 
Upside: Livelier DJs than XM; more eclectic talk-radio selection; no premium-channel charges; exclusive NFL broadcasts.
Downside:
Slightly lower sound quality on music stations than XM; fewer music channels.
Forecast:
The sat-radio upstart has some catching up to do in terms of subscribers, but Howard's impending arrival and XM's decision to raise
prices may give it a boost.
Favorite station:
Sirius Disorder
 The King of All Media takes over in January 2006. Sound quality: As we mentioned in the XM section, audiophiles will probably be slightly less disappointed in XM than in Sirius. XM's treble is still cleaner, and its stereo separation is wider than Sirius's. We'd still like to see more improvement; both satellite radio services' "all-digital" sound won't be mistaken for CD quality, that's for sure. And both channels' talk, sports, and news streams approximate AM sound quality. Hardware: See all top Sirius satellite radio receivers In terms of gadget-y technology, Sirius is trailing XM. Sirius's most portable option is the XACT XTR1, which is clunky and limited compared to the XM MyFi. And as of press time, no Sirius tuner has the TiVo-like features of the MyFi or the SkyFi2--although we anticipate that changing soon. Alpine, Audiovox, Blaupunkt, Clarion, Delphi, Jensen, JVC, Kenwood, Sanyo, and Tivoli all offer Sirius radios. Programming: Here's where Sirius can really challenge its bigger rival. "The Big Dog" currently delivers 65 commercial-free music channels and features 56 sports, news, talk, entertainment, and traffic and weather channels. In our opinion, Sirius's music programming seems to have the edge over XM's, and one thing it's doing that we like is using more musicians to program some channels: Eminem, David Johansen, and Steve Van Zant. The Rolling Stones' first producer, Andrew Loog Oldham, has an amazing show on the Underground Garage channel. Lately we've noticed an increasing tendency for some of Sirius's music and talk jocks to hype the programming events on other Sirius channels. The ongoing plugging is nowhere as intrusive as AM or FM radio's commercial blitz, but we wish they'd back off a bit. Sirius offers a number of classic rock, alternative rock, classic alternative, mellow, metal, blues rock, and reggae streams. We lingered around Spectrum and soaked up tunes from Joni Mitchell, Chris Isaak, David Byrne, Ani DiFranco, Lucinda Williams, and the Byrds. The Vault classic rock stream plays all the usual suspects, but the song selection thankfully strays off the beaten path. Country fans can luxuriate in six streams, including New Country, Classic Country, Alternative Country, and Bluegrass. Want to dance? Sirius pumps out house, club mixes, electronica, and disco. R&B gets good coverage as well. The four hip-hop streams, Hip-Hop Nation, Shade 45, Wax, and Back Spin are all quite good despite repeating some shows--the DJs on Hip-Hop Nation, in particular, are generally excellent. If you're in the mood for serious listening, Sirius offers three classical streams: classical pops, chamber music, and classical voices. In jazz, there are separate channels for everything from smooth to classic '50s/'60s bop to swing and jazz vocals. The six jazz channels' programming was too safe for our tastes, but it's still great to hear jazz on the radio. Sirius's sports lineup is also looking more comprehensive than XM's. It has the NBA, the NFL, and the entire NHL season, including the Stanley Cup play-offs (during nonstrike years). More recently, Sirius has announced a multiyear agreement with the Collegiate Conference Group and will broadcast select regular season and conference tournament men's basketball games, as well as the lineup of 27 top college hoops programs and 100 percent coverage of the Division I Men's Basketball Championship. And starting in 2007, Sirius will add NASCAR coverage, including all NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, NASCAR Busch Series, and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races. There's a wonderfully eclectic mix of right and left talk streams, including liberal network Air America. Sirius also carries everything from conservative heroes such as Mike Savage and Sean Hannity to OutQ, a gay/lesbian news and talk stream. We regularly delved into the three NPR/PRI streams. Sirius also features ABC News & Talk, BBC World Service, BBC Mundo, Bloomberg, CNBC, Court TV , C-Span, CNN Headline News, Discovery Channel, E Entertainment, two ESPN channels, Fox News, Hispanic Talk, Radio Disney, Sirius Trucking Network, the Weather Channel, and lots more. And for yuks, tune into Sirius's comedy stream Raw Dog and check out uncensored comedy from the likes of George Carlin, Margaret Cho, Cheech and Chong, Eddie Murphy, and Chris Rock.   
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