Samsung's XM-enabled neXus MP3 player

Samsung and XM finally unwrapped official specs for their portable XM Satellite Radio-enabled MP3 player, which we commented on back in late July. Available sometime in the fourth quarter, the Samsung neXus will come in two capacities: one that will store and play up to 50 hours of music, the other 25 hours.

The neXus ships with a home docking accessory that has a built-in XM satellite receiver so that subscribers can listen to and record music and other audio content on the compact neXus device for mobile listening. The actual device does not have an XM tuner, but users may tag any recorded track and have the option to purchase it from the XM + Napster music service when they dock to their computer.

Our first impressions? It's a compact, tidy-looking device that also can play purchased WMA files. But unless you're a huge XM fan or, better yet, you spring for the optional car docking kit, you're essentially listening to prerecorded content--sort of like a glorified podcast. But if you do drive around and hear a great song, the ability to record it and the option to buy it later is nice. We're still waiting for a similarly compact MP3 device that also integrates a satellite radio tuner.