No sooner had I contemplated the usefulness of the XM3120 did Altec Lansing send me a review sample. The compact speaker dock includes two clear plastic cutouts for either the Delphi Roady XT or the Audiovox Xpress. I’ve enjoyed using it with the Roady XT at work the last few weeks. Not only does it look sharp and sound decent, but I’ve gotten rid of Roady2 home kit cable clutter and bulky computer speakers. The bundled external antenna wisely includes 20′ of cable for placements without window exposure. XM3120 retails for about $100, which compares with the butt-ugly Belkin F5X007. However, Belkin’s offering does come with a remote control — something I’d like to have seen Altec Lansing include.

Getting the XM3120 in the mail was all the encouragement I needed to upgrade from the Roady2 to the Roady XT. As you can see from the pics, the XT is smaller and sleeker. More importantly the FM transmitter is significantly improved, resulting in better reception and higher quality audio coming through my car radio. The display is also noticeably brighter. If you’re in the market for a small plug & play XM receiver, this model with included car kit runs only about $50 - $60 after rebate at places like Amazon and Best Buy or you can pick it up for $48.34 at Walmart without any rebate hassles (which is what I did).

(more…)

Never enough time…

• Blu-ray is doomed. (PC Magazine)
• T-Mobile Europe to ban heavy data usage. (jkOnTheRun)
• Commercial server-hosted MP3 HME application released. (MP3tunes)
• Microsoft unveils beta of Windows CE 6 operating system for embedded devices. (CNET)
• GE debuts one-second ad targeted at PVR users. (PVRWire)
• Warner Brothers to team with BitTorrent for movie sales. (Engadget)
• Finally, Fox in the iTunes Music Store. (TUAW)

Altec Lansing just informed me that they’ve released the XM3120 speaker system, supporting both the RoadyXT and Xpress receivers. Retail price is about $100. It looks pretty cute, and devices like these push me to upgrade my Roady2 (which I connect to computer speakers at work via the home kit). It’s somewhat ironic that to get a remote control for the RoadyXT I’d have to purchase a home kit which the XM3120 is designed to replace.

Altec Lansing says: Altec Lansing’s new XM3120 speaker system is engineered specifically for XM Radio’s Delphi Roady XT and Audiovox Xpress receivers. Now, XM users can listen to their favorite satellite radio stations everywhere from the dorm room to the garage. The system contains specially engineered drivers to deliver a full spectrum of pure, distinct sound, as well as bass enhancement technology that pumps out quality bass without the need for a subwoofer. Its contemporary design and compact size make it an ideal accessory for any room in the home or office. And, it includes a 20-foot home antenna for exceptional reception no matter your location.

I just couldn’t seem to find the time…

• Philips patents digital flags to prevent channel changing or content advancing during commercials. (New Scientist)
• The facts and fiction of 1080p. (Team Xbox)
• Podcasts outnumber radio stations. (eWeek)
• Windows Media Player 11 to be released this summer. (Thomas Hawk)
• Portable VLC released. (PortableApps)
• Windows smart-phone maker HTC profiled. (Business Week)

Thomas Hawk presents a less than rosy view of Apple’s one billion iTunes served. Though he is somewhat off the mark… we’re really talking about 50 million suckers. Until recently I was counted amongst those suckers. See, I think the iTunes store is an efficient and reasonably priced service providing a large library of content to choose from. I also give Apple a ton of credit for defining a new and successful media distribution paradigm with this landmark accomplishment.

However, I’m not a supporter of Apple’s FairPlay DRM because they have refused to license it to other manufacturers. Prior to version 6 of iTunes, their DRM could be stripped enough with JHymn (of questionable DMCA legality) to play music on my Roku SoundBridge, TiVo, and Samsung Yepp. I’m not an advocate of piracy, but I do want the freedom to listen to my music on something other than Apple hardware or software. True you can export unencrypted songs to CD… but isn’t the whole point to free ourselves from cumbersome physical media? Not to mention it’s a tedious process with a large music collection… buy, burn, rip, label, repeat.

So as of iTunes v6 I ceased to be an Apple music customer. The DRM hasn’t been broken (why does it need to come to that?) and they still refuse to license it to other hardware manufacturers. Microsoft often gets a bad rap, but at least their DRM scheme for both audio and video is being made available to a variety of software, hardware, and media companies. I recognize and support a content owner’s right to protect their assets, but until a universal standard is agreed upon the consumer will lose — our options will be limited and confusion will abound. Ultimately this has and continues to stifle the adoption of digital media while widespread music and video piracy continues… Though I’m not sure that Apple minds as they continue to sell massive quantities of iPods.

GM wants to build you a car-based multimedia infrastructure. They envision a system for moving content from various home and portable devices into your car for storage, organization, and presentation. Oh yeah, they want to enforce DRM by tying content to your vehicle identification number (VIN) — surely that’s a first!

GM’s Patent Application says: Apparatus are provided for navigation of multimedia content in a vehicle multimedia system having an embedded database of multimedia files. A navigation interface for controlling playback of the multimedia files and includes a processing unit, an input unit coupled to the processing unit, and a display coupled to the processing unit. The processing unit is configured to couple with the embedded database, determine a playback frequency for each of the multimedia files, and generate a playlist of multimedia files based on the playback frequency. The input unit is configured to initiate playback of the playlist. The display is configured to display the playlist.

[0030] The hard drive 32 has an embedded database containing a list of multimedia file content and stores multimedia files such as found on conventional CDs, DVDs, and other storage mediums. Multimedia files may be downloaded to the data storage device 36 from any number of devices. As best shown in FIG. 2, multimedia files may be downloaded to the data storage device 36 from a conventional CD 40, a compressed audio CD 38 that may be used to store compressed digital audio files such as MP3 files or the like, a portable storage/player device 42 such as a DVD player, a video content storage/player device 46 such as a digital video recorder (DVR), and a personal computer 44. In one exemplary embodiment, the multimedia files are stored as compressed files on the hard drive 32.

[0031] To preserve DRM protected multimedia files, a public key encoding system may be used to encrypt such multimedia files. For example, a vehicle identification number (VIN) may be used as the public key. In a wireless transfer configuration, the vehicle’s public key may be transmitted over the wireless network to the remotely connected personal computer 44, portable storage/player device 42, video content storage/player device 46, or remote data storage device 26 (FIG. 1) to be used for encrypting content. For an end-to-end DRM scheme, the originating vehicle, such as the vehicle 12 shown in FIG. 1, may authenticate using the VIN as the public key before transfer of content thereto while also preserving DRM protected content from subsequent transfer out of the vehicle 12.

In case you weren’t aware, a few months back my Engadget handlers let me out of the basement research department to write the occasional tutorial. This week’s how-to describes streaming any audio through your TiVo, such as Sirius, XM, or your locked down iTunes. While the hack isn’t new, it isn’t well publicized so I took the opportunity to share the love. Before enlisting Galleon to help pass the audio, you may want to try loading the .m3u playlist into TiVo Deskop — on one of my machines it works, on the other it crashes. The article can be found here.

If all you’re after is streaming music, TiVo’s new online apps include Live365 and apps.tv offers Last.fm. If you’re interested in a more robust MP3 player than TiVo’s Desktop software, both AudioFaucet and Galleon’s music support are worth checking out.