For the next 4 months I have to spend a lot lot lot of time in my car - and then after that I will still have a ~50min commute everyday until whenever.
Is it worth the money?,.... enough content to keep it fresh and nice?
Yeah, I always did that with my old car/head unit from my phone - but a just got a newer IS250 and when I plug in the phone through the AUX it takes the volume to be cranked to get it somewhat loud (everything on the phone is turned up to 100%) and also then when a call comes in (I'm bluetooth sync'd) and I go to answer, the phone freaks out because it has something plugged into the headphone jack as well as trying to export the sound through bluetooth.... so I hear nothing for like 5 seconds and then it drops the call..... pain in the ass.
I have seen bluetooth receivers with an AUX out - so I would sync to that and my car, the music goes to the one and out through the AUX and when a call comes in it switches to the car's bluetooth -- but the only ones I have seen are from hongkong and on ebay - bestbuy/radioshack/ nothing else seems to carry them, so I'm not convinced they work.
... Pandora/Grooveshark is what I always used in the past, but isn't ideal right now.
Pandora is free for 40 hours a month, you will probably burn through that pretty quickly. I have xm in my truck, car and my office. I personally love it. I took the risk and bought lifetime subscriptions for all my devices ($499 for lifetime). I love the variety, the exposure to new music (which I love about Pandora) and the sports coverage. If you are a sports fan, this is the only way to go in my opinion.
I've got it in both our cars. My wife loves it. Listens to it all the time. I think she spends the most time listening to Howard Stern's show. She also loves the hit's stations. I'm not totally sold for myself. I'd rather listen to my I-pod. That said, on long trips, I like having the options. You can scroll stations for hours.
So, I guess it's a toss up. I'm not totally sold, but like having the options.
Had it canceled it b/c everything that is on it you can get on the radio. What you can't get on the radio you can listen to on your phone with either Pandora or some other app. Save yourself the money and use it for gas this summer!
so your car has bluetooth but not a2dp? Bummer. I don't think you can have your phone sync'd to two bluetooth devices at the same time. So if you were sync'd to your bluetooth aux adapter, I think you'd stay sync'd when a call comes in. I don't think the phones are smart enough to terminate one connection and initiate another.
A scosche bluefusion bfta adapter might work to let you use bluetooth in the car and stream pandora/slacker/etc.
XM is great for the variety of content. The sound quality sucks ass though. It's like listening through an old timey phonograph. You'd get way better SQ by streaming pandora than through xm. No news or sports on pandora though.
so your car has bluetooth but not a2dp? Bummer. I don't think you can have your phone sync'd to two bluetooth devices at the same time. So if you were sync'd to your bluetooth aux adapter, I think you'd stay sync'd when a call comes in. I don't think the phones are smart enough to terminate one connection and initiate another.
That is what I would have thought, but I saw this video - same exact car, looks like the same exact situation.
Up here in my world of long drives through remote areas that don't have hardly any radio stations it's a requirement at this point. When you're driving from Edmonton 33% of the way to Alaska and you have a choice of 1-2 am stations and that's it... yeah need I say more.
I love sirius, the only thing that I get growly about is forgetting to check the traffic updates and being stuck in my truck when I should have detoured. Oops.
I ordered that little gizmo in the above video and it works great.
I can play all my music through the phone - the blackberry bluetooth adapter picks up the music stream - then when a call comes through it quiets and the car's bluetooth takes over. Well worth the $25 on ebay.
Agreed on the Ellis show, better than Stern IMO, you will laugh your ass off all the way to Alaska. There is a Sirius deal going right now for 5 months for like 29 bucks i think. i got it a few months ago.