Have you ever wanted to combine the benefits of commercial free satellite radio along with listening to your favorite MP3s, all while driving in your car? If so, Sirius Satellite Radio may offer the product that you??ve been looking for. While car receivers that allow you to listen to satellite radio and your favorite MP3 music have existed for some time now, a recent product released by Sirius Satellite Radio takes the satellite radio/MP3 combination to the next level. The Sirius S50 is a satellite radio/MP3 player that you can listen to while you??re either riding in your car or sitting in the comfort of your home or office. The Sirius S50 comes with a car dock that connects the main unit to your vehicle. While the unit is connected to the car dock, you are able to listen to live Sirius Satellite Radio programming as well as any MP3s that you have stored on the 1GB flash memory unit. You can also pause and rewind the live satellite broadcasts as well as record up to 50 hours of your favorite Sirius Satellite Radio programming.

This unit also comes with a full color display which features channel logos and wallpaper so that you can easily identify the station that is currently playing. The neat My SIRIUS Channels feature automatically determines your three most listened to music channels and captures programming from each. Do you like to create playlists of your favorite MP3s? Well, you will find the Sirius S50 suitable to your needs as you can create playlists from your MP3s as well as from songs that you have recorded from your favorite Sirius broadcast channels. Additional features of the Sirius S50 include: game alerts that prompt you when your favorite teams are playing, a sports ticker with up to the minute scores, 30 channel presets, and a one touch channel jump button.

Along with the main unit itself, you also get a USB cable, earbuds, and PC software that allows you to download MP3s to the Sirius S50 from your PC. The software also supports streaming Sirius music channels over the Internet which is free with your Sirius Satellite Radio subscription. Currently the software is only available for Microsoft-based PCs, therefore all of you Mac users will have to go to your friend??s house to download your music if you decide to purchase the Sirius S50. The really neat thing about this unit is that it also doubles as an IPOD-like MP3 player, as you are able to listen to your MP3s and pre-recorded Sirius channel programs with the earbuds that come with the unit. You can clip the Sirius S50 to your hip and listen to your favorite tunes on your way to school or work. The unit supplies up to 6 hours of playback on the rechargeable battery. If you??re in the market for an in-car satellite radio unit, you should definitely give the Sirius S50 a good hard look before you make your final purchase. While it may be a little pricier than your average satellite radio unit (Suggested Retail: $329.95), it really puts those extra dollars spent to good use.