MP3/Sat.-Radio Player Boosts Record Capabilities

By Amy Gilroy -- TWICE, 10/27/2008

New York — Pioneer's second-generation wearable satellite radio, the Sirius XM XMp3, is the first satellite-radio receiver with the ability to record several channels at once for later playback, Sirius XM said.

The $279-suggested XMp3 headphone stereo will replace Pioneer's first-generation model, the $399-suggested Inno, which was marketed by XM before the merger of the two satellite providers.

Like its predecessor, the XMp3 stores compressed-music files transferred from a PC, but the new model adds a MicroSD card for additional MP3 storage. Also in contrast to its predecessor, the XMp3 features a programming guide that displays broadcasts on each channel up to two weeks in advance to help users discover new content and program recordings in advance. Users can schedule up to five channels of live satellite radio, storing up to 75 hours of programming.

Other features include the ability to automatically record up to an additional 30 hours of content so that users can switch to recorded content when they're out of satellite range. as well as DVR-like recording of up to 30 minutes of live programming.

It was unclear at press time whether the new device could disaggregate recorded XM programming, enabling users to search for recorded songs by title, artist and genre.