BLOODSUCKING SIRIUS LEECHES

[spoonerhizolehound]

OK so I have been using an program that replaces the Sirius online stream player because the Sirius player gives me problems most of the time. That program has been discontinued (I think) and I logged on to the Sirius player today. I saw two new icons. One being "standard" and the other "premium." I am a lifetime subscriber to Sirius and was puzzled by this "premium."
After a very lengthy phone call to "customer service" reps who didnt even know what a bitrate is, I have found out the following:

The free online account that comes with a Sirius subscription is now considered "standard." I would have to pay an additional $3.00 per month for "premium." Standard broadcasts at 32K as opposed to "premium" broadcasted at 128K. When I slapped my $500.00 for lifetime, I was under the guise of "CD quality" internet stream and radio. Now they say that "premium" is the REAL CD quality and is extra!!

There is no option for a lifetime "CD quality" stream and the last thing I need is another monthly bill. MY thoughts are that I was duped and this "premium" online stream should be part of my package. I think it is outrageous to upgrade the quality of a company's services and then charge an existing customer for it. The point of subscribing to Sirius was for the best sounding radio and internet available. Now, they have made it better and are expecting their customers to pay for it. On one hand, the rep told me that is was "a trail period" and might become "standard" for every customer. So, in essence they want us to pay for their little experiment. Is this absolutely ludacris or am I just a complete madman who expects too much for the boatload of money I already gave them which makes me locked in to them for life?

[Liminone]

Is this absolutely ludacris or am I just a complete madman

Sooo, you'd like less Rap???

[12vmanRick]

OK so I have been using an program that replaces the Sirius online stream player because the Sirius player gives me problems most of the time. That program has been discontinued (I think) and I logged on to the Sirius player today. I saw two new icons. One being "standard" and the other "premium." I am a lifetime subscriber to Sirius and was puzzled by this "premium."
After a very lengthy phone call to "customer service" reps who didnt even know what a bitrate is, I have found out the following:

The free online account that comes with a Sirius subscription is now considered "standard." I would have to pay an additional $3.00 per month for "premium." Standard broadcasts at 32K as opposed to "premium" broadcasted at 128K. When I slapped my $500.00 for lifetime, I was under the guise of "CD quality" internet stream and radio. Now they say that "premium" is the REAL CD quality and is extra!!

There is no option for a lifetime "CD quality" stream and the last thing I need is another monthly bill. MY thoughts are that I was duped and this "premium" online stream should be part of my package. I think it is outrageous to upgrade the quality of a company's services and then charge an existing customer for it. The point of subscribing to Sirius was for the best sounding radio and internet available. Now, they have made it better and are expecting their customers to pay for it. On one hand, the rep told me that is was "a trail period" and might become "standard" for every customer. So, in essence they want us to pay for their little experiment. Is this absolutely ludacris or am I just a complete madman who expects too much for the boatload of money I already gave them which makes me locked in to them for life?

Sounds pretty normal to me for a company that finally realized they have a monopoly to all the sudden want to screw their loyal, initial users/fans.

[gingerbreadman]

Wow, 128K stream is a whole lot better than the measly 32K stream of "standard". Although, that bitrate is "standard" at radiomargaritaville.com, and that's free.

So if you have one receiver, and pay the monthly rate, 500 bucks will get you about 3 years. Not too shabby. I'd say "lifetime" equates to about five years.

With the technology that changes so rapidly, who knows what we will doing and how we'll be listening to music five years from now (hopefully we'll still be listening to Jimmy - but that's a different discussion). Did we think five years ago we all (or a lot of us) could be listening to Jimmy live while riding in our cars, boats, planes, bikes or even on a walk down the street?

[dawgfan]

What they are doing now is you will be allowed to get the complete Sirius package without having to buy any equipment. You can order Sirius listen to it on your computer or any Wi-Fi device without buying any receiver. They are allowing existing subscribers to get in for $3 not a bad deal

[spoonerhizolehound]

What they are doing now is you will be allowed to get the complete Sirius package without having to buy any equipment. You can order Sirius listen to it on your computer or any Wi-Fi device without buying any receiver. They are allowing existing subscribers to get in for $3 not a bad deal

That's certainly not what they told me- after the hour long, 2 "customer service" reps that I talked to. They improved their stream rate to the "complete" package I had already paid $500.00 for and now want me to pay for more for a service that they claimed to be "CD quality" when it should be a neccessary improvement for their customers. Next they'll improve the signal to the radios and tell current subscribers that the new signal costs more. Where does it end?

[gingerbreadman]

What they are doing now is you will be allowed to get the complete Sirius package without having to buy any equipment. You can order Sirius listen to it on your computer or any Wi-Fi device without buying any receiver. They are allowing existing subscribers to get in for $3 not a bad deal

That's certainly not what they told me- after the hour long, 2 "customer service" reps that I talked to. They improved their stream rate to the "complete" package I had already paid $500.00 for and now want me to pay for more for a service that they claimed to be "CD quality" when it should be a neccessary improvement for their customers. Next they'll improve the signal to the radios and tell current subscribers that the new signal costs more. Where does it end?

Where does it end? It doesn't! I do feel your pain, spoonerhizolehound!

Regardless, I still love my Sirius, and I think it's a good deal, even if it costs 3 bucks more each month to get the 128K over the internet - that's gotta rival the quality for the satellite receivers.

Think of the cable company, "Oh, you don't want regular TV, you need to get HD-TV" (for extra), "you want pay per view? Oh that's extra and you have to get a special box for that" (that's extra too). Phone company: "You want caller id? that's extra. You want an unlisted phone number? That's extra too".

Huh???

[spoonerhizolehound]

What they are doing now is you will be allowed to get the complete Sirius package without having to buy any equipment. You can order Sirius listen to it on your computer or any Wi-Fi device without buying any receiver. They are allowing existing subscribers to get in for $3 not a bad deal

That's certainly not what they told me- after the hour long, 2 "customer service" reps that I talked to. They improved their stream rate to the "complete" package I had already paid $500.00 for and now want me to pay for more for a service that they claimed to be "CD quality" when it should be a neccessary improvement for their customers. Next they'll improve the signal to the radios and tell current subscribers that the new signal costs more. Where does it end?

Where does it end? It doesn't! I do feel your pain, spoonerhizolehound!

Regardless, I still love my Sirius, and I think it's a good deal, even if it costs 3 bucks more each month to get the 128K over the internet - that's gotta rival the quality for the satellite receivers.

Think of the cable company, "Oh, you don't want regular TV, you need to get HD-TV" (for extra), "you want pay per view? Oh that's extra and you have to get a special box for that" (that's extra too). Phone company: "You want caller id? that's extra. You want an unlisted phone number? That's extra too".

Huh???

Yeah they ran that gammett down on me too- using AOL as their example.

[silverbetty]

Yeah, you figured they would take care of the costumers they alreayd have. I guess they figure they already have your subscription though. And since you paid for the lifetime subscription you're out of luck. I was going to do that last December, but figured it would be best to see how everything pans out. I don't see any reason to leave Sirius. All the programming is great. I listen to Radio Margaritaville about 75% of the time I'm in the car. I would listen more, but my company issued a no streaming internet radio policy recently. So this premium/standar debate doesn't matter too much, since I use my reciever at home. I do think it's a shame that Sirius doesn't take care of it subscribers. Would it really matter if they dropped the low bitrate and made it 128k all the time? I don't think so and figured it would be better for Sirius to offer that, but what do I know? I'm not the one in NYC making the decisions. Just remember Radio Margaritaville still remains free for online streaming.

[RinglingRingling]

What they are doing now is you will be allowed to get the complete Sirius package without having to buy any equipment. You can order Sirius listen to it on your computer or any Wi-Fi device without buying any receiver. They are allowing existing subscribers to get in for $3 not a bad deal

That's certainly not what they told me- after the hour long, 2 "customer service" reps that I talked to. They improved their stream rate to the "complete" package I had already paid $500.00 for and now want me to pay for more for a service that they claimed to be "CD quality" when it should be a neccessary improvement for their customers. Next they'll improve the signal to the radios and tell current subscribers that the new signal costs more. Where does it end?

Where does it end? It doesn't! I do feel your pain, spoonerhizolehound!

Regardless, I still love my Sirius, and I think it's a good deal, even if it costs 3 bucks more each month to get the 128K over the internet - that's gotta rival the quality for the satellite receivers.

Think of the cable company, "Oh, you don't want regular TV, you need to get HD-TV" (for extra), "you want pay per view? Oh that's extra and you have to get a special box for that" (that's extra too). Phone company: "You want caller id? that's extra. You want an unlisted phone number? That's extra too".

Huh???

Unlisted/Unpublished status costs about $2 a month to keep every moron and their dog with a fund-raiser or a "poll" from easily calling. How do these morons get your # for this??? they buy the lists from the phone company who charges you to not sell your name on the list..

[parrotheadedrhino]

Yeah, you figured they would take care of the costumers they alreayd have. I guess they figure they already have your subscription though. And since you paid for the lifetime subscription you're out of luck. I was going to do that last December, but figured it would be best to see how everything pans out. I don't see any reason to leave Sirius. All the programming is great. I listen to Radio Margaritaville about 75% of the time I'm in the car. I would listen more, but my company issued a no streaming internet radio policy recently. So this premium/standar debate doesn't matter too much, since I use my reciever at home. I do think it's a shame that Sirius doesn't take care of it subscribers. Would it really matter if they dropped the low bitrate and made it 128k all the time? I don't think so and figured it would be better for Sirius to offer that, but what do I know? I'm not the one in NYC making the decisions. Just remember Radio Margaritaville still remains free for online streaming.

I'm too low tech, to me "bitrate" is how fast I go through a plate of nachos.

I also listen to RM about, hmmm, 50% of the time I have Sirius on. But I just went to a second subscription, of XM. While keeping RM, Sirius has, over the last 2 years, dumped their NHL coverage, just recently dumped the best of their 3 NPR feeds [PRI], and XM has added baseball and some other small stuff. I'm likely not the brightest, but am going with them both.