What would you change about SiriusXM?

[Kryptonite]

Yeah, I know the talk about the song selections being too repetitive, but how much of that is people who listen to the same 2-3 channels?

But WHYYYYYY...can't I mix channels together? Say I want the following:
Turbo Top 100
Lithium Top 100
Lithium Unplugged
Lithium Just Music
Lithium Icons

Why can't I take ALL those songs and combine them?

Hell, if someone wanted to go crazy, they could... yes...make their own Super Shuffle.

 

[Channel98]

In 1979-80, KMPC 710 in Los Angeles had a format known as "The Unforgettables." Nat "King" Cole's Unforgettable was used in station promos. They played MOR (middle-of-the-road) hits of the late 1940s through the mid 1970s: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Tony Bennett, Perry Como, Kay Starr, Gogi Grant, Jack Jones, Lawrence Welk, Patti Page, Matt Monro, Doris Day, Percy Faith, Eydie Gormé, Sarah Vaughan, Julie London, Johnnie Ray, Henry Mancini, Al Martino, Jerry Vale, Teresa Brewer, Sammy Davis Jr., Ella Fitzgerald, Barbra Streisand, Eddie Fisher, Jo Stafford, Rosemary Clooney, Ferrante & Teicher, Les Paul & Mary Ford, the Ames Brothers, the Mills Brothers, the Four Aces, the Kingston Trio et al.

SiriusXM has a hundred rock channels but has never had an MOR hits channel. On the now-defunct XMFan site, I and several others spent many years begging and pleading for such a channel. We're still waiting.

 

[HecticArt]

One or more of the old portable radios used to have the shuffle feature.
It would jump between your presets. I forgot if it’s still a feature on the Lynx….
It seems like it would be very easy to add that feature to the app.

 

[scotchandcigar]

Yeah, I know the talk about the song selections being too repetitive, but how much of that is people who listen to the same 2-3 channels?

But WHYYYYYY...can't I mix channels together? Say I want the following:
Turbo Top 100
Lithium Top 100
Lithium Unplugged
Lithium Just Music
Lithium Icons

Why can't I take ALL those songs and combine them?

Hell, if someone wanted to go crazy, they could... yes...make their own Super Shuffle.

There are only a certain number of channels that play new music. They are the only ones that have the ability to mix genres, decades, and categories. The ones I listen to are The Spectrum, Alt Nation, and SiriusXMU. I'm not an expert on Turbo, but I think they fall into this category.

Lithium just plays music of a certain type and (bygone) era. So Lithium isn't going to play the new stuff that's on Turbo, but Turbo could play whatever they want. However, SXM generally doesn't like to overlap. For example, Mrs. Scotch and I often listen to Classic Vinyl/Rewind in the car. I love them both, but between the two, Rewind is more aligned with my generation. However, I found that I can usually listen to Vinyl for long stretches, while Rewind pisses me off on a regular basis. Why? Because while Rewind should play many of the same songs from 70s on 7 and First Wave, they don't. So for the period from the late 70s through the mid-eighties, Rewind only plays hair bands and hard rockers: Def Leppard, Judas Priest, Van Halen, AC/DC, Whitesnake, etc. At some point I bail.

But let me talk about 2 channels. SiriusXMU is my go-to new music channel. I like most of what they play, and they have a great playlist. They have a repertoire of 30 years of music to pull from, and every month they introduce new music. They repeat the new songs just enough for me to get familiar, and they mix them with songs from 6 months ago, or a year ago, or 20 years ago.

Life with John Mayer has a super-big playlist, and on any given day, he tilts the genres in one way or another. He plays a bit of new stuff, and goes back to the 50s at times. But the mix is awesome - although probably not your style. And you have to accept a John Mayer song about twice an hour.

So the short answer to your question is that the service is designed to separate the genres into different channels, although the new music channels have the potential to mix it up the most.

 

[Jon]

Turbo is 90's and 2000's Hard Rock (Papa Roach, KoRn, Limp Bizkit) no real new stuff (I listen quite often). Octane is your station for new stuff.

I always try to listen when The Writer's Block with David Fricke is on the Spectrum, the Spectrum being my go-to channel more often than not. Except they still have that trend of playing one new song once an hour and beating it into submission.

2 thru 5 station, Outlaw Country, Symphony Hall, Turbo, Alt Nation and Lithium (tied) with First Wave bringing up the rear at #6. Most of those are my most listened to when Madison isn't on. I'm discovering the Xtra channels as I go along, no real favorites yet.

Between that and Apple Music (AM Being #1) I'm not at a loss for something to listen to.

 

[scotchandcigar]

Turbo is 90's and 2000's Hard Rock (Papa Roach, KoRn, Limp Bizkit) no real new stuff (I listen quite often). Octane is your station for new stuff.

Got it. I knew there was at least one new music hard rock channel. That explains it.

Except they still have that trend of playing one new song once an hour and beating it into submission.

^This. When I used to drive into the office everyday (almost an hour each way), I would listen to quite a bit of Spectrum, for new Black Keys, U2, Dave Matthews Band, Death Cab for Cutie, or new stuff like Goose. And they also play some indie/alt artists like St. Vincent, Courtney Barnett, Jack White, etc.

But you're absolutely correct. If you look at xmplaylist.com, their top songs are played up to 5 times per day. And it's not evenly spaced-out, because they have a lot of special programming as well. I also have to note that the title of their most played song is quite ironic. And I have no idea what's going on with the Tom Petty track.


But anyway, I work from home now, and don't drive anywhere anymore. So on the occasion that I'm in my car, I tend to stick with SiriusXMU, which gives me the most bang for the buck.

 

[Jon]

Got it. I knew there was at least one new music hard rock channel. That explains it.


^This. When I used to drive into the office everyday (almost an hour each way), I would listen to quite a bit of Spectrum, for new Black Keys, U2, Dave Matthews Band, Death Cab for Cutie, or new stuff like Goose. And they also play some indie/alt artists like St. Vincent, Courtney Barnett, Jack White, etc.

But you're absolutely correct. If you look at xmplaylist.com, their top songs are played up to 5 times per day. And it's not evenly spaced-out, because they have a lot of special programming as well. I also have to note that the title of their most played song is quite ironic. And I have no idea what's going on with the Tom Petty track.
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But anyway, I work from home now, and don't drive anywhere anymore. So on the occasion that I'm in my car, I tend to stick with SiriusXMU, which gives me the most bang for the buck.

You don't really need a vehicle anymore, I listen on my HomePods more often than not. I like the Spectrum because you can hear Dire Straits, Tom Petty and the Pretenders along side the new artists I'm into without having to sit through Poison or Night Ranger.

 

[scotchandcigar]

You don't really need a vehicle anymore, I listen on my HomePods more often than not.

Yeah, I actually stream in the car from my phone. And we stream it at home through the home theater system. But when we listen at home, it's always something acceptable to the Mrs., so no new music (she does like a little new music, but not as background listening). And I can play it while I'm working, but that's too hard to do/distracting when I have calls and meetings.

 

[IdRatherBeSkiing]

I am lazy so I still use my car radio.

 

[sadchild]

One or more of the old portable radios used to have the shuffle feature.
It would jump between your presets.

My Onyx player uses a shuffle feature I've raved about on here before - TuneMix. My Onyx is in my son's car, which I drive once a week while he's at college.

I'm still a "preset scanner". I use TuneMix on my Onyx, which builds up a collection of the songs played on 18 of my presets. I keep hitting 'next' until I find a song I feel like listening to.

 

[Kryptonite]

Turbo is 90's and 2000's Hard Rock (Papa Roach, KoRn, Limp Bizkit) no real new stuff (I listen quite often). Octane is your station for new stuff.

Exactly.

My problem being that SiriusXM doesn't really do a good job of recreating FM radio. A station that played the harder side of rock in the 90s (Nirvana, Metallica, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach, Bush etc) wouldn't have played the stuff that an alternative station played like Cake or Hole.

Turbo would never play Nirvana, whereas Lithium doesn't go into Korn or Papa Roach.

Something like Pantera would probably have been played very rarely on that hard rock station.

 

[HecticArt]

The Lynx DOES have the Tune-Mix feature.
I haven't tried it in prolly 12 years or more.

With my luck, it'll always switch to the Smiths or Skynyrd every other song.

 

[sadchild]

Only if you have First Wave and Classic Vinyl in your presets!

 

[HecticArt]

Those 2 channels usually keep me on my toes for quick channel changes.

 

[Kryptonite]

The Lynx DOES have the Tune-Mix feature.
I haven't tried it in prolly 12 years or more.

With my luck, it'll always switch to the Smiths or Skynyrd every other song.

Oh crap I forgot about TuneMix. I wanna say my Onyx has it, but I switched to a built-in car radio and mainly use my phone anyway.

 

[Aaron]

Nothing I’d really change about Sirius XM, but I think back to how gung-ho I was about the service in the beginning. I used to study the channel guide, knew what number most channels were on, and often times went through all the channels to hear what was on. Now I mostly just rely on presets. But it’s still great, makes drive time more enjoyable with good tunes.

 

[Jon]

Nothing I’d really change about Sirius XM, but I think back to how gung-ho I was about the service in the beginning. I used to study the channel guide, knew what number most channels were on, and often times went through all the channels to hear what was on. Now I mostly just rely on presets. But it’s still great, makes drive time more enjoyable with good tunes.

Yes, when it was the original XM I was pretty much an evangelist. Now it's just another service to listen to (second to Apple Music, although about even nowadays). Still miles better than what terrestrial radio has become.

 

[scotchandcigar]

It's a big part of our lives. It's the only thing (other than a podcast or audiobook) we listen to in Mrs. Scotch's car. It's the only thing I listen to in my car. It's the only thing we use for music in the main part of our house. The only other options are the stereo in the basement, and the mp3's on my phone (for the beach).

I wish the app launched like it used to, by going to the last channel played on that device. It seems like it'll do that only if I keep that app open while I make stops in my car. If I close it out, it goes back to suggestions or the library.

 

[Jon]

It's a big part of our lives. It's the only thing (other than a podcast or audiobook) we listen to in Mrs. Scotch's car. It's the only thing I listen to in my car. It's the only thing we use for music in the main part of our house. The only other options are the stereo in the basement, and the mp3's on my phone (for the beach).

I wish the app launched like it used to, by going to the last channel played on that device. It seems like it'll do that only if I keep that app open while I make stops in my car. If I close it out, it goes back to suggestions or the library.

If I keep it open it still launches in the car and picks up where it left off (which is a little weird considering it's live radio). I wish the UI was a little more mobile friendly, but no real complaints otherwise.

 

[Kryptonite]

Nothing I’d really change about Sirius XM, but I think back to how gung-ho I was about the service in the beginning. I used to study the channel guide, knew what number most channels were on, and often times went through all the channels to hear what was on. Now I mostly just rely on presets. But it’s still great, makes drive time more enjoyable with good tunes.

There's just too many to learn today, especially if you go into the 700s and the Xtra channels.