brass4321

I don't think it's that bad looking and using iPhone Apps for music with the PCM is not a valid option for me. I do it in my Boxster Spyder and it's a huge PIA. I have Sirius integrated in my 2007 Audi A3 and it's great; I'm not going without in a new car.

Carrera GT

Right on all counts.
We do have HD Radio if you want someone else to choose your music, but it's sketchy around the SF Bay Area once you're moving, a solid signal is unlikely.
I think sirius/xm is useless and a trivial subscription model business which will discard their satellites as space debris or sell them to a company with real data worth bouncing off a gold plated SUV in geosynchronous low earth orbit.
My car has PCM nav but no external bump/fin antenna.
I listen to either audio files or podcasts on demand. I can't stand "live to air" radio anymore. If you find something live to air that's a better use of your time than half the TED Talk pod casts in the last five years or so, let me know.
For me, it's npr or investment and trading podcasts from the unlikely named tastytrade.com or a private subscription from jakebernstein.com

CAlexio

Well, this thread has almost convinced me not to get satellite. I must be quite dense as I still don't understand what online services are.. How is this any different than streaming through your iPhone through bt or USB in the car?

Haku

This is the press release for Porsche's Online Services introduction.
http://press.porsche.com/news/pdf/Po...e-Services.pdf

mdkim

What no Howard fans here? I consider Sirius a must...need my bababooey fix while I drive. I find local radio abysmal.

brass4321

I have not used Aha yet but the fact that it involves an app interfacing with the PCM makes me nervous. In my Boxster Spyder, as soon as you connect an iPhone to the PCM, it defaults to the iTunes music player and starts to play your first (alphabetically) song. Changing your default player is not possible on an iPhone (maybe if you jailbreak it). You can then switch to an app (Sirius, Pandora, etc) but if you turn the car off, or get a phone call, or momentarily lose connection between your iPhone and the PCM (it happens more than you would expect), it reverts to iTunes music player, and again to your first song. My first song was A-Punk by Vampire Weekend until hearing the opening guitar riff 100 or so times made me forget whether I ever liked the song and I deleted it, then it went to the next song and the process repeated itself. Also, since you were not intentionally using the iTunes music player, when you doubleclick the home button to show the apps that are running, the iTunes music player does not appear, so you have to find the app and turn it on, then go into "Now Playing" so that you can pause the music. Not great to be doing all of this while driving. If your phone is set up to lock after a few minutes, you also have to first unlock the phone. Ultimately I had to trick my iPhone by removing all of my music and changing the iTunes music preferences to only play on wifi, not cellular data so that it would not access my music via iTunes Match. Now I can pretty much play music just through my apps (except for my iTunes music which I can no longer access) but the phone will lose connection periodically while I am driving and I have to fumble around with it to get it to play again. Sometimes you answer a call and your app music continues to play over the call, what fun! It makes you want to throw your phone out the window. I switched to an Android for a little while and it did away with the iTunes music issue but still disconnected just as much and was worse for Bluetooth phone calls. Maybe it's not a problem with Aha or the newer PCM (I have 3.0) but my expectations are low. That's why I prefer to have the built-in Sirius and I don't expect that I will ever really notice the little roof bump.

Haku

I've used Aha and I like it. Having a direct PCM interface for controlling stations etc will be good. The quality on Aha for the stations I listen to is far better than the declining quality of music playback and customer service of Sirius.

skuplist

I ordered this since I did not want the roof bump. I assume it just allows you to control the app from the radio otherwise you could still control it from your phone even without the app. Just down loaded the Aha app. Will try it out on my truck.

Jon70

Is there a subscription fee for aha? I specced xm, but may change it. 8 days left to decide.

Haku

Nope, subscription free. You just pick out the stations you want to listen to in whatever country et viola!

Most euro stations are broadcast in high quality. I get bbc radio 1, 2, and my fav radio 4 in perfect quality. Just fabulous and free!

Finlander

Whats up Haku

This is all good info… I'm changing my build to wart free.

rockitman

The benefits of xm programming choices and sound quality far outweigh the roof wart, IMO. If I wanted raw with no luxury, I would of kept my 996-3

mundman

No HD here because it sucks in New Mexico but Serious is a must have! Bump or no bump

LAGinz

Sirius is OK, but I can make do with my own collection and FM. Hate that roof wart!!

bills742

Agree with the programming (the reason why I'm getting it) but the sound quality is not the reason to get satellite radio due to digital compression.

Has anyone thought about the possibility of moving the roof wart to the rear of the inside? The signal would likely be good enough through the rear windshield because that's how I have it on a 3 series and it works fine. I wonder what's under the wart though? Probably a hole which would have to be dealt with.