hemanrulez

How do you change channels with your stweering wheel/seek controls?

Do you have to press the channel up button 50 times to change from channel 2 to 52?

Or is there a more elegant solution like manuvering between genres and channels within that genre?


Thanks!

BunnyGirl

Boy does that sound like a pain! LOL

I have nothing useful to contribute because I don't have one. But it does really sound like a pain.

sunilseru

I don't have one, but did you try holding the up or down button pressed. I would expect it to scroll through the channels real quick that way. Most electronic gadgets do that...

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

I have it, u can just hold the button, dont need to press 50 times.

and you can save the channel, so u can just go back to the channel later with the push of 1 button.

but its almost a year (I think I have 1 week left) for Sirius .... and Im not planning to pay 12 bucks a month to listen to radio. Z100 is fine for me. LOL (Thats why I dont want this PoS in the first place, but it comes with Shinka so oh well)

rddragoness

what color is your shinka, and what year. I have a new one, 06. still learning the in's and outs, but love it so far.

I too have found that after a year ill be giving up the sradio. dont use it, and have found only one station that plays old music that i like.

Krankor

I recently made the not-so-easy decision to give sirius another year. There's only a handful of stations that I like, but I do like them, especially the old-time-radio one. I've been having a hoot listening to Jack Benny, Burns & Allen, and Fibber McGee & Molly.

But yeah, I never found the steering-wheel buttons to be that helpful. I just use the normal radio pre-sets. You do get three banks of them for sirius. (slight pain to have to flip between the banks, but nothing is perfect)

New Yorker

The 18 presets (three sets of 6) cover most of the stations I like. (I have one bank programmed for news/talk, one for music, and one for entertainment.) The few times I want a non-preset station I just reach over and spin the little tuning **** on the dash—you can get to any station in seconds.

I didn't think I'd particularly like Sirius, since I listen to lots of local broadcast radio (mostly news radio, sports talk, NPR, and a couple of college stations now and then). But Sirius has been a pleasant surprise—it's nice to NOT hear tons of commercials! (Actually it's not commercials I dislike—it's bad commercials, which are 98% of them.) And it's especially nice to travel away from home and NOT have a station you like slowly fade out. Finally, it's great to have so many stations to choose from when you're driving in the middle of nowhere—no more driving thru the boonies listening to Christian radio or the Farm Report for me! Now I can cross Nebraska and hear jazz! (Not that I've even done that—but it's nice to know I could.)

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

I just preset them to 1, horward stein(100 101), 58 and Martha

Its just kinda steep to pay 12-13 bucks a month to listen to radio.(for me, call me a cheap ***!)

I just checked and I have about 3 weeks left ........ Im thinking. If I go I'd probably go for the lifetime one .... its going to cost me 357.54 for it ......

Krankor

Damn, I'm an idiot. I didn' t even notice there was a lifetime one, I certainly would've gone for it.

BoilerX8

or be like me and have one in each car, because for radio 2 through 4 it's only 6.99 mo. I put a starmate in my wife's jeep and have 1 in my car.

tjbourgoyne

My deal is 7.50 a month for 2 years. Sirius reminds me of the old MTV DJs with more of an edge. I like the one station promo, "if you're masturbatiing right now you're in the right spot" and that they bash on other stations like the Jimmy Buffet one, hilarious. The only thing I don't like is the display is only 8 characters. Controls on the wheel no issue here.

dtorre

Hmm have the starmate....love rawdog

WestRacing

Howard Stern rules

tjbourgoyne

Sirius is great and here's why:

No more car commercials. Listening to boneheads at 8am yelling and hollering about nothing is the root of much road rage. Also no more coke head DJ's with their Larry the Cable Guy farty fart fart humor and practical jokes debating American Idol and reality shows.

No more wearing out your CD's and downloads, the music you truly enjoy.

No more accepting the 3 country stations, 1 classic rock, and 1 3 day old diaper alternative station and the subsidized college station that caters to world crap music (southern city format ).

You get introduced to music that is never played and is not sold in WalMart or Barnes and Nobles (NO offense if you make love to your girl / man while listening to Bo Dice). I'm not rooting for you to procreate though.

Design1stCode2nd

I just use the 18 prsets and cycle through them. There is the little tune **** to the left of the radio that you can use to spin through them.

I won't continue with Sirus once it's done. I'll get a 30gig Ipod and the adapter. I'll miss a few of the channels like the NFL but I find that I wind up having to cycle through after almost every song and then wind up listening to CD's anyway.

ruru

I am addicted to howard - I will renew - I love it - the car controls I think on the steering wheel will cycle through your presets instead of changing the channel - I think u can also have it scroll through by genre - u have like SR1 2 and 3 presets so however many preset buttons times three is the amount of preset stations u can go through......

Duke15

I'm addicted to the NFL network, and will either renew or buy the lifetime option, just to keep the NFL network. Unfortunately, we tend to be on the road about one Sunday a month during football season, and I added sirius to the car just to be able to get the football games I want during those trips. But I am also nutty enough to pay far to much for the NFL Sunday Ticket on Direct TV.

Question about Sirius and the OEM radio: Mine displays the channel I am on, or the category. Is there a way to display the artist and song title? My wife has XM in her Sky and her OEM radio displays all of the above.

New Yorker

Yes—just tap the DISP button repeatedly. I think it goes something like this: first tap displays the channel number, second displays the programming category (ROCK, JAZZ & BLUES, etc.), third displays the sub-category (Top 40 Hits, New Age, etc.), fourth displays the artist and the last tap displays the name of the song. On some channels, you'll also see the name of the show (HOWARD STERN 10/5/06, CAR TALK, etc.). Also realize you may have to turn the little TEXT/AUDIO CTRL button clockwise to see the entire title since there's usually too many characters to fit in the display.

hemanrulez

Well I have an 04 (no Sat button) so getting Sirius in useing dealer OEM parts would cost me close to $700 which Im not willing to spend.

I'm so waiting for the XM direct hookup by Mazdaparts which should be significantly cheaper.

Like most people here I'm done with crappy radio.

BoilerX8

hemanrulez,

why not get a plug and play receiver like the starmate or sportster? much cheaper and if you do the aux/mod it's clear as a bell sound.

hemanrulez

I do indeed have a plug and play unit. The AGT Sportscaster (which btw is pretty sleek and minimalistic and looks like it was designed for the RX-8 because of the color and the display) It works great but I personally would like my satrad to be integrated with the HU. I want to be able to control the unit with my steering wheel. Im personally not a big fan of having aftermarket parts that look out of place in such a nice car!

truemagellan is working on the XM right now and its just a matter of time (eh wot say TM?!)

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-interior-audio-electronics-24/ipod-hookup-w-factory-lcd-display-functionality-xm-direct-85359/

Duke15

Thanks New Yorker! I'll try that on the way home tonight!

Duke15

Personally, I think my wife's XM has far better music stations. But Sirius is the only one with the NFL network, and that I could get stock in my 8, so I went with it. I am anxiously waiting for one of the companies to buy the other one and combine the best of both worlds (yes, I know, they will probably just combine the worst, and this is only a rumor).

Design1stCode2nd

My wife has XM in her Honda and I've got sirius I hope they merge, would make it easier and then I might continue the subscription.

hemanrulez

I dont think they have any plans of merging. XM built up a big lead but recently (esp since Howard Stern) Sirius seems to have caught up. XM also made some pretty stupid decisions in opting to go OEM rather than retail. Sirius had no option but to go retail and it looks like people only buy retail models so Sirius seems to be winning that battle.

The programming is fairly similar except for the sports.

Once mazdaparts comes out with their XMdirect hookup it'll probabably work just as well as the stock Sirius does.