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Sony's wraparound W Series Walkman on sale and in pink
Not much has been said of Sony's unique W Series Walkman since its unveiling at CES this year, but now the player is on sale and available in a vivacious pink hue for all the ladies in attendance. Or fashion-forward gentlemen, whichever. At any rate, said player -- which is more formally known as the NWZ-W202 -- is expected to start shipping out as early as tomorrow, bringing with it 2GB of inbuilt storage space, support for MP3, AAC and WMA files, a battery good for a dozen hours and a three minute "quick charge" feature that provides up to 90 minutes of playback. Catch it right now in black or the aforementioned pink for $69.99.[Via ChipChick]
Samsung YP-CP3 PMP surfaces, looks promising
We can't say for sure that Samsung's YP-CP3 is just a P3 with a pinch more "C," but there are definitely similarities to be seen. At any rate, the CP3 has just surfaced overseas, and reportedly this one comes packing a 3-inch display (400 x 240 resolution), support for a litany of file formats (MP3, WAV, FLAC, OGG and RM), an FM tuner, microSD expansion slot and a joystick control scheme. Sadly, we've no pricing or availability details to share, but we get this strange sensation that Yanks might be waiting awhile. Or forever.[Via PMPToday, thanks BrianB]
2GB ICOO V616 DAP is definitely worth $14
Not thrilled with the value proposition presented in Apple's newest iPod Shuffle? Why, have a look at this! The 2GB ICOO V616 DAP ain't much, but it does sport an OLED display and probably plays nice with a whole gaggle of file formats. Really, the bottom line is that this thing is just 99 yuan (around $14), so there's no doubt it's worth the asking price. Doubly so if it comes bundled with those Band Of Brothers dog tags.[Via PMPToday]
SanDisk slotRadio player launching to much fanfare on March 31st
Oh, wait -- we were just kidding about the whole "to much fanfare" bit. SanDisk's slotRadio player, which we're still struggling to understand, is all set to ship on March 31st after debuting alongside a gazillion other gadgets at CES. For those who've forced themselves to forget, this microSD music player can handle your own jams on your own microSD card, or alternatively, can accept pre-loaded Billboard hits cards which house over 1,000 songs that are nicely categorized by genre. It'll be available from SanDisk's own website on March 31st for $99 (which includes a card with over a thousand songs), and it should be ready to ruin Father's Day when it slips into Radio Shack locations shortly thereafter.
Version 2.10 beta firmware makes your Cowon S9 a new PMP
Slowly but surely, Cowon has been issuing firmware updates to make its sleek S9 PMP the music player it ought to be. According to a recent leak of the v2.10 beta, it's about to become even more formidable a rival. Reportedly, the forthcoming update -- which can be downloaded now for those kosher with all things beta -- adds in support for widgets, WMV7/8, pitch correction, full screen mode in TV-out and color tags for subtitles. As for improved functionality, we're heard that the entire navigation process has been smoothed over, particularly in the area of browser scrolling. Check the read link for a download URL as well as the full changelog, and if that lucky individual that won our S9 giveaway doesn't give this a go and report back, you all have to right to throw stones until he / she does.[Via AnythingButiPod, thanks Joseph]
Samsung sneaks Q2 PMP onto the scene with 50 hours of battery life
Looking for a PMP that can hang with you for every last minute of the long weekend, eh? Just in case MSI's MS-5552 is a bit too aged for your tastes, Samsung has quietly introduced a newcomer (the Q2, but not that Q2) which promises 50 solid hours of audio playback on a single charge. Specs wise, we're looking at a 2.4-inch QVGA display, built-in microphone, FM radio module, 8GB / 16GB of flash storage and little else. As for file support, this little bugger will play nice with MP3, WMA, OGG, FLAC, WMV and MPEG-4, though the lack of WiFi and Bluetooth keeps us from really, truly falling in love. There's no word on a price just yet, but we get the feeling we'll have to snoop around in due time for that as well.[Via Pocketables]
Sony's OLED Walkman specs revealed, QVGA rears its ugly head
We've been itching to spend some quality time with Sony's NWZ-X1000-series player since its granite-sided shell was first revealed just ahead of CES, and now that it's inching closer to release (in the Old Country, at least) we finally have a full spec sheet to parse. On the audio side it'll play MP3, WMA, and AAC at up to 320kbps, and for video there's MPEG-4, H.264, and WMV support, sadly in most cases crippled at 320 x 240 despite that 3-inch OLED screen's 432 x 240 native resolution. That's nearly a quarter of those pixels gone to waste. Other goodies include FM tuning, 802.11g/b WiFi, internet browsing with YouTube support, and 33 hours of battery life when grooving to tunes, 9 hours when watching video, and surely much less when cruising the web. Still no confirmed domestic release date, but it can't be long now.[Thanks, Steve]
Sony's OLED Walkman priced and dated... in the UK
We know, there's only so much an American can glean from UK prices, but there's still excitement in the air from seeing Sony's OLED-packin' touchscreen Walkman up for pre-order at Amazon UK. The X Series is ready for ordering in 16GB (NWZ-X1050B) and 32GB (NWZ-X1060B) flavors, with both expected to be dispatched between a fortnight and five weeks. As for pricing? Try £214 ($308) for the little guy and £283 ($407) for the big brother. All of a sudden, Cowon's OLED-equipped S9 isn't looking like such a bad alternative, eh?[Via OLED-Display]Read - 16GB WalkmanRead - 32GB Walkman
iriver's gorgeous P7 gets itself a web address
Unfortunately, we're still no closer to finding out when the iriver P7 will be available, but given that it's now showing up on the company's worldwide web portal alongside scads of other beautiful pieces of hardware, we'd say it's certainly closer than before. None of the listed specifications look to have changed, but there sure are a lot of purty images to look at there in the read link. Grab a tissue, place it beneath your chin and head on over.[Via DAP Review, thanks Jeff]
MyRacer's lisse T10 PMP subtly takes a hint from iriver's SPINN
MyRacer's lisse S10 was too simple to really attribute any level of knockoff status to it, but there's little doubt that the company's lisse T10 took a lesson or two in design from iriver's SPINN. For whatever reason, the SPINN seems to be quite popular in the KIRF circuit, and while the T10 is still different enough to keep it from being the next in our growing list of blatant rips, we're definitely not giving MyRacer any innovation credits here. All that aside, this here PMP is said to feature a 2.8-inch display (320 x 240), 2GB / 4GB of internal capacity, support for a litany of audio and video file formats, a built-in FM tuner and recorder, a text reader and support for an undocumented list of "games." There's no word on a price or release date, but we wouldn't count on it drifting far from its home nation of South Korea.[Via DAP Review, thanks Michael]
Acorn MP3 player is for nuts only
You may ask yourself, "what is the point of an acorn-shaped DAP"? Well, stop asking and just bask in the glory of its zaniness! Why not, right? It's teeny, cute, it's got 1GB of memory, and it comes with its own USB cable! Couldn't be simpler than that. Shell out $21 bucks for this little guy, strap it to your cell phone, and head for the great outdoors -- a beautiful placid lake for some camping, perhaps. Sky's the limit!
Samsung's U5 DoReMi rekindles hatred of DRM
You know, you'd think that branding executives would actually stop and have a think about things before just putting it out there, but no. As we've seen in separate instances before, Samsung's U5 DoReMi unnecessarily highlights itself in the worst possible way, capitalizing the three letters -- in order, no less -- that remind us why digital downloads still aren't as accessible and easily manageable as they should be. If you can get past all that, the USB stick music player boasts 2/4/8GB of internal capacity, a tiny OLED display, FM radio / recording and up to 18 hours of battery life. Look Sammy, we know the U3 and U4 basically went unnoticed, but is this really the light in which to paint the U5?[Via AnythingButiPod]
Philips GoGear Spark gets reviewed: a diamond in the rough
In the world of low-end DAPs, it's incredibly tough to find anything worth its salt. Believe it or not, Philips' GoGear Spark is a so-called "diamond in the rough," with reviewers at CNET noting that the respectable feature set and skimpy price tag ($49 for 2GB; $59 for 4GB) made it a good bet for those scouting a simplistic player for the gym. Specs wise, the 1.5-inch OLED display and "squeezable edges" make for a unique package, and unlike most bite-sized DAPs, navigating this one proved to be doable, if not enjoyable. We're personally a bit more upset by its limited format support (MP3 and WMA only) than these critics, but again, this probably isn't going to be your primary / only music player. Finally, the stellar sound quality and impressive 27 hour battery life really put the cherry on top, with the Spark netting a 3.5 out of 5 star rating.
Keepin' it real fake, part CLXXX: It's a Zune! It's an iPod! It's a spoof!
Simply aping one device at a time has just become too easy for the cloning labs in the backwoods of China, as evidenced by the two-for-one produced here by QQ. The K805 does its best Zune and iPod impersonation, and amazingly, it does so at the same time. The all too familiar click wheel is there, yet so is the rectangular design first made famous by the cats in Redmond. For those looking for the worst of both worlds, you'll be interested in knowing that this here player features a 2.4-inch 320 x 240 resolution display, support for a plethora of files, USB 2.0 connectivity and a microSD card slot for loading up your favorite EMF jams. We aren't clued in on a price, but do yourself a favor and pretend you never actually wanted to know.[Via DAP Review]
Tree Camera doubles as really cute MP3 player, doesn't take stills
We've always heard that judging a book by its cover is a bad, bad idea, and if you're assuming this wooden camera takes snaps first and plays tunes second, you'd be terribly mistaken. In fact, The Tree Camera is actually a DAP alone (sorry for crushing your dreams), and aside from boasting a standard headphone jack, it includes 256MB of storage and plays nice with OGG, WMA and MP3 file formats. We'd say it's totally cute enough to justify the $43 price tag, and even more so if the wood used to make is, you know, real wood.[Via PMPToday]
Aigo's "Jigsaw of Love" MP3 player completes you
No specs here to speak of. Only pics of this oddly shaped player from Aigo called the "Jigsaw of Love." Presumably then, you can mate the DAP with your partner's piece and then "leak" the sordid video onto the Internet in hopes of fake-fighting a revival to your fading career. But that's just a guess.[Via PMP Today]
iriver SPINN spotted in the wild wearing all black attire
We're not going to bother asking this here SPINN if it's headed to a funeral, but we will ask iriver if it has any plans on shipping an all black variant to the US of A. Currently, the only hue Americans can find is the tried and true silver, but based on a smattering of photographs posted on the Korean iriver forums, we get the feeling a dark, dark version is in the works for at least some sections of the globe. Let's all cross our fingers in unison and hope our homeland is included in that bunch, yeah?[Via DAP Review]
iriver Siren DP150 gets outfitted in crystals, cuddlies
Sure, that new iriver Siren DP150 was... unimpressive at best. Well, you know what could really help it out? A bunch of Swarovskis and a few cuddly toys! Lucky for us, that's exactly what iriver's just done: the little keychain-sized DP150 is literally coated in crystals, and comes with a Clasky stuffed critter (monkey, hippo, or bunny) sporting an "I heart iriver" tee. Sorry, folks: this one's a Japan-only release, but if you really must know, they're going for ¥19,800 -- nearly $220. What a deal![Via DA Preview]
mobiBLU's A10 UFO player may lift off when playing Jefferson Airplane
Is it a portable media player, or just a media player? Should it be worn around the neck, or simply left on the living room table? These questions and more become yours to answer should you choose to invest in mobiBLU's A10 UFO. All we're told is that it's available in glossy red or glossy black and that it features Bluetooth, support for a multitude of file formats, a built-in battery, headphone jack and 2/4/8GB of internal storage. If you look carefully, you'll notice that the red version is actually already starting to float upwards upon the strumming of the first chords in "White Rabbit." Far out, man.[Via AnythingButiPod]
LG introduces new UP3 DAP for Korea, now with even more 2006 flavor
LG has been hanging onto the UP3 name for some time now, and it looks like it's also not about to venture to far afield in the design department, with its latest model sticking disappointingly close to its 2006 counterpart. That sameness also extends to the same basic support for MP3, WMA, and OGG formats, though you can now get the player in new, exciting 2GB and 4GB versions, both of which apparently boast an improved battery life of 15 hours. No word on a price or release 'round these parts, as you might have guessed, but those in Korea can apparently look to get their hands on 'em shortly, if not already.
