XM Radio and iPod, shall they be as one?

December 29, 2006 3:05 PM

I just got a Pioneer Inno XM2Go Satellite Radio with MP3. Woohoo! But I also have a video iPod. Seems I should be able to put all my MP3s on the Inno. I have about 1000 songs and all are on iTunes. But XM likes to work with Napster. How can I manage this? Can I transfer all the iTunes MP3s to my Inno? Will I have to use Napster from now on to download songs?
posted by miltoncat to Technology (3 answers total)

Songs you buy on iTunes aren't mp3s, they're in Apple's proprietary format and they won't play on your Pioneer device.

If you ripped the mp3s yourself or added them to iTunes from other sources, they're just stored on your hard drive and you can copy them into the software that came with your Pioneer thing.
posted by bcwinters at 4:01 PM on December 29, 2006

Also, the Inno has only 1GB of memory, all of which is reserved for XM recording out of the box. You can repartition (via the software or through the Inno's menus) but the most you'll get is 1GB. Not a lot of space. The 50 hours of recording mention on the box is at something like 56kbps, which is awful.
posted by Pastabagel at 6:33 PM on December 29, 2006

Personally, I would duct tape them together. I think you can still get alot of use out of both of them without any interoperability.

But...

There is a way to strip downloaded iTunes songs of their DRM (the thing that makes them not work in anything but an iPod), but it would be breaking the iTunes terms of service, and *maybe* the law (they're yours, after all). Programs like that deserve some skepticism, too, since you have no garuntees it will help or hurt you. But if you're game for stripping your songs of DRM, try here. You may still have to convert from AAC to mp3 format for the sat radio, but again, up to you how much fuss you want to go through.
posted by cowbellemoo at 7:10 PM on December 29, 2006