This according to a report by Bear Stearns analyst Bob Peck after meeting with Jim Meyer, SIRIUS President of Operations and Sales. SIRIUS' new live wearable satellite radio receiver, which has been under close wraps for sometime, is quietly driving some hypoe. It's been given several nicknames, like the Sirius S100 or as others have referred to it as the "Bellagio" (named after the hotel it supposedly had a private showing at during CES 2006).

According to the Forbes article,

In the meeting, Meyer reiterated that Sirius would have a wearable product capable of receiving live radio available during the summer. The radio is expected to include MP3 playing functionality in addition to offering consumers the ability to purchase songs. Sirius believes that availability of memory on the receivers has the potential to transform the industry, just like DVRs.

This further supports what I heard about an increase in storage capacity for this unit. The only way the "Bellagio" (that's what I'm going to call it until we know for sure the recording capacity) can be DVR-like is by allowing for absolute control over timeshifting and managing capabilities.

"We think Sirius’ recent R&D spending has been directed towards developing new products and services that could help it wrest the initiative from XM," said Peck.

Of importance here, in my opinion, is who SIRIUS partners with to get this done. We've already heard strong "hints" that Yahoo! is the music store partner for fulfilling purchased digital music Combine that with rumors that GSI reported of a partnership with Toshiba (check out Tosh's Gigabeat S-Serius 30/60Gb DAP player for drool inducing speculation) and you could have one killer combo.

The next generation of Portable Satellite Radio units are of crucial importance for both SIRIUS and XM. Moving satellite radio out of the car and into the pockets (and hearts) of customers is what will bring satrad truly to the masses.

[Forbes]