Pioneer Inno XMp3 Review

Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 11:23
Mp3 Players
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The number of satellite radio subscribers is increasing as terrestrial radio is limited to small areas. A number of people want to listen to music while travelling or working out in the gym. One has limited options while choosing the portable devices that can receive the satellite signals. Last year, Pioneer launched Inno, XM Radio which has reasonable reception of satellite signals. Upgrading XM Radio, Pioneer has launched XMp3 radio which is integration of satellite radio and Mp3 player device.

XMp3 is 3.6 inches tall, 2 inches wide and 0.6 inches and weighs 3.1 ounce. This makes XMp3 to be the smallest and lightest satellite radio receiver. Its 2.2 inch screen displays only the graphics as you cannot view photos or videos. But it the first XM radio to have electronic program guide that allows you to see list of programs playing on a channel and information about any particular program. You can also schedule a program and record it. Four buttons below the display- back, menu, keypad and options- allows you to navigate through various menus. Keypad allows you to manually enter a station number. A mechanical scroll wheel allows you to record station content, playback and skip the tracks.

The player has a min USB port, a power switch and volume rocker on its sides. It also has a microSD-card slot for memory expansion next to its antenna. It comes with an attachable antenna, an RCA audio connection cable and a remote to simplify its use at home.

XMp3 has an inbuilt memory of 2GB out of which nearly 1GB is for synchronizing Mp3 and WMA files, rest of the memory is assigned to XM radio functions. XMp3 allows you to store your 99 favorite channels. You can also record 5 channels and schedule a recording of 75 hours. There also an option of pause and replay of live XM for up to 30 minutes. You can also record 10 hours of songs on its internal memory.

Pioneers battery has a life of 4hrs of live XM and 15hrs of 16.5hrs of playback time. Satellite reception is not good when you are inside a building, especially when you are in an area with tall buildings. XMp3 is basically an outdoor device.