Shiro AS, the soccer ball MP3 player

by Paul Miller, posted Feb 7th 2006 at 5:56PM

We've seen plenty of oddly shaped DAPs in the past, but this soccer ball-shaped Shiro AS 1GB flash player gives 'em all a run for their money by sporting one of the least pocketable form factors we've seen yet. It includes an OLED display, FM recording, a 10 hour batter life, and supports MP3 and WMA, though there's no word on Windows Media DRM support. The player is due in Singapore this April -- with a few ill-fated soccer matches to follow.

[Thanks, tipsy_jim]

Filed under: Portable Audio

Subscribe to these comments

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

Linda @ Feb 7th 2006 6:09PM

So cool hi

Neutral

Tony @ Feb 7th 2006 6:29PM

I want one. The buttons look a little big though. Price yet?

Neutral

James @ Feb 7th 2006 6:37PM

This will be huge, as soon as european soccer teams start buying them and branding them. Football fans will buy anything if it has their team colours on it.

Neutral

Timpac @ Feb 7th 2006 6:49PM

Batter life.

Neutral

Jona @ Feb 7th 2006 7:33PM

I'd love to see it as an ACTUAL soccer ball. So it would pump out the tunes while you kick it around. Maybe you could even enhance it to respond to the frequency and power of the kicks.

Neutral

distantbody @ Feb 7th 2006 7:57PM

Thats a really beautiful mp3 player, what a releif to see a design that someone actually had to think about.

Neutral

distantbody @ Feb 7th 2006 8:04PM

/
/
/
/
...And full marks to Shiro, you are in my good books (for now...
/
/
/

Neutral

JakeH @ Feb 7th 2006 8:30PM

Distantbody, i agree with you completely. Finally some originality in this field!

G-zus, seriously--think about what you just said. Someone comes up with a successful product, so everyone else should give up?
Good thing you weren't in Detroit 100 years ago; "look at the Model T; GM, Chrysler, etc should just give up..."

Neutral

Tallon @ Feb 7th 2006 9:58PM

Batter life? So it lasts for 10 hours of being bashed around? At least it's longer than the ipod nano...
seriously though it is a sweet design, if a little impractical.

Neutral

TZK @ Feb 7th 2006 10:33PM

A for effort on the design. Makes me think of "the manhatten project" movie when the kid builds the bomb and john lithgow porks his mom.

Neutral

Naj @ Feb 7th 2006 10:55PM

I know the form factor isn't pocketable but it would be ok if you could wear it around your neck. Many people do it anyways with more pocket friendly form factor Mp3 players so i don't see why anyone can't do the same with this. I really like it.

Neutral

elektrotekno.com @ Feb 8th 2006 9:09AM

very nice design. 10 hour batter life is good.

Neutral

Mahnaz Siddiqui @ Dec 10th 2006 3:30PM

I absolutely love my 1GB Shiro! The sound quality and battery life are just awesome. One of the cool features is that it powers up via USB. Its form and function at its best! Gotta love it.

Add your comments

Your comments:

Remember me

E-Mail me when someone replies to this comment

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.

When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.

To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.