Filed under: Portable Audio, Transportation

The good folks at Orbitcast have the rundown on what the FCC’s crackdown leaky FM modulators means for you and your next satellite radio; in short: more wires. The complete details on XM’s and Sirius‘ answers to the FCC’s demands have emerged in (what else?) FCC certification filings, with each company coming to similar solutions. Sirius’ FM Extender, seen above, requires you to affix a wire inside the vehicle as close to the external FM antenna as possible which, in most cases, means a wire on your front or rear windshield. XM’s FM coupler takes things one step further,with a coupling clip that attaches directly to the external antenna or sticks to an on-glass antenna. Not exactly an ideal solution in either case, though we tend to agree with Orbitcast’s assessment that professional installers have got to be digging it. Too bad, too, we were kind of digging on the short-range pirate radio stations we’d been broadcasting in traffic these last few years.

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Filed under: Portable Audio

Engadget reader John C. managed to nab a Sirius Stiletto 100 and took a bunch of pictures for us — thanks John! Sounds like he was really happy with it for the most part, mentioning that the sound quality is great, but already we’re seeing some drawbacks. Apparently the unit suffers from such a minor but obvious oversight in lacking a charge indicator when it’s off, but the big bummer was learning how this unit gets reception without a fat antenna like its XM2Go competition — they give you some seriously massive and dopey looking headphones that receive the signal from atop your dome. You might not think that’s as big a hack as we do — after all, it’s probably only for those pesky dead zones where you need a little extra oomph, right? Not so; John mentioned to us that unless you live near a terrestrial repeater, you’re not going to have much of a choice but to wear the big phones, and not the ear buds (of course, your mileage may vary). The things we do for portables.

P.S. -Reader Eric hit us up with a YouTube vid of his Stiletto 100 in action — check it out after the break.

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: Portable Audio

We know that the last thing you wanted to see on a peaceful Tuesday afternoon was another Stiletto post, but we thought we’d just let you know that Sirius has finally gone official on the “availability” of the Stiletto 100 this month. We’re not even sure what they mean by that, since there’s still no mention of the player on their main site or online store, but they printed it up in a nice fancy press release, so at least it means they’re done with any of those rumored “delays” or whatnot. Sirius also has the prices on the vehicle kit ($70), home kit ($70) and executive system ($150) that we spotted yesterday, so that’s pretty, um, exciting.

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: Portable Audio

Let’s recap: Sirius gets us all in a tizzy by announcing its first “personal live satellite radio product,” then opens up the floodgates to pre-orders, and suddenly pulls the rug out from under the whole deal by demanding that retailers stop taking orders of the Stiletto 100 under further notice. The cause behind such a curious sequence of events might not be manufacturing hangups, supplier shortages, or any of the most common issues related with postponed launches — rather, the company may simply be waiting for an FCC ID number. Considering the agency hasn’t exactly been an ally in Sirius’ production process (nor XM’s, to be fair), we aren’t terribly surprised at the supposed culprit. A tiny, albeit powerful snippet of fine print within FCC guidelines prohibits the marketing of products that aren’t in good standing with the commission, which gives strong suspicion that Sirius is just holding its horses until the Stiletto 100 is granted its oh-so-honorable identification tag — whenever that may be.

[Via Orbitcast]

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: Portable Audio, Wireless

[Via Orbitcast; thanks, zatz]

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Filed under: Home Entertainment

Breaking with the tradition of beginning nearly all of its product names with the letter “S” (see the recently released Stiletto, Starmates, Sportsters, Stratus and old school S50 for reference), Sirius has announced a new in-home satellite radio tuner known as the Conductor. Instead of lugging your Sirius boombox all over the house, you’ll now be able to hook the tuner directly into your rack-mounted receiver (though you’ll still need to snake that antenna outside) and operate it from almost anywhere in your pad thanks to the handy RF- and IR-equipped remote. The LCD-sporting universal remote can also control up to five other members of your home theater family, and if you’re willing to shell out for an extra Sirius subscription, it has the ability to rock two separate audio zones with a compatible SiriusConnect tuner. (Howard in one room and Martha in the other — does life get any better than that?) Scheduled for a November release, the Conductor system will set you back $150, but if you’ve already got yourself a lifetime sub, this would seem like a must-have item (well, as long as you don’t mind eating the transfer fee).

[Via Orbitcast]

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Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio, Transportation, Wireless

So Sirius just held a little party for its upcoming crop of devices, and besides the anticipated Stiletto 100 portable receiver we already knew about, the company also introduced the WiFi-less $249 Stiletto 10 (whose name should indicate its recording capacity) along with four new universal plug-and-play radios in the vein of the Sportster. Speaking of the Sportster, the first new model happens to be a stripped-down version of the Sportster4, with the $120 Sportster3 (pictured after the break) “sporting” all the same features as its big brother minus that handy 44-minute Replay functionality. Replay can still be found, however, in the new Starmate4 (pictured above, also $120) — though not in the “lower-end,” $100 Starmate3 — both of which feature extra-large displays and are obviously new iterations of the original Starmate. Finally we have the brand new Stratus (anyone else getting overloaded with “S”es here?), which at only $60 is the cheapest of the bunch, and seems to cut corners in the areas of both design and accessories (no remote or vehicle dock, for instance). All the plug-and-play radios are compatible with the new generation of home and car docks and boomboxes, and the entire family of new products will be released gradually throughout the months of September and October.

Read- Starmates, Sportster, and Stratus
Read- Stilettos [Via Orbitcast]

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Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio

If you’ve ever dreamed of morphing your Sirius boombox and iPod speaker system into one incredibly convenient unit, you’re obviously not alone. Directed Electronics has raised the curtains on its Soloist universal media dock, which apparently hopes to be an end-all solution to folks who don’t want a separate sound system for every media player they own. Although this is labeled with the ever-trendy “universal” tagline, it’s clear this NXT-powered device was created with Apple’s cash cow and Sirius subscribers in mind. The Soloist utilizes SurfaceSound flat panel speaker technology, and packs a subtle 10 watt-per-channel Tripath amplifier into a thin, black housing. While the system will definitely support the iPod and Sirius varieties, an untold amount of other interchangeable cradles will supposedly be included. Just in case your DAP is shunned in the cradle department, an aux-in port is provided along with a headphone jack and a Sirius in-house antenna to boot. The portability crowd will be a bit bummed that the Soloist only plays when connected to an AC outlet, as a battery compartment is MIA, but you will be able to wake to your favorite tune or Sirius station thanks to the built-in alarm clock, which could possibly make dragging yourself out of bed at least slightly less excruciating. This surprisingly well-featured device might not replace your high-end speaker systems, but if consolidation becomes a necessity, you can snag the Soloist for $149 this September.

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Transportation

Apparently someone should really investigate the FCC’s approval process, because this marks the second mishap in 2006 that has forced a satellite radio company to halt production of some of its radios. Not too far behind XM’s run-in with the law, Sirius is also facing scrutiny for their FM-transmitting devices. Apparently the emissions are too powerful for their own good (which might be a good thing, considering our Helix test unit’s FM transmitter was unbelievably underpowered), and the excessive output is beyond the regulations they were originally approved for — seems pretty straight forward. Although we aren’t certain of the exact radios affected in this filing, Sirius seems confident that the devices in question fully comply with FCC regulations (that stamp of approval is valid, right?) and this scuffle won’t require any major recalls or financial losses. Regardless of who dropped the ball here, the FCC is definitely making this a painful year to be a satellite radio provider.

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Mr Panbo does a side by side comparo of both XM and Sirius’s ability to track weather in real time. He’s using them in a marine capacity, but there’s no reason why that info couldn’t be used to help landlubbers on their morning commutes sometime soon. The Verdict: Sirius didn’t see some storms, but accurately predicted drizzle. XM saw dark clouds and wind direction/speed, but wasn’t any more reliable than your average weather man. – Brian Lam

Live Satellite Weather Monitoring [ Panbo's Marine Electronics and Communication Weblog ]

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Apple rumor site Think Secret has been busy chatting it up with all those company insiders whom Misters Jobs and Gates would love to get their rich and powerful hands on, and turned those leaks into an article which dispels some of the recently-circulating iPod rumors, along with providing a few more tantalizing deets about Microsoft’s upcoming “iPod killer.” For starters, it looks like we shouldn’t be expecting the “true” video iPod until at least the annual MacWorld Expo in January — though larger capacity 5G ‘Pods may arrive in the interim — and apparently the long-rumored iPhone also won’t be coming anytime soon, as that project has reportedly been put on hold for the foreseeable future. Furthermore, when the 6G iPod is finally released, it will likely lack both the wireless capabilities and talking interface that some people have been anticipating; Apple is said to believe that the former feature would have too much of an impact on battery life, while the latter would only feed what’s seen as a marginal consumer demand. Finally, Microsoft’s so-called Zune — which is rumored to sport WiFi for communicating with MTV’s Urge service — may also come equipped with a powerful 400MHz processor suitable for gaming, as well as a built in tuner for receiving satellite radio broadcasts. Obviously all this info is just speculation from unnamed sources for now, but if the Zune does end up duping your iTunes tracks, playing high-quality games, and giving you access to Sirius or XM on the go, then Apple may be facing its first real marketplace battle in the iPod’s brief but influential existence.

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Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio

Need a boombox to take your satellite jams wherever you're at in the house? Want to throw back to the 80s and hoist it up on your shoulder? Whichever camp you're in, Sirius has a new boombox looming that reportedly supports the entire array of Sportster units; according to Orbitcast, the SUBX1 Universal Sirius Boombox even supports the Sportster 4, Streamer 3, and any future receivers, and has the usual built-in amp, stereo speakers, and aux input to connect your other DAP of choice. The SUBX1's actual release date is still up in the air, but preliminary estimations indicate a $359.99 pricetag on the boombox / Sportster 4 combo kit. Extract the Sportster 4 and we'll probably see the box going solo for around $190.

[Via Orbitcast, thanks nox_EvDo]

Filed under: Portable Audio

While XM is already offering its customers live feeds on-the-go through the well-received Pioneer Inno and Samsung Helix, rival Sirius has been rather slow to the starting gate in this department, as its flagship S50 portable only plays back content that was recorded while it was docked. Now, however, it looks like Sirius is finally on the verge of releasing its first DAP with built-in satellite receiver, and Tech Effect even managed to snap a picture of the device when CEO Mel Karmazin briefly flashed it during his keynote at this week’s Convergence 2.0 conference. Unfortunately Mel only broke out the chunky-looking player to illustrate a point he was making about the iPod (”I wish it didn’t exist,” he said, probably only half-jokingly), so all that’s known about this unit is its size and the fact that it sports a headphone jack. Still, Mel promises that he’ll have the product in stores by the end of the summer, and since it’s reportedly in the midst of beta testing, we’re expecting to see some leaked specs and photos sooner rather than later — much sooner if any of you testers would be so kind as to drop us a line.

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

It’s a pretty serious matter when any private media company decides to throw up a private satellite into orbit, which is why we’re not taking it lightly that the heavily indebted Stern-enabled Sirius satellite radio network is dropping more than a quarter billion dollars to put satellite number four — lovingly named SIRIUS FM-5 — into space. Just don’t be surprised if you start hearing more rumblings about their supposedly forthcoming video and data systems in the near future; sounds like this SS/L’s 1300 system’s going to pack in some serious tech.

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Wireless

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]

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Filed under: Portable Audio

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]

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Filed under: Portable Audio

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