TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: XM vs. IPod - XM's New Portable Satellite Radio

XM vs. IPod - XM's New Portable Satellite Radio

Monty Solomon (monty@roscom.com)
Fri, 29 Oct 2004 22:28:23 -0400

Will XM's new portable satellite radio make the iPod obsolete?

By Paul Boutin

Listen to this story on NPR's Day to Day.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4128832

Apple Computer and XM Radio both unveiled hot, next-generation
portable music players this morning. Apple's upgraded iPod Photo has
60 gigs of storage capacity, a color screen, and new software that
lets you bloat it with photos as well as music. (Cost: $499 for the
40-gig model, $599 for the 60-gig version.) XM's new MyFi player is,
in short, the first satellite radio Walkman. It can tune into 130-plus
channels of digital radio and even store five hours of programming for
you to play back at your leisure. (Cost: $349.99, plus $9.99 per month
for an XM subscription.)

My instant take on today's game of whiz-bang one-upmanship is that
both companies lost. It's now five hours after Apple's U2-bedecked
press conference, and I still haven't stopped yawning. This new iPod
Photo is the same iPod we're already sick of hearing about. The 2-inch
color screen isn't the start of any digital revolution-all it does is
turn your iPod into a camera phone that can't take pictures or make
phone calls.

http://slate.com/Default.aspx?id=2108707

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