OTHER TECH

XM Passport tuner module (right) attached to a standard XM antenna

The Samsung neXus 50 ($250) is similar in almost every respect to the Inno and Helix, except that it lacks their built-in satellite reception capability. As a portable, it's strictly a player, drawing from XM programming (up to 50 hours worth) and other music files stored on its internal hard drive. To receive satellite broadcasts, the neXus 50 requires an external antenna and another new XM creation, the Passport ($30). The Passport is literally a black box that in fact is a complete satellite radio tuner (one-fortieth the size of the first-generation XM tuner introduced four years ago). You buy one, then you can plug it into any XM passport device (such as the neXus) or into a $30 car or home docking kit. That means you can own multiple dedicated XM devices for car, home, and portable use while needing only one XM subscription, for the Passport. XM showed a number of prototype Passport-ready units from companies including Audiovox, Denon, JVC, Onkyo, Pioneer, Samsung, Sony, and Yamaha. The neXus is also available as the neXus 25 ($200), which, logically, stores up to 25 hours of XM programming.

Samsung neXus XM radio/MP3 player in its home dock

When queried, an XM representative stated that all copyright issues have been resolved for these devices. In other words, when you record "Stairway to Heaven" on your satellite radio, you won't be sued - at least not by Led Zeppelin. The players will be available in the first quarter of 2006, and the Passport will arrive in March.

Two satellite asides: First, Sirius had virtually no presence at CES this year. In contrast to the big booth and live broadcasts from the floor of years past, they the company confined itself to a few small kiosks within the Directed Electronics booth. There wasn't even a press conference. Odd. Maybe Howard Stern's gold-plated contract with Sirius didn't allow any extra budget for small-potato events like the Consumer Electronics Show.

Second, XM announced it would use Neural Audio technology to broadcast some XM channels (starting with Fine Tuning and XM Pops) in 5.1-channel surround sound. Service will begin in March, and special decoding hardware will be necessary (coming soon from companies such as Denon, Pioneer, and Yamaha).

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