Pandora Car Stereo Spells Sirius Trouble

Why pay upward of $20 a month for satellite radio in your car when you can get Pandora Internet radio for free? Pioneer unveiled a car stereo at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week that can detect Pandora Internet radio from iPhones or iPods, prompting observers to ask whether Sirius XM has met its match, reports the Street.

Usership for Pandora, which allows listeners to customize their own online radio station according to artists, songs, and genres, doubled to more than 40 million in 2009, compared to Sirius’ roughly 18 million subscribers. With the March release of Pioneer's Pandora-enabled device, the king of customizable music expects to reach an entirely new group of consumers.