Satellite Radio

XM and Sirius Expand Sports Lineup

Both Sirius and XM have been expanding their sports offerings lately — no doubt to tap into the fanatical multi-gazillion dollar industry. Sirius recently concluded Winter X Games and Super Bowl XL coverage, and moves on to Winter Olympics updates beginning tomorrow. Meanwhile on XM, all 39 games of the World Baseball Classic will be … Read more

DISH Satellite To Launch

Echostar plans to expand DISH Network bandwidth with Wednesday’s launch of satellite X. Adding an extra satellite doesn’t really impress me, but I am intrigued by the launch details. As with DirecTV and XM, Echostar has enlisted Sea Launch’s Odyssey platform — a vessel that motors out to sea for launch. Sea Launch will be … Read more

Samsung’s New XM Portables

Samsung has introduced two new portable XM receivers, the Nexus and the Helix. Both are hard drive based devices which support MP3 and WMA audio tracks. Additionally, they both allow you to record XM content for later playback. Like the Sirius S50, the Nexus is limited to playing live satellite while docked. However, the full-color … Read more

XM Goes HD

I’m no audiophile, so this announcement doesn’t do much for me. However, those of you who enjoy fully immersive music are in for a treat. Beginning in March, XM subscriptions will include two “XM HD Surround” stations and special hi-def programming. Obviously, you’ll need some new hardware to handle the 5.1 audio… but why let … Read more

XM + Napster Beta Begins

XM + NapsterXM and Naspter have begun beta testing their co-branded service. This new service provides a single interface for listening to over 70 XM stations and linking the currently playing artist to Napster’s artist/album information and downloadable selection of MP3s. New XM/Napster integrated players are also on the way. XM subscribers can find out more and download the software here.

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XM Arrives on DirecTV

XM on DTV

As previously reported, 72 XM stations were scheduled to debut on DirecTV today… and they did. Tim Bilbro, my man in the field, provided some pics and commentary: “The sound is crystal clear and stereo. The rating systems work with your parental controls as well. The display of what’s playing on screen is off on some channels.” Despite the sporadic song info synchronization issue, it sounds good to me as a free upgrade!

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DirecTV Partners With XM

Seems natural that DirecTV would partner with XM at some point, given Dish’s Sirius dealings. DirecTV is charging customers a total of zero dollars for this enchancement. DirecTV says: As part of DIRECTV’s dedication to offering the best in entertainment to its customers, beginning Nov. 15, 2005, 72 channels of XM’s quality music, children’s, and … Read more