Gotta love technology (Pt 1)

The one thing about electronics that you can pretty much always count on is that they will always go down in price. So as long as you don't have to be the first on your block with something, patience will save you money. I finally got myself a Pioneer Inno, which is a combination XM radio/MP3 player. This thing is awesome! It plays live XM at home, in the car, or on the go, and for those times where you just can't get a good signal, you can use half of it's 1GB of memory for your own MP3s. The other half is reserved for XM content which you can record as you listen. Not only can you schedule a recording, but because it keeps a buffer, you can record a song that you like, even if the song is half over (provided you had the radio on that channel since the beginning of the song). Oh, and it also supports Audible.com content, so you can also listen to audiobooks or any other audible content like Opie & Anthony archives. With the help of Napster software, you can organize all your music, including making playlists of all your music. You can even make a playlist combining XM recorded content with your own MP3s.
You can also save your favorite artists/songs so that you are alerted if an artist/song is playing on another channel. And unlike previous XM hardware, with the Inno you don't have to wait until a favorite artist comes on to capture it as a favorite, you can type your favorites in yourself. And unlike previous XM2go units, it doesn't have to be docked in a cradle to record (only scheduled recordings require this). If you're out walking and want to record the song you're listening to, you just simply record it. Oh, and the full color display is pretty cool too.
Anyway, I started this by mentioning dropping prices on electronics. Well, when the Inno came out little more than a year ago, it was $400 (and it doesn't come with a car kit). I bought mine plus a car kit (about $60 itself) for $200. That was a couple of months ago. Now, you can get a refurbished Inno for $119 here. Or, better yet, you can get a brand new Samsung Helix for only $109.95 at Amazon.
The Helix is identical to the Inno except for the outer shell. For a while, Amazon was selling the Helix for $89.95 w/free shipping, but I guess people cleaned them out because I don't see it anymore. I bought 2 at that price (one for Valerie and one for her daughter Megan). The one they have now for $109 is sold by an outside vendor.
So, if you like your MP3 player, but also like to hear something different once in a while, I highly recommend picking one of these up. Like the ads say, it'll change the way you listen to music. :-)