laconic1

Well my Creative Zen Micro crapped out on me recently, right after the warranty expired. Since my music collection is pretty lame and I'm looking for something different anyways I was looking at some of the xm2go players listed here, specifically the top two listed. I'm looking for something about the same size as my current cellphone or smaller. The Helix is about the exact same size as my current phone. I know there is a monthly subscription fee on top of the already hefty price tag for the player. I do like that the Helix has a built in radio transmitter, so I can use it in my car which doesnt have a cd player or xm in it. I also like that it has some mp3 storage, but it doesn't say just what that capacity is. Does anybody have one of these? Any pros or cons that I'm missing?

MontanaXVI

I am not plugging, but I used to have XM radio in my car and a good site you can use to get info is www.xmfan.com

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MacGuyver

I just typed out a huge thing and then it dissapeared, im kind of pissed. I dont want to type it all over again, so ill go over it quickly again.

helix/inno
-50 hours of your uploaded mp3s or recorded xm tracks straight off the air
-live xm feed portable (built in antenna)
-usually comes with home docking/antenna kit
-for use in car make sure you have car docking/antenna kit ($50 unless you can find a package that comes with car kit instead of home kit)

nexus
-either 25 or 50 hours of mp3/recorded xm tracks (2 different price points)
-NO live xm feed while portable, must be hooked up to dockingstation/antenna or antenna headphones in order to recieve live signal


airware/tao/delphi
-no mp3
-portable live feed

every player made by xm currently has built in FM transmitters. you can also purchase direct wired FM transmitters for better sound and reception. Also i mentioned antenna headphones which are headphones with a built in antenna that convert any xm player for portable use as long as you are connected to those headphones. I own the old Pioneer Airware, got it from a free promo awhile ago. XM signal is 12.95 a month for one player, no matter what. If you want to add on additional lines its 6.95 for each player you add. Similar to cell phones on a plan.

there is a little more but i lost it all, so thats the basic overview. If you have any more questions you can pm me, I sell these things. I will be on vacation for a couple days though.

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
---Aristotle

Deeds, not words, shall speak [for] me.
---John Fletcher

byesman

I have the delphi MyFi. Got it right after it came out. I keep it in my truck unless I am walking, then it goes with me, or sitting in the front yard, so I can ignore the Mrs. (Kidding) I really like the "Save Favorite Artist" function, which allows you to hear your fav. artists when they are on any station. I don't know anything about the other ones, so I am not much help.

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forgive some sinner, and wink your eye at some homely girl.

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laconic1

Well I just ordered the Inno last night from xmfanstore.com, it should be here Tuesday or Wednesday. Also ordered the car adapter and all the miscellaneous hardware to hook it into my car stereo. I'll post a review once I get it up and running.

laconic1

Now that I've had my Inno for awhile I realized I never posted a review.Here goes.

Pros.
I love the earbuds it comes with. They are the first ones I have used that don't fall out of my ears during use and they sound pretty good to my untrained ear.
The ability to record songs is great. The Inno has 1 gigabyte of storage, which can be partitioned to store all XM files or 50/50 XM and mp3. There have been so many songs that I would hear on the radio and like but not know who it was by or the song title, and thus I never bought the song. Now I can record any song I hear and have artist and title info so if I want to buy it later I actually know what to get. I have spent more money on music in the last three months than I had in the last five years because of this. Ironic when you consider the RIAA fought that feature from being implemented. Also if you are listening to a song and halfway through you realize you want to record it the Inno will still record the whole song. If you tune to a station in the middle of the song then decide to record at the end of the song the recording starts at the point you tuned to that station
It is easy to transfer mp3 files to the Inno in Windows XP. Just plug it in and Windows will let you copy files directly to it without needing any special software. I have not tried the bundled software to see how that worked for managing playlists or XM recorded content, which cannot be accessed through Windows Explorer.
It only takes one touch of a button to switch between live content and the Inno.

Cons.
I don't think the interface is very intuitive. You have to push three buttons to change to the very next station. Also the center button which is used for selecting stuff is too small.
Indoor reception when trying to use it portably is craptacular. When I use it portably indoors I either have to stay perfectly still, or I have to listen to
recorded content. The solution to this from what I have read is to buy some dorky looking Belkin antenna headphones for forty bucks. No thanks.
Maybe you have to use the bundled software to get this info, I don't know, but there is nothing on the Inno that indicates how much free space you have left.
Supposedly when the Inno is placed in a car dock you should be able to use the FM modulator. I have not been able to figure this out.


The Inno comes with a home stereo adapter kit with a dock, antenna, power cord and audio cord to connect to analog stereo RCA inputs. The car adapter which runs an additional seventy bucks comes with an antenna with 24 foot cord, dock, power adapter that plugs into a cigarette lighter, a cassette deck adapter, and a couple of adapters to mount the dock to the vehicle. I didn't care for the look of the big power adapter and cassette adapter, and all the wiring dangling around, so I also bought a power adapter that is hardwired into the vehicle's electrical system and an adapter that plugs into the auxiliary input on the back of my factory stereo, from xmfanstore.com. These cost about an additional ninety five dollars, plus about five bucks worth of materials from the home improvement store to make a better looking installation. I was disappointed at how much I spent to hook it up in my car, especially when you consider how pricey the Inno is to begin with. It has come down another fifty bucks since I bought it.

Overall I like the Inno. The reception problem really isn't the Inno's fault, after all, would you put a Directv dish in the middle of your living room? It's fairly small, slimmer than my old Zen Micro, and about the same length as most flip or slider cell phones, although it is about 3/8 of an inch wider than most cell phones. I don't know if I would buy it again, but I dont regret making the purchase either.