I am going to the U.S. for Christmas holiday. I am bringing my car from Japan over with a airplane. I was going to plan to connect my car to my phone to listen to Spotify. However, my friends want to listen to SiriusXM, whatever that is. What is SiriusXM, and will it work with my car? (Tesla Model 3 Long Range)
In: Technology
SiriusXM was originally a satellite radio service, but it now streams digitally. The biggest difference between it and Spotify right now is that it is organized into different channels, so there is an Elvis channel that only plays Elvis music, talk channels like Howard Stern, or sports channels that have the audio from games on.
Think of it as TV channels for the radio. The Model 3 apparently doesn’t have the app, but other models of Tesla do. Can still stream it if you’ve got a data connection, just like Spotify.
Sirius XM is satellite radio, so where ever you go in the US the stations are the same. Normal radio is localized and changes as you travel.
SiriusXM is a subscription service. You may have a free trial but ultimately you will be paying for its service. Spotify is free but has premium features you can pay for.
SiriusXM is a subscription satellite radio service, and works in much the same way satellite TV does. They beam the signal to a satellite in geosynchronous orbit. That satellite then broadcasts it back to earth with a wide beam that covers all of North America. If you’re a subscriber with an authorized radio, you can then listen to that signal.
When it first came out, the big selling point was commercial free music and limited DJ interruptions. Which made it vary alluring compared to terrestrial broadcast radio. But that matters little today now that we all have smartphones with premium web streaming apps, like Spotify. The kind of apps that let you pick your own on-demand playlists, rather than having someone else pick them for you. Satellite is just like regular radio in that regard. You can’t pick your songs.
So why would you want it? Well, it doesn’t use any mobile data for one. Which is a big deal if you live in a country where mobile data is expensive (*cough* Canada). You can also listen to the same stations just about anywhere in North America. There’s still a lot of places that don’t have reliable cell signals, which makes streaming impractical. Hence why a lot of truckers get satellite radio. Some people like the programming better too. There’s definitely more variety than you get on any single streaming platform. Especially sports and talk. Uncensored talk used to be the big thing. That’s started to disappear, but you still get uncensored comedy channels, which I like.
As for whether it’ll work with your car, I’m not sure. It’s built into a lot of North American cars, but I’m not sure about a car purchased in Japan. Then again Tesla’s entertainment system is a little more sophisticated than what’s in my 2017 Kia Forte. Also I’m not sure why you’d pay to fly your car over just for Christmas instead of just renting. Many rental cars have complementary satellite radio.
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