Sirius's S50 wearable satellite radio
By Ryan Block 
posted Aug 25th 2005 9:00AM
posted Aug 25th 2005 9:00AM
Looks like Sirius beat itself to the punch with its new Starmate Replay device today, announcing an even smaller, even more attractive wearable device, the S50. Granted, it only plays back via docked recording of Sirius content, but it's a mere 1.9 x 3.9 x 0.7-inches—smaller than a 60GB iPod—and includes 50-hour playback buffer, as well as being able to play back MP3 and WMA files. The $360 pricetag is a little steep, and tacking on another $100 for the dock, remote, and antenna is a little annoying, but there isn't a whole lot else out there if you want to get Sirius you can take running with you. Expect to see this out around October.
Looks sweet.. made me reconsider my recent purchase of the Pioneer AirWare for XM... that is, until I saw the price.
$460 for the unit with the accessories you basically NEED to buy? No, thanks.
Makes the $265 I spent for the AirWare (complete with home AND car kits) look like a relative bargain, even if the thing is a little chunky.
this is not a real wearable Satellite-Radio-receiver. You can not listen to "live" Sirius unless it is in the home- or car-docking station.
How large is this screen? What is the quality of the colors?
How much memory will it hold for my MP3s???
detail is right.
this is not comparable to a MyFi. Unfortunatly..... maybe next year!!
Not to mention that it costs over $400 to be able to listen live and record content to the thing, since it doesn't come with a home or car kit!
#5... Yes, you will be able to listen live, but not while you're out on the go without a docking kit. It will need to have an antenna, power source, and cradle for live listening.
omg liek wo.
Sirius invented a portable mp3 player!
Gee wiz, you can listen to recorded content on the go! Whoop de do!
Wake me up when they come out with something that will let you listen to live content when you are walking around central park.
"When attached to a home dock, car dock or executive docking
station, the SIRIUS S50 provides easy access to live content, and captures and
stores both scheduled and unscheduled SIRIUS programming. This feature allows
users to listen to SIRIUS' unique programming anywhere."
Seems pretty obvious that you use the dock to record the stations you want, then re-play them (i.e. NOT live) on the player. And to anyone claiming I'm and 'XM fanboy' for saying this: I live in the UK, I couldn't care less about satellite redio.
The only problem I see with this device is that you have to listen to lil doggy stations.
Hoo Hoo I invented the MP3...I mean portable satellite player ..Tell em Fred
Catch the Virus
Yep - looks that way. Interesting that you can tell it what shows you want to record and it will do it for you though - I wonder how you'll do that - with a PC? The tivo functionality should be really nice for music, special events and Stern. Less useful for news and sports though.
Voice navigation? iDrive style controls?
All in all I think it's pretty sweet. I'd love a true portable but in all truth I had a MyFi and I ended up taking it back as the reception was not good at all - I did hear that the MyFi has a 40% return rate so maybe I'm not the only one.
And speaking as another UK reader: *here* we have free-to-air digital radio (terrestrial and satellite) and there are proper portable receivers available for the terrestrial version for about fifty-sixty pounds and up.
A couple of the stations here in the UK are going to be on Sirius too. But here they're free. OK, the license fee pays for 'em. But apart from that they're free.
Although XM's skiFi may be portable, I don't hear anyone singing the lord's praises of that feature (e.g. "it kinda sucks that I have to walk sideways down a road with no obstructions to receive the signal").
I'd argue that the live portable aspect of it isn't working for either company (sirius 'cause they don't have one, and XM b/c even though they do it doesn't really work).
Anyone who thinks that XM is SO far ahead clearly hasn't used either companies' products.
Too bad it doesn't play live content on the go. But having an XM MyFi, portability is not perfected yet! Unless your very close to a terrestrial tower, you have to hold the unit above your head and face it south. A pain in the ass in my opinion. Having an abundant 50 hours of record time might not be a bad alternative. I'm sure all the Stern fans will be recording his 4 hour show in the mornings.
Hey!! Sirius made an iPod!
I'll stick to my MyFi so I can listen to live sat radio. I wonder what XM will come out with for XMas.
How large is this screen? What is the quality of the colors?
How much memory will it hold for my MP3s??? How many GBs?
Will it come with a case that displays the screen?
Man, Sirius is so out of touch. They players have been huge monsters of machines while my XM is built into my car stereo. XM has had the MyFi and other small devices that are complete units for awhile now. Bah I say
Eagle117, you are an obvious XM fanboi. So Sirius isn't integrated into radios? Have you seen the specs for this thing? It is very small. And the capacity is amazing. 5 hrs of recording for a MyFi? Bwahaha. This thing blows it out of the water. I'm glad I am a SIRI stockholder. Can't wait until Jan!
Now this is just a shame....... sweet looking device lacking the portable satellite stream........ let down.
Hey lak, if you've got the engineering figured out to let a portable device reliably pick up a satellite datastream, don't keep it a secret....
This is just what I've been waiting for! Now I can store my music collection and Sirius, all together in one unit. This is really the best of both worlds. Bye,bye... Ipod!
Dish Network broadcasts most of Sirius channels through my PVR 510 with optical outputs. I've
been listening to Sirius radio on my iRiver HP-120 for about 6 months now (at 128kbs).
So what if it doesn't play live content on the go! Im sure along with Sirius, XM reception in cars isnt 100% stable, so what makes you think a totally portable live stream player would? You would still have to deal with trees, buildings, and no repeaters in certain spots.
Id rather place that in a home docking station, record what I want, listen to it on the go and have it be crystal clear. Mix in your favorite mp3's and you'll be a happy camper. I can't wait to get me one!!
Without the docking station this is in effect just another storage device (e.g., Ipod or Zen Jukebox). I'm wondering if it is possible to buy a cheaper Siruis receiver and record directly to a PC hard drive for transfer to an Ipod or Jukebox. Can this be done?
This thing looks AWESOME and has some amazing features!!! 50 hours worth of stored programming is great! This is what I've been waiting for Sirius to release.
For those of you who are complaining about no "Live" portability feature, you must never have listened to the XM MyFi in "live" mode. The reception when walking around with the XM MyFi is truly horrible. The signal drops every few seconds if you don't have a fully clear path of the satellite (which most of the time when using it as a portable unit, you wouldn't have a clear path.) That's why I would rather be able to listen to 50 hours of stored music and Sirius programming with NO skips or interruptions!! I could dock this to my computer and copy my mp3s, plus dock it to the home dock, boom box or in my car, and have it store my favorite Sirius programming and then listen back to it when I want, while walking, biking, working out at the gym, and on the trains and subways.
I think this is going to be the next cool gadget everyone is going to want this holiday season. Get SIRIUS! iPods are sooo old now!!!
This is the newest and best portable music player you can get!! Plus you just cant beat Sirius' programming.
Congrats to Sirius for introducing this state-of-the-art player.
I'm an electrical engineer. I don't expect most of you to understand, but a truly portable satellite receiver is cost-prohibited, it can't be done. Let me explain. Satellite signals require a direct line-of-site path to the receiver. That's why DirecTV dishes are fixed and pointed in one direction. With a portable sat radio, you're walking all over the place, inside buildings, around buildings, etc., etc., it would require an infinite amount of satellite signal repeaters allover cities and inside buildings, costing 100's of millions. FM, Frequency Modulated, radio signals bounce around everywhere outside and inside buildings, that's why you can have a walkman FM radio. This is just not possible with satellite radio. XM has one, but 37% get returned because the owner's use-model(where he uses it and where he travels to with it on his daily routine) does not fit the requirements for walkman-like satellite radio. That's why today XM introduced a device just like the s-50, they know that the MyFi was a failure because of the technical limitations beyond their control. Retailers hate high-return products like XM's MyFi. I hope I've shared some light on this subject. The fact is that this type of MP3 recorder is the best solution if you don't want constant signal drop-out. It's just the way it is with satellite signals. Period. End of story. Those of you waiting for the perfect "live" portable satellite radio will be waiting forever. Just like we all know people who have been waiting for the fastest, lowest-price computers for the last 25 years.
I'm an electrical engineer. I don't expect most of you to understand, but a truly portable satellite receiver is cost-prohibited, it can't be done. Let me explain. Satellite signals require a direct line-of-site path to the receiver. That's why DirecTV dishes are fixed and pointed in one direction. With a portable sat radio, you're walking all over the place, inside buildings, around buildings, etc., etc., it would require an infinite amount of satellite signal repeaters allover cities and inside buildings, costing 100's of millions. FM, Frequency Modulated, radio signals bounce around everywhere outside and inside buildings, that's why you can have a walkman FM radio. This is just not possible with satellite radio. XM has one, but 37% get returned because the owner's use-model(where he uses it and where he travels to with it on his daily routine) does not fit the requirements for walkman-like satellite radio. That's why today XM introduced a device just like the s-50, they know that the MyFi was a failure because of the technical limitations beyond their control. Retailers hate high-return products like XM's MyFi. I hope I've shared some light on this subject. The fact is that this type of MP3 recorder is the best solution if you don't want constant signal drop-out. It's just the way it is with satellite signals. Period. End of story. Those of you waiting for the perfect "live" portable satellite radio will be waiting forever. Just like we all know people who have been waiting for the fastest, lowest-price computers for the last 25 years.
I have an XM Myfi that works perfectly portable - meaning I walk around with it in my shirt pocket and it receives wonderfully on the internal antenna. It receives great on planes when held up to the window. While it cannot receive indoors with the internal antenna, it does work and work well. I also have Sirius, and why Sirius cannot produce a portable radio is beyond me. Would like to have it to listen to the New England Patriots while I am at the Bengal games.
Cincinatti,
It seems that the "one-chip" design of the XM chipset is what helps them get away with it... Sirius uses three chips to do the live streaming, and apparently it'd be too hard on a battery. Now wether or not they are stuck, or it can be "fixed" in the future now that ST makes Sirius' chipsets too we'll have to wait and see.
In the meantime, I have a MyFi and it receives live content pretty much 95% of the places you go (and 100% in my hometown of Albany since we have repeaters-galore) and I always have 5 hours of Squizz as a backup.
It's nice to have the live option--especially for baseball! You'd think someone who pushes their NFL contract so hard would think the same way, and maybe they will be soon....
does the S50 have an FM Transmitter?
Does anyone know if you can you transfer the 50 hours of content from the player to your computer through the home dock? Or once you fill up 50 hours do you have to delete content and loose it forever to record new stuff.
Bob Mcalvay - don't ditch your iPod yet. 50 hours is very likely less than 5 GB. Just checked my nano; some high bitrates, some low, 550 songs and 45.6 hours of tunes on a 4GB flashram. Still I think Sirius is a lot smarter with this device than XM with a real receiver that just CAN'T work (SatLover's post says it well)
Z
When is this comming to stores like Cicuit City? I heard April, Septembet and recently mid October. Well its 10/19.
Being satelite radio, if it ws to be hooked up to a docking station overseas would it work? Does anyone know?
The S50 seems to be a good idea, especially if you are going Sirius for Howard. Per Sirius, you can't extract content from the device, but that's usually a temporary issue. The display is large and full-color, so does that mean that Sirius will push extra content to the device, like traffic updates with pictures?
The "Tivo"-like capabilities are also nice. Most Sirius devices have a limited amount of record time, but don't support rewind/fast forward. I don't know about XM's products, but this is fantastic and something that has never hit FM radio tuners. It also can automatically record shows from your favorite stations, which it chooses based on your playing pattern.
Main questions:
-What's the battery life?
-Can you replace the battery?
-Can you configure the bit rate for auto-recording and manual recording?
-Can you upgrade the firmware?
-Will this unit suck compared with the deluge of units to follow once Howard Stern moves in January? Let's face it, manufacturers have less incentive to make zoopy products when the target market is small, or smaller than a competitor.
-Will it be released, or disappear like the "REGO"?
Cheers,
Jim
I'm a little confused on a couple of points with this little guy:
(1) Does the S50 act as the receiver when it's docked, or do you need to have a receiver independent of the S50 (i.e. do you have to be able to get sirius without the S50)?
(2) Does the S50 sync content or does it have to be docked to record? For example, suppose I record Howard Stern on Day 1 to listen to on Day 2. Then I take the S50 with me on Day 2 to listen to Day 1 content. Will I still be able to record Day 2 to listen to on Day 3?
Thanks in advance for any info on this.
I don't know why everyone wants live broadcasting when the majority of the programming on satellite radio is pre-recorded. I just want to listen to my favorite DJ (MADISON!) and this way I can do it no matter what time of day it is. Can't wait to buy one of these.
Good point.
I'm practically sold on the gadget. All I would like to know is will it plug into my home stereo system and take the place of a home satellite receiver?
Great unit, but folks, for $299 I can buy a 30 gig IPOD video unit, which is even sleeker and sexier, and play MP3 files, view photos, and watch videos... And the best part is I can stream sirius on my PC, and use a program like totalrecorder to record the broadcasts, and then copy them to my IPOD... Saved myself 60 bucks, and got a LOT more versitility!
Great product!
But I too have an ipod. And I'll be damned if I'm going to purchase another recorder for $400+ ...
Like the previus poster,djrobsd,said. All you need is a program like totalrecorder and your set to record streams on your ipod.
When Stern gets to satellite, you bet this is what I'll be doing. I know it wont be live but how else can I go to the gym and work out while listening to the "King of All Media."
For the technically inept, how does one stream Sirius on the computer? Also, is totalrecorder free? If I can do this, you can bet I'll be saving my money and using this approach. Thanks djrobsd!
For the technically inept, how does one stream Sirius on the computer? Also, is totalrecorder free? If I can do this, you can bet I'll be saving my money and using this approach. Thanks djrobsd!
Just in reference to comments #s 39 & 40...
I could be wrong, but I don't know if sirius intends to have Howard available to stream online.
Currently, only their commercial-free music stations are available for online listening. None of their talk shows can be heard, nor can the comedy stations be heard. Not to mention news or traffic.
I know some of the content on sirius is not owned by sirius, and therefore might have a stream of its own (like cnn or fauxnews, or radio disney). But it's not accessible through sirius. And the non-music programming that is owned by sirius is not on its site.
So if you intend to stream Howard & burning it onto your mp3 player to get around getting an s50, you may be SOL.
I wrote sirius earlier today and asked if the s50 would be able to download content like Stern, rather than having to record it while it's live to listen to it later. I was told that Howard would be available for download onto the s50, and it leads me to believe that sirius is following apple's business model with the ipod. Namely, sirius content (that's not streaming online) can only be downloaded and played on sirius-model mp3 players like the s50, much like songs downloaded from itunes can only be played on itunes-supported players or computers. If this turns out to be true, the s50 is gonna sell like gangbusters for anybody who wants to get every last moment of Howard.
Take a look at a product called "Radio Your Way"
It's a MP3 player that has a lot of nice recording features and uses secure digital media. I've been using for over year to record the Stern show over FM commercial radio. In fact, I was able to record an entire 2 weeks of Stern programming while I was out of the country. I am now using it to record Howard 100 News every day off my Sirius receiver. The reciever has a built in FM transmitter, timer, etc. so I just record from my home station dock and listen to Radio Your Way on the go.
Seriously, how can Sirius, Engaget and all the other sites out there that claim to have seen this device NOT post its capacity? This would be a very seductive device if it has 20GB of storage. If, on the other hand, it has 32MB of flash RAM, count me out. The fact that I can't find this information after 15 minutes of searching the Internet leads me to believe that it has enough RAM to cache live satellite feeds, and cram "50 hours" of programming by compressing it into a 2k/sec bitstream. Then when I put my 5 favorite MP3's on it, it will leave room for about 15 minutes of Stern.
Either: 1) Their marketing department is inept or 2) this thing has so little memory that they don't want people to see how much, so they just keep saying "50 hours."
Reception does not require satellite visibility, if you are within range of a terrestrial repeater.
I've sat in a concrete underground garage in Bethesda Maryland and listened to Sirius. (Clearly, they have a repeater close by...)
Thus, for those above ground, and within proper range of a terrestrial repeater, a WEARABLE receiver should be quite feasible.
If one wished to buy some extra insurance, a MIMO (space/time) diversity receiver-antenna system ought to prove beneficial.
I think this is what the over-the-air stations are ultimately worried about. I imagine that the SDARS operators are intentionally dragging their feet waiting for the over-the-air guys to get more digital deployment, lest they risk congress/FCC stepping-in to impose further restrictions on the deployment/power of terrestrial repeaters...
Unfortunately, I wasn't very knowledgeable about Satellite Radio. The sales person assured me I could listen to live broadcasts "on the go." That is not the case. I got Sirius for the NFL feeds and if I can't listen to them live while at the park or the gym, what's the point? Also - I HAVE to use it in the car only - or shell out another $100 for the home station (if I can find one.) Why is it "better" than simple car installation units? An onboard MP3 player? What the ...? If XM can have live portable units - why not Sirius? Buyer Beware. Unit is somewhat touchy anyway - often must unplug power source and re-plug to get it to work. Very weird. Maybe XM's aren't that great either - I don't know.
In regards to poster 45. Yes, the unit is a bit touchy. I just hooked mine up today and I'm intermittently losing the signal when I never used to before. We'll see how it goes. I have to keep my eye on the return information because if this doesn't work better soon it'll be going back to the store.
BTW, it hasn't been mentioned before but this little unit records streams of your most listened to stations (3) when it's plugged into the dock and even when you're listening to a different station. Once it learns what you like you'll have "new" content to listen to when you take it on the go with you.
The S50 comes with the car kit, it doesn't cost extra. The home kit costs $99 if you want to use it in your house.
"I too have an ipod. And I'll be damned if I'm going to purchase another recorder for $400+ ..."
Uh, yeah
The S50 has been hyped since August but has anyone actually bought one of these units? Sirius claimed availability in November. At a local store I saw a non-functional demo which seemed to be showing a canned slide show through the LCD screen. I signed up on their update list, and I received an Email on December 1 that it was available. Clicking to the web site said "out of stock." An email back to them only gave a very vague answer. Are they really shipping and just trying to fill up the channel or are they still fixing bugs?
S50, I just got it, and installed it. IT IS INCREDIBLE!!!!!!! I found it online for $299, no tax, no shipping. The best feature that I have found is the fact that it can be programmed to record any program at any time. Talked with to many people that stated that the whole XM Wi-Fi was a joke. A Best Buy employee told me today that 40% of there initial sales of the Wi-Fi were returned because it didn't work up to the hyped up standards of being able to listen to live satellite on the go. Plus it only records 5 hours of content. The S50 it super light, and the recorded content is crystal clear. My brother in law is in the processes of getting rid of his Wi-Fi and getting the new S50. The bottom line is that these companies are going to be going back and forth with products. XM has two satellites and Sirius has 3, and I never have signal issues with Sirius. If you are still torn on which way to go, I suggest the S50 in a big way. It truely is awesome.