Well it’s a first. Samsung with XM have joined together to produce the Helix.

The Helix line of three players is the first to be a portable satellite radio with mp3 capability.

So, you now can have the best of both worlds: 160 channels of commercial free music, news, sports, entertainment, and of course your own compilation of music.

It seems like such a logical combination. This is way better than an mp3 player with an FM tuner.

The Samsung Helix will go for about $399.99 and will be available in the first quarter of 2006.

Features of the Samsung Helix

Take XM satellite radio anywhere: in the car, the boat, the home, (or work . . . watch the boss though).

The Samsung Helix lineup can store XM radio content, .wma and mp3 files. It also has the capability of storing up to 50 hours of XM content.

A full color screen contains all the necessary visuals, such as customizable stock and sports tickers.

The interface allows one to have as customized experience as saving and deleting content and creating your own music and XM playlists.

A really neat feature is the TuneSelect feature. It alerts you when your favorite song is playing on any of the 160 XM channels. And of course there are a lot more features.

What is good is that with the $399 you get all the needed accessories along with the Samsung Helix so that you can use it at home or portably.

The unit was on display at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

I think this is a great product. Samsung, is a well known company so you know you are getting quality.

I like how they have not just made another mp3 player but have bundled it with XM satellite radio.

This I thik filled a need. One one hand people wanted satelitte radio, but even when it became portable they couldn’t listen to their music.

On the other hand an mp3 player only allowed listening to FM stations at best. Samsung has filled that void with the Helix.

Technorati Tags: Gazotto, Samsung, Helix, XM, satellite, radio, CES.