Radio Slacker\XM and Interface

[SDRick]

I noticed on the music display there are three tabs for the radio. AM, FM, and XM. It is very convenient to switch between them using only one press.

What I find curious and slightly inconvenient is that a XM trial period does not come with the car yet has its own quick access tab on display next to AM and FM. The Slacker subscription comes with the Tesla but there is no "Slacker" tab present or am I missing something?

 

[Macbest]

XM subscription or even a trial subscription is not included. I spent quite a bit of time on the phone with XM. Once they know your radio number and can look up it is a Tesla, they won't offer any discounts. I have tried 5 times to no avail. The select package is about $175 for a year.

On our BMW we paid $120 for the first year after the one year trial ran out. They won't offer that price to Tesla owners.

If anyone has had success in getting a rate lower than this crazy $175/year rate let me know or the coupon code used.

There will be some that say, "Why are you complaining about $50-75 when you paid $100K for your car!" Well $50-75 spends just fine at the store too.

 

[BertL]

From what I have experienced with other brands, SiriusXM trial periods are subsidized by some combination of the mfgr and SiriusXM.

IMHO Elon/Tesla have no good business reason to put a penny towards SiriusXM when they are already paying for and offering FREE-to-the-consumer TuneIn and Slacker in even base Tesla models. Related to that, I doubt Elon/Tesla feels that their including a XM trial would be enough to incent some significant number of additional people to buy the UHFS Option who were not going to. I suspect Tesla provides the SiriusXM hardware with UHFS as it is, only because it's the least expensive way to have another "me too" item which Tesla can check-off on a competitive option checklist the press or future buyers may consider (luxury vehicles simply need the option to be competitive from some POV.)

From a SiriusXM perspective, knowing Tesla is "giving away" somewhat competitive Slacker/TuneIn on every vehicle, and only a subset of the vehicles that are sold are XM-capable, I suspect SiriusXM feels they have a very low opportunity of "conversion" (meaning free trial to fee) if they were to give away their service for some period of time.

I, e.g. had SiriusXM in my former Lexus and MBZ which I sold and consolidated to my single MS which has UHFS, so I moved over my few months of remaining SiriusXM subscription when I took delivery. Unlike some people, I do very few long-range hauls where SiriusXM cross-country station connectivity may be of benefit, and I can live without Howard and other exclusive channels that some people cannot. As has been said, SiriusXM prices have kept going up even for minimal music-only plans, so one does begin to think about that when they have alternatives -- especially free ones in your Tesla. Additionally, where I had nearly perfect SiriusXM reception in my former Lexus and MBZ, I ran into drops in areas I frequent with my MS -- IMHO likely because of Tesla's internal positioning of the SirusXM antenna (perhaps good for Tesla, not optimum for SiriusXM and some of it potential customers). As such, I cancelled my SiriusXM contract when it's prepaid service was up several months ago.​

So, IMHO, while I too expected to have a free SiriusXM trial period in my Tesla like I had with other luxury vehicles, I think it comes down to a business decision by Tesla and SiriusXM to simply not offer it. (BTW, as odd as I thought it was, I knew before I ordered my Tesla there was no free trial subscription. )

 

[NikeWings]

I got a 6 month 'trial' from Sirius/XM plus the extra couple of months remaining on my last car's subscription. I've been a subscriber for many years and while it was not offered via Tesla, I did say "oh c'mon, nothing?" and they threw in the extra 6 months.

I've never had Slacker/TuneIn before and Tesla's trial subscription has me already hooked. I am easily finding most all of my favs and I love the instant music retrieval/custom station feature. PS - not a Howard Stern fan.

 

[SDRick]

Most of the comments above further reinforce what is an odd anomaly in the radio display. One the one hand Slacker comes free but has no separate tab in the radio section. XM (for whatever reason) is in the penalty box yet has it's own separate tab.

Why would Tesla provide XM it's own tab but inconvenience Slacker users omitting it's own dedicated tab?

 

[BertL]

Most of the comments above further reinforce what is an odd anomaly in the radio display. One the one hand Slacker comes free but has no separate tab in the radio section. XM (for whatever reason) is in the penalty box yet has it's own separate tab.

Why would Tesla provide XM it's own tab but inconvenience Slacker users omitting it's own dedicated tab?

I tried to stop asking myself philosophical questions about Tesla's Media Player and Infotainment choices within weeks after I took delivery. I instead just believe -- right or wrong -- what was put together and for the most part we still have, was just enough in Elon's view to get MS to market, with enough functionality to "check the competitive boxes" against other vehicles in this class, and leave a great impression on most test drives from press and potential owners who have plenty of other things to be enamored with. I still believe that is the case -- Infotainment looks and feels great until most owners begin using it over-and-over, day in and out. That's why Infotainment bugs me as much as it does -- it's something I touch, listen to, and workaround each and every time I'm in my otherwise almost awesome MS -- e.g. I had another unexplainable USB stuttering episode this morning that is being fixed "in a future firmware release".

 

[SDRick]

Makes sense.

Still, some of these graphical\functional shortcomings should be an easy fix.

 

[Chopr147]

Never used Slacker but with my S coming in next week decided to set up an account. I already like it more than my XM. I can set-up my own music channels, personalize channels etc...... As long as the music streams w/o interruption I am looking forward to it.