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Zing-based DAPs to offer Sirius, downloading over WiFi
There's a new player in town looking to expose the Music Gremlin to some harsh sunlight, and with Sirius and VoIP capabilities along with the Gremlin-like WiFi and Bluetooth for sharing and downloading, the Zing reference device may prove to be a formidable nemesis for the player we first caught at CES. Cnet was hanging out at the D4 conference today and got to check out the Zing in action, and report that the device will enable third-party content providers to offer convenient PC-less download services, although unfortunately the Sirius-branded version will get its radio content not from satellites or terrestrial repeaters but solely through relatively short-range WLAN connections. Still, the built-in mic means that Zing-based products could potentially incorporate VoIP services as well, which would make them serious contenders for some of the musicphones on the market if not for their limited utility outside the range of a hotspot.[Via Orbitcast, thanks to everyone who sent this in]
XM will "vigorously defend" Innos against industry suit
XM is firing back against the recording industry's lawsuit over the Pioneer Inno's ability to temporarily store copyrighted material, stating rather boldly in an open letter to its customers that "we will vigorously defend these radios and your right to enjoy them in court and before Congress, and we expect to win." Claiming that the record labels "don't get it," XM argues that consumers have always been free to tape over-the-air content from a variety of sources, provided that they restrict those recordings to personal use. What's more, the Inno doesn't even let you transfer recorded content to other devices, and deletes all of your tunes if you drop your XM subscription, so it's already much more restrictive than the recording devices faced by TV and terrestrial radio broadcasters. Instead of actually expecting XM to pay $150,000 for each song recorded by Inno users (which would probably amount to at least several billion dollars), it's more likely that the music industry is using this suit to coax XM into joining rival Sirius in coughing up additional licensing fees. Also, a note to XM PR: despite your suggestion that the record labels are attacking sat radio owners at the expense of a war on the "real" pirates, we think that the industry is both well-prepared and well-equipped for a multi-front conflict.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Record labels sue XM over Inno recording
We thought that maybe, just maybe, the recent S50 blessing from the record labels might mean that they were letting off a bit on this whole "satellite radio recording is killing the music industry" thing. Boy were we wrong. Turns out Sirius agreed to pay for one of those snazzy and expensive distribution licenses, similar to what iTunes and Napster have, to allow their users to continue to record songs off of the radio service. XM balked at the fee, since they're already paying a license to play the songs in a radio capacity. That's why they've just been hit with a massive lawsuit for the sale of their Inno player, seeking $150,000 in damages per song recorded by XM customers. XM says they play 160,000 different songs per month, but we're not sure how that translates to this "songs recorded" figure that the record labels want to penalize them for. What we do know is that the amount is pretty extreme, and that XM had better have a good case, or this emerging satellite radio market could lose a major player in a jiffy
Sirius announces sleek new Sportster4 radio
To prove that there is still life in the world of consumer electronics outside of videogames and laptops, Sirius broke up today's monotony by announcing an updated version of their Sportster series of Plug and Play satellite radios with 44-minute buffers. The Sportster4, which is small enough to easily transport between home and car, maintains the same recording capacity and features as its predecessors, but adds a new vehicle dock that includes an auxiliary input for your MP3 player. Additional niceties include 30 presets, bundled remote, favorite artist alerts, and game reminders to keep you updated on score changes. Look for the Sportster4 later this month for around $170, with accessories like boombox docks soon to follow.
Sirius in the clear for S50 sales
After a little legal scare with the four major music labels, Sirius can finally market its S50 music player without fear of legal consequences. The labels had argued that the player's recording capabilities were a violation of previous agreements, and had threatened to take Sirius to court to halt the sale of the player. EMI was the last to come around, just giving their blessing today, following Warner, Vivendi and Sony-BMG who agreed to the player last month. Unfortunately, things still sound tense between Sirius and the labels. No details of the agreement have been divulged, but it only applies to the S50 for now, and with XM and Sirius coming up for renewal of their music licenses, neither are out of the woods yet.
Samsung releasing Helix and Nexus this month?
Well, looks like 25th of April will see the official release of Samsung's Helix and Nexus XM sat rads at the Samsung Experience in the Time Warner Center in our fair city of New York. We've been kind of expecting the release of the Helix (which was announced at CES) any day now, but the Nexus is way overdue, having been announced last September. For those thinking of swooping in to make a purchase, the Helix is Samsung's portable with live streaming XM and an FM transmitter. The Nexus doesn't have the same live sat capability, but does have 512MB and 1GB versions for playing back pre-recorded XM streams; both feature MP3 and WMA playback, and can use the XM / Napster service. You can already pre-order the Nexus for $219 / 270, but don't forget that you can pre-order that Pioneer Inno for $399, too.
Pioneer Inno XM2go DAP reviewed
We've had our eye on the Pioneer Inno and Samsung Helix combination DAP/XM2go receivers ever since they were announced at CES, and although the devices certainly looked to have a winning combination of features, we had several concerns that we were eager to see addressed in a hands-on. Well our wait is over, as a fairly gushing, and very thorough, review of the Inno by satellite radio enthusiast site Orbitcast has allayed all of our fears, and convinced us that the Inno, which both plays and records XM streams as well as handling your MP3's, is really as hot as the specs make it sound. Orbitcast is particularly impressed with the ease of managing content on the device, with powerful search functions, automatic track separation (when recording streams), and intuitive controls helping Inno achieve that delicate balance of features and simplicity. With reception actually better than older XM2go models, pretty decent battery life, excellent stock earbuds, and improved playback control, the only downside here seems to be the way in which the Inno partitions its memory: during the initial setup you must choose from only two configurations -- 100% storage devoted to XM content or a 50/50 split between XM and your own tracks -- and if you want to switch modes at a later date, your entire library of recorded swag gets wiped.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Pioneer Innos out in April for $400
Been waiting to snag one of those sweet Pioneer Inno XM players that took the cake at this year's CES? Well your patience will be rewarded at some point this month -- they may have missed their first quarter launch, but XM's got the Pioneer Inno on pre-order for that expected $400 cash money. Not a peep yet regarding the Samsung Helix we were extra specially stoked about, but this should do the trick in the mean time for portable live sat rad.[Thanks, candlebougie and Dave M]
