Pioneer - XM2go Inno Satellite Radio Receiver Review

Have you ever craved an ever-evolving, dynamic music library within the confines of your portable music player?  Did you ever hear a song on the radio...and then wish you could record it on the spot...even if the song was almost finished?  Do you ever get bored with choices of your stale music collection on your IPOD...and wish you had a better source for finding new music, that just isn't being played on the FM dial?

I will reserve my comments on XM satellite radio, specifically, for another review...the purpose of this review is to persuade all of those IPOD drones to consider a new device for transporting musical and audio entertainment...and no, I am not referring to a certain phone-based device by same, referenced manufacturer.

I began researching portable satelite radio players about a year ago and was drawn to the Pioneer Inno for several reasons -- it seemed to be the only portable satelitte radio player on the market (at the time) that doubled as both a live satelitte radio device and an MP3 player.  And the Inno definitely does the word "portable" proud -- lightweight, scratch resistant (without having to purchase one of those annoying plastic cases), an easy to read color display, an intuitive user interface, and easy to connect to a home stereo (via a docking station) or portable speakers (via headphone jack).

I absolutely love the concept of being able to store both MP3s as well as recorded XM content...however, to be honest, I have only recorded XM content thus far.  The XM-based Inno uses Napster as its version of ITunes and you need to download that software in order to transfer MP3s.  Also, you need to decide when you first activate your Inno if you want to store all XM recorded content or divvy the hard-drive to half XM and half MP3s.  If you format the drive one way and then change your mind later, you will have to wipe out all of your recorded content.

The one-touch recording feature is great -- even if you are well into a song (or other live content) being played on XM, you can click "record" at any time and the player will record the song from the beginning to be played at another time.  You can also organize all of your recorded content into playlists.

A few drags -- while the earbuds included with the Inno are fantastic (very comfortable, great sound) the reception of the whole device tends to cut out at times if you have the player in your pocket or are in an area with a lot of tall buildings (or if you go underground on the subway of course).  I mention the earbuds specifically, because you can purchase headphones with a built-in antenna that greatly boosts the signal strength (highly recommended).

In addition, the battery life tends to only be about 4 hours...so you need to constantly charge the device.  Also -- it would be great if you could wirelessly transmit live XM radio and recorded content to an FM radio (as advertised) but that feature only works if you buy the additional carkit.

 Overall, an exceptional product at an even more exceptional price -- when this product came on the market it retailed for about $400...and I was able to get it brand new for about $250 on EBay.  Now, you can buy it directly from XM's website for $199 (brand new).