We only renew it when they give us a deal like that, $1.99/month or similar, just to have some options. I'm not impressed with the sound quality but in my experience, it does vary based on the hardware (car). Some are better than others.XM is evil. Even though we have it because they hound us with cut rate pricing on our two vehicles all the time. My truck now has a 3 year subscription for $1.99 a month and we just dropped a free one on my wife's car.