Sirius Alternatives?

I'm looking for an alternative to Sirius Satellite radio.

I have a 2016 with Sync 3 and the latest update.

I want to use Pandora or Amazon music.

The thing I like about Sirius is I get in the car and it is already on. I don't have to take my phone out of my pocket and press the play button.

Is there anything comparable that I can use but can entirely control via sync? I plan to have my phone in my pocket, but I don't want to have to take it out and press play button (OK, I'm lazy).

I just gave Pandora a try through Sync 3. It took a while before it wanted to work. Adding apps to Sync 3 seems to be a somewhat of a finicky process.

Alexa is available too. I have that installed but I haven't tried that with amazon music yet. I'd rather just have Amazon music with Alexa. She did give me a briefing when I asked.

michail71 said:

I just gave Pandora a try through Sync 3. It took a while before it wanted to work. Adding apps to Sync 3 seems to be a somewhat of a finicky process.

Alexa is available too. I have that installed but I haven't tried that with amazon music yet. I'd rather just have Amazon music with Alexa. She did give me a briefing when I asked.

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I agree with the adding apps!!

But with your Pandora, you still have to press the play button on your phone, right?

carlg said:

I agree with the adding apps!!

But with your Pandora, you still have to press the play button on your phone, right?

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I don't think so. It didn't work for a while, just said buffering. Then I went to the store and tired it again. It started playing right away and the phone never came out of my pocket.

I may have had the app open in the background though.

I'm trying to figure this whole Sync 3 thing out myself and I'm a software engineer, lol. It's not as polished as I thought it would be.

Oh, I never did hit play on my phone. I just launched the app from the app screens on Sync and it started auto playing. I was shocked it did that and I did play a few tracks.

michail71 said:

Oh, I never did hit play on my phone. I just launched the app from the app screens on Sync and it started auto playing. I was shocked it did that and I did play a few tracks.

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Wow, that's what I want to do.

Wonder if there's a setting on the phone for this?

I just got frustrated and gave up. I later went to the store and it "just worked" when I tried. Perhaps a few car power cycles or some background data updates need to happen?

I had just installed Pandora today too. I subscribe to Amazon music so I haven't used Pandora in a while. I've never played it through my current phone.

I refuse to purchase XM for my Mustang. I'm simply not in it enough being a weekend warrior to justify the cost. I listen to Pandora and love it.

Shane361 said:

I refuse to purchase XM for my Mustang. I'm simply not in it enough being a weekend warrior to justify the cost. I listen to Pandora and love it.

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I don't want to purchase it because of the commercials.

In my opinion the people talking between songs anymore is commercials.

When I'm on channel 20 and they say: "Check out channel 30," that's a commercial!!!

They are not commercial free!!

Pandora is commercial free with the upgraded service....5.00 a month I believe.

I listen to Stern. I'm not sure if they'll survive after he retires.

But the 5 year Sirius travel link services that come with the car are nice. I hope that lasts. But it's nothing that couldn't come from a 4G connection either.

sirius xm has promotions like $5 a month for 6 month deals.. no issues about apps or compatibility issues

HizliBullet said:

sirius xm has promotions like $5 a month for 6 month deals.. no issues about apps or compatibility issues

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I have learned if you call and say you do not want to renew, they will give you a deal. I get their one year All Access package for 1/2 price. I like it because it does not require use of my data on the phone and it has sports and talk that is not available on an app.

Here's my solution:

1. Buy a 16gb USB flash drive.
2. Put all your digital music on it.
3. Insert into car's USB port.
4. Select USB as source.

Music starts playing as soon as I start the car. Gracenotes gives me cover art. The system automatically categorizes music, so if desired I can find music by artist, album or song title. Sometimes I just listen to an entire album on the way to work. 5500+ songs means I could listen for 800 full days or 2 full years non-stop. Bonus: I never hear a song I don't like.

TorqueMan said:

Here's my solution:

1. Buy a 16gb USB flash drive.
2. Put all your digital music on it.
3. Insert into car's USB port.
4. Select USB as source.

Music starts playing as soon as I start the car. Gracenotes gives me cover art. The system automatically categorizes music, so if desired I can find music by artist, album or song title. Sometimes I just listen to an entire album on the way to work. 5500+ songs means I could listen for 800 full days or 2 full years non-stop. Bonus: I never hear a song I don't like.

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trust me USB music gets distasteful after a while, doesnt matter how many songs are on there.. with sirius its always unexpected songs without commercials..keeps listeners interested