Pioneer Inno XMP3 lets you take XM to go
(Credit: CNET/Corinne Schulze)If satellite radio has a corner on any market, it's in the car, and with the increasingly narrow selection offered by terrestrial radio in many areas, it's no wonder. But for those who want to listen to Sirius or XM at the gym, in the train, or on the streets, the selection is a bit more limited, namely because many portable receivers aren't as adept at picking up satellite signals due to the small size of the units, and thus, their antennae.
With the Inno XMP3 for XM, Pioneer aims to offer the most compact device while still retaining reasonable reception. For on-the-go use, the $279 device fairs well, but it doesn't hold a signal as well as an in-car unit with an extended antenna. Still, the recording features are well-implemented and the memory-expansion slot supports high-capacity cards--both big pluses for a satellite radio receiver.
For more than five years, Jasmine France has covered a variety of tech products for CNET--from scanners to keyboards to GPS devices--but she's happiest where she is now: sitting atop a pile of MP3 players, "testing" every music service known to man, and jamming a variety of earbuds in every shape and color into her absurdly small ears. E-mail Jasmine.
