The long-awaited Sirius XM iPhone app is finally available in the App Store, but people aren’t nearly as excited as they should be thanks to the lack of some very important channels.
Sirius XM Premium Online enables you to stream audio from Sirius XM satellite radio broadcasts to your iPhone or iPod touch. The app gives you access to 120 Sirius XM online channels of music, sports, news, talk, entertainment, and comedy. It also allows you to save your favorite online channels for fast and easy access, immediately purchase most songs you have just heard from the iTunes Store, or tag songs to the integrated shopping cart for later purchasing.
All of that sounds great, but it’s the missing channels that have people talking.
Some select programming, including MLB Play-by-Play, NFL Play-by-Play, SIRIUS NASCAR Radio, and Howard Stern, will not be available on the iPhone and iPod touch. Listeners will continue to be able to access that programming through the platforms they are currently offered on.
Yeah, you read that correctly, there is no Howard Stern, none at all. The lack of Stern is somewhat surprising as he is one of the main reasons people subscribe to Sirius XM radio in the first place. Due to this huge blunder, the application has received an astounding number of one-star reviews in the App Store.
Sirius XM Premium Online is available in the App Store for free, but you will need to be a Sirius XM subscriber to use the service. Current Sirius XM subscribers who don’t have the Internet Radio package that is required for the iPhone app can upgrade their service for an additional $2.99 per month on top of their regular subscription fee. If you are not a current subscriber, you can obtain the standalone Internet Radio package for $12.95 per month. Sirius XM is also offering a free seven-day trial for those of you new to the iPhone service.
So what do all of you think? Is Sirius making a big mistake by not offering Howard Stern channels on the iPhone app, or could you really care less?
