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Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius offers over 100 radio stations by satellite

December 17, 2004. These gripes are about the online audio streaming offered by Sirius Satellite radio over the Internet and are based on a free three day trial. I used a cable modem that speed tests at well over 2 Mbps, a fully patched copy of IE6 and Windows 2000 SP4 (also with all bug fixes applied). 

The audio streams often stop for a few seconds and then resume. Worse, they often stop dead and don't restart. The player application thinks it is playing, but there is no sound. This requires clicking on the Stop button and then clicking on the Start button again. 

Audio streaming does not work with Firefox, Mozilla and Opera. Quoting Sirius "These browsers ... cannot support the Windows Media Player plugin the way in which we must use it." 

If you like classical music, there are only two channels to chose from. If you like Opera, there is no channel for you (but there is a Classical Voices channel which has some Opera). 

When you switch tabs to browse the channel listings, the stream is interrupted for a few seconds. 

The application does not show the Kbps rating of the stream. Will it work over a dial-up connection? No way to know. 

Only some stations are available via streaming audio (as opposed to over the air). The Sirius FAQ says that the Sports, News and Entertainment channels are not available over the Internet "due to certain limitations". Their 65 music channels are available and are the same content as broadcast over the air. 

What are the available stations? This is documented on the Sirius web site but it is not explained in the player which only lists a very short name for each channel which is not enough for a newbie to understand what the channel is. There should, at least, be a link to the pages on the Sirius site from the player so you can get more info on a channel. 

What does commercial free music mean? If you, like me, thought it meant wall-to-wall music, it does not. The Sirius music channels have no commercials, but they do have interruptions. Disk Jockeys chime in with the usual patter found on normal music radio stations. The DJs sometimes mention that the radio station is commercial free. At what point does bragging about not having commercials become a commercial? 

I tested this in December, right in the middle of the holiday season. There was no station dedicated to holiday music. 
Update: A reader of this page emailed that there was a channel with holiday music. Perhaps this was a difference between the trial version and the full product. I don't know. The existence of such a channel was not obvious to me and I looked for it. January 31, 2005. 

FYI: XM Satellite Radio vs. Sirius: Sirius is the company that will offer Howard Stern. XM also has a free three day on-line trial. XM supports Firefox. Both companies make all their music channels available online. At first glance, XM seems to offer more non-music channels online. Sirius subscribers get the online streaming included as part of the monthly fee (which is higher than XM). XM subscribers who want online streaming pay $4 a month. XM lets anyone (not just their satellite customers) subscribe to their online streaming for $8 a month. XM is usable with dial-up, Sirius does not say. 

FYI: Sirius Frequently Asked Questions and XM Frequently Asked Questions. 

FYI: While not a computer gripe, Sirius offers way too many receivers to easily get a handle on. Making it more complicated, some are self contained, others work only in a car, still others can work at home or in a car but require purchasing an antenna separately. One category of receivers is dubbed "Plug and Play". In describing these models the web site says "These portable Plug & Play tuners come with optional home and car kits for use at home, in your office …"

FYI: Again, not a computer gripe and also one I can't confirm. A reader of this page wrote to say that on one of the comedy channels there was Viagra advertisement. A real ad, not a joke. January 27, 2005. 
Update: I read in the New York Times that both satellite radio companies have commercials on their non-music channels. April 5, 2005.