Consumers Clinging To AM/FM Radios In New Cars - Have You Replaced Old School With Something Else?

I don't listen to AM radio. Ever. The sound is horrible.

I don't listen to FM radio. Ever. The sound is a little less horrible than AM, but I won't tolerate commercials and all that yammer.

I've listened to CDs in the current 18 year old car, which is going away soon.

When the new Q5 arrives in late May, I'll be listening to my music and audiobook library, stored on an iPod Classic (160 GB, discontinued) hooked up to Audi's music system.

I'll also give Sirius satellite radio a try (free for 3 months), and if it sounds great, is commercial-free, offers the kind of programming I like, AND they make me a reasonable offer (I won't pay the annual list price for a subscription), I'll go that route.

If you are getting the B&O sound system, I doubt you'll be happy with SiriusXM. The audio is noticeably compressed. I could easily hear it with my current Fender system and the Dynaudio system I had before.

They may be commercial-free, but for me the DJs still chatter too much. They've bombarded me with mail and phone calls after my trial expired, and the price kept dropping. Still not worth it to me. If I spent hours a day in my car, maybe. But not for a 20-25 minute commute.

And I really don't want to support a company that keeps Stern on the air, even if I don't pay for his channel.

Satellite radio sounds terrible, it is low bit rate digital audio that sounds tinny. Plus I have never found a station I have truly enjoyed. Some channels now have commercials. HD radio, sounds much better but has commercials.

I listen almost exclusively to FM HD Radio. The audio quality is far better than satellite, and the station I listen to has no DJs and very few commercials.

However, Pandora is really my primary choice when available. Since I have to have my work phone connected to the Bluetooth in the car, I can't (in good conscience) burn the government's data plan. Someday when I no longer have to carry that phone, then I'll use my personal phone for Pandora. I use it a work all day, and can't stand listening to a normal radio broadcast. Long road trip? Hook my phone up to the aux input and back to Pandora. I'd do that during my commute, but it isn't long enough to bother with the cables.

While full of commercials and in many cases lack luster programming, it's wise to always have AM/FM radio. Especially if you live in harsh climates for local weather updates. Many also provide good local traffic updates. I use both frequently when traveling I-70 between Denver and Frisco, CO. No other way to get local info as the cell service is spotty and the satellite radio isn't region specific. In a SHTF scenario, you'd be mad you didn't have it. It's cheap and everyone can benefit from free programming.

Primary media is consumed via either Satellite or ipod through the factory Harman Kardon system. Not exactly high end but definitely a cut above average.

I can't think of the last time I listened to either AM or FM radio for more than 10 minutes.

Harman Kardon SD card with itune library downloaded on it stays in the car, sounds great. That and satellite radio. When they talk too much on XM I just go to another channel. Haven't listened to FM in months, AM never.

When driving in a big city I might use the AM traffic station to supplement my google maps if I remember to tune in on the 2's or 8's. That's about it. G Maps kind of fails in the area of temporary road closures due to construction.

I don't listen to the radio but my girlfriend does. My Corvette has Sirius radio half of the year which is better than FM (although I just listen to "Hair Nation" cause... yeah... \m/ ) but most of the time I prefer to just load up an SD card with a bunch of music and listen to that.

The Vette and the Subi both have USB ports that I use for my phone as well... or sometimes I just get lazy and use the bluetooth connection which I think yields pretty poor sound quality but whatever.

I do _sometimes_ listen to the radio just to see if I'm missing out on something new and awesome. 99.999% of the time I realize that I'm only missing out on garbage. But I don't think I'd want to just remove the FM radio and replace it with nothing. That seems like a value loss to me right now.

I am quite happy with streaming audio and the quality of it via iTunes radio (cheap to have no commercials and cloud storage of the mp3s too).