SIRIUS Satellite Radio
Topic: Electronics
So I recently switched back to Dish Network Satellite. Time Warner Cable was pissing me off.

With Dish Network I get access to the music channels on SIRIUS Satellite Radio. So here's a little review of them:

Well I'm a fan of rock music, so I mostly just listened to the rock channels so far. But there are channels for Top 40 hits, '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s music, country, rap, jazz, classical, dance, and even a channel that plays nothing but Elvis.

Their big claim is that they are commercial free. Indeed they are. Sure some of the channels have little announcements between songs (to let you know what station you're listening to), but zero advertisements.

Some of the channels have DJs as well. They are actually not bad. I used to listen to Music Choice on digital cable and that got boring because it was just like a jukebox - no human interaction at all. Its nice to have a DJ to tell you about certain songs.

The channels I listen to are Octane, Alt Nation, Hard Attack and sometimes Faction. Octane plays mostly current hard rock songs. They have some interesting DJs like the sexy voiced Kayla. She's always interesting to hear. They have a show called "Pump Your Own Octane" - which is basically a Top 5 countdown show. Its on weeknights and its the top 5 most requested songs. This is similar to what FM radio does, and I happen to like it. They also play "mash ups". These are basically a rock song and a rap song "mashed" together. Like The Prodigy and Eminem - "Breathe" & "Superman". That's the first one I have heard. They are kind of interesting to hear. Alt Nation plays alternative music (new and some from the 90s), but some of the music on Octane can be heard on Alt Nation as well. Alt Nation also has DJs. Hard Attack is where the metal is. They also have some cool DJs that give you info about bands. Sometimes on these stations they have artists live in the studio as well. Note that XM Satellite no longer has an all-metal station (they got rid of XM Liquid Metal), so SIRIUS is the only satellite radio service currently with a metal station. Faction is basically a channel for extreme sports enthusaists (like skateboarders, snowboarders, etc.) They play a mix of punk, rock and hip-hop. It can get annoying if you don't like hip-hop. But I tune in every now and then because they play some good rock and punk.

SIRIUS basically plays a lot of singles that can be heard on FM radio. While I have heard that XM plays both singles and deeper cuts off albums. Although, there are occasions when SIRIUS will play the additional songs off albums and not just the singles or hits from a certain band. Seems that if a person requests a song that isn'ta single - they will actually play it.

SIRIUS also has a tendency to repeat new songs a lot. Which is kind of nice if you want to hear a new song, but it gets annoying after you have heard it a lot. But I have been reading online forums about SIRIUS - like SIRIUS Backstage. And they claim on there that SIRIUS is expanding its playlists. So that is good. It seems they are currently working to improve their stations, and I fully welcome it.

Overall, I am satisfied with SIRIUS. Like I said, the DJs are refreshing to hear after getting so used to the jukebox-like Music Choice channels on digital cable. The fact that they have basically 4 stations that play newer rock is nice as well. The sound quality of the channels on Dish Network is actually quite good. I have heard some people complaining about the sound quality on the SIRIUS receivers, but it seems fine when heard through Dish Network.