No Satellite iPod...

[MacRumors]

Sirus Satellite Radio's CEO, Mel Karmazin reveals (http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/09/news/midcaps/sirius_ipod/index.htm?cnn=yes) that he was in talks with Steve Jobs about incorporating the satellite radio into upcoming iPods, but the current feeling is that "they don't need to put a satellite radio in their box [iPod]".

Rumors of the incorporation of the satellite played into the iPod first surfaced in December (http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2004/12/20041216145940.shtml).

[gwuMACaddict]

good. the iPod is an mp3 player.

[Dreadnought]

That would be soooo sweet, common Steve, don't be so stubburn!

[jadam]

That would have been pretty cool to have satellite radio, but with podcasts becoming more prevalent nowadays, I can see their reasoning.

[sord]

Then let me be the first, Satalite iPods next Tuesday!!!

[morespce54]

That would be a good idea...

...Or any other ways to get radio stations on iPod would be good IMO...

[LaMerVipere]

It's for the best. Who wants satellite music on their mp3 player? Seriously.

[coumerelli]

well, on one hand, I can see where adding XM or sirus would have cornered the market for that much longer, but on the other hand, yeah, in the mac purist fashion, less is more.

[patseguin]

What is a "podcast"?

[Note from the moderator: This question has now been answered a few times in this thread.]

[Chaszmyr]

Not surprised, but a little disappointed :(

[Wonder Boy]

It's for the best. Who wants satellite music on their mp3 player? Seriously.

Seriously? Me.

[SiliconAddict]

good. the iPod is an mp3 player.


Yah god forbid its ever more then that. New for 2035 the er...new iPod. Its got more battery life and can hold more songs just like last years model and the previous years and the previous years, and the previous.... :rolleyes:

If that is the trend so much for Apple being the innovative company. More like the stagnant company. The iPod Photo is cool and all (I own the 60GB one.) but its hardly revolutionary.

[PlaceofDis]

not for me, so im glad, i dont need/want the iPod to become the jack of all trades, it works well as a MP3 player, dont let it become too bloated

[chrissurra]

Maybe because XM is already working on it with Apple?

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/port...ypod-029191.php

[machan]

yeah well, a year ago Jobs was saying they weren't interested in the low end flash market....

[Doctor Q]

Couldn't a third-party product provide the receiver and iPod interface? A healthy competition among other companies to sell you this add-on capability might produce some innovative designs, without Apple's involvement at all.

[Ja Di ksw]

I can see not putting a satellite radio in there, but why not just a normal radio? They can be made so small today, it would barely add any (if any?) size to it. Sometimes you just want new music that you don't have, or to hear new songs you didn't know about. How about even (god forbid) to listen to the news on the radio.

[SilentPanda]

Steve isn't a fan of a music subscription service like Napster... wouldn't you have to pay a subscription service for XM? Yeah it'd be different than Napster but... somewhat similar... just less control over what plays.

[the silver fox]

Well it is nice to know that they haven't really introduced any new features since the first generation iPod. Bah. And as for it being an MP3 player, I never complained that my hi-fi had the ability to switch between playing CDs, records and radio. What is wrong with extra features if they manage to sort out the battery life?

I, for one, would like to see better interaction between the iPod and iTunes. How about a software update that allows the iPod to track playcounts and update them within iTunes? I would also like my current song on my iPod to continue in iTunes when I pop it into the dock.

[cornfedgrowth]

Personally, I'd love to have Satilite radio in my Ipod. Sure, less is more, but it doesn't have to ruin the simplicity. My Opinion: keep the current line, and add a high end sPod. I use sirius in my car currently, and i love it. I'd be willing to pay for it in my iPod.

[Catt]

The other problem with adding satellite radio is that its effectlively only North America that uses it. Both Europe and South Korea use DAB (digital audio broadcasting), so from an economic point of view it would proportionately cost more because Apple would have to produce two seperate iPods one the US market and one of the European/Other market. Unless of course they can integrate both DAB and Satellite into a single device but I doubt it - especially as DAB handheld radios are a little on the large size anyway.

Although an analogue radio would still be welcome, for me anyway; I would use not for music radio but for spoken word.

[BornAgainMac]

It's good to hear confirmation that it isn't true or true. Now I just want confirmation of a Tiger ship date and I'll be set for this year. I was thinking that Sirus stock would really soar if they hooked up with Apple. I didn't have a lot to invest right now so this was good news for me. I had predicted Apple stock would reach in the 40's within a year when it was around 12 dollars after the iTunes Music Store went live but I didn't have the funds to invest. I didn't want to have that happen again until I am ready.

[rtdgoldfish]

I think it's too bad that we won't see satellite radio in an iPod anytime soon. I just got XM in my car a few weeks ago and love it. It would be great to be able to listen to it on my iPod as well. I know everyone says the iPod is an MP3 player but Apple does need to keep expanding its features. How many times will they be able to get away with making the hard drive bigger without adding anything else?? The controls are about as simple as they are going to get. Many other MP3 players have an AM/FM radio in them now so Apple adding satellite radio to the iPod would be a pretty good step ahead of the rest.

[gekko513]

Well, that's exactly it. If they manage to sort out the battery issue, then I would rather have an extra 8 hours of battery life without radio than the same battery life with radio.

[pgwalsh]

Just because they "obviously" don't need it for success, doesn't mean they wont do it. It's not like Steve Jobs is going to let something like that out of the bag..

[nagromme]

If it would make a really bulky iPod, and only worked well outdoors, I wouldn't want to pay extra for that.

Tying into satellite radio is fine, but I don't see it being in an iPod directly.

[biederman]

Couldn't a third-party product provide the receiver and iPod interface?

Great question... I assume some vendor (Belkin?) will eventually develop an iPod add-on for satellite radio, if Apple doesn't do it first. However, I'm a bit skeptical about how usable a portable satellite radio player would be, given that iPods are frequently used indoors and in other places where decent satellite reception is unlikely.
On a separate issue, the magazine article mentioned "significant legal and technical hurdles" to iPod/satellite radio integration. I understand the technical hurdles, but what legal hurdles are involved here??

[shadowfax]

Yah god forbid its ever more then that. New for 2035 the er...new iPod. Its got more battery life and can hold more songs just like last years model and the previous years and the previous years, and the previous.... :rolleyes:

If that is the trend so much for Apple being the innovative company. More like the stagnant company. The iPod Photo is cool and all (I own the 60GB one.) but its hardly revolutionary.Problem is, you gotta be careful with innovation. you can't just add features to a product. I like that rather than just adding features to their products, Apple often reinterprets them, usually with a more minimalist design. this is especially the case with the iPod interface.

I'm not necessarily opposed to adding XM functionality to the iPod. But I don't want my iPod to end up like, say, my SE T637--bloated with a bunch of stupid features that only get in the way of how I use my phone.

My point, though, is that a product CAN innovate without exploding on features. As a corollary, exploding on features doesn't mean you're innovating--look at cars. You design a clutchless shifter that's not an "automatic" transmission--it's a computer controlled manual. you haven't added a feature to the car, you've made it more fuel efficient (possibly) and CERTAINLY a lot faster. You've innovated the car, without adding features. on the other hand, you COULD add a bunch of cup holders and seat warmers and what not, new features, without really innovating anything about the car.

if 2035 comes around and the ipod is still just an mp3 (or whatever new supercool compression format there is) player that has incredible storage and has a several week battery life, with a vibrant color display--and fits in the credit card slot in my wallet--hell, I think that'd be innovation, XM, photo viewer or not.

[notjustjay]

I'd buy an iPod with an AM/FM radio, like many other mp3 players provide. The ability to record off a radio show onto the iPod would be really cool too.

But satellite radio, and subscription fees and accounts -- plus isn't it rather US-centric, since I don't believe we have that in Canada, and in gazillions of other places worldwide... nah.

[Rob587]

whats a "podcast"?

[alfismoney]

whats a "podcast"?

Podcasting is effectively recording a 'radio' program to mp3 and 'broadcasting' it over the internet. Essentially people are making their own radio shows that you can now download in mp3 format.

The trend started with live radio over the internet, NPR caught onto the bandwaggon with making their shows available to download after broadcast from their websites. People are now using this as inspiration to make their own radio for public use, it's essentially opened broadcast to the masses.

[FaasNat]

I'd buy an iPod with an AM/FM radio, like many other mp3 players provide. The ability to record off a radio show onto the iPod would be really cool too.

But satellite radio, and subscription fees and accounts -- plus isn't it rather US-centric, since I don't believe we have that in Canada, and in gazillions of other places worldwide... nah.I was hoping for an iPod with at least a FM tuner. Want to sometimes be able to listen to the TVs that transmit their audio over FM at the gym and not just MP3s.

[sw1tcher]

whats a "podcast"?

Are you serious? If you are, Google's your friend (http://www.google.com/search?q=podcast&sourceid=mozilla&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8).

[narco]

Yeah, I think something like this is bound to happen, just not yet. Satellite radio is getting bigger, and it really is a good idea to integrate it into the iPod. It would be awesome to listen to the satellite radio, then go home and buy that song on the iTMS.

But who knows, it may never happen. Maybe not putting radio period in the iPod will become a bigger "mistake" than the one button mouse. Maybe the sun won't come out if I don't wash my hair.

Fishes,
narco.

[Lancetx]

I love Sirius and have it in my car, but I don't see the use for it in an iPod at least at this stage. Reception would be a major problem I would think as a car requires a roof mounted antenna that can link up with the satellites/ground repeaters. As soon as I go under a large overpass I lose the signal briefly, so I can imagine how difficult it would be to incorporate an antenna into an iPod that you normally carry in your pocket. Unless you mounted the iPod on top of your head or something when you were walking around I'm not sure how it would work. :D

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

This is good news. Remember the best rule to make things work as intended: KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). When addig lots of functions you just add more things that sooner or later will produce errors... and you even have to pay more for the device in the process...

The iPod is a music player! (Doesn't even like the photo edition...)

[sw1tcher]

I can understand why Apple wouldn't want to put satellite radio on an iPod. I mean, wouldn't it add too much bulk to the iPod? I wouldn't want my iPod to be any bigger than it already is. Besies, if I want to listen to satellite radio, I'll buy a satellite radio receiver.

[billystlyes]

That woulda been cool. Sometimes I just wish the iPod had an FM Tuner built in!

[jdurston]

I think satellite radio in a way is competition for iTunes music store. As far as I know you have to pay a subscription fee. Even though some of us gadget tech heads love features, truth is most iPod users just want a music player; anything else that adds much size or cost, complexity is not really the direction where the iPod should head in my opinion. If people want satellite radio it would be neat if a 3rd party made an adaptor. Adding $20 to each unit so 10-15% (I think this is optimistic) of users can enjoy the extra functionality is not smart.

Just my opinion.
Josh

[macmax77]

It's for the best. Who wants satellite music on their mp3 player? Seriously.


ME

[itsa]

The joy of having an ipod is being your own DJ.
Playing the songs YOU want, in the order You want, when You want.
Really... how many people even use the radio option in itunes or even know it's there?
Just my opion but, Good call Steve!

[swissmann]

Since I got my iPod I haven't turned on the radio in any form. I don't know if by having all of my favorite tunes already on my iPod as well as the ability to choose which one to listen to I would ever want radio on my iPod. If it was an option though I am sure I would use it and I can see it being a selling point as competition heats up.

[mcmav37]

How about a software update that allows the iPod to track playcounts and update them within iTunes?


Doesn't this already happen? I know my iTunes "last played" field gets updated when I plug in my iPod.

[SurfAddict]

I sure wish this would happen right now personally I wish it would have happened a long time ago but I get the feeling I would be one of the rare people to actually pay 20$ a month and use it. So from a buisness perspective at least for right now I think that Steve made the right choice. My other big concern if they did follow this tech and put in in the ipod where would the antenna go my brand new Acura RL has this big shark looking thing on it jus so it will receive xm. Even if you put a smaller antenna in there I have to believe that reception would be reduced substantially cancelling one of the major perks of sat radio the quality of the audio.

[MacStarbird]

It's for the best. Who wants satellite music on their mp3 player? Seriously.

ME! I have been thinking about satellie and this would have clinched it for me....

[Philsy]

DAB would have a more worldwide appeal - shame the US hasn't adopted that standard. No thanks to FM - old technology.

[bdkennedy1]

After the rumor cluster-*uck this year, I wouldn't believe anything Apple or their partners say. They says there's not going to be one but they could be testing one right now.

[Windowlicker]

BOO-HOO. It's a stupid idea anyway, because the product wouldn't have world wide market..

[jhershauer]

Yes, that's already a feature. I fell asleep recently with a couple of new songs in my On-the-go list and they played all night. I noticed that my Play Count in iTunes is over 50 for each of those songs now.

Doesn't this already happen? I know my iTunes "last played" field gets updated when I plug in my iPod.

[pgwalsh]

Satellite radio is great and it sucks.

It's great because of the lack of commercials and the quality.

It sucks because you have to have a stupid attena in your home with a base station for each system and each car. WTF.

The cost of installing the system into all your facilities is crazy. Not worth it IMO. But I guess if you love radio then maybe it is. I rather buy what I like and listen to when I want.. Thanks iTunes and iPod.

Maybe I'm missing the boat somewhere.

[1984]

All the portable satellite radios I have seen are significantly bigger than the iPod and they are just radios. Imagine how big the iPod would have to be to incorporate both. There are also significant reception and power issues to be overcome. It may be something worth pursuing in a couple years but right now it would be ridiculous to try and cram all that into an iPod. No one wants to carry around an iBrick. I say add an AM/FM radio with HD compatibility for North America and DAB for Europe. This would be far easier and cheaper to implement.

[BornAgainMac]

It really just can be an accessory today with existing iPods just like other third-party products.

[hulugu]

Couldn't a third-party product provide the receiver and iPod interface? A healthy competition among other companies to sell you this add-on capability might produce some innovative designs, without Apple's involvement at all.

I couldn't agree more. It doesn't need to be integrated, but could be a great add on. You could also choose between Sirius and XM, and the iPod aftermarket is already well-established.

[Jerry Spoon]

I'd love to see it happen with a 3rd party piece. I'm going to subscribe to Sirius in December right before Stern goes over to them. If I could incorperate the hardware w/ my iPod, all the better.

[ASP272]

The iPod doesn't need Satellite, but it sure would be cool! And by saying that it doesn't mean they won't do it.

[JGowan]

not for me,... it works well as a MP3 player, dont let it become too bloatedJust because it's "not for you" doesn't mean it wouldn't be great for hundreds of thousands of others. And what is this "too bloated" thing? The ipod would look just like it does not except it would play sat. radio. How does giving it another thing to do make it "bloated"? Describe "bloated"... that descriptions beats everything I've read. People could've said, don't give it Photo capabillities... or we don't want games. Hey don't listen to the radio if you don't want to. There would be two models anyway... the type without and ones with the service. Choice is not a bad thing... EVER.

[gekko513]

I would also much rather have DAB instead of XM or FM on the iPod if they should include some form of radio.

[elo]

Just because it's "not for you" doesn't mean it wouldn't be great for hundreds of thousands of others. And what is this "too bloated" thing? The ipod would look just like it does not except it would play sat. radio. How does giving it another thing to do make it "bloated"? Describe "bloated"... that descriptions beats everything I've read. People could've said, don't give it Photo capabillities... or we don't want games. Hey don't listen to the radio if you don't want to. There would be two models anyway... the type without and ones with the service. Choice is not a bad thing... EVER.

Bloated = physically larger. HTH.

[stealthboy]

What is a "podcast"?

http://ipodder.org/

It's a method of subscribing to feeds, or channels, using a light client tool. These feeds are periodically checked for new episodes, or MP3 files. They are automagically downloaded adn added to your iPod. I use it daily to listen to really interesting shows, such as The Daily Source Code, Insomnia Radio, and Science @ NASA. It's kinda like a TiVo for radio shows.

[Surreal]

The ipod can hold ...a LOT of songs.
with all of that, i usually wouldnt have time to listen to my radio, much less wnough time to pay a monthly fee.

and with the monthly fee part comes the fact that if people don't buy the subscription, the R&D is wasted. yes, they could make another Pod, but that woud cost even more money considering the cost of production adn the fact that service would only be availabe to north americans.

[kemble54]

I think that this is a very good move for Apple.

2 Reasons:

1: I have an account with Edward Jones Investments. In December 2004, they rated Sirus Stock at a "hold" status--not but, not sell. In the February edition the monthly brochure that comes out, Edward Jones decided not to put "Sirus" in their model stock portfolio and encouraged investors to sell stock in that company. They believe that this business is highly overhyped and will not come close to meeting the "extreme expectations" it has. If Apple incorporates satellite radio and Sirus begins to fail, it will look bad on Apple's part and will seen as a "mistake"--something Apple hates. It was a good long term decision.

2: With iPod's becoming more easily intergrated with different car companies, radio (even satellite services) will eventually loose their appeal. If people have thousands of songs of their own personal taste at their disposal in their car, why search the radio?

just my thoughts...

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

It really just can be an accessory today with existing iPods just like other third-party products.

Bingo! I totally agree, keep the iPod as simle as possible but allow for (and make it easy for 3rd party producers to make) ALL kinds of accessories, like radio (satellite, FM/AM, DAB or whatever), snap on camera (still and video) and whatever's out there already... I wouldn't buy any of them (or a multi function iPod), but I can see there would be kind of a market for it...

[anthonymoody]

You guys who are so stuck on the notion that the iPod is "an MP3 player" so why would we want to do XYZ (like playing satellite radio) on it make me laugh.

It's a MUSIC player at the very least, and a MEDIA player (see: iPod photo), and a storage device, and a way to carry contacts, calendar, etc.

I can't imagine too many reasons to upgrade my iPod from what I currently have. My current player is larger than my entire music collection by a factor of 4. And even if I filled it, so what? Would it really make sense to buy a newer one for an incremental increase in storage? Or a minor change to the ui? When it's working just fine? Come on guys.

HOWEVER, add Sirius - or even good ole AM/FM - and keep the form factor the same and make it easy to use (no problemo for Steve's boys)...THEN you'll have something. Not only a whole new *real* reason to upgrade but recurring revenue as well. Even if you didn't spend a dime at the iTunes store Apple would get a cut of the monthly fee paid for the satellite service.

If this was anything other than an engineering issue (which I'm fairly certain it was) i.e. tough to fit everything into the form factor that we all love, I'd be shocked.

When the satellite receiver can be shrunk down to a single IC the size of a dime and satellite antenna's can be embedded in ear pods, THEN we'll see this happen.

And btw satellite radio won't fail. The stocks may be insanely overvalued from any rational investment criteria point of view (which they are) but one has nothing to do with the other. You who discount it have not tried it. Here's why radio (in any form) matters: new music.

TM

[Warbrain]

Good. Apple doesn't need to pack on a bunch of features that aren't totally necessary in order to convince people to buy an iPod. The iPod is all about digital music, not radio or anything else.

[Cappy]

This is all about sales folks not functionality.

Apples would gain little for the moment from adding satellite radio to the ipod and would likely hurt online music sales from their store.

For the moment Apple has to walk a tight line of providing just enough to attract new sales and still keeping control like they are of the industry. Adding in satellite radio now is something that is too early for Apple to consider doing. They're generating record sales now and need to be in control of those sales. Such an addition would also serve to be beneficial more for Sirus than for Apple and being beneficial in such a manner is not something Apple is known for or anyone else who is successful on this scale.

Once this market seems to hit critical mass we might see Apple add such a feature to access this or a similar service but for now, I don't see it happening. Doing so would give Apple then at that time a *huge* userbase to get upgrade sales. Apple hasn't offerred anything more than larger hd's and the photo features as of yet to really encourage upgrade sales.

[sushi]

If people want satellite radio it would be neat if a 3rd party made an adaptor.
This seems a more reasonable way to go.

I know of a few folks who are waiting to purchase a 40GB version when it is the same size as the 20GB version. To them, capacity and size are very important.

At this time, adding satilite radio feature will increase the iPod's size considerably. This would be a complete turnoff for those who want a high capacity small sized player. Plus I would imagine that it will decrease the battery life somewhat as well.

Apple is known for introducing devices that simply work and are reliable. Satilite radio for the masses is not perfected at this stage of the game and is more of a gimick. Granted this will change as the technology improves, but for now it is better to wait.

Sushi

[ebunton]

Well great that they are not putting at satellite radio in the iPod. I think personally it's completely superfluous.

I think that if satellite radio offer only better quality and no commercials, then it's a small step up in improvement over the existing radio technologies. Improvement = no future, in a world where people are moving away from radio and towards personal audio players (the facilitator of the ultimate radio experience, ie no commercials, superb quality, music that only you choose to hear)

Apple is too innovative to incorporate such an un-innovative feature into their product.

[milatchi]

Good I'm glad, that's why I got an iPod: so I can pick what I want to listen to when I want listen to it. Instead of radio telling me what I should like by playing the same 6 songs over and over again all day! Even if it is satelite and you get "so many more choices" just give it some time and we'll be back in the old Nickelback, Destiny's Child, Good Charlotte, Linkin Park, Avril Lavigne groove. Keep in mind that Clear Channel owns a large stake in one of the two Satelite Radio companies (Sirius or XM). In conclusion if I wanted to be brainwashed I'd buy an AM/FM radio and tune into Clear Channel instead of using my iPod.

[JGowan]

How about a software update that allows the iPod to track playcounts and update them within iTunes?It already does this.

[TomSmithMacEd]

I think this would work better if they could make it into some sort of add on that goes into the back, so the people who want it can use it, and the people who don't still have their iPod's.

[Wrock]

While my stock portfolio would love to see Sirius and Apple work together, a satellite iPod doesn't seem like that great of an idea.

What I would love to see though, is a iPod-like boombox with AM/FM. Not one of those speakers where you plug the iPod in, but an acutal boombox with iPod functionality and controls.

[Dr. Dastardly]

All though XM would be cool I don't think it would fly.

1) It costs monthly. Something I personally wouldn't pay for.

2) It would mostly just consist of the US. While the iPod market is global.

I would like to see an FM tuner built in though. These are so small now they could fit them in without losing to much in the slender form factor. And I do like listening to my favorite music on it whenever I want, but sometimes I want to hear something different. All of my favorite music is the ones I heard on the radio or a band I went to from club listings broadcasted on the radio.

[sethypoo]

good. the iPod is an mp3 player.

Bad. The iPod is a MP3 player, but it could be so much more.

[kirk26]

That would be so sweet! Howard Stern on my iPod! :) :cool:

[aafuss1]

I believe it's justifible for the iPod to not include sat. radio features because:
-iPods are sold internationally and sat. radiko iPod would be of no use to eg. Australians or other non-US users-I believe XM/Sirius only has US/Europe coverage.
-Would add bulk to the iPod and be more expensive

Also, I don't know if Apple has dealed with Viacom in the past (as ironically, Sirius'sMel Karmazin is also the President and Chief
Operating Officer of Viacom).

I wonder if Sirius rules out a sat. ipod, then XM may still have other ideas on the sat. ipod (unless Jobs rules out XM as well).

[dh9012]

OK For all you purists out there. Check out the specs on the Delphi XM MyFi personal radio.

You can transmit to any FM stereo without wires & receive over 130 digital channels. Listen to live sports. Enjoy comedy, drama, and pop culture. Stay current with talk, news, stock quotes and commentary. Listen to old favorites and discover new ones. Avoid heavy traffic and bad weather. Record up to five hours of your favorite programming.

Includes: Hand-held MYFi receiver, Rechargeable, integrated battery, Mounting Accessories, Complete home accessory kit, Complete vehicle accessory kit, First-ever built-in XM antenna, Headphones, Remote control, Belt clip/stand and a Carrying case.

Subscription includes: ACC PAC10 BIG10 Major League Baseball NASCAR

I just bought one of these for my dad for Christmas. The thing is awesome. Integrating this into an iPod makes perfect sense. Who wants to manage a handfull of music players? One for your iTunes, one for FM and one for satellite? Give me a break. One device is the way to go too. Forget the attachment idea! Its all audio all the time. One device. Plus some functionality that satellite brings. Stocks and weather. Apple would be smart to partner with Delphi on this one. I think it would be far easier to integrate mp3 capability into this thing than for Apple to launch a satellite. Sirus is struggling by the way. And that may be why this partnership didn't pan out. XM Radio is not. Get on board! And get smart.

[wPod]

glad to hear. i much prefer apple moving to more simplicity like the iPod Shuffle, rather than adding crap like an XM radio. I finally got to experience an XM radio while on a long car ride and realized it is absolute crap. it sounds likea 16kbps MP3 and it has a tendency to skip at times!?! and what shocks me the most is you have to PAY a monthly fee for this poor quality!! if it was free, id consider listening to it, i liked the lack of ads, but it is way to poor of quality to enjoy. good decision to avoid this apple!!!

[Gasu E.]

OK For all you purists out there. Check out the specs on the Delphi XM MyFi personal radio.
... The thing is awesome. Integrating this into an iPod makes perfect sense. Who wants to manage a handfull of music players?

I agree. A Satellite iPod would be a good thing for the same reason a subscription music service (such as Napster) is not such a good thing.

The point advocates of the Napster model miss is that selecting and downloading tunes takes time and effort. It's fine for 10-20 songs, but scales poorly to 1000 songs or more. At some point, you would stop selecting and would need to start randomly grabbing. Morever, if you actually tried to grab 10,000 songs, you would spend far more time on the grabbing and downloading than the actual listening. I suppose there are some people who would do this, but for most of us this would not suffice as a leisure-time activity.

On the other hand, in the case of an iPod, it would be nice to be exposed to new music that is outside of the relatively small number of songs that you would want to select via iTunes. The problem with standard broadcast radio is that most stations play a hodge-podge of pre-programmed least-common-denominator music (yes, there are exceptions, but nowhere near enough). A better supplement to iTunes would be a large set of well-defined narrow-casting channels from which you could select in order to more closely match your tastes. In other words, the satellite radio model.

[shadowfax]

OK For all you purists out there. Check out the specs on the Delphi XM MyFi personal radio.was that a paid advertisement?

[nagromme]

That thing's too big for me even WITHOUT adding a hard drive.

[tsaxer]

I can't say that it's a bad idea, but I figure that integrating a $350 device into a $250--$599 device might send the price tag into the stratosphere. It would be pretty cool but, ouch.
Also I wonder how much music I would purchase from Itms if I could just dial up 'traditional jazz' on the satellite radio and let it go...
I think Jobs probably made the right call for now. And as has been mentioned earlier, it doesn't mean 'never' just not now (re ipod shuffle).

[billystlyes]

Battery life alone is why this will not happen!

[rdowns]

OK For all you purists out there. Check out the specs on the Delphi XM MyFi personal radio.

You can transmit to any FM stereo without wires & receive over 130 digital channels. Listen to live sports. Enjoy comedy, drama, and pop culture. Stay current with talk, news, stock quotes and commentary. Listen to old favorites and discover new ones. Avoid heavy traffic and bad weather. Record up to five hours of your favorite programming.

Includes: Hand-held MYFi receiver, Rechargeable, integrated battery, Mounting Accessories, Complete home accessory kit, Complete vehicle accessory kit, First-ever built-in XM antenna, Headphones, Remote control, Belt clip/stand and a Carrying case.

Subscription includes: ACC PAC10 BIG10 Major League Baseball NASCAR

I just bought one of these for my dad for Christmas. The thing is awesome. Integrating this into an iPod makes perfect sense. Who wants to manage a handfull of music players? One for your iTunes, one for FM and one for satellite? Give me a break. One device is the way to go too. Forget the attachment idea! Its all audio all the time. One device. Plus some functionality that satellite brings. Stocks and weather. Apple would be smart to partner with Delphi on this one. I think it would be far easier to integrate mp3 capability into this thing than for Apple to launch a satellite. Sirus is struggling by the way. And that may be why this partnership didn't pan out. XM Radio is not. Get on board! And get smart.

Both are struggling. I think you are correct though, either Sirius or XM should build it, not Apple.


SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - XM Satellite Radio shares advanced modestly Thursday after the company reported a wider fourth-quarter loss on increased costs related to the acquisition of more subscribers than it had in the prior-year period.

During the company's quarterly conference call, XM Chief Executive Hugh Panero told analysts he has spoken to Apple Computer (AAPL: news, chart, profile) Chairman Steve Jobs about the possibility of an XM-enabled iPod, but Jobs wasn't interested.

The Financial Times reported earlier this month that Jobs had a similar conversation with Sirius Satellite Radio Chief Executive Mel Karmazin.

Panero added that he's sure that both XM and rival Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI: news, chart, profile) are talking to "some of the key players" among electronics manfacturers and others that might expand the reach of satellite radio.


The company reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $188 million, or 93 cents per share, up from a loss of $170.2 million, or $1.12 per share, in the year-ago period.

[Evangelion]

It's for the best. Who wants satellite music on their mp3 player? Seriously.

Who want's picture-capabilities (http://www.apple.com/ipodphoto/) on their mp3-player? Who wants calendar and games (http://www.apple.com/ipod/musicandmore.html) on their mp3-player?

Oh, wait....

[Evangelion]

The iPod is a music player! (Doesn't even like the photo edition...)

If it's a music-player, why does it have games? A calendar? Seriously: it seems to me that people are just doing their best to justify this decision. Why do I get the feeling that is Apple had added satellite-radio to iPod, those very same people would be shouting "whoa, this is awesome" Go Apple!"

[hayesk]

If it's a music-player, why does it have games? A calendar? Seriously: it seems to me that people are just doing their best to justify this decision. Why do I get the feeling that is Apple had added satellite-radio to iPod, those very same people would be shouting "whoa, this is awesome" Go Apple!"

Because those features are cheap, easy and don't distract from the main purpose of iPod. Satellite requires an entire interface for itself. But that's not the reason. The reason is:
- battery life
- cost
- size (does anyone expect them to fit a satellite receiver into an iPod without making it huge?)

[slo]

Obviously satellite radio with iPods make sense... a lot of sense....and knowing our friend Steve, I have worked out the following hypothesis:

I think that Steve is thinking of either using a different sattelite radio company or is considering actually starting or buying one themselves. Considering Apple's recent growth in music, it is a natural extension.

iSatellite might be coming... not soon.... but coming.

slo

[Minstrel]

OK For all you purists out there. Check out the specs on the Delphi XM MyFi personal radio.

...

I just bought one of these for my dad for Christmas. The thing is awesome. Integrating this into an iPod makes perfect sense. Who wants to manage a handfull of music players? One for your iTunes, one for FM and one for satellite? Give me a break. One device is the way to go too. Forget the attachment idea! Its all audio all the time. One device. Plus some functionality that satellite brings. Stocks and weather. Apple would be smart to partner with Delphi on this one. I think it would be far easier to integrate mp3 capability into this thing than for Apple to launch a satellite. Sirus is struggling by the way. And that may be why this partnership didn't pan out. XM Radio is not. Get on board! And get smart.

Great, nice picture. Now, tell us how you fit everything in that gadget into the iPod casing, without making it significantly bigger.

If you want a portable satellite radio, that's great, get one separately. Unless you have schematics for how it can be incorporated into an iPod without increasing size or price in any significant manner, it's bloatware.

Cheers,
Minstrel

[mea]

When i think of Sirius and iPod, i think of downloading tunes from the iTunes store from anywhere in the world. This could be a faster way to download tunes than via dial-up. If you live out in areas where dial-up is the only connection, this could be your ticket to tons of tunes. That is innovative!

[bigandy]

why why why why would apple release an ipod that had such a feature that only worked in north america?

screw that.

[Philsy]

When i think of Sirius and iPod, i think of downloading tunes from the iTunes store from anywhere in the world. This could be a faster way to download tunes than via dial-up. If you live out in areas where dial-up is the only connection, this could be your ticket to tons of tunes. That is innovative!

Far better to use 3G mobile phone technology to allow people to download from Music Store while on the move. This is the future and if Apple doesn't do it, someone else will. And it would be a global solution because I think even the US is adopting 3G

[minton]

Sony just released a handheld DAB player, the XDR-M1, w/ 40 presets and fm radio included. No real extra bulk to add an ipod mini to this in the same camera bag.

http://www.pocket-lint.co.uk/images/110205sonyDAB.jpg

[Evangelion]

Because those features are cheap

And would satellite REALLY increase the cost of the iPod?

easy

How so?

and don't distract from the main purpose of iPod.

Of course games do not "distract from the main purpose of iPod" if you do not use them. But pray tell: how would satellite radio "distract from the main purpose of iPod" if you didn't use it? Satellite would simply be another feature, and you were not required to use it.

Seriously, I find it really funny that people think that "photo-capabilities, games, calendars and such do not distract from the main use of the iPod, but satellite radio would!". To me, that just sounds like a lame excuse which tries to explain Apple's decision. If Apple had decided to add satellite-radio. you would be telling here how great it is to have that feature on the iPod.

Satellite requires an entire interface for itself.

You are saying that Apple can't design such an interface? O....K....

- battery life

It doesn't eat batteries if you don't use it. If you care about battery-life, you wouldn't use it. And I fail to see why listening to radio would eat more batteries than listening to mp3's would.

- cost

would it REALLY cost that much?

- size (does anyone expect them to fit a satellite receiver into an iPod without making it huge?)

You are talking about a company that is busy fitting G5 in to a PowerBook. If anyone could do it, it would be Apple.