Time to play!
Once service was activated, I jumped right in. The controls are intuitive, especially if you've used a satellite radio before. Even if you haven't, it won't take long to grasp the basics.
The replay function
One of the most handy capabilities of the Starmate is being able to pause and record the live satellite radio broadcast. You can pause the current program while you run through the drive thru, pump gas, or?gulp?talk to that friendly police officer. When you're ready, just press the play button and it'll continue where you left off.
You can also use this function to time shift the radio programming, but the Starmate must be receiving power — most likely via the optional home kit — for this function to work.
The true potential of replay
All of that sounds nice, but the day after I wrote the above paragraphs, I had an epiphany regarding Starmate's replay function. I was driving to work when one of my favorite songs in all the world came on: "Powderfinger" by Neil Young. I cranked the volume on my stereo and sang along in near-perfect tune. As the final chords faded out and the next song began, I thought to myself, "man, I'd sure love to hear that again."
And that's when it hit me: the true potential of replay. Tentatively, I pressed and held the rewind button at the top edge of the Starmate. I gasped as playback halted and those final sounds of Neil Young's guitar came over my speakers again. "It's just like a CD player!" I thought out loud. I pressed the rewind button again and let out a whoop of excitement as the satellite radio jumped back to the beginning of "Powderfinger".
When in replay mode, the bottom of the display uses a progress bar and play position indicator to show you where you are, compared to the live signal.
As the song wound down again, so did I. I considered listening to it a third time, but didn't want to spoil the moment. Once again, the radio started the next song. It was here that my TV-viewing habits kicked in. I didn't like the next song, so I pressed the fast forward button once. Playback advanced to the beginning of the subsequent song. By having an "instant replay" of Neil's delicate pastoral melody, I had built up a buffer of music as the Starmate continued recording the live music signal.
In fact, the Starmate continuously buffers thirty minutes of music. At any time, you can replay the past half hour. And yes, this feature works on the sports channels too. You can conduct your own instant replays of whatever game you're listening to and then fast-forward through breaks in the game.
