XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. said Tuesday that they will collaborate to make portable digital players that play both recorded XM programming and MP3 audio files.
The two players won't receive XM programming directly. Instead they will come with home docking stations that receive XM's satellite broadcasts and store them on the players. Users will also be able to transfer digital music files from their computer.
The players will allow listeners to identify songs on the XM programming and order them from an online music store.
The players, with two different storage capacities, will be available at the end of the year, the companies said. They did not reveal the names of the devices or their expected prices.
The players will use solid-state "flash" memory, unlike the popular iPod, which uses hard drive storage.
Washington, D.C.-based XM sells its own portable player, the MyFi, which receives broadcasts directly and stores up to five hours of programming. It does not, however, play MP3s.
XM has also announced a deal to make a similar player that in addition to receiving broadcasts plays spoken-word content from Audible Inc.'s Web site.
