XM to Launch Satellite Radio Handheld?

g00set writes "Reuters is reporting 'XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc next week is expected to unveil a "wearable" device, marking the satellite radio industry leader's latest effort to woo audiences to the nascent format, analysts said.' In adddition, 'A radio industry executive said the device was believed to be a satellite-radio receiver with headphones that also had a hard drive enabling users to download XM content.'" There have been other rumors of this as well.

Comments

XM Adapter for iPod

[Power Everywhere]

I'm calling it here and now.

Re:XM Adapter for iPod

[JawFunk]

Two major devices linked is a lot more than peple want to carry around. More likely we'll see Apple partnering with XM to design an iPod with integrated XM. The feasibility of such a device can be judged once we see the specs of the wearable XM.

Re:XM Adapter for iPod

[The Spoonman]

except I don't believe the iPod has a way to play through audio from another source.

Although I don't have one, I have been investigating getting one, and I think that is incorrect. There is at least one accessory available for the iPod that suggests otherwise: The iTalk turns your iPod into a voice recorder. I think the unit simply stores your voice notes as MP3s on the iPod, but perhaps with a few tweaks it could playback real-time audio instead of just recording.

A wearable satellite?

[slowhand]

perhaps I should rtfm.

Cool Device

[genkael]

This is a really cool sounding device. But XM needs to do some more marketing to fight Sirius. XM is sweet and I'm looking forward to getting it. A handheld would make it that much better.

Re:Cool Device

[Jeff DeMaagd]

Paragraphs should be your friend. You aren't making any sense.

Personally, I'd rather a small subscription for a lot of stations, long playlists and no ads versus "free" radio's obnoxious ads, repetitious programming and only a few stations. As it is, there used to be some ads on some channels of satellite radio but they've both gone [i]away[/i] from it. I can't imagine the satellite radio companies making money charging subscriptions AND selling ads, because the no-ads is a major selling point.

I try to avoid "free" radio because of their stupid short playlists too. Die terrestrial radio, die.

Re:Cool Device

[joeljkp]

Yeah, you're right about the HD radio. But that won't solve the commercials problem.

Also, Sirius is in Chrysler and Ford, so things may be looking up for them.

Sign me up

[erick99]

I have XM radio right now and I would sign up for a portable receiver to augment the "fixed" one sitting on my nightstand. I am curious though, if I lean over the antenna I can lose the signal, where is this antenna going to be put on your body to maintain a good skyward orientation?

Re:Sign me up

[cbelt3]

XM Antennas look good on top of a propellor beanie or tinfoil hat. Sort of a shark fin thingy. Couple that with a GPS receiver, RFID implant, and your basic mind control implant that goes along with it, and you have an army of geeks at your beck and call.

As an FM guy and XM subscriber...

[SamMichaels]

I have to say that the quality of XM's audio has significantly decreased since I got the service in 2002. It resembles a poorly encoded 96k MP3 now. It could be that they have too many channels and they had to drop the bandwidth...but it sounds AWFUL. FM stations in the area have more highs, not to mention actual audio processing (the stuff that gives it that "radio sound").

If bandwidth is becoming a problem with all these channels, change the technology. Put an MP3Pro-like encoder on it...newer units sound crystal clear again and older units sound the same.

I'd sure like to hear the technical explanation from XM as to why the audio has sucked over the last few months.

Re:As an FM guy and XM subscriber...

[SirDaShadow]

Actually, after a few minutes of googling, I stand corrected. XM uses AAC with SBR at 64kbps. The "SBR" part is what makes it "mp3pro-like".

Re:As an FM guy and XM subscriber...

[SamMichaels]

I haven't heard a noticeable degredation. I've subscribed in late 2001. Talk stations are pretty bad, but music hasn't been.

It's easier to tell with an FM modulator. It used to have mad sibilance from the pre-emphasis...now since the highs are completely GONE (low pass at 10khz or something ridiculous?) and warbled, you don't hear that anymore.

If my old Pioneer unit is no longer supported, don't you think XM would have said "we did technology improvements...you need to upgrade the firmware or buy a new unit manufacturered after XX"?

Re:As an FM guy and XM subscriber...

[DAldredge]

You do know this is a one way service and the bandwidth issue comes from the adding of channels, not the adding of subscribers. Don't you?

Re:As an FM guy and XM subscriber...

[rob13572468]

the total bandwidth for the xm spectrum is 4.8 MB/s.

given that, the average bitrate per channel is 48kb/s. of course, talk and news channels will be given less bandwidth and music channels given more. xm HAS been experimenting with different codecs/bitrates and has the capability to change them on the fly.

perhaps the reduction in quality that you are hearing is simply a channel that has had its bitrate lowered so that another could be raised.

Re:As an FM guy and XM subscriber...

[Fnkmaster]

This is just not true. TV/CRT whine is almost painful to my ears if a room is otherwise silent. My roommate always does this - turns off the cable box, leaves on the TV in his room, and I have to go down the hall, into his room to shut the damned thing off because it's so distracting. Now admittedly, all of my friends are in their mid-twenties, and have never been loud concert going types (well, I've been to a few, but not a regular occurrence), so maybe we just don't have the damaged hearing of many older folks. But any audio product built specifically for a half-deaf 50 year old audience isn't going to do too well.

I'm assuming you are talking from experience re: XM radio? For me, it's just a matter of listening to XM radio and listening to a normal MP3 or AAC encoded file. You can hear the "hard cutoff" in frequency response which you can visibly see in a spectral analyzer. Even if your hearing in the high frequency range isn't too great (and admittedly, nobody hears very _well_ at those high frequencies), the cutoff sounds hard and unnatural and should be quite noticeable. It's not a bitrate artifact, since low bitrate artifacts sound very distinct (and can be heard on many of the talk channels, especially the news/weather channels, ouch). Apparently, some of the XM issues are also from the "neural analyzers" they use as part of the encoding process, according to some of the people who should know in the XM radio forums. But almost everybody seems to admit now that the hard frequency cutoff is an issue.

here are some pictures!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.xm411.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=3164

This does not look dorky, there really doesn't appear to be room for a harddrive (ignorant industry exec!), the antenna is integrated in the headphones, and it's actually just an accessory for the Roady2 XM receiver.

Re:here are some pictures!!!

[erick99]

That is a picture of the Roady, mated with some sort of dock.

Portable

[Auckerman]

I'm one of those people who think if the music isn't portable, then it's useless. The only exception to this is my old war time jazz vinyl collection and that's cause I'm lazy and haven't encoded it yet. Anyhow, it's one of the fatal flaws in satellite radio along with the fact that the user still get's little input into what's being played.

Personally, I think there's a LOT of money to be made with satellite based on demand music. The playlist/selection revolves during the day, you queue it up or put it on random.

*yawn*

[Misch]

Sirius already has a handheld unit, the XACT receiver.

How small?
This small.

Re:*yawn*

[Misch]

There's no reason to be such an ass when pointing out an error.

There is a handheld power unit that goes with it.

It looks something like this.

And if I get modded to -1, you're going the same way, as it is not a "farking car module". Troll.

Re:Wearable != handheld.

[Jeff DeMaagd]

Have you actually tried satellite radio?

I haven't but I don't think that XM necessarily has the same problems that AM has because they are on different bands, and the property of RF vary depending on its wavelength. For many urban areas, XM also has terrestrial repeater antennas to minimize the risk of drop-outs.

Besides, for intermitten't problems, the signal is pre-buffered a bit with plenty of error correction to boot.

I'd be vaguely interested in it if I can dock this little thing to my car, dock it to my HT sound system, or to my computer sound system, and use external antennas that connect through the dock.

Satellite radio subscriptions are charged per-reciever, and for one person, it isn't worth owning multiple recievers.

Re:Wearable != handheld.

[Average_Joe_Sixpack]

Just stick antenna in your pants and you'll be a hit with the ladies.

Cool!

[eli173]

A hand-held satellite launcher! Think of what Carmack could do with that!

Huh?

Oh, a hand-held radio satellite's still cool; miniaturization has come a long way.

What?

Oh.

Nevermind.

But while driving?

[Trolling4Columbine]

If you mean assembling playlists and such before a trip, then fine. But I'd rather people weren't searching through menus trying to find a song while they're doing 90 down the freeway.

Re:Wearable != handheld.

[phobos13013]

XM doesnt work in large hulking structures made of concrete or thick metal. Passing under bridges loses the signal, driving inside a concrete parking garage also, and if you live in a brownstone or large scale apartment complex, its useless unless the antenna is outside on the roof at least. If yr home is a wooden/vinyl siding or balloon frame or such, yr fine. XM has tons of great options and the features or great, but i dont see it making a huge impact in the personal audio department, more of a car audio system imo.

Sirius...

[Iphtashu Fitz]

I hope Sirius comes out with a similar product by the end of the year. I plan to subscribe to Sirius when Howard Stern starts there next year.

Re:Sirius...

[skydude_20]

They already do

Re:Sirius...

[jokach]

I don't necessarily agree that he is a sellout. He did what was required to stay on the air and keep his $100 million a year paycheck.

The way that censorship is cutting away at his radio empire, what other choice does he have? Satellite radio will become the cable TV of radio, I think everyone knows that, and Stern made the move at the right time.

Re:Sirius...

[terrymr]

Actually it appears that $100 million is for programming 3 24/7 channels on Sirius rather than just bringing his morning show.

Re:Wearable != handheld.

[erick99]

They give you a very long antenna cable with the home kit that would allow most folks to set the antenna on a window ledge and still have the radio on a table or night stand.

Getting hot and heavy on the radio.

[schiefaw]

I have the Audiovox portable tuner for Sirius with the boombox accessory. This thing drains enough juice that it may as well be a portable pizza oven. Eight D cell batteries last around six hours! The tuner itself gets very hot. Unless you plan on wearing a car battery around your neck, they will need to change some things.

Perhaps this push for wearable units will force the manufacturers to update the technology. I don't understand why the tuner cannot be the size of a Palm Pilot and run cool. I have to imagine that much of the power drain is lost in heat.

Re:Wearable != handheld.

[aelbric]

This is not entirely incorrect.

I have logged 40000 miles in my car with XM and have noticed the following:

Bridges: no problem
Parking deks: no problem
Tunnels: problem, but how long do you spend in tunnels

As far as indoors:
Home, Brick(portable device): no problem
Office: Can be iffy if mobile and dead spots can be encountered. But where it works I would not want to be without it.

The service is fantastic I would recommend it to anyone. Small price to pay to get real music choice and almost no commercial interruption.

Re:Why?

[Anonymous Coward]

#1 No FCC
#2 Huge huge amount of variety
#3 No Commercials
#4 No FCC
#5 Travel Convenience
#6 No FCC
#7 O&A

Honestly, I look at it the same way as I do cable. Why do people pay for hbo? Great programming, No commercial interruptions, No FCC 'guidelines'. Same applies here.

Re:common subscription

[Iphtashu Fitz]

From what I understand both XM & Sirius license individual radios. This means a subscription lets you listen to their service on one radio. I think both companies offer discounts for additional recivers, but you're still paying for each one you listen to. This is why some of the manufacturers of radios make them portable & include docking stations for cars, stereos, etc. You buy one radio & take it wherever you want - in the car, the office, home, etc.

Re:Why?

[skydude_20]

No, none, zip, zilch commercials, just music (at least with Sirus, they're getting there with XM). And your favorite station is the same station no-matter where you are in the country.

Sub$cription co$t$

[Secrity]

XM and Sirius both charge per receiver:

XM
first receiver: $10 / month
each additional receiver: $7 (2nd - 5th receiver)

Sirius
first receiver: $13 / month
each additional receiver: $7 (2nd - 4th receiver)

Both have discounted multiyear subscriptions.

Sirius has a product lifetime subscription available for about $500.

Hmmm, TiVo's product lifetime subscription is only $300.

Re:Wearable != handheld.

[rob13572468]

actually, that is not true: both xm radio and sirius use additional terrestrial repeaters to solve the problem of signal loss inside buildings: xm has several hundred repeater nationwide while sirius has significantly less; this is primarily due to the fact that sirius uses an 3 sat elliptical constillation that allows receivers much more coverage due to the higher inclination of the sat in respect to the listner compared to xm's two geostationary sats. either way, the terrestrial repeaters solve the problem with the exception of some signal loss when the antenna is deep inside a building where the 2330 mhz signals simply do not propogate well. the new units will be very small; this is due to a new chipset that shrinks down the needed board size by about half of what was needed by the old one (which was produced by st-thompson and needed 3 chips beside the main processor). also the antenna has been minaturized to about the size of a small gps antenna; about 1" x 1" x 1/3". but the most important advance is that the new chipset and antenna uses drastically less power than the st chips and that was the main reason why we have not seen a portable until now. The xm service is truly an exellent service when compared to what is out there, i.e. fm radio. while it is not cd quality, that was never the goal. xm's entire bandwidth for all 100 channels is 4.8 MB/s which means that each channel averages 48 kb/s. the fact that they can get music that sounds like a 96k mp3 with that bandwidth is pretty damn good. that not withstanding, the real reason to listen to xm (or sirius) is that you actually get some programming choice; with the fm dial being owned almost exclusively by clearchannel and playing the same crap over and over, you actully get a chance to listen to something that you might want to hear...