XM and Dell working together on a new player?
posted August 10th 2005 5:26PM
Haven't been able to find a copy of the original report to confirm this (anyone wanna hook us up?), but
supposedly a new analyst report from investment firm Legg Mason reveals that Dell and XM are working together on some
sort of digital audio player. And from what we're hearing, it'll be
a new XM2Go-device that'll be something like a Dell Digital Jukebox
with an XM tuner that's actually built right in (Samsung announced a deal with XM last month, but it was for players
that would only be able to play recorded XM radio programming, not tune in live). Anyway, it wouldn't be the
first time the two companies have collaborated together: last year when XM introduced
XM Radio Online they gave free trial subscriptions to
anyone buying a new Dell PC.
[Thanks, perezhilton]
i love my ipod, but i would dump it in second if they came out with a dell/xm 20 gb DAP that could listen to XM live! O and A party Rock!
Most likely has to do with this:
"The plan calls for the joint launch of "XM + Napster" in the fourth quarter of 2005 in conjunction with the availability of new XM/MP3 digital music players that let users bookmark songs they hear on the radio for future purchases online.
After the MP3 player is connected to a personal computer, the new service will match the marked XM titles with songs in Napster's catalog so that they can be purchased."
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/finance/external/reuters/SIG=11vg30000/
http://yahoo.reuters.com/financeQuoteCompanyNewsArticle.jhtml?duid=mtfh17072_2005-07-27_15-49-52_n27688559_newsml
Damn it!
I have a dell dj, but I would def. get a new one if SIRIUS hooked up with dell. Theres no way Il get it if XM is onboard. I have both services and Sirius is 100x better then xm
SIRIUS better than XM? Yeah, right....
"A Sirius Dell DJ would weigh about 3 pounds and would require wearing a hat with a built-in antenna."
so damn true, sirius does not even have a handheld out yet
I work for a music service so I get to play with lots of WMA players. The Dell DJ is probably the worst player out of the one I have tried. Not only is the thing a brick, its the design in horrible. The volume controls are in a horrible position relative to dial. The interface is clunky at best. If you put that thing a sock, you could def do some damage when swinging that thing around. I can't imagine how big a XM/Dell player would be. The only good thing about the dells are the price but you get what you pay for.
Yeah.... and it seems like Sirius is afraid of putting numbers above 6 on their receivers. Hello... how do you do direct entry?
Sirius better? ok fanboy.
XM subs are growing at a faster rate than Sirius not to mention outnumbering them 3 to 1 ( 4.4 mil to 1.5 mil )
If they don't end up merging, XM will be the last one standing as they have a more responsible business plan ( they plan to break even next year ) and do not pour truckloads of money into questionable decisions ( ie. half a billion $$ for Howard Stern to work 4 days weeks and have 12 weeks annual vacation )
I bet it'll be even cooler than what they're describing it as. Here's what I'll bet it'll be: You will either subscribe to a monthly unlimited-music plan, or PRE-PURCHASE songs downloads. Then, when you hear a song you like on the unit, you'll click a button, and you'll own it. Even better, I bet you'll be able to scroll through a list of songs, click on them, and XM will immediately download them to the hard disk.
iTunes without wires. THIS is the iPod-killer!
Dell XM player - that would be some Ugly player.....
This is definitely a step in the right direction.
It's only logical that digital satellite radio be eventually wedded with a portable DAP.
In the pre-digital music era, you had walkman with both tape and radio capacity. Now you will have digital audio player with digital satellite radio.
That being said, I think it will difficult to really take away many sales from the iPod, because of its amazing user interface and elegant design.
Plus, if satellite radio in a DAP takes off, Apple can just integrate that feature into the iPod. Either XM or Sirius would jump at the chance to get integrated into the iPod.
So with this Dell player, Dell's challenge is to come up with a better design. But either way it will do reasonably well for Dell. Dell doesn't need its DAP to do huge numbers in order for it be a profitable product, and unlike Apple, Dell does not need its DAP to make its quarterly statement shine.
Those of you calling this the "iPod-killer" are forgetting one thing: it's DELL we're dealing with here. Their last iPod-killer WAS the Dell DJ. If I were a kid getting a Dell DJ when I expected an iPod, I'd probably kill myself. No, I don't think iPods are that great, but I'm not disillusioned to think that a company who spends $0/yr on R&D is capable of making products that don't suck. The Dell DJ is a piece of sh¡t.
opie and anthony are the alpha and the omega, xm hazaaa
I'm not quite sure, but is it true that the Dell DJ is a rebranded and slightly redesigned Creative product? I wonder about the this upcoming model and their manufacturer.
BTW, Dell sells fussy desktop machines and (some) unreliable notebooks; if they lay off the percieved "cool factor" maybe they'd be less of a tool in the industry.
wow.. matchmaking with iPod leftovers
ok the dell dj is actually a really well made player, people saying shit about it are stupid, i like the ipod ill admit that but i own a dell, i love my dell, sure id rather have an ipod but not because its an ipod but for the third party support. the dell is a great player. mike your not real bright are you, you put any player in a sock you could do some damage. and ive compared the gen 2 dj to an ipod there bout the same size, your an idiot dont talk shit you just sound bad and like another one of the ipod fanboys out there that buy an ipod as a fashion acessory instead of a music device.
kevin.. you're too young to be talking to me with that tone.
the iPod has better software and more price points (99-329), more accessories (as if the DJ has any), it works with iTMS
what makes you think i wear my iPod as an accessory. You're a fool. My iPod goes in my... wait for it.. POCKET (!) so total strangers have no idea I even own an iPod.
Your biggest problem is you never go outside.. it never occurred to you that this iPod-as-fasion-accessory was just the recycle Windows Apologists attitude towards Mac users.
You don't understand Vertical Integration? Get informed.
You're too young. You have plenty of time.
PS. Go outside before you assume marketing BS is even true.
Kevin, notice how I didn't even mention the ipod in my post (that second post from "mike" wasn't me)? The ipod def has some shortcomings. Lateley I have been using the iriver H10 and the toshiba F10. Both of those are better products than the dell dj. Since you brought it up, the dell dj does remind me alot of the first gen ipod. The bottom and top edges are not smooth. This makes it uncomfortable when accessing the volume controls on the top. It is also noticably thicker than the ipod too with a smaller screen. The only player I have tried thats as large as this is the iriver H320 and I would take that one over the dell any day. Maybe I just sound bad because I think the dell dj sucks other than its price?
Doesn't seem like battery life would be very long in a device like you describe... All of the current XM2go players have around 5 hours of life, and they're huge. As far as I know, there hasn't been some huge breakthrough in battery size...
To you SIRIUS fans. XM values its money and spends it wisely. SIRIUS spends for big names such as Howard stern (half a billion dollars for), martha stewart (7 million), TOny hawk (gave him a channel), Richard Simmons, etc...
Hopefully one day, XM will have a deal with other mp3 players such as the Ipod. I am definently going to go and buy a Dell DJ if an XM is in it.
Theres always hope for the Skypod to live on...