Epoq readying Nextgen 4GB portable media player

Epoq's no (complete) stranger to the portable media player realm, and apparently, the firm is gearing up to crank out another of its own at CES 2008. The Nextgen 4GB will reportedly sport a 3-inch 320 x 240 resolution display, 4GB of internal storage space, USB connectivity, an SD expansion slot, FM radio / audio recorder and support for RMVB, AVI, DAT, FLV, JPG, GIF, BMP, MP3 and WMA files. Admittedly, we're a bit bummed the likes of AAC, OGG, APE, FLAC and DivX / XviD were seemingly disregarded, but nevertheless, it should be available in the not-too-distant future for around $250.

[Via PMPToday]

[darren @ Dec 31st 2007 5:24AM]

Okay, I'm not being sarcastic or cynical or anything. This is a legit question:

Do anyone actually use these things? I mean, so many companies churn out PMP's every month, and I don't ever see one getting used. All I see are iPods and Zunes and PSP's to handle people's media needs.

[DarkLightConnection @ Dec 31st 2007 5:37AM]

I've never used one, I use a cheap music-only Lyra for music (the battery seems to last forever) and my palm for video (with a well configured TCPMP and specially converted videos, it's a very nice video player, better than most dedicated video players.. I don't see the need for one, really)

[DarkLightConnection @ Dec 31st 2007 5:40AM]

I understand your question, BTW... I've never seen one being used either, like you said, everyone has an iPod or a X brand MP3 player... and note that I said MP3 player, not MP4..

[Bobs @ Dec 31st 2007 5:54AM]

Well, you buy what you plan on using, or what was gifted to you. I honestly use every single feature, except the scheduler for my archos AV500, the cam and DVR thingy, and I enjoy that no money was wasted there. do however wish that it had FM and AM, but still, if all you do is listen to music, and some pictures of your friends, buy a zune of ipod, if your a movie junkie like me, get something nicer.

[Bobs @ Dec 31st 2007 5:56AM]

Ive never heard of DAT and RMVB formats.

[Charlie Calhoun @ Dec 31st 2007 6:46AM]

The only ones I ever see get used are iPods and Zunes, I used to see quite a few Creative's, but that was a few years since I've seen anyone with a Creative except myself. I sat on mine and the screen was worthless, so now I just use it to listen to the radio at night cuz I know the presets. I myself am attempting to acquire a Creative Zen Vision:W (to replace broken Vision:M) or a Nokia N95... or both.... :-D

[ssuk @ Dec 31st 2007 6:50AM]

DAT are usually DATA files, however have often been used as video/audio files in Video CD discs. RMVB stands for Real Media Variable Bitrate, I'm sure you've heard of RM and RAM formats and their horrible-ness, well it's just like that only the audio is now capable of having a variable bitrate instead of being stuck at a constant bitrate (thus cutting down on file-size).

If you don't know what a bitrate is, you can find information on it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_bitrate

[Sandy @ Dec 31st 2007 9:07AM]

Hardly any of them come with big enough memory capacity to be any real use. I mean there are 2gb media players out there. That's 2 movies max, then you've got the hassle of putting that one movie onto the player and changing it each time. Archos offer a 160GB solution but at £280 in the UK (about $560), it's not exactly in most people price bracket.

Everytime I'm going on a journey that I'd have time to watch a movie on, I just take my Laptop with me, then I've got Ton's of movies to choose from and I can do lots of other stuff on it as well.

Until they get memory up, price down and an optimum model size, they're not going to be top of everyone's 'I want' list.

[Kurian @ Dec 31st 2007 6:10AM]

PLEASE. STOP. No one REMOTELY cares about this crap.

[strider_mt2k @ Dec 31st 2007 6:48AM]

Asking Engadget to not cover PMPs is pretty asinine if you ask me.

Are they not gadgets like anything else?

If nothing else they are cool to read about, so quit yer cryin' Nancy.

PLEASE. DON'T STOP. The vast majority VERY LIKELY cares about this crap!!

[ssuk @ Dec 31st 2007 6:53AM]

You're reading a technology blog, PMPs seem to just be incredibly popular at the moment and information about them seems abundant compared to other technology. You don't HAVE to read every PMP article, you can easily... Go outside or something and wait for more Apple posts/more slightly anti-MS biased posts/old news from around the world. Personally, I don't mind these actually neutral, informative posts.

[Kurian @ Dec 31st 2007 7:45AM]

I'm referring to this generic PoS which chinese factories churn out every day.

[DarkLightConnection @ Dec 31st 2007 7:59AM]

Sometimes they release interesting things...

And sometimes they release stupid things that make me laugh, and laughing is a healthy habit :-)

Way to go Engadget!

[Rk @ Dec 31st 2007 6:17AM]

It's quite interesting to hear about these devices, although perhaps they warrant one news item per month describing all of the products? I'm not complaining because I'm happy to read about them when I have nothing else to do - it just seems a lot of people are upset about items they deem not news worthy.

[Shawin @ Dec 31st 2007 6:23AM]

To all iPod haters, the ePoq is for you!

[strider_mt2k @ Dec 31st 2007 6:50AM]

There are video converters out there, but what a pain in the butt if you just ripped all your personal stuff to divx. :(

[silverblackvoid @ Dec 31st 2007 8:00AM]

"just ripped all your personal stuff to divx" (read: downloaded from torrent sites)

[strider_mt2k @ Dec 31st 2007 8:04PM]

Or more accurately "just ripped my own stuff to divx".

The cigar is just a cigar. :)

[David @ Dec 31st 2007 7:52AM]

Saying it supports AVI is pretty broad as it's only a container and can easily contain DIVX and XVID streams.

[dudeInAmerica @ Dec 31st 2007 9:50AM]

Eh?

If its the one thats pictured, I've had it for months.

Its also available at sourcinggate.com

Slow news?!

[OneLove @ Dec 31st 2007 10:03AM]

Yawn