Alright there gearslammers, get out of the granny-lane and stop dodging those aligators, cause you don't need to be a mud duck no more! Contract Freighters, Inc just annouced they'll give XM Satellite Radio free it its more than 2,500 drivers.

CFI is factory-equipping all their new trucks with XM Satellite Radio receivers. All CFI drivers will receive XM subscriptions, whether they drive a truck with an XM receiver or they own a plug-and-play XM radio for earlier-model vehicles.

(trucker lingo found here)

If I was XM, I'd be having a shitfit over the Xlive XM-200 and XM-300.

Not only is it ugly as sin, but it doesn't even have anything to do with Satellite Radio.

But it does feature an FM tuner, radio recording, supports MP3, WMA, Line-in recording, CD sync. Yep. It's in the same industry from a lawyer's perspective.

I smell copywrite infringement.
Or at least sue 'em for slander/libel for releasing such a godawful ugly device with the letters "XM" in there.

OK, so it seems like I was wrong, I predicted that Hyundai was going to go to Sirius - because news just arrived that Hyundai will be the first automaker to launch XM as standard, factory-installed equipment in every vehicle across its entire model line-up.

Starting in 2006, XM radios will be factory-installed in all Hyundai models, beginning with the all-new Sonata, Santa Fe, Elantra, and the upcoming replacement for the XG350 premium sedan.

By year-end 2006, 75% of Hyundai's sales volume will be XM-equipped, with the remaining models following quickly thereafter, totaling well over 500,000 units by 2007.

This is huge. Not just for XM, but for the entire satellite radio industry. Being included as standard-equipment not only exposes every consumer to the benefits of satellite, but legitimizes the medium as not just a luxury. Hyundai is really "the people's car" (sorry Volkswagen), and including something that used to be a luxury for no extra cost to the consumer, is a HUGE step in the perception of what Satellite Radio is to the average joe.

We've just learned that Yamaha and XM Satellite Radio will bring to market the first XM-Ready home entertainment products available in early April.

Yamaha will manufacture four new receivers and several new home-theater-in-a-box (HTIB) systems with XM's Connect-and-Play technology designed to integrate XM into a broad range of home entertainment products.

Now all you need to do is simply plug in the XM Connect-and-Play home antenna into the XM-Ready Yamaha AV receiver and activate the service to be live. Nothing else is required, no accessories, no installation... nothing.

Yamaha's line of XM-Ready receivers include two 6.1 channel receivers, the RX-V457 (85W x 6) and RX-V557 (90W x 6), and two 7.1 channel receivers, the RX-V657 (95W x 7) and RX-V757 (100W x 7) pictured in this article.

The receivers come with all of the latest surround sound formats, with Yamaha's proprietary YPAO System featured on the RX-V657 and RX-V757, which automatically analyzes the acoustics of your room and adjusts the speaker parameters to provide the optimum sound at the listening position.

Yamaha will also release four XM-Ready receivers from their HTR-series with features similar to RX-V series. The HTR series will be available in April from $349.95 to $849.95. Yamaha will also introduce several XM-Ready HTIB solutions from its YHT line of products.

[Check out a super-sized photo of the RX-V757]

The PGA TOUR and XM Satellite Radio today announced a long-term partnership, which includes exclusive XM broadcasts of PGA TOUR events, as well as sales and rentals of portable XM2go radios at PGA TOUR tournament courses.

Beginning this summer, the PGA TOUR Network (XM Channel 146) will air live tournament coverage each week, plus daily programs designed for golf enthusiasts.

As part of the XM-PGA TOUR agreement, fans who attend select TOUR tournaments will be able to buy or rent a portable XM2go radio to hear the live coverage at the golf course.

Now THAT's cool. XM2go units available for rent at golf courses is a great additional revenue stream, and the best way to sell your product is to let people interact with it. Great move.

Jon Zellner, former Vice President of Adult Top 40/Hot AC Programming at Infinity Broadcasting, will be joining XM to serve in the newly-created position of Senior Vice President of Music Programming.

Zellner oversaw Adult Top 40/Hot AC stations in 17 cities, including San Francisco, Dallas, San Jose, Orlando, and Denver. Previously, he served at Infinity as Vice President of Top 40 Programming, overseeing stations in 11 cities.

He was Vice President of Programming for a four-station cluster of Infinity stations in Kansas City for eight years, as well as operations manager and program director for two Infinity stations in Boston for one year.

During his 18-year radio industry career, Zellner has served as a senior programming executive, operations manager, music director, and on-air talent at stations across the U.S. He was named one of the "best program directors in America" by Radio Ink magazine for four consecutive years.

Several faithful readers have pointed out to me that my post on the 2005 Volkswagon Jetta with Sirius installed didn't tell the entire story. So here it is: VW is offering a choice of SIRIUS Satellite Radio AND XM Satellite Radio as a factory-installed option.

Check it out from this screen capture from their website:

I apologize for not doing further research into the story before posting it. In the effort to get articles out as quickly as possible, sometimes I miss a few things. So I really do appreciate everyone emailing me and keeping me in-line.

Thanks everyone!