Samsung Partners With XM On MP3 Player-Radios

Yahoo: Samsung announced today that it has set a strategic alliance with XM Satellite Radio to develop portable MP3 players that will also work as satellite radios - thereby playing both recorded XM programming and MP3 audio files..."Under the terms of the accord, Samsung will begin selling by year-end two miniature flash memory players which will come with a kit allowing them to receive XM satellite radio stations." Newsday also reports that, "The two players won't receive XM programming directly. Instead they will come with home docking stations that receive XM's satellite broadcasts and store them on the players. Users will also be able to transfer digital music files from their computer."

The new players most likely evolved from XM's MyFi, which receives broadcasts directly and stores up to five hours of programming - but does not play MP3 files. The new MP3/Radio Player will come in two different storage capacities and will be available at the end of the year. Names and pricing were not yet announced, but the players will apparently use solid-state "flash" memory, unlike the popular iPod, which uses hard drive storage. Two exciting new features will be the ability to record XM broadcasts (with the recorded content able to be played anywhere, including places where satellite signals are unavailable) and the ability for listeners to identify songs programmed on XM and then easily order them from an online music store - which could be huge if the process is seamless...