S50 Is History

[ThirdNormalForm]

Oh, I think I said that a couple days ago. Totally history. God, I'm glad
I didn't buy one.

Of course, they have something coming that will "put xm to shame" -- LOL.
Right. Just like Doberman & Rich claimed the S50 would do. WRONG!


Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Rumor: SIRIUS S50 to be discontinued very soon

We are told by a high level source at a big box retailer that the SIRIUS S50
will be discontinued by SIRIUS early this summer. GSI is told that SIRIUS is
“dropping” the S50 program because of deals they had to make with the record
companies as of late. In these deals SIRIUS is now paying some music
(record) companies per S50 sold. This summer a new “S50 like” fully portable
unit will be out. These new unit(s) will have a buy button, not a love
button, allowing users to pay per song, and not require SIRUIS to pay for
the songs you want. We are also told by this source that "these new units
will put the S50 and any XM unit on the market to shame." GSI is also told
that the S50 jump was huge at first, but now sales are quickly falling. This
was unit was big for SIRIUS, and got mixed reviews, as of late some reviews
are getting more harsh. We are told that once the current batches are done,
the S50 will quickly fade.. This summer the S50 will be replaced by the new
units. We are not clear on this but we are told that the news units will not
be compatible with current S50 docks and accessories. A side notes on all
this, many have noticed that the price of the S50 is still falling at many
retailers… SIRIUS still list the MSRP at around $360.

This is 2nd hand information from a source who requested to remain
nameless..

posted by Damian @ 3/21/2006
http://getsiriusinfo.blogspot.com/

[Dr. Droo]

"RBC said the financial impact of the agreement on Sirius will likely
be "immaterial" since the number of S50 devices sold will probably
reach only 1 million."

http://www.forbes.com/2006/03/21/sirius-royaltyissues-0321markets17.html?partner=yahootix

1 million units is a fair deal to have in channel when they're
intending another unit this year, that was probably close to their cut
off intention anyway.

--D

[John Doe]

> unit will be out. These new unit(s) will have a buy button, not a love
> button, allowing users to pay per song, and not require SIRUIS to pay for

This will drive used S50 prices on Ebay through the roof.

If I had an iPod that could download and keep free songs off iTunes, I'd be
rich.

Let's see. I can buy a new device which charges me money to save a song to
memory, or I can keep my S50 which does the same thing for free? Hmmm, let
me see, I think I'll keep my S50. In fact, I think I'm going to go out and
buy all the S50's I can find right now, save them for 6 months, and then
throw them on Ebay. I'll make a killing.

Since I got my S50, my iPod has been sitting on the desk, gathering dust. I
haven't bought one song off iTunes, Napster, the record store, whatever.
I've got almost 50 hours of music on my S50 and it sounds as good as any of
my songs on my iPod.

Would I have designed the unit different, sure. Could it be improved, sure.
Does it work, Yes. Am I happy with it, you bet.

[Rich]

What is shameful is XM could not get a product out to compete eith the
S50 and we are still waiting. Where's the Dell DJ Ditty and NeXus?
Shame on XM.

[ThirdNormalForm]

>
> 1 million units is a fair deal to have in channel when they're
> intending another unit this year, that was probably close to their cut
> off intention anyway.
>

This is NONSENSE. Not even close.

Geez, where these guys come from?

[ThirdNormalForm]

> What is shameful is XM could not get a product out to compete eith the
> S50 and we are still waiting. Where's the Dell DJ Ditty and NeXus?
> Shame on XM.

Quit making a fool of yourself.

[J. Fowler]

Rich wrote:
> What is shameful is XM could not get a product out to compete eith the
> S50 and we are still waiting. Where's the Dell DJ Ditty and NeXus?
> Shame on XM.
>

If you think that's shameful, tell us how you feel about sirius's
inability to get a true portable on the market.

[ThirdNormalForm]

>
> If you think that's shameful, tell us how you feel about sirius's
> inability to get a true portable on the market.

Fowler

There is desperation over there. I sincerely hope Sirius will not turn out
another bug-ridden product:

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.radio.satellite/msg/3606011afd61ad8e?hl=en&

The cost to produce one of these devices, then to have it sell only a few
units as the S50 has is not good business.

In retrospect, Sirius MUST be wishing they'd held up on the S50 like XM did
on the Nexus.

I fully expect Sirius to come up with a more robust product as well as one
with a workable feature set. Will they make it before fathers day? I'm
starting to doubt that....

[J. Fowler]

ThirdNormalForm wrote:
>>If you think that's shameful, tell us how you feel about sirius's
>>inability to get a true portable on the market.
>
>
> Fowler
>
> There is desperation over there. I sincerely hope Sirius will not turn out
> another bug-ridden product :
>
> http://groups.google.com/group/alt.radio.satellite/msg/3606011afd61ad8e?hl=en&


The price of the s50, for what it does is shameful; the bug list is
outright embarrassing. Equally shameful is the music industry attempt to
loot sirius for selling an overpriced tape recorder.

True, it'll do more with the $100 home kit, but the requirement for it
to be docked with the velcro add on, while the car is running to record
live content is just laughable. Shame on XM for not make such a shotty
product ... shame shame.

[doberman007]

Fowler.....

you do not even have an S50. Your comments loose validity because of
that.

The "bug list" is not all bugs. Some of the items on the list are
things that people want, or a "wish list". Not all of them are
possible because of rights issues.

yes, the stability of the unit can be improved.

I love my S50, and frankly have very few problems whatsoever with it.
Yes, I put a small piece of material on my car kit. It save a
mis-connection when a severe bump is hit. The second firmware update
also helped with that issue.

The S50 will have capabilities that other units simply will not have.
It will become a unit that people will have an affinity and attraction
to because it has capabilities that other units simply will not have.

There has never been a unit on the market that allows such an easy
method of capturing a song free of charge.

There will be many fans of the unit as time passes. There is actually
very little to stop people from creating their own memory upgrades,
etc. there will likely be sites where people share some preety nifty
capabilities of the S50.

Many outstanding issues will hopefully be adressed now that the
"settlement" has been agreed to.

Yes, the unit has its detractors.....it also has its fans.

Watch what happens when it becomes widely dicsclosed that the unit
captures songs for free, and the new units will not.

I have had the chance to see and use several XM and Sirius units over
the years. The S50 is one of the top units I have used. The
navigation is easy, and the functions are very user friendly. i look
forward to tweaking this unit as time passes.

[ThirdNormalForm]

> you do not even have an S50. Your comments loose validity because of
> that.

Hell, you don't have to OWN a Yugo to know you don't WANT one.

> The "bug list" is not all bugs. Some of the items on the list are
> things that people want, or a "wish list". Not all of them are
> possible because of rights issues.
>

The following items on the list are indisputably "bugs":

#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17,
#18

I would argue that the following "missing features" also constitute "bugs":

#3, #6, #8 (HUGE, MAJOR DESIGN ISSUE), #13, #14, #16, #17, #23, #25, #26

> yes, the stability of the unit can be improved.
>

Lack of stability can be caused by almost anything; but commonly is caused
by things like memory leaks and invalid pointers -- typical symptoms of
rushing the product to market.

> I love my S50, and frankly have very few problems whatsoever with it.
> Yes, I put a small piece of material on my car kit. It save a
> mis-connection when a severe bump is hit. The second firmware update
> also helped with that issue.
>

I'm sure you do. In fact, you would never criticize Sirius for ANYTHING,
and certainly not their "top of the line" player. It could burst into
flames in your hand and you would still love it.

> The S50 will have capabilities that other units simply will not have.
> It will become a unit that people will have an affinity and attraction
> to because it has capabilities that other units simply will not have.
>

Will have? WTF? It either "has" or "doesn't have". There is no "will
have". The S50 "will not have" any significant feature the Nexus doesn't
have.

> There has never been a unit on the market that allows such an easy
> method of capturing a song free of charge.

Which is the reason it should never have been released, and the reason
they've had to withdraw it from the market.

> There will be many fans of the unit as time passes. There is actually
> very little to stop people from creating their own memory upgrades,
> etc.

Oh, CRAP! You are hilarious. Memory Upgrades? ROTFLMAO. I can see it
now.

Geez, talking about someone drinking the Koolaid.

> Many outstanding issues will hopefully be adressed now that the
> "settlement" has been agreed to.

The "addressing" of outstanding issues is over. If you're lucky you'll get
one more firmware update. You'd better just hope like hell they keep the
same PC application for uploading, or you'll have NOTHING.

> Yes, the unit has its detractors.....it also has its fans.
>
> Watch what happens when it becomes widely dicsclosed that the unit
> captures songs for free, and the new units will not.

What are you talking about? "Captures songs"? All three of the new XM
units "capture songs", FOR FREE. But they have implemented DRM so that
these units won't become obsolete.

> I have had the chance to see and use several XM and Sirius units over
> the years. The S50 is one of the top units I have used. The
> navigation is easy, and the functions are very user friendly. i look
> forward to tweaking this unit as time passes.

Apparently, you didn't see the video from PC yesterday.

The reality is this unit has become a stepchild. While it has some nice
features (great display, nice size when undocked). But it has the
fundamental problems of requiring a separate home dock for $100 (and is
useless for its principal function, recording in the car) while docked in
the car dock overnight. The knob on the front is a piece of crap, wobbling
all over the place, the car dock is freaking ugly and I absolutely would not
have it in my car.

I'm sorry, but the complaints are totally justified.

[Dr. Droo]

ThirdNormalForm wrote:
> Oh, CRAP! You are hilarious. Memory Upgrades? ROTFLMAO. I can see it
> now.

Actually you can chip-stack the NAND Flash chipset just like with the
Ipod Mini upgrades. You obviously shouldn't be trusted with a
soldering iron.

--D

[J. Fowler]

doberman007 wrote:
> Yes, I put a small piece of material on my car kit. It save a
> mis-connection when a severe bump is hit. The second firmware update
> also helped with that issue.

I thought the "changing lanes" defect had to do with the construction of
the docking station and the placement of the unit. How would firmware
improve a physical defect?

> There has never been a unit on the market that allows such an easy
> method of capturing a song free of charge.

Fully featured tape recorders shouldn't cost $430.

> Many outstanding issues will hopefully be adressed now that the
> "settlement" has been agreed to.

By being addressed, do you mean discontinued? One flash and the
"settlement" could have been mute. Sirius caved.

> Yes, the unit has its detractors.....it also has its fans.

Price is too high for what it does. Enjoy yours.

> Watch what happens when it becomes widely dicsclosed that the unit
> captures songs for free, and the new units will not.

Good luck with that one. Hope you buy a pallet of them.

[ThirdNormalForm]

>
> Actually you can chip-stack the NAND Flash chipset just like with the
> Ipod Mini upgrades. You obviously shouldn't be trusted with a
> soldering iron.
>

----, I built my first amplifier when I was 11 (not from a kit, either) and
my first scope a couple years later (from a kit). So, I can solder when I
need to, and I do on occasion (although, my eyesight makes it difficult
these days). But these days I just buy consumer electronics rather than
tinkering, which doesn't produce much of a return on the time invested.

At any rate, there won't be more than a few (a "few" meaning 10 or so)
people "upgrading" S50s. The S50 is history. Orphaned after a few months
with a very small number of units produced.

Somehow, I'm not surprised.

I do think the S50's replacement will be a better product.

[Dr. Droo]

ThirdNormalForm wrote:
> with a very small number of units produced.

Yes, about a million units.

> I do think the S50's replacement will be a better product.

I'm not in a big yank to get another radio.. Probably will be in a few
years unless someone makes something appear on my doorstep.

My S50 works as does my brothers. They'd really have to offer
something compelling for me to want to switch. Depending what they do
with HMod that might be a reason, but probably not.

--D

[ThirdNormalForm]

http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/sirius-s50-owners-speak-out.html