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Pioneer Portable XM Satellite Radio Receiver
Pioneer Portable XM Satellite Radio Receiver Description
The pioneer XMP3 is a satellite radio receiver. It is very compact with short antenna and has advanced recording features. The home kit which accompanies it has various devices making it suitable to work at home. This device uses micro SD card to expand the memory slot.
Pioneer Portable XM Features:
The pioneer XMP3 satellite radio is a very light weight yet durable device. It weighs about 3.1 ounces and is about 0.6 inches thick, 3.6 inches tall and 2 inches wide. The whole device was designed with an aim to make the satellite radio portable, as it is mainly used in cars. However, it is a real boon to anyone who wishes to hear satellite radio in a gym or while shopping.
The Pioneer XMP3 satellite radio has a 2.5 inch TFT screen in front. Below the TFT screen we have four small buttons Back, Menu, Keypad and Options. The Keypad option is generally used to type the radio station number manually.
Below this we have we have a multipurpose scroll wheel. This wheel is used to navigate among the menu, and to browse through the various tracks. It is also used as a play pause button and is used to control record station activities. Various XM stations could be browsed through it.
There are volume control keys, a power/hold switch and a USB port on the sides of the unit. This USB port is for normal synchronization. The microSD-card slot and a headphone jack are present next to antenna on the upper part of the device. The power adaptor and the docking port are present at the bottom as shown in the picture.
The home usage kit consists of many accessories like long antenna attachment, suitable ear buds, RCA audio connection cables, suitable cradle to rest the satellite radio and a remote to control the radios activities.
Pioneer Portable XM Performance:
The performance of this satellite radio is reasonably good. The player can record up to 5 channels. The unique one touch recording options could record up to 10 hours of music tracks. Also up to 5 channels could be recorded, using an automatic recording facility. This could last for 15 to 30 hours.
if your are hearing a particular broadcast from a radio channel, and have to leave in the middle the program could be paused, recorded and replayed for up to 30 minutes. The satellite radio is very easy to use. There are five main menu settings. Favorite Channels, All Channels, All Categories, XM Highlights, and Schedule Recording. Their name itself indicates their function clearly. Hence it becomes easy for any person to use it. Ease of usage score for the device is 61%.
Recorded music could be browsed easily through ID3 tags. They could be easily sorted into artist, album, playlist and other genres. The display in the TFT screen is very impressive. Sharp text is displayed with mild backlight which is very pleasant for the eyes. Basic information such as title of the track, artist name and song name are displayed in quite large fonts reducing the stress for the eyes.
Audio file formats such as MP3, XMA and WMA are supported. They could be stored in the microSD card slot. Though the player claims to have 2 GB internal memory, only 1 GB is available for actual use. Other space is occupied by inbuilt software's and recording functions. Hence the extendable microSD card slot would serve as a very useful addition.
The audio quality is absolutely good with clear tracks. The recorded songs and tracks also have the same audio quality. The sound quality test score for the device is 60 %. This radio picks up good signal while using it in the home with the extended antenna. However while walking with it outside or travelling there seems to be a slight drawback in this function.
Main Features of Pioneer - Portable XM Satellite Radio Receiver
This satellite radio features nearly 170 channels which includes 69 XM Satellite Radio Programming which is absolutely commercial free. These programs cover wide variety of topics like, music, news, sports, talk shows and entertainment.
Excellent recording facilities enable recording favorite XM programs up to 100 hours.
Advanced recording options like one touch recording, automatic recording of favorite channels and recording scheduling are available.
XM2go music manager software enables easy management of music and XM channels.
Extendable microSD card slot and quality TFT display screen with easy user interface makes the device many people's favorite.
The Good
Compact, sleek design and useful accessories accompanying it prove to be quite useful. Extendable microSD card slot, good audio quality and excellent recording options are the pioneer satellite radios highlights. The radios capability of playing nearly 170 channels and 69 commercial free programs will attract a lot of music lovers.
The Bad
No photo or video support. The signal reception of the device is quite average. Though the recording facilities are highlighted as its specialty many advanced recording options like recording scheduling seem to perform slow and mediocre. The good audio quality does not make up for poor signal pickup.
Areas that can be Improved
The signal reception could be improved. it is still rather weak. A simplified procedure for Advanced Recording facilities could help considerably. Also some photo or image support could be added. There is not even a facility for an images library.
The Verdict
The Pioneer - Portable XM Satellite Radio Receiver would be a useful device for radio lovers. The device is very easy to use. Still the signal reception is quite bad in most of the areas and lot of other facilities in the device should be improved. The overall score of the device is 55%.
Score: 55%
Price: $179 .99
Capacity: 2GB
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