In its ongoing game of catch-up with XM Satellite Radio, yesterday Sirius Satellite Radio announced a series of affordable satellite receivers for cars that match the smallest from the competition. Sirius also showed an iPod-looking portable receiver that can record up to 100 hours of music.

Sirius made the announcements Thursday, August 17, at a media event at Top of the Rock, at the summit of Rockefeller Center. It was one of the handful of days when New York City is at its most attractive: no haze, not too much humidity, and few muggers. The event was odd, because Sirius invited the press but didn't allow picture-taking inside (we could take photos from the 65th floor balcony facing Central Park only) and provided no press releases or PR photos. Writers and editors were expected to—gasp—take their own notes.

The event also occurred against the backdrop of a front-page story in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal, which said that, once again, both Sirius and XM are having growth problems because of subscriber churn (reportedly 2 percent a month dropout), competition from iPods, and legal hassles for XM over its portable recording receivers.

The most significant, and expensive, product shown was the iPod-like Stiletto SL100 ($350 list), a portable, battery-powered receiver with a 2.2-inch QVGA display and 2GB of flash memory; it records up to 100 hours of music from Sirius, or can hold a combination of Sirius tunes and your own MP3s or WMAs. The device is about 4.5 inches high by 2.5 inches wide (size and weight, another detail Sirius didn't provide, was on the Stiletto) and has a scroll wheel at the bottom that turns, with a press-to-select button inside.

The Stiletto comes with two batteries, a remote, a headset antenna (an antenna is built into the SL100 unit also), and an AC adapter. There are also vehicle ($70) and home ($60) adapters available. The Stiletto will be available in September.

Sirius was close-lipped about how you'll record streams and songs onto the Stiletto; the company says it has an agreement with the recording industry that XM doesn't have. The Pioneer Inno and Samsung Helix XM receivers let you record and store any song at the press of a button, but recordings can't be offloaded from the devices.

Sirius also announced the 10-hour, Sirius-only (no MP3 or WMA) Stiletto SL10, coming in October, that will cost $250, and for the time being the earlier-generation S50 (50 hours of recording, but no built-in receiver) remains on the market.

Among portable devices that are meant for installation in the car or for use at home via a mounting kit, the Sportster3 has shrunken to 2.9 by 4.5 by 0.6 inches (HWD), and now weighs 4.2 ounces; it has a five-line display. This will retail at $120 and will be available in September.

The Starmate4, $120 and available in October, measures 1.9 by 4.9 by 0.6 inches, weighs 3.2 ounces, has a five-line display, and provides 44 minutes of volatile memory: You can save music, but only so long as you don't change the channel or power down. It comes with a vehicle mounting kit, and represents the best mix of features and small size. In comparison, the smallest XM unit is the Delphi Roady XT, a more squarish 2.3 by 3.8 by 0.7 inches. The Starmate3 is the same unit, minus the volatile music cache; it will cost $100, and also will arrive in October.

For price-conscious buyers, there's the Stratus3, $60 with a vehicle mount kit, coming in October. Just bear in mind that the initial purchase price is quickly dwarfed by the $12.95 monthly subscription to Sirius.

The Stiletto, Sportser, and Starmate devices all use a new Sirius universal connector for vehicle, home, and portable boombox connections. Sirius says some of the third parties that provide Sirius devices under their own brands may also use the Sirius connector, although for now, most have proprietary connectors—meaning, for example, a Sirius-branded portable wouldn't fit in an Audiovox-branded car mount. All the portables (except the Stiletto) have monochrome screens and require external antennas and battery power.

A handful of entry-level products won't have a connector at all. For instance, the Stratus InVehicle, which has no dock connector, is $50, compared with the $60 Stratus3. And it may be so heavily promoted that it's almost free—except for the programming. Sirius's programming now includes much of major league sports except baseball (NASCAR moves over in January). And of course, Howard Stern. Most of the Sirius models have sports-fan-friendly features, such as GameAlert, which alerts you to the starts of games and score change; GameZone, which lets you view league scores on one screen; and on larger models such as the Sportster, a score ticker.