Apple looks at satellite radio

DESPITE the fact that Apple has rejected the idea of linking satellite radio programmes to its super soaraway ipod, it appears to be developing technology to do just that.

Electronista magazine has dug up a patent that Apple filed last year which shows that Jobs' Mob has been experimenting with satellite services.

In December, Apple rebuffed Sirius Satellite Radio's CEO Mel Karmazin when he asked for a deal between the two companies. This could mean that Apple is planning to set up its own satellite radio station to back up its iTunes juke box.

The first part of the patent describes the ability to tune "into a wireless signal using an iPod-style player. The fact that the patent mentions connections well beyond AM/FM radio rules out any conventional broadcasts to Apple's 'Radio Remote' which is already on the market.

It also mentions the use of an "in-vehicle receiver-player" that would connect to a music player to an in-car network.

This would mean that iPods would show metadata from live radio and let the users mark individual songs heard XM Satellite Radio for a later purchase through a "Media Purchase System" such as iTunes.

More here. µ