21. Sounds like a nice attempt, but I think I'll wait for Sirius to get their act together before I plunk down $450+ for a glorified iPod rip-off.

I want a portable radio that I can listen to Stern live on-air, not the next day or whenever I can get home and download the (probably DRMed to death) show.

As for the MP3 functionality, I have an iPod that works beautifully and holds 40GB worth of whatever I want to put on it. I don't need another MP3 player that tries to be all things to all people. That's why most of the other MP3 players out there suck.

And what's the bit rate/sound quality of 50 hrs of content squeezed down to 1GB sound like? I'd be curious.

It took Sirius a year (after XM released their walkable model) to throw this out on the market?? They're so far behind XM in terms of hardware it's laughable. I'll probably just get their absolute cheapest model initially just to listen to Stern come January and figure out a way to record the show at home and tranfer it to my iPod.

Posted at 12:12PM on Aug 29th 2005 by Geek

22. Great article - thanks!

To answer a question asked above, the PR Newswire release stated: "The 'Scheduled Record' feature allows the user to set the radio to capture favorite shows on a one time or recurring basis."

So far, I've seen nothing about transferring recorded Sirius content, so I'd say it's safe to assume you can't. If you could, that would be a big selling point, and one they'd not omit.

With this new technology, and with Sirius investing heavily in video, I wonder how far we are from satellite video streams to the receivers... Maybe live concert audio & video?

Also, Sirius will be adding stock tickers to the receivers (they already have scrolling sports scores), and live traffic reporting--with GPS in the near future.

I recently called Sirius to complain about them playing the radio edit (i.e. censored) version of certain songs via their online player, and while speaking with the rep., I learned a little more. Howard's stations (100 & 101), as well as nearly all of the Talk radio stations, are not/will not be broadcast via the web player. Something to do with the different contracts they have with the Talk broadcasts vs. the Music. The rep. said he was certain Howard would not be online, "initially," but suggested it is possible he could end up online at some point. My guess is he will, but it won't be for a while... If Howard's the #1 draw for Sirius, he's the #1 draw for receiver sales. If you can get his programming online, then you may be more likely to buy the cheaper receivers. My guess is that he'll be online after receiver sales slow, AND when they need a boost in new subs in order to hit a quarterly projection. But who knows when that will be...

Finally, I think it's ridiculous that people complain that the S50 can't pick up live content on-the-go. If you've spent any time with XM's portables, you'd very quickly realize that they're not very good (bad execution of a good idea). Comparing XM's portables with the Sirius S50 is like comparing those old brick cellphones to a Motorola Razr. XM's portables are quite bulky (by today's standards for 'portability'), they run pretty hot, they have wires all over, and the reception is sub-par, to put it mildly. What good is a portable satellite radio receiver that's uncomfortable to wear & gets lousy reception?? Until the technology improves significantly, "wearable" satellite radio receivers are simply not ready for prime time. The S50, on the other hand, is bleeding edge.

Posted at 7:10PM on Sep 20th 2005 by Scott

23. nice article and nice discussion. Sirius is just trying to get stuff out there at this point. A lot like nintendo does, they are keeping it clean and simple until the tech catches up. (Think Gamecube vs. the PS2 w/ the add on HDD and Network Adapter) So you get more function w/ XM's beast, but the Sirius portable is really a nod to those wanting to record Stern show. Recording the show is a must for me, paying a subscription fee basically for Stern and Sports like NFL, I don't want to miss a single minute of any of Stern's stuff, and given that I work I cant exactly listen to the show from 6am to 10:30 continuously.

Its a step in the right direction, but as some of the excellent questions already posted point out, they are really keeping it basic and going for DRM type functionality first. Which of course is good business but bad for the listeners. People will probably find a way to crack it in the first couple of versions before they get it right.

A nice hands on, but given that is Pre Alpha you have to wonder how this will be released on time and bug free?

Posted at 1:22PM on Sep 23rd 2005 by expane

24. Question about the S50, what is the screen size, can it record more than one station at the same time. thats all. thanks

Brian,

Posted at 7:36PM on Oct 3rd 2005 by Brian

25. The press release reads a little strange, but from what I understand the S50 won't be able to record multiple channels AT THE SAME TIME.

Directed Electronics makes the S50.

Posted at 7:38PM on Oct 3rd 2005 by Ryan Saghir

26. I was wondering if there is a FM Transmitter built into the S50 unit?

Thanks!

Seth

Posted at 4:59PM on Oct 4th 2005 by Seth Hamilton

27. Question for ya! I have to always walk from my car to my college classes which is about 1/2 mile. So i have to turn off Howard in the morning and end Howard's show, it truely sucks! So your saying with this Radio ill be able to listen to Howard while walking, LIVE? Cuz if thats true, im def buying this thing!

Posted at 9:01PM on Oct 6th 2005 by Mike

28. NO, and let me be perfectly clear about this. This unit does not have LIVE capabilities while on the go. You will only be able to listen to Sirius while plugged into the homekit/carkit. You can listen to RECORDED content on the go, but not LIVE content.

I don't think it has an FM transmitter built in.

Posted at 10:09PM on Oct 6th 2005 by Ryan Saghir

29. So whats the point of having the S50. Sirius totally screwed up in this case! XM is doing one better and seems to be going in the right direction because the WiFi can pick up live feed. Why do I wanna record a radio show? I wanna listen to it live. Why do I wanna use this as a very expensive mp3 player? Only if Howard Stern knew about this, this is a horrible move by Sirius in my eyes, what do you think?

Posted at 10:58PM on Oct 6th 2005 by Mike

30. Hi there, with the S50, will I be able to record the Howard Stern shows and then transfert them all on my computer? Could I then transfert them back on the S50 for when I want to listen to them? Thanks
P.S. When will it be available in Canada?

Posted at 1:27PM on Oct 7th 2005 by Helene

31. Id like to correct the staff person who said that it wont have a built in transmitter. I email a person at color match antenna and he confirmed that there is a built in fm transmitter.

Posted at 5:32PM on Oct 8th 2005 by Brian

32. so...will there be other companies (pioneer, samsung)who will contract with Sirius like they did with XM to make portable/wearable satellite radio products...
and...howard will not be on-line correct? if he is will you be able to record it with any recording device...

Posted at 6:23PM on Oct 8th 2005 by eric anderson

33. This is totally False! Ive called sirius a few times already to find out the truth on this topic! S50 will NOT be able to pick up live feed. You will only be able to record things and replay them and also use the S50 as a mp3 player

Posted at 10:51AM on Oct 11th 2005 by Mike

34. yeah if its not docked but when its docked you can listen to live sirius radio. ALso how long will I be able to record a station could it be recorded as long as 50 hours or are there limits?

Posted at 7:17PM on Oct 11th 2005 by Brian

35. The S50 looks phat and is pretty compact, want one when it comes out, hopefully soon. My question is if I am listening to Howard in my car and have to go inside to work(not able to have a dock unit at work), how can I record the show if the car is off, will it still pick up a signal??

Posted at 3:32PM on Oct 12th 2005 by Wes

36. Hello, I was waiting for Sirius to come out with something seriously like the S50, I can't wait till it comes in I have one on hold for me and I have a home kit coming in too. If I take a good guess where the pics were taken from can I get a discount on a life time plan with Sirius? It's great that Sirius has life time on there service and I would love to have that life Subscription with Sirius.
Plus are they coming out with a screen protector or rubber body for the S50 that would be great to have and some other cool accessories.
I can imagine the screen can get scratched easily.
So Ill give a guess on where the pics where taken.
Just let me know if that's a deal...

Thanks,
Getting Sirius

Posted at 3:31PM on Oct 13th 2005 by Jose

37. Hi Jose, you can get a life time subscription until January 31/06 for $499.00. It's good for 3 radios. What I mean by that is that if you ever decide to buy a new radio because you want something better that what you have right now, you can transfer your subscription to your new radio up to 3 times. After that, you have to renew your subscription.

Posted at 7:08AM on Oct 14th 2005 by H?ne Desjardins

38. Howard records that E! Entertainment show...doesn't he also have encore shows when he on vacation?...I bet his show is rerun all day anyway...I don't think he cares as long as you buy a subscription and listen to his ads..This unit will be great for listening to music..I don't like mp3 players..too much of a pain....BTW, a cheaper way of doing this (buying a S50) is getting a Sirius sportster and using the wireless transmitter and record it off mp3 player via FM. Iriver can record FM station.

Posted at 9:09AM on Oct 17th 2005 by Scott

39. My s50 will not record anything with the hit of a button. The "love button" does't record a song that I wish to save when I hear it live at all. It only asks me to set record start, and set record end as if I was trying to record a whole show. Then when I try to playback what I have recorded it only plays silence, and the start time reads 00.00 as well as the finish time. My unit will also NOT record anything from my 3 favorite chanels. I cannot access any playlists, my channels, my songs or anything. The only thing my unit does do is recieve live feeds which I enjoy greatly. But I could have got this result by buying a 40 dollar sirius radio instead of spending 500 dollars after warranty and installation on an s50. I need to know if my unit is defective, or installed improperly. There is a line out port on the car dock reciever that is one of four ports. This line out port is not hooked up. Is this the answer to why I cannot record. Someone please tell me.

Posted at 2:30AM on Dec 23rd 2005 by Brian Rogers

40. I agree 100000%. This is a mess. I thought you can get live satellite radio, while using this thing like a walkman.



I don't see the point of buying this unit.



Perhaps the technology isn't there yet. But why not? GPS receiver hook up to satellites. Why can't these receivers do the same for Sirius content live, on the go?



I'm not sure how it all works...but this is just a mess of a product if it is not truly portable.



My 2 cents.

Posted at 10:00AM on Dec 29th 2005 by tunaluva