Satellite Radio is dying! The business model is bad. Initially they advertised as “commercial free,” but now just about every station has commercials. To use Satellite Radio, you need to purchase the equipment ($50 to 250$), then pay $12.95 per month for the service. Many Satellite Radio subscribers, including myself, were elated about the merger between XM Radio and Sirius, but the merger has taken a few years and there’s been little added benefit for subscribers. I called XM Radio requesting to get Sirius channels and my monthly rate would jump up to $16.99 per month to add the “Best of Sirius” package to my existing service. Vice-versa with Sirius to add a XM Radio Best of package. With all the free options available, I find this ridiculous.

Perhaps it’s the huge Howard Stern contract or the expenses of utilizing a satellite to bring us service. Regardless, most people can no longer afford this extra bill and there are several free alternatives available that I’d like to explore.

Resources to Integrate Mobile Devices with Your Vehicle

You can follow the steps below as a DIY way of integrating your mobile device with your vehicle. As an alternative, you can always purchase an MP3 audio cable for around $20 and have  Best Buy  install the cable in your car stereo for around $60 or so.

How to Hook Up Your iPod to a Car Stereo

4 Ways to Hookup Your iPod to Your Car

The Complete Guide to iPhone Car Integration

iPod Touch, iPhone and Blackberry Radio Apps

Slacker Radio – Free or $47.88 per year for Slacker Radio Plus (iPod Touch, iPhone and Blackberry)

Features 143 categorized stations of music that you can stream directly through your device. The free service allows you to skip up to 5 songs, before being forced to listen to the entire song. Of course, you can switch the station. Or, you can choose Slacker Radio Plus, which costs $47.88  per year and gives you unlimited skips, unlimited song requests, no ads and complete lyrics.

iHeart Radio - Free (iPod Touch/iPhones and Blackberry)

You’ll have access to stream over 150 stations, the ability to mark favorites and tag songs to purchase later.

Pocket Tunes Radio – $9.99 (iPod Touch, iPhone)

A bit pricy, but powerful. Perhaps the greatest feature is the ability to listen to web-based subscription services, which include XM Radio and Sirius. Bookmark your favorite stations and tag songs you like to purchase via iTunes.

Wunder Radio – $5.99 (iPod Touch, iPhone)

Give you access to over 30,000 radio stations. Use GPS to get a listing of local stations and has a built in web browser. It supports many formats such as mms, ASX, M3U, PLS and more.

Pandora – Free (iPod Touch, iPhone)

Choose a favorite song or artist and Pandora builds a station of similar music. If you use Pandora from your home computer, it is full integrated so you get your existing stations and preferences.

Last FM - Free (iPod Touch and iPhone)

Create your personal radio stations based on artists or tracks you like. This App lets you view Artist information and concert news and updates. Last FM also makes recommendations to you, based on your listening history.

ooTunes Radio – $3.99 (iPhone, iPod Touch)

ooTunes Radio is an internet stream player that supports mp3, aac and wma streams. It currently features approximately 6000 streams. Using the radio mode, you can have access to each radio station’s webpage, check e-mail and chat while your listening, create tags, set favorites and tweet what you’re listening to.

Did I miss any great Radio Apps? What do you think about the XM Sirius merger? Are you currently a subscriber?