Sirius to integrate satellite radio service w/iPod?

Sirius Satellite Radio CEO Mel Karmazin told shareholders Wednesday that the company was pursuing discussions to integrate its satellite radio service with Apple's iPod as well as manufacturers of other MP3 players and portable devices: "'We've had discussions with everyone," the executive acknowledged, including makers of cell phones, digital music players and other devices. He said that he'd had dinner Monday night with Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs and other digital entertainment-related executives at a conference. 'Will there be MP3 players that include satellite radio? Sure. The technology's easy,' Karmazin added. The issue, he elaborated, is whether such an agreement would cannibalize existing Sirius business, and how much of its $12.95 monthly fee the company would have to split with a manufacturer."

Karmazin said that the company's business was "just fine" without any such deal, but noted that the company recognizes the potential of a portable satellite radio player--much like the MyFi radio offered by rival XM Satellite Radio.

"The wearable market is a very small market in radio, and this goes back to the Sony Walkman," he indicated. "We have been focusing on the auto market and the home market. ... But we recognize there are customers who want it."

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MikeyG_U2

Streaming Integration

05/31, 1:47pm, EDT

I'm not sure how useful an iPod that plays Satellite radio would be... What happens when you go inside? My Sirius signal 'skips' on me whenever I drive under a bridge or overpass. I'd rather see Apple and Sirius integrate the music streams into iTunes.

Sirius makes all of there radio streams available via their website to subscribers (they also have a trial for non-subscribers). However it has a klunky interface and really doesn't sound that good (windows media/40kbps?). I think they could integrate it with iTunes and make it much better sounding stream, as well as an easier to access use system. Not only would the Sirius steams be part of the most popular jukebox software, but they could build in quick-links to purchase the song, album, or artist of whatever you're listening to. Perhaps even show a history of the last 10 songs played so you can go back and buy one that's now stuck in your head.

Sirius wins by being integrated with a highly popular piece of software, Apple wins by selling more songs. I win because I use both and think that together they could both be better.

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LordJohnWhorfin

Sirius already sells one

12/08, 1:10pm, EST

Can't remember its model number. Think of it as a dockable iPod with enough room for 50 hours of radio programming. It can only receive and record satellite radio while docked (at home or in your car). It's expensive (around $300) and yet they can't keep it on the shelves so obviously there's a market for it, but all they have to do is make and sell a dock with similar functionality for the iPod. I think most of the discussions going on have to do with DRM'ing the stuff so that people can't easily extract programming and share it.

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