Satellite radio chipset
p2p news view / p2pnet: Almost two years ago there were rumors circulating that the next iPod on the horizon might add satellite radio capabilities on-the-go. The rumors, and God knows there are many of them, were sparked by meetings between Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin and Steve Jobs. Apple passed on a iPod Satellite – a device that would have required Sirius to first develop a new chipset much smaller and lighter than what they had existing – but left the door open for later talks.
Eventually, both Sirius and XM produced portable players like the S50 and the Inno, but none of them could capture satellite reception directly. They all had to use a dock to download programming from a stationary receiver and thus were limited only to the channels recorded.
Now it looks like Sirius is the first to shrink their satellite radio chipset, making it possible to bring its content to DAPs and mobile phones. At the Convergence 2.0 conference held this week at the Museum of Television & Radio in New York, Karmazin flashed what he teasingly described as the first digital audio player with a built-in satellite receiver. Karmazin didn’t offer any details on the player, not even a name. All he offered on the device was that it should be available by the end of summer, then tossed it back in his pocket.
So will this re-open talks with Apple? Maybe, though Sirius probably needs the iPod’s afterglow more than Apple needs a new killer iPod feature. iPod competitors are another matter. As they struggle to differentiate their products from the iPod and grab even a little market share away from Apple a built-in satellite radio will offer quite a bit of appeal. One detail that bears speculation is if the unit will allow users to record satellite content onto the player? Recently Karmazin was strong-armed by the record industry into paying royalties for his S50 unit (XM chose to fight the matter in court, but Sirius didn’t want the legal hassels), royalties the company will avoid if the new DAP appears sans over-the-air record capabilities.
Rich Menta – MP3NewsWire
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July 3rd, 2006 at 1:57 pm
SIRI and XM will be gobbled up by other companies. I suspect SIRI will be part of Apple.
July 3rd, 2006 at 3:32 pm
The XM Pioneer Inno/Samsung Helix DO get a live XM satellite signal in portable mode. Only Sirius is still without this capability. XM and Samsung do offer the neXus, which is a portable unit like the Sirius S50 that only gets a live satellite signal when docked.
The new player shown by Mel looks similar in size to the Delphi Myfi, the FIRST GEN XM portable that is almost two years old, and ALSO WAS ABLE TO RECEIVE LIVE XM SATELLITE SIGNAL ON THE GO.
While it’s very likely the Sirius unit will be better than XM’s first live portable, it comes nearly TWO FULL YEARS later – demonstrating Sirius’ clear technology lag behind larger rival XM.
July 4th, 2006 at 2:37 pm
Yeah, it seems MP3 NewsWire gets this wrong ALL of the time. XM is now well into its SECOND generation of live reception on portable units. Sirius would LOVE for consumers to compare the S50 to the Inno/Helix in print, but not in practice. The S50 is comparable to the cheaper Samsung XM unit, the “Nexus.” What you pay extra for in Pioneer’s Inno or Samsung’s Helix is LIVE radio! That’s why the reviews tend to call the Inno a category killer, because it’s live satellite-meets-the-Ipod, kind of. Since the two companies’ inception, Sirius has been at least a year behind XM in technology, but Sirius’ marketing does a good job of muddying those waters. But seriously, go to a Best Buy or Circuit City or whatever and really spend some time playing with the radios… after a few minutes it’s pretty easy to tell which satellite company is innovative and which one tends to have radios that are heavy and clearly reverse-engineered.
As for the Apple piece, I’m sure they’re waiting to see how the RIAA thing works out. That’s a mistake, because if XM survives the onslaught they’ll emerge as a much bigger fish; that’s generally what’s happened historically to companies who’ve fought and won for consumer rights for electronics, no? Yes. But whatever.
I’ve tried posting over at MP3 NewsWire, but couldn’t find an e-mail to get in touch with those guys. They’re pretty wildly wrong on this one.