Are you Sirius?
I tend to scoff at a lot of ideas that don't make sense at first glance. One of those was satellite radio. What??? Pay for radio??? You're nuts. If I'm gonna' pay for radio, I might as well use my iPod and own the music. Well, if you have an extra $120 sitting around for a year's worth of clear and uninterrupted radio service and have found the iPod distracting at times, then you might actually find it worth it.
One of the few times I can listen to what I want, as loud as I want is in the car on the way to work or running errands. While Steph and I have similar music tastes, there are enough differences to make it hard for me to enjoy some of the music I miss when we are listening together. (Psychologically it is probably like the child that has a sucker and sees another child with the same sucker - and suddenly his sucker is no good and he needs that of the other child.) I've had an iPod direct wired into my car for a few years and while I find it a must have, it is sometimes too distracting and too difficult to get to an album that I want to listen to without driving the car off the road.
The fact is that I like gadgets and like to experiment. So, when I was setting up delivery of the S4, I called the salesman* to ask him whether or not they could get Sirius installed (I wanted to go with the satellite underdog). I had everything else you could get - plus a hard-wired iPod adapter on the way - so why not? He said they happened to have another customer remove it from their car to change to XM and he could give me the used Sirius module for a song. Nice.
Therein began the love affair. I didn't realize how enjoyable uninterrupted, single format radio was. I have two stations programmed in the favorites: Channel 33 // Area 33 (Trance & Progressive House) and Channel 20 // Octane (Pure Hard Rock). I haven't had time to find others because my commute is so short and the list of channels is ridiculously long (although, like satellite tv, I imagine at some point that will become too short). The best thing about it is that I don't have to take the time to set up playlists. I know I'll use the iPod about 50% of the time, but for short highway stints, Sirius has become a good friend of mine.
So, yes, in a word, I'm Sirius.
* John Ray and Tim Hayes at Napleton Auto Werks in Loves Park, IL are simply the best. Both are busy salesmen, but between the two of them, they were able to answer all my questions and give me the service I had hoped for. I was a little leery of dealing with Napleton because after three calls last year, I never was able to get anyone to respond to questions I had about getting all-weather floor mats and some electronic upgrades for Steph's A3. This time around, however, they were on the ball and have taken care of everything. There are two items that topped it off and put them over the edge: 1) when I had Steph's A3 in for the 15k mile service, they gave me a loaner and 2) they delivered the S4 instead of me having to try to arrange taking a car to Loves Park, get it back, etc. etc. Dealers seem to not understand the value of loaners to customers. Let me make it clear: because Napleton gave me a loaner, I will put them at the very top of my list next time I purchase a car, even if their price is slightly higher. The value of having a loaner is difficult to measure because it saves time and the hassle of arranging transportation or a rental. I don't mind paying for a rental, if it is needed, but it certainly helps if the dealer has the facilities to make the appropriate arrangement.
