OTHER TECH

Portable

One of the quirks of both XM and Sirius is that you have to pay an additional subscription fee for each satellite tuner you own. Both services offer a discounted "family plan" for households with multiple tuners, but those fees can still add up quickly if you have several tuners in different places. Helping keep fees reasonable are the so-called "plug and play" tuners - small portable modules designed to dock into several different devices, enabling you to move the actual tuner to wherever you want to listen. (See "Satellite Radio in Action," page 105, for reviews.)

Delphi's XM SKYFi was one of the first satellite-radio tuners, and the new SKYFi2 ($130, click here for a review of this product) introduces a 30-Minute Replay feature that continuously saves the last half hour of whatever you're listening to so you can go back and catch something you missed the first time around. SKYFi2 can be used with a wide range of docking options, including a car mount ($70), a home stereo interface ($70), a boat mount ($200), and two boomboxes ($100 and $200).

Delphi's XM Roady ($120) and Roady2 ($130, click here for a review of this product) have their audio connectors on the tuner, rather than on the cradle. But although they lack the SKYFi's one-step snap-in connection, these small receivers can still shuttle between the home, the car, or the new PlayDock ($200, click here for a review of this product) boombox from Cambridge SoundWorks. The Roady2 includes an FM modulator that lets you wirelessly feed the XM signal through your car radio. It even has a stock ticker for on-the-move price quotes. delphi.com, cambridgesoundworks.com

XM's Audiophase Skybox ($199) combines XM, AM, and FM tuners and MP3 and CD players in a stylish boombox. It also has a memory mode for storing artist names and song titles, and comes with a full-feature remote control. xmradio.com

Sirius has also been busy cooking up some neat new features for its own plug-and-play receivers. The Sirius Sportster ($100, click here for a review of this product) has Game Alert, which prompts you whenever a channel is offering play-by-play action for your favorite teams. The Sportster can be used with a home kit, a car kit, or with its own boombox ($100), making it perfect for tailgaters. There's also the Orbiter SR4000 ($100), a plug-and-play receiver with optional home and car installation kits ($50 each) and a boombox ($100). The Orbiter and accessories are available at RadioShack. siriusradio.com, radioshack.com

Sirius offers more plug-and-play tuners than XM does, with models also available from Audiovox (the SIR-PNP3, $100), Clarion (the SIRPNP, $100), Sanyo (the CRSR-10, $150), Blaupunkt (the SR04, $150), JVC (the KT-SR2000, $100), Kenwood (the KTC Here2Everywhere, $100), and XACT (XTR1 Stream Jockey, $100, photo on page 107). audiovox.com, www.blaupunktusa.com, clarion.com, jvc.com, sanyousa.com, xactcommunication.com

All of them can be used with either a home or a car kit, but some, like the Audiovox, JVC, Sanyo, and XACT models, can also be plugged into optional boom boxes. XACT's XS027 ($130) boombox, for instance, also has a CD/MP3 player and an AM/FM tuner so you can keep things rockin'. XACT also plans to offer a Communication Portable Dock (price to be determined) with built-in antenna and battery to make the Stream Jockey a true "go anywhere" device. Most of the Sirius plug-and-plays have an FM modulator for quick in-car hookup.

Pocket-size portability can be a problem for satellite-radio gear. Tuner circuits tend to be pretty power hungry, and this dependence on a source of some serious juice along with the need for an antenna that can snatch a signal from way out in space have made creating a miniature receiver difficult. Eton Grundig has announced a world-band portable called the E1-XM (price to be determined) with AM, FM, and shortwave in addition to XM. But at around 4 pounds, even this ultra-cool do-it-all radio still won't be pocket-friendly. etoncorp.com