There's been some growing anger among Sirius S50 owners about the lack of a firmware update for nearly 4 months now. While the December S50 update fixed some stability problems, it didn't address lockup problems and certain UI issues subscribers have been complaining about.
Over at SIRIUS Backstage, a thread was created compiling a Master Bug & Issue List that people have reported with the Sirius S50. In fact the entire S50 Section of SBS seems to be riddled with complaints and a growing anger in the lack of support experienced.
To add fuel to the fire, recently a dedicated S50 owner was able to get an email forwarded containing a shortlist of issues to SIRIUS' Firmware dept, and the response wasn't too encouraging. For you lazy clickers, here's a paraphrase of the requests and the actual responses received:
- Playback Sorting. The sorting of the My Sirius Shows content is reversed. For instance, if The Howard Stern Show is recorded in three 2 hour blocks, first block is followed by the third block because it plays the newest content first.
Response: We will look into feasibility and determine if this is a possible change.
- Lack of Bookmarking. There is no way to save the playback location when the S50 unit is shut down.
Response: We have looked into this, however the current architecture does not lend itself to such a feature.
- Deleting Shows. This is a general UI complaint that the delete shows screen is very difficult to find because the date and time isn't displayed and due to the sorting it's not inuitive to locate the content you want to delete.
Response: This will be discussed and a solution proposed that could address this issue.
- Fast-forward and Rewind Speeds. FF and RWD speeds are slow for moving inside longer recordings. Can the speeds be made faster?
Response: The current speeds were selected for the average user (Speeding up was considered, however the current speeds were determined to be optimal).
- Two Hour Limit. Users want to be able to record at the four hour duration as originally specified.
Response: Unfortunately this is also a limitation of the current architecture and it is being investigated to open this up to four hours.
Compound all that with a recent post on Get Sirius Info that the Sirius S50 will be discontinued due to the upcoming release of a live portable Sirius receiver, and you've got yourself some very upset customers.
Why am I posting about this? Because several Sirius S50 owners have contacted me asking for help over this. Subscribers are feeling frustrated and ignored, and are hoping that by making issues like these more public, we can get some answers. I know SIRIUS is plenty busy back there, what with settlements to pay royalties to music companies for every S50 sold, but considering the price of the unit - you really can't blame people for being upset.
I also know that some of you will chalk this up as the whining complaints of a "Message Board Mob" but this is also a community of people who have provided extended support for the Sirius S50 - such as incredible documents like the "3 Finger Salute" (PDF) and indepth FAQs like this one being written. These are people who love the S50 and simply want it to work the way it was intended. And sometimes going public with these problems is the only way to make these issues a priority.
So what can be done? The only real thing to do is to increase the number of open ticket complaints submited to Sirius S50 Product Support. If you too are an S50 owner and are experiencing problems, do not remain silent about it - the only way to get results is by letting Sirius know you have a problem. Contact SIRIUS S50 Customer Service at (800) 869-5364 and notify them of what problems you're having.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
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what if ur S50 unit jus freezes when you turn it on? It will charge and thats about it. Very surprised this happened, didnt have problems before, nothing major, maybe signal loss or so...
I tried calling Sirius, need to get further, anyone have more info? If so, email me at no7jonathanluna@yahoo.com thanks_
My wife gave me the S50 for Xmas. The device has never worked properly. It took 5 months for the home base unit to come out. The firmware update shut the device down for good. Now it 2-3 months to wait for a warranty unit to come back. Call 212 584 5100 and ask for Jim Meyer. Leave a voicemail. Sirius will not credit my account for the value of the useless device. Retailer wants no part of it either.
This is the most frustrating piece of electronics I've ever owned. The recordability is terrible, the customer support is horrible and the product design is even worse. It stopped working after 3 months. "NO SIGNAL" error. If I put a credit card between the back of the unit and the base I get a signal until I go over a bump. ABOLUTELY NOT RECOMMENDED!!
This is the WORST TECH PRODUCT I EVER BOUGHT!!!! Hands down...this this freezes, records channels I dont set, fills up and freezes! ive had mine in a BOX unworking for 4 months while Sirius turns a blind eye and moves on to the Stiletto...WHATTA BUNCHA CRAP!!! ive had a total of 4 units and all of them were and are, CRAP! even after the software update, it just presents more issues and freezing problems. Everytime i call sirius the act like they never heard of this...i say BULLCRAP! the software is a joke, the way it organizes the shows is a joke, playing back a 2 hr. file is a fine idea if you could navigate with markers or pause the recording, return later and not have to find your place again..all in all..IVE BEEN REAMED FOR 350 BONES!!! and howard? you guys suck for never addressing it...all i ever heard was how great this stupid thing was and i fell for it! i should have known all those simpltons at howard 100, the news team, and the rest of those nimrods never even set it up for a recording and then actually try this stupid thing out before thet pimped it like crazy...GLAD YOU GOT YOUR MONEY HOWARD..LOOKS LIKE YOU GOT MINE TOO!!!!
I have had problems with the S50 since the start. Lockups, loss of data and finally it just breaks down. Sirius has had the unit for over 3 months for rapair. If you have a working one consider yourself very lucky.
I've gone thru 3 S-50s.
First one basically fried.
Second one worked only intermittently and the third locked me out...
didn't recognize me as a subscriber.
I can't even begin to tell you how close I came to throwing them against the wall.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Mostly awful tech and sales support.
Long delays in receiving a new, working unit and absolutely terrible programming... including Stern's show.
Been a Stern fan for 15 years but I gave up back in May and will never go back.
Sirius is doomed.
XM and Sirius will merge and then finally gasp their last breath... leaving a mountain of faulty S-50s behind to mark their passing.
The internet does it all better and cheaper.
I thought the s50 was great the first few months i owned it no issues whatsoever, until the end of july when the darn thing froze up and i haven't been able to use the media recorder since.
I have been waiting for a replecement from the warranty department for three months now and don't see an end in sight. I call almost daily trying to get somthing done but, I get the "Sorry theres nothing we can do" line.
Stay away from the s50!!!!
I bought the S50 as soon as it came out. This was the 2nd Sirius radio that I bought and I could not wait to get it home and turn it on. Boy was I in for a rude awakening!!! I got home and disconnected my Audiovoxpnp1 which gave me a full year of non-stop service. I hooked up my brand new for Christmas S50 and wow it would not take a signal. So I took it back to Best Buy and they gave me another one. I was really pumped up to hear this new radio. Well in case you haven't figured it out yet this radio didn't work either. It would not receive a signal. So off to the store again to replace the radio and they did but they were a little hesitant and I know they were thinking I was trying to pull something. But I just wanted my Howard Stern like most people. Well this radio finally took the signal but it never really worked up to its hype. It would give me the no PSRAM line and not rewind or record. It would record long segments instead of single songs from the Canadian rock stations. It would record as many hours as I wanted from those 2 stations from the Great White North. But of course when I wanted to record an entire Stern show that piece of shit would only record up to 2 hours at a time. Now after the year warranty is over the S50 took a final shit on me and it refuses to recognize any antenna. I have tried many different antennas and they don't work. Not only does this hunk of shit not receive any channels but it stopped recording all my Stern Shows. I can't say that they do not exist because the do. All you have to do is plug this $312 paper weight into a computer and you can see all my Stern Shows in all their folders. The only problem is that the S50 does not recognize them and will not play them. If you look at them on my computer you can see their folder names have turned into crazy symbols and they cannot be erased via my computer and they are stuck in permanent limbo. The S50 will not play them and I can't erase them. I am so pissed off I could scream. I gave up my working yet clunky Audiovox for the new toy and I got fucked so hard my dead grandparents came. To add insult to injury as soon as I had my Audiovox taken offline so to speak, I sold it to a friend who tried to activate it and it would not take a signal. So I had 2 radios all out of warranty and neither of them work. I bought a XACT XTR1 and put a lifetime subscription on it and now it will not recognize any antenna from any source. I bought 2 car kits and 1 boombox and 4 antennas and no luck. But if I go to my friends house (he live in a large highrise apartment building in downtown Orlando)and all I have to do is plug in the power and it picks up every station with no antenna at all. So since Sirius will not transfer my lifetime subscription to another radio,I guess I have to move in with my friend downtown to listen to my radio. Every Sirius radio I have had has taken a shit on me except the first one and it took a shit on my friend. this really pisses me off since Sirius has great programming but the worst customer service and support and radios. What am I to do???? If I want Howard I have to suffer the wrath of the retards who design these overpriced made in another 3rd world country paperweights. I hope that everyone who is responsible for this disgusting raping of the American consumer and worker dies with the worst cancer ever imagined. I hope they die and all of their families die too so they cannot infect the rest of the world. I heard the inventor of Sirius sat. radio on th Stern Show and he/she sounded like a really smart and caring person. That is why he/she left Sirius and sold it to go and start a bio-tech company that is responsible for the cure of a very rare disease that was afflicting his daughter. Needless to say he succeeded in doing that and he saved her !!! Now all we have to do is get him/her back in control of Sirius to get these losers back into the real world. I feel for everyone who has gone through what I have gone through and hopefully things will get better. I doubt it but I can always hope. Drop dead all you people who exploit these 3rd world countries for their cheap labor.If you people let Americans make these radios I think there would be alot less problems,and if their were problems we could always blame ourselves. Cancer to all you designer who rushed my radio out to me before it was ready and I hope you choke on my $312 dollars. This was my only Christmas present and I had to buy it for myself. Now I have nothing. Thanks you greedy fucks. Patrick Hale, Orlando,Florida
I have had nearly an identical experience with my S50 that Patrick had. My HUGE mistake was not realizing when I had a few issues with it at 11 months of ownership that I did not warrantee it right then. Instead I waited 3 more months when it completely stopped working and now all I can do is play recorded music and with that the unit stops working periodically (sometimes after 10 minutes of use) on the car dock and won't work at all on my home dock. I too live in Orlando and I too have a "lifetime subscription" which is a pile of SH#@%^T. They really need to call it "lifetime of 3 radios that will break" subscription. I am furious at everything Sirius except for their programming. I do have a transfer left on my "lifetime subscription" but am hesitant to even buy anything else with the Sirius name on it for fear it will break at 11 months too.
Dylan, Orlando, FL
If anyone is looking for the document, it's now located at:
http://rubinsworld.com/public/Sirius/3FingerSalute.pdf
The s50 is a rip off and everyone who owns one should get a full refund or an exchange. My girlfriend and I have both sent our origanl s50's back, hers has bent sent back twice, mine three times, it works for a couple of months and then its junk. Mine currently is not working and now sirius is saying to go and buy their $40 antenna. I dont think I should have to pay $200 on a radio and $100 for service and get nothing, no wonder the s50 is discontiued it just wouldve been nice to know that before i bought it.