Everything old is new again at Panasonic
Panasonic announced four more rather diminutive audio players and two equally tiny flash based video recorder/still combo units. Though they're all new, the audio players are starting to get old. One of the new ones, the SV-SD100V (catchy name, yah?) even pays homage to Panasonic's first line of e-wear audio players with its square shape and monchrome OLED display embedded below the surface of the glass front. It has 256 MB, but the other models each feature 512 MB memory built in, and two also have FM Radios. Panasonic continues to differentiate its players with incredibly boring or incredibly wacky shapes, not with incredible technology. They apparently aren't that concerned either, as they've now admitted they won't even introduce hard drive based players until 2006. Ouch.
Panasonic is finally getting some serious competition in the Flash based multimedia recorder field from the likes of JVC and Samsung (sorry we can't really call the Sanyo any competition). However unlike the audio players, Panasonic is actually making an effort to improve the shape and technology of the new flash recorders. Sadly the improvements don't really make them any better at recording (or playing back media) but they have made the new SV-AV25 and SV-AV50 more pocketable and more environmentally friendly. At least that's something.
