Sirius Stiletto 100: this dog will hunt
Sirius' answer to XM's Inno/Helix -- the Stiletto 100 satellite receiver -- just scored an "excellent" review over at CNET. No surprise to find the player taking hits for bulk and for requiring users to wear those "kind of dorky" and "very uncomfortable" headphones for the best satellite signal reception. But you'll be happy to know that CNET was still able to tune-in to satellite radio with the included, antenna-less earbuds with the reviewer pulling 2/3 signal bars while seated near a window in his fifth-floor office building. They also weren't too stoked at the "less-than" 1GB of storage available to MP3/WMA audio or the AM-like audio quality when streaming Sirius content over WiFi (802.11b, only) but it was nevertheless a welcome feature when in a satellite dead zone. Still, you can always pay an additional $3/mth for Sirius to open access to their 128kbps "CD quality" streams. Streaming internet radio over WiFi worked well and the ability to pause/replay and record live Sirius streams functioned with "razor precision" storing files in the "well-organized" library. CNET still has to conduct their battery-drain test but don't expect anything better than the 4 hours for live satellite radio, 8 hours for Internet radio, and 20 hours for MP3s off the big ol' standard battery -- impressively, a slim battery is included in the bundle but offers only about half the playback. Overall, CNET found the Stiletto 100 to be particularly "fun" to use due to the "huge" feature set your $350 buys and from the "incredibly easy to use" game-like interface allowing you to constantly discover the new music and content delivered by satellite and Internet radio.
[Thanks, Brit]
