You’re driving home and your favorite song, “In Da Club,” has just come on the radio. You’re tapping your feet to the beat and suddenly, all you hear is static before the station changes to “Dueling Banjos.”

Annoyances like these are causing more and more college students to switch to satellite radio. XM Radio, one of the major satellite radio companies available on the market, recently announced its one millionth customer. Sirius, though slightly newer to the scene, is not far behind, says Ron Rodrigues, senior director of public relations for Sirius.

Lynuel Lee, sophomore in genetics, plans to subscribe in the near future because of the availability of different kinds of music.

“With satellite radio, you can listen to whatever you want to,” Lee says. “I plan on listening to a wide variety, but a lot of rap and hip hop.”

Chance Patterson, media relations spokesperson for XM Radio, says another reason is the low cost for many options.

“It’s generally a low-cost way to get all the music and news and comedy and sports info that [students] want wherever they go,” Patterson says.

Rodrigues says this is a major draw of satellite radio.

“[Sirius plays] 25 percent more music than your average radio station,” Rodrigues says. “[It offers] a lot of genres of music that simply aren’t on the radio.”

Satellite radio can be installed in a car or home and allows listeners to receive music via signals from orbiting satellites. Because of this, it is possible to listen to the same radio station all the way across the country, unlike FM or AM radio.

Lee says this is another reason he is planning to buy a satellite radio, as it appeals to his love of traveling.

“I’m down for road trips a lot. I think it will … help all the tension while driving,” he says. “If there’s good music on, it’ll be a lot easier drive.”

Companies usually have around 100 channels, most of them being music channels ranging from punk to jazz to children’s music.

“We have many more stations that are more musically adventurous,” Rodrigues says. “[Sirius radio] has a vastly larger amount of music choices available. Frankly, you have perhaps a dozen, at the most, [AM and FM] radio stations that are available to you.”

Startup costs are approximately $300 for people who already own a system compatible with the equipment, or $400 when people have no equipment. A monthly subscription fee — $9 for XM, $13 for Sirius — also applies.

Both XM and Sirius have worked during the last couple of years to improve the strength of their signals, adding many ground-based repeaters. Both companies have also added five second buffers, which prevent breaks in the music during low signal strength.

“We have a 99 percent-plus coverage of the geographic footprint of the United States,” Patterson says. “The signal is much better than your cell phone.”

Lee says it is helpful to be able to listen to music not readily available in the area.

“I need the rap music if I’m in Ames,” Lee says. “There’s nothing in Ames, Iowa. It’s just a bunch of static and country music.”