod to provide music - for free.

What do you think of satellite radio?

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

I love it, simply because I can listen to whatever I choose, when I choose. The problem I have is that it's terribly expensive. I guess I'm lucky, because I've never had a problem when contacting them.

P.S. Love those farm reports--really :D :D

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I remember speaking to someone at XM a few years ago, discussing the various options. I settled on something that he said would cost $XX per month. The next month, I had a charge on my credit card for over $200. He never said that they would charge the whole two years at once. Suppose they stopped service? They'd have my money, but I wouldn't have any music. Why can I listen for two years, and then pay? :D

RicknJude Loc: Quebec, Canada

I like it. Our current car is the first one we have had Sirius in. I only listen to about 6 stations. I like the old music, as in 50's, 60's, 70's and the Elvis station. Other than that I listen to Nascar. Sure is great on a road trip.

Frank47 Loc: West coast Florida

I've had satellite radio on two different occasions and dropped it both times. I just don't use it enough as I listen only to music, not talk radio. My current 2012 Nissan Maxima has a built-in hard drive in the audio system. I have copied most of my extensive CD collection (120 CDs) onto the hard drive and can listen with ease as the system works perfectly.

kurtinnj Loc: Rio Rancho, New Mexico

I've had Sat radio for years,the few times I had to call customer service at both XM and Sirius. Never had a problem with them. Would not own a car without one.

dalematt Loc: Goderich, Ontario, Canada

We have had XM for a number of years. The first 3 months were free (promotional thing) and my wife said that that would be it. Guess who keeps renewing it ;). Every year, when the subscription renewal comes along, my wife phones them and basically says, "Give us a better deal or we cancel". She always gets a better deal.

If we ever do drop XM, we have CD's and an ipod. So, we'll never be without the music we enjoy.

gdoug Loc: Central Florida

We've enjoyed XM in our vehicles for several years, but it has just become too expensive for the amount of time we are in the vehicles considering all the CDs, iPod, etc we have. With no problem/pressure at all I cancelled last month. Within a week they emailed me with an offer of 6 months for $5/month after all the add-ons. I took them up on it for just one vehicle, the one we are in most. No problems, no pressure to add back to all vehicles. I heard horror stories about their customer service, but so far not happening with me. The customer service rep even told me that there may be more deals at the end of the 6 months so don't auto-renew or cancel without checking first. We'll see.

jcorning Loc: Delaware

I have had xm radio since the service started. I will be dropping it when my current subscription expires. I will be using pandora. It is much more intuitive, music options are almost endless and for 36 bucks a year it is unbeatable.

SBW

I really like satellite radio, great for road trips and I have used it since it's inception until about 3 months ago. We have factory installed satellite radios in all three of our cars. I became so frustrated with their billing dept and customer service that I canceled the subscriptions in all three cars. If you think they are hard to deal with on most routine things you should try canceling your subscriptions. It took me and hour and a half on the phone to do something that simple. I miss the satellite radio but I will probably never have it again. In my view some of the tricks their billing dept tries border on thievery.

UP-2-IT Loc: RED STICK, LA

It's over rated for the cost one pays.

bvm Loc: Glendale, Arizona

And you DO get the latest tornado reports!

hopthecop Loc: salisbury md

i use directv at home...it's free and got lotsa music choices.....i lean toward classic music, but some times i bring on the big band music.....i don't usually spend enough time in my auto to make satellite worthwhile...my car has a hard drive that i downloaded my music to....

RixPix Loc: Miami, Florida

I got Sirius for the first time back in 02...they had 26, 000 subscribers at the time. In the years since the pricing has changed somewhat and the merger with Clear Channel's XM has brought about many other changes. To me the price is a factor simply because, like you, I have paid less in the past for the service. Sirius came with our Ford in 2009 and we've never extended the subscription. XM came with my new Avalon and I have been besieged with offers to extend the subscription. The most recent was a year for $99. I called and said I would take the $99 for a year if I could buy three years at $99 for a total of about $300. I was old no. I asked the person on the phone if they were the final authority I could speak to and was promptly disconnected. I decided with Pandora built in to my car I could do without Sirius.

bvm Loc: Glendale, Arizona

My Rolls has an entire orchestra in the back seat!