BODiBEAT
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Yamaha's BODiBEAT reviewed: 'part DJ, part heart monitor, and part trainer'
Like DAPs with oodles of cheap storage, luscious screens, non-proprietary headphone jacks, and "so skinny I keep losing the damn thing" form-factors? Yamaha's BODiBEAT is not for you -- unless you're willing to look past all that in order to be the hippest sprinter on the trails. It's a chunky, blocky, $299 thing with a monochrome display and a measly 512MB of (non-expandable) memory, existing to serve only one purpose: amping up runners. According to a review at Yanko Design, it delivers on that at least, dynamically selecting from your tracks so beats suit your heart rate and pace, filling in with "built-in circa 1990 techno songs" when your collection fails to match your tempo. Its jogging-friendly "pinch" buttons got high marks, as did the accuracy in picking tracks to tweak workouts, but the overall value here seems awfully limited for all but the hardest of hardcore marathoners.
Yamaha starts shipping BODiBEAT, workouts and music magically align
We've stated it before, but this time you really have ran out of excuses to run. Thanks to Yamaha's BODiBEAT, you can expect your tunes to automatically sync with your steps, giving you new reason to get out of the house and get to steppin'. Granted, the $299.99 price tag is pretty steep for just 512MB of space and 12-hours of battery life (marathon, what?), but we're sure there are a few of you out there willing to pay the premium to keep your head nodding perfectly in line with your pace. Oh, and if you completely skipped over the headline, it's shipping now. Right now.[Via Coolest Gadgets]
Yamaha's BODiBEAT plays music in time to your workout
We haven't seen too many portable audio devices out of Yamaha (well, unless you count scooters), but the company's new BODiBEAT looks like it could be a big hit with runners. The arm-mounted DAP contains an accelerometer that links to the earphone-mounted pulse monitor, enabling the BODiBEAT to play tracks that match your running rhythm, switching songs as you speed up and slow down. It doesn't look the like unit actually changes the speed of your music, so Yamaha has thoughtfully included a range of preloaded beat loops that remix themselves at every tempo to cover any gaps. Good thing, too, since the puny 512MB of memory means you'll be out of music by the end of the block. Expect to see the BODiBEAT popping up at the gym later this summer for an astronomical $299.[Via jkOnTheRun]
