I've had SIRIUS since 2004 but I will not be renewing next time it's up. Started off with one unit for $11.99/month and a second unit for $8.99/month. If I paid 6 months at a time with an automatic renewal they knocked it down to $9.99 and $6.99 per month. When my radios Crap themselves and I had to get two new units and SIRUIS raised the price and said the old radios had a 'new' contract, similar to
@NIKAL situation. Whatever, I absolutely loved SIRIUS for the commercial free music and no DJ's yapping all the time. They had a great channel selection and, again, just music.
When Stern announced his contract with SIRUIS I was stoked because I was a listener since he came to the LA radio market around 1992ish. The Stern show started off great but quickly changed, and not for the better. He almost immediately added commercials and then cut his week from 5 to 3 days over the years. Ok, show was still good, but that changed too.
The merger with XM was announced and Stern wouldn't shut up about it. His 'bonus' was based on subscriptions gained after he signed and he figured if the merger went through those were to be considered new subscribers. A judge saw it differently and he lost his court case. But the real merger damage was already done. SIRIUS/XM cut channels, added commercials, and the worst thing- yapping DJ's. Then they became Top 40 radio, same songs every few hours. The worst is Ozzy's Boneyard where they play Black Sabbath or Ozzy every 10 effing songs.
A few years back I didn't renew SIRIUS and they sent me countless emails offering different deals and finally offered 1 year for $39.99 so I went for it and then called to ask about online access and they gave that to me for $20. Sweet deal.
I was listening less and less to Stern because the show became him whining about everything and it got boring. The Trump bashing was really bad and annoying but the final straw was his interview with Hillary Clinton. Complete joke, zero questions I'd come to expect from Stern and was a multi hour azz kissing fest about how great she was for New York. I haven't listened to Stern since then. I have flipped to his station a few times and for whatever reason it seems he's always yelling at one of his staff members for being an alcoholic, dumbass, dirty, etc. The show isn't what it used to be and it's too bad. I can't even imagine listening to his take on Covid but I read somewhere that he locked himself down in his Hampton house and did the show from there. I also saw an article that he just renewed his contract and immediately took 3 months off for a summer break. The article said listeners/subscribers were PISSED!
I got Spotify before last sand season so my kids and I could have a variety of music in the dunes. My kids were sick of my iPod with Slayer, Clutch, Danzig, etc. As I type this I'm listening to the Joe Rogan podcast on Spotify. There are tons of other podcasts on Spotify I'm finding and so far I love the service. I have my own playlist and add to it when someone tells me about a band I've never heard. My kids also have their own playlists and my daughter made one that takes a little bit form each of ours for our 'dune' music in Glamis.
I got a new to me 2014 Duramax recently and it has a Kenwood head unit with SIRIUS option but it needs hardware. Eff that. It also has Bluetooth so my phone syncs automatically and I listen to Spotify pretty much all the time. I will not renew my SIRIUS whenever it expires.
