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Samsung's neXus XM DAP reviewed
We've always been a bit skeptical of portable DAPs like the Sirius S50 and Samsung neXus that promise to let you listen to sat radio content on-the-go, because since neither device includes a built-in satellite receiver, you're stuck with the programming you've recorded while the player was docked at home. PC Mag seems to agree that this class of gadgets offers rather limited functionality, and their review of the neXus isn't very promising for potential customers: unless you buy the $70 car kit for listening to live feeds in your ride, you're basically spending either $219 or $269, respectively, for either a 512MB or 1GB MP3 player that delivers neither great sound quality nor an acceptable battery life. What's more, you have to make sure that you keep the unit docked for at least eight hours a month so that XM can properly authenticate your subscription to keep your recorded tunes from disappearing. Ultimately, unless you're a on a tight budget and absolutely need some XM swag in your pocket at all times, PC Mag suggests -- and we tend to agree -- that you're better off shelling out a few more bucks for the Pioneer Inno or Samsung Helix, which both allow you to pick up and record live feeds right out of the box, no dock necessary.
XM acquisition of WCS fails, hurts XM's video chances
Bad news for anyone banking on video content from XM any time soon: XM's deal to acquire WCS has been terminated due to an inability to gain government approval for the purchase. The plan, which the companies agreed upon in July of last year, had XM buying WCS for around $200 million, in order to acquire the meaty spectrum WCS holds in the 2.3GHz band. After waiting around for nearly a year, the two companies have called it off so that WCS can search for another suitor. XM, who has adjacent spectrum, was reportedly hoping to use the WCS to start offering video and data services, but they claim they do have a way to provide such things even without WCS. The friendly NAB folks have been the loudest detractors from the merger, scared of the extra competition from XM, and claiming XM's localisation efforts violate its FCC licenses. Luckily, it doesn't seem XM has given up on expanded services yet, so sit tight and keep on Photoshoppin' those video players.
Engadget Podcast 081 - 05.23.06
What a week for product launches! Seems like out of the gate past E3 everybody wanted to get theirs out the door: Apple loosed the MacBook, Motorola and Verizon launched the Q, Sprint and Verizon launched the Palm Treo 700p, and Sony launched their UX Micro PC. But it wasn't all rosy new toys for everyone to play with, Creative and Apple are heading to court to go toe to toe over some patents, as apparently is XM and Pioneer over the RIAA-contestable recording capabilities of the Inno. Tune in to find out how it all unfurls on this week's Engadget Podcast! Get the podcast [iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3). [RSS] Add the Engadget Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically (MP3). [MP3] Download the show (MP3). [AAC] Download the enhanced show (AAC). [OGG] Download the show (OGG). [Vote] Vote for us on Podcast Alley! Host Peter Rojas and Ryan Block Producer Randall Bennett Music J J J - 'Suits' in Japan Format 1:00:46, 27.8 MB, MP3 Program 01:00 - Motorola and Verizon announce Q: $199 04:44 - Treo 700p announced 08:48 - Apple's MacBook: 13-in, Core Duo, black and white 17:26 - Creative sues Apple, then Apple sues Creative 21:34 - Record labels sue XM over Inno recording 30:00 - Sony gets official on new Vaio UX Micro PC 36:28 - Xbox 360 hacks: Playing backup games, and backing up games 40:01 - Listener voicemail and email 59:00 - Engadget reader meetup in Merced LISTEN (MP3) LISTEN (AAC) LISTEN (OGG) Contact the podcast: 1-888-ENGADGET, Engadget (Gizmo Project) or podcast at engadget dawt com
The Pipeline: Pundits dish on MacBooks, XM Inno and Treo 700p
Welcome back to The Pipeline, a weekly feature where we dig through the mainstream media and see what the pundits, prognosticators and and pencil pushers have been discussing over the past week. Unlike some recent weeks, there was no single tech story that dominated the mainstream media this week. Yes, most journos dutifully covered Apple's two big events -- the launch of the MacBook and the opening of the company's New York store -- but Apple didn't get the same sort of monolithic coverage that, say, the Samsung Q1 garnered a couple of weeks ago. In fact, one of the few mainstream media MacBook reviews we came across this week was written not by The New York Times' David Pogue or The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg, but by blogger Glenn Fleishman, slumming it in his day job at the Seattle Times. Fleishman praised the new non-laptop for its upgradability, iSight camera and ability to add a second display, but pointed out that its integrated graphics make it a less-than-ideal choice for anyone doing video-intensive work -- which we assume is part of Apple's plan to find a way to get at least some consumers to pay $2,000 and up for the MacBook Pro, with its ATI Radeon X1600 GPU.
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
The Pipeline: Pundits go Wii!
Welcome back to The Pipeline, a weekly feature where we dig through the mainstream media and see what the pundits, prognosticators and and pencil pushers have been discussing over the past week. This week, the media was all over Nintendo's announcement that the gaming console formerly codenamed Revolution would henceforth be known as Wii. And, not surprisingly, most of the mainstream journos covering the story concurred with our assessment that the name somehow isn't going to wiin Niintendo any kudos. "Is Nintendo being desperately silly to attract attention, or is it just desperately short of clue?" asked the Guardian, while the Financial Times headlined its article "Wii aren't too sure about this." However, Nintendo did have at least one defender, Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities, who pointed out that "N-Gage and Gizmondo are cool names" that didn't help those products win many fans. "Consumers relate to the coolness of the product, not the name." Wii'll see, Michael, Wii'll see.Of course, the Wii announcement wasn't the only story in the news this week, and the mainstream press managed to crank out a few other interesting nuggets. USA Today took a look at the Pioneer Inno, and declared it "a winner," while The New York Times looked at the growing number of home docking systems for cellphones. Meanwhile, Forbes looked at another way to use cellphones at home, checking out the market for UMA-enabled handsets. Our favorite media hit this week, though, came from the Washington Post, which took an in-depth look at the DDR-as-exercise phenom, with the paper's reporter declaring, "Hello, my name is Caroline, and I'm addicted to 'Dance Dance Revolution.'" Hey, at least she's not addicted to the Wii. Nintendo goes Wii ... (not a typo) Guardian - Nintendo Wii is twee Financial Times - Wii aren't too sure about this BBC - Nintendo name swap sparks satire Seattle PI - Wii is for everyone AP - Nintendo names new video game console USA Today - Look out iPod, Inno marries satellite radio, portable music The New York Times - A cellphone in park, even more powerful Forbes - Double-duty phones The Washington Post - Get a move on
Samsung's Helix YX-M1 XM radio reviewed
By most traditional readings of our handy dandy Gregorian calendar, the Samsung Helix's supposed release date of April 25th has slipped by without a whole lot of Helix YX-M1 releasing. Luckily, CNET is around to appease your Helix appetite with a review. They seem to like the little XM radio, but a few drawbacks make it a bit harder to love. Just like it's nearly identical twin, the Pioneer Inno, Samsung's Helix has the looks, the size (a mere 0.6-inches thick), and the interface of a winner. Unlike the Inno, the Helix managed to do its recording duties without a hitch. Unfortunately, all these good times will be routinely cut short by the paltry 5 hours of battery life for XM radio and a mere 1GB of non-expandable music storage. Also, exchanging music with your PC can be a painful affair, with the XM-branded Napster transferring tunes at a sluggish rate, and the lack of ability to transfer your recorded XM tunes back to your PC. All the same, the player does offer up a fairly unmatched portable satellite radio experience, so if you've gotta have your fix, it looks like a Helix or an Inno should be on your wish list.
HD Radio to get $200 million advertising and retail push
We haven't heard much of HD Radio lately, perhaps due to the stealthy force of ninja assassins from Sirius and XM that dispatch the proponents of the standard, or perhaps because there ain't a lot going on. Hopefully things will spice up soon, since the format is about to get a major push from the HD Radio Alliance, who have plans to land compatible receivers in stores along with a $200 million budget for advertising and promotion. HD Radio equipment should be making it to 100 stores nationwide soon, and in-store education will be offered for consumers and employees. We sure wouldn't mind if prices dropped a bit for the receivers, but we guess availability is a good start, and you can't get much cheaper than free for the subscription cost.
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]
AOL Radio with XM Preview for Mac
Aaron let us know that AOL Radio Featuring XM is now available for Mac testers, as of August 25, 2005."Have you wanted to be able to listen to the radio stations available on AOL? How about those new XM Satellite Radio streams? Well, now you can! We are happy to present AOL Radio Featuring XM, providing more than 150 AOL Radio stations plus more than 20 popular, commercial free XM stations. Please review the FAQs and Known Issues, and then visit the Test Instructions to begin testing."The service itself is still in Beta, even for Windows users. Although I am already a proud and very happy XM subscriber, I would be interested in test-driving AOL's implementation. Unfortunately, it won't let me.I have an AIM account, which allows me to log-in to the beta site, but I am unable to access the AOL Radio tester page. Instead, I am presented with"This area can not be accessed by your account. This usually happens because:Membership or Special permissions are required.Availability is limited by geographic region. If you believe that your account should be able to access this area, please contact Customer Service to report the problem. If you would like to make another selection, click on your browser's back button to return to the previous page."Since I don't really feel like registering a new AOL account only to have to jump through hoops to cancel it when I am done testing (although my own NY State AG just made it a lot easier), I thought I'd leave the testing to you. If any of our readers are AOL subscribers and you'd like to take AOL Radio for a spin, please report back with your experiences! If you whip up a full-scale review, with screenshots and all that jazz, you might even gain fame and fortune if we're inspired enough to feature your review right here on this site. Leave your comments below or use the contact form to point us to your review.
