HiFi Blog: digital audio goodness

Reader David Speltz lets us know that the recording capabilities of the Sirius S50 seem to already be crippled. The Sirius S50 receives satellite signal -only when docked- and allows you to record it.

Now, we knew the RIAA was pissed at the potential of Sirius/XM devices that record songs (like the S50 and Samsung’s neXus XM) fearing they could hurt record sales. But it seems like they’ve won the battle already since much of the music is blocked for recording due to restrictions—David says:

If you buy it to record a Sirius music program, chances are it is not allowed and skips the recording. Sirius admits it and says there is no solution in sight. I have plenty of recordings of talk between music, little blips, and more talk. Most classical and jazz programs are blocked. Within certain programs that appear to be recordable, music is blocked. You never know until you try it. Frustrating.

Sirius doesn’t publish a list of programs that can/cannot be recorded.

Doing some further research, more or less confirms David’s findings—Orbitcast reports:

• scheduled recording works only for shows, not music (!)


• you can record individual songs “manually”—press the button, and the recording will stop when the song finishes


• maximum “manual” (i.e. not scheduled) recording length is 1 hour


• you can schedule to record up to 20 shows—maximum scheduled recording length is 2 hours

The gist of it is: don’t bother buying the device—I know I wouldn’t. The limitations are offending to me as a customer and buying it sends the wrong message.