Non-music content shines on SiriusXM, catering to talk radio and sports enthusiasts.
The music listening experience is similar to tuning into a traditional DJ-curated radio station.
Ideal for those who prioritize talk and sports radio over music playlists and individual song selections.
When deciding on a streaming music service, the debate is usually over Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube Music. SiriusXM isn’t included in the discussion, but after spending a couple of months with the All Access (app-only) plan, I’m convinced that more casual music (and especially non-music) listeners should be considering it. It's sneaky good at what it does.
SiriusXM
7/10
SiriusXM features expertly curated ad-free music, celebrity-hosted talk, sports analysis, and more.
Pros
Plenty of listening variety across music and talk
Lots of sports content
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Cons
No on-demand song selection
Plans for car systems have an additional cost
Still ads on some content across the platform
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Price and Availability
The SiriusXM All Access plan is available via a mobile app with ad-free streaming for $9.99 a month. For people who want access via a car stereo, in addition to the mobile app, plan prices range between $16.98 and $29.12 per month.
Non-Music Options Are the Star of the Service
I see how SiriusXM can be a good choice for people who prefer listening to some form of talk radio, rather than music, most of the time. If you’re constantly looking for supplemental commentary to the news—be it politics or sports—there’s an abundance of options available on SiriusXM.
I’m a big baseball fan so I was pleasantly surprised to be able to listen to every game live. Additionally, the MLB Network Radio station provides something baseball-related 24/7. There are individual teams’ podcasts and shows mixed in that I found too. There were always people talking about baseball in some fashion. This is also true for other sports like the NBA and NFL.
During my time with the service, the Wimbledon Championship was going on and I listened to some of that, even though I didn’t care much about tennis.
Beyond sports, I dabbled in the comedy section, which was fun, but not typically my thing. There’s a robust true crime selection of shows that could keep certain people busy.
Some of this non-music content is exclusive to SiriusXM, but not all of it. If you know your way around a podcast app, you can find similar types of sports, comedy, and true crime content for free (usually with ads). But that can be a pain to keep up with. I liked how easy it was to bookmark different stations and flip around between the different ones in the app when I needed to fill 15 minutes during a car ride.
Streaming Music For the Lean-Back Listeners
Although I think the collection of non-music content is the standout feature of SiriusXM, the music side still plays a big role in its value. It’s very much like traditional radio though, instead of an on-demand music service.
You can skip songs, but only so many per station in a certain time frame. Personally, I need the ability to select individual songs and listen to them at a moment's notice. You can’t do that with SiriusXM. But not everyone rolls like that.
I know several people who have access to Apple Music but never use it because they just don't want to spend the time sifting around. They listen to whatever is playing on the local radio station in the car instead.
They prefer the lean-back listening experience and would rather have a DJ or algorithm pick the songs instead of making those decisions. That’s not a bad thing either!
I was able to put on various pop, rock, and indie stations (including a TikTok one) throughout the day and hear plenty of old and new songs I enjoyed. Pandora radio is integrated into SiriusXM so if you’re familiar with that music service you’ll feel at home with how it works.
While some fresh songs did pop up throughout my listening, I didn’t hear as many as I would have liked. For example, one Friday, I opened SiriusXM looking for that day’s new music releases and was disappointed by the lack of any visible promotion or stations with exclusively new music from artists like Clario, Griff, Eminem, and Remi Wolf, among others.
The closest thing I saw was a banner for “Shade 45” Eminem’s hip-hop channel. But beyond being one of six advertised stations, there was nothing to indicate that the rapper had a new album out.
I point this out to emphasize my point that SiriusXM really is geared towards people who don’t know what they want to listen to or don’t care too much about the individual songs that play.
For better or worse, there are limited music discovery options to decide between. You pretty much just have to pick a genre and then decide whether you’re feeling energetic or lazy. SiriusXM will pick a good selection of songs from that point forward.
If you want to dig deeper you can sift through more nuanced styles, events, or prompts. There are probably enough options for people who do get adventurous once in a while, but there aren’t a lot of drastic changes regularly shaking up the interface.
If you begin skipping too many songs while listening, you’ll be interrupted by suggestions for other, similar, stations. Beyond the underlying royalty structure, the thought is that if you’re skipping too many songs you may not be on the right radio station.
As annoying as that was a couple of times, there were a few times I did end up switching stations because I realized I was actually in the mood to listen to something else. Not all stations allow songs to be skipped though.
Unfortunately, when you do hit on a song you like, the only option is to save the artist to your library as a new inspiration for a radio station of similar artists. There’s no way to save the song to remember later. It’s all very ephemeral. The interface is simple in this way. You can't make playlists, view lyrics, or do things with individual songs.
Should You Subscribe to SiriusXM?
If you stumbled onto this article wondering if SiriusXM All Access is a valid option to listen to ad-free music whenever you want to, without being stressed out by the choices, then yes, it's a valid option to consider. You can use the mobile app to listen in the car (over Bluetooth), around the house with Sonos speakers, or connect to any Bluetooth speaker. There are music options for nearly every occasion available with a push of a single button.
On the other hand, if you’re seriously shopping between Apple Music and Spotify for the best music service with unlimited song selections, SiriusXM probably isn’t for you. Its benefits are less tailored to someone wanting to build playlists and select individual songs.
More than music though, my general blanket recommendation is that SiriusXM is for people who want to listen to talk and sports radio a lot of the day, but who wouldn’t mind ad-free music occasionally. If that’s you, this service is an ideal choice.
SiriusXM
7/10
SiriusXM features expertly curated ad-free music, celebrity-hosted talk, sports analysis, and more.
