Does anyone know which of these products is the better of the 2?
XMTM Satellite Radio Receiver
or
SIRIUS(R) Satellite Radio Receiver
Answers: You didn't specify models, so I guess you're asking about the systems themselves.
The audio is pretty comparable. XM is using a flux of AAC, the same audio format used on iPods. Sirius is using a format call PAC, developed by iBiquity (a spinoff of Lucent technologies), the same folks who developed the HD-Radio coding format. But I do recommend listen to each of them first, because beside any psychoaccoustic lossy compression, there may be artifacts contained by it that I don't mind, but drive you insane. Also, they make different choices in the region of the bandwidth available, particularly for sermon channels.
Another piece is reception. Sirius has its satellite complex in the sky, so technically it's smaller amount likely to drop out. However, XM have ground-based repeaters (managed by ClearChannel, actually) to get around this surrounded by cities, so on some cities, XM will actually work better, even when you don't enjoy a clear shot to the satellite.
Another question to ask is content -- is in attendance something specific you want to hear? If so, it may only be available on one of the two systems. That's slice of how they compete right now.
One possible answer is "none of the above". The two companies own been chitchat about merging, practically forever it seem. Due to little things like regulatory review, this isn't expected to happen until some time contained by 2008, if then. But you can read in the region of it here: http://www.siriusmerger.com. They claim existing radios will still work, but if you read the fine print, some options (such as ala carte low selection) will require next-generation radios.
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