mp3-player
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Samsung's YP-T9, now with 8GB of tasty flash
With the (official) launch of Samsung's Yepp K3 presumably just weeks away, who could blame you for taking your eyes off the T9? Until January's CES, the T9 reigns supreme in Samsung's lineup of flash media players. It even sports its own "series" of third party accessories like the big boys... albeit, from just a single vendor so far. So today, Sammy announced an 8GB capacity bump to keep the Yepp competitive with all the other 8 giggers out there. The T9, however, delivers one notable exception: stereo Bluetooth. No details, but you can expect it to be priced to compete.
IRiver's S7 digital audio player: stickers yes, display no
Iriver is back and prepped to kick out their latest tiny DAP for Korea and beyond. Their new S7 shares roughly the same dimensions as the S10, but trims down just a bit to 42 x 30 x 9.6-mm / 15-grams by doing away with the screen in favor of a full-panel D-click interface. So instead of buttons, or gawd forbid a display, you get a virgin white face plate which you can cover with any sticker of your choosing -- including chicken-goats and pissing dogs if that's how you roll. The S7 brings 1GB of flash, FM radio, 9 hour battery, and support for MP3, ASF, OGG, and all the WMA you can throw at it -- yeah, PlaysForSure too we presume. The S7 hits live for Korea (only in brown) starting tomorrow for an estimated 89,000KRW or $96. [Via Akihabara News]
Maxfield intros MAX-IVY MP3 player
This shiny little MP3 player from Germany's Maxfield was making the rounds in early November but looks to now finally be available for public consumption (in various parts of Europe, at least). Available in 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB varieties, the player boasts a scratch-proof (but undoubtedly not fingerprint-proof) magnesium shell, a 1.8-inch TFT display, and illuminated "touch key pad" controls, with a promised battery life of 14 hours. While it bucks the trend with no apparent video support, it will let you put on a tiny photo slideshow and, of course, bust out the jams in your choice of MP3, WMA, or OGG formats. Look for this one to come in at the local currency equivalent of $185, $235, and $335 depending on how big you wanna go.[Via Tech Digest]
Hitachi's HMP-G1 DAP: does not amuse
Hitachi brings another trundling DAP to the game this morning with their HMP-G1. While it doesn't look half-bad, the most interesting thing about the player is the continuation of the absurd, non-googleable, unreadable i.μ's (Eye Muse) moniker. That is, unless you find 1GB of flash, a 128x64, 2-color OLED display, 12-hour battery, and support for MP3/WMA (DRM, too) and WAV voice recording, interesting. How about a price tag of ¥12,000 or about $104. No, didn't think so.Update: Well, well, Hitachi and Philips sittin' in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g. It's just a rebadged SA177 GoGear after all. Thanks Michiel, Marcus, and all who pointed this out in comments.[Via Impress]
Kenwood's Media Keg HD10GB7: world's smallest disk-based DAP
Kenwood's been churning out DAPs with high quality audio for awhile now. Some with disks, some with flash, but all with superior sound quality to the usual wares. Now they've taken the whole kit and shrunk it down into this, the world's smallest disk-based DAP. Sporting a 10GB (presumably 1-inch) disk drive, the new Media Keg HD10GB7 brings that same "clear digital amplifier" and sound processing found in their flagship player. The screen has been reduced to a mere 1.5-inches which if fine by us -- not like the Media Kegs' support video anyway. Fortunately, the battery doesn't suffer from miniaturization as it's capable of pumping MP3s for a full 24-hours; after which a 3-hour recharge from USB will top things off. The Napster to Go supporting HD10GB7 measures in at 78-grams / 62×44×17-millimeters so it'll go just about anywhere, especially Japan where these will hit first come December for about ¥40,000 or about $345. [Via Impress]
4GB iriver clix now available
As expected, the caps-averse iriver has finally pushed its new 4GB clix portable media player out the door, with only $200 separating it from iriver and you. The specs, in case you missed them, include a 2.2-inch QVGA display, built-in FM tuner, voice recorder, a promised 25 hours of battery life, and support for MP3, WMA, ASF, and OGG music files, as well as MPEG-4 "simple profile" QVGA video -- not to mention the inclusion of a variety of Flash games. Also available are a couple of clix accessories, including a cradle (you'll need it if you want line in/out) and an FM transmitter and car charger. The accessory sure to see the most use, however, is the screen cleaner iriver's seen fit to throw in free of charge.[Thanks, Dan C.]
Hed Kandi's candy-colored MP3 player
U.K. record label Hed Kandi is looking to extend its reach from the dance floor to your pocket with its latest offering, a self-branded MP3 player pre-loaded with a few of its own tracks. It's hard to see anyone but the most devoted fans throwing down the pounds for this one though, with the player demanding quite a premium for otherwise lackluster specs. For £69.99 (just over $130), you'll get 512MB of built-in memory, an OLED display of unspecified size, voice recorder functionality, and support for MP3s and WMAs (DRM, too), with a promised 12 hours of playback from the rechargeable battery. If that doesn't dampen your Hed Kandi obsessiveness, you can snag one of these right now.[Via Shiny Shiny]
Sharp's MP-E300/E200: the slimmer, prettier AAC sisters
Well, Sharp did improve the looks of their MP-B300 a bit with this, their new MP-E300 digital audio player. That color-matched display and clean, grayscale GUI works hard to keep the look tidy. But damn Sharp, quit slacking and clean up those busy controls, eh? Looks aside, this player delivers a pretty fat feature starting with a miniSD slot for expanding capacity beyond the onboard 512MB or 1GB flash, depending upon model. Sharp's updated DAP slims down from 8.9-mm to 7.9-mm while still packing both an on-board FM tuner and transmitter with AAC support now included on top of WMA/MP3 and DRM'd WMA. The player also touts up to 24-hours of MP3 playback or 14-hours of DRM'd WMA off its lithium polymer battery. Line-in recording direct to MP3 remains as does the hefty price tag: ¥21,000 / ¥16,000 (about $178 / $106) for the 1GB MP-E300 / 512MB MP-E200 players, respectively, when these start rolling out in Japan on November 24th. Now, if we could just move those squares around all n-puzzle like, well, we might have to bite. Ok, probably not.[Via Impress]
TrekStor announces P!nk-branded i.Beat DAP
Looks like Sony's not the only one getting a little P!nk-branded merchandise, with German manufacturer TrekStor (they of the $20,000 DAP) now following Sony's lead and announcing an equally "P!nk" i.Beat digital audio player. Available in 1GB and 2GB varieties, the player packs the usual specs for a device in this range, with a 1.7-inch display, support for MP3, WMA, and WAV audio (including WMA-DRM9), FM tuner, voice and FM recording, as well as playback of the relatively uncommon SMV video format. If the all pink look's not your style, this i.Beat's also available in the more subtle option of black with pink LEDs; each measures 1.45 x 3.15 x 0.35 inches and weighs in at just over an ounce. Look for them to hit towards the end of the month at €99.00 for the 1GB and €129.99 for the 2GB ($126 and $165), with each model coming bundled with a pair of Sennheiser headphones.[Via I4U News]
Median's M-cody M-30: today's DAP sponsored by the letter "M"
Median is prepping to toss a new slim, metal DAP into the mix with this, their M-cody M-30. With a 260k color TFT-LCD, the M-30 delivers MPEG-4 video playback as well as the more staid MP3 playback (and presumably WMA/WAV/OGG) and FM tuner already seen in the 7.5-mm slim, M-20 bro. Sorry, no mention of such trivialities as storage capacity, price, screen size, or whether they've managed to shave off that excess millimeter to best the measuring stick of audio player slimness, the iPod nano. We do know that it'll go for 11-hours pumping audio or 5-hours for video and record both voice and encode audio from connected devices. Great, but will it come in red whenever it might ship?
Study: for most, all-in-one phones aren't
Hey, isn't the idea of a cameraphone to have the luxury of leaving your big, fat digicam at home? With a smartphone, isn't the PDA supposed to be history? And doesn't that iPod belong in the circular file now that you've picked up that fancy musicphone? According to a newly released study by In-Stat, phones with extra goodness packed in aren't prompting their owners to leave other devices behind. In fact, over half of multimedia phone owners are still toting a dedicated MP3 player, some 75% of smartphone users lug a PDA as well, and a staggering 80% of cameraphone owners "regularly" carry their digital camera. Will the latest generation of superphones like the Nokia N95 start to change attitudes, or is the concept of a true all-in-one device nothing more than a myth?[Via ZDNet]
Technonia's IXING TM-S3 DAP
Korean manufacturer Technonia has got an update to its nano-challenging IXING TM-S2 digital audio player, with the TM-S3 adding a few new features while continuing to push the design envelope just a wee bit. Available in 1GB and 2GB variations, the TM-S3 roughly matches the nano in size, with a 1.5-inch OLED display, FM tuner, voice and FM recoding, support for MP3 and WMA audio, as well as an "exclusive video format," which you can be granted access to through the velvet rope of proprietary PC software. No word on price but it should be available by the end of the month. Overseas.
Ultra's Hydra: Ohio's full-featured 2GB MP3 player for just $60
Surely the Ultra Hydra is just another re-badged Chinese import, right? Maybe, but this 0.8-ounce / 2.9 x 1.5 x 0.9-inch splashproof DAP is said to hail from a place much more exotic... Fletcher, Ohio. The Hydra comes in either 1GB or 2GB flavors and features an integrated FM radio, USB 2.0 for both quick data transfer and charging the bundled AAA battery. On a good day, that battery will bust-out a modest 8-hour playback of your MP3, WMA, and WAV files and even them crazy-low, 8kbps bit-rate ACTs generally used for low-quality audio recordings -- so yeah, it includes a voice recorder, too. And just like we likey, the Hydra supports USB mass storage allowing you to easily drag and drop music to the player, or any file for that matter for some good, USB flash drive portability. We assume it also supports DRM'd WMA playback since the player will be launching with Ultra's, or should we say PassAlong Network's, NepTUNES music service which is PlaysForSure certified. So what's the fuss, Gus? Well, prices start at just $40 for the 1GB model or a righteous $60 for the 2-gigger. You go Bucks!Update: Ah ha! As Jordy and others are pointing out in comments, it is just a rebadged unit as seen here and here and... May your rivers burn as punishment Ohio!
McDonald's MP3 players ship with trojan horse
What do tubby teens, MP3 players, and grandma's scalded taint all have in common? That's right, the absolute attention of McDonald's legal. See, McDonald's and Coca-Cola recently teamed up in Japan to give away 10,000 self-branded MP3 players pre-loaded with 10 spankin' new tunes and... some delicious malware. It seems that a "portion" of the players sport a variant of the QQPass family of trojan horses which capture passwords and other personal information when the MP3 player is plugged into the users' PC. The code then proceeds to email the details to the author. McDonald's has setup a 24 hour hotline while they are investigating the matter and will swap out all the offending players. Good times. [Via Impress]
MobiBlu's Cube2 "world smallest multimedia player" reviewed
Sure, we like our DAPs small. However, audio devices which pull extra duty as video players and photo viewers can only get so small before limiting themselves to nothing more than a novelty. CNET got their hands on the diminutive MobiBlu Cube2 which features 2GB flash, FM radio/scheduling, OGG/MP3/DRM'd WMA and MPG/WMV support, voice recording, and the dubious distinction of being the claimed, world's smallest multimedia player. To view video or images though, you have to use the included MJPEG/MSV conversion software which worked tolerably well in CNET's tests. Still, that tiny square, 0.6-inch (diagonal) screen cropped images even along the top and bottom requiring a lot of scrolling around to bring the edges into view. As you can imagine, CNET found image and video viewing to be a real "hassle" after awhile. The Cube2's menu system in general was found to be "a pain" to navigate requiring too many clicks on those tiny buttons. CNET was also miffed by a "fairly staticky, but listenable" radio and "mediocre" battery life squeezing out only 6 hours audio playback of the 10 hours estimated. However, they left the player's backlight on so they could, uh, "tell it was working" -- er, the music wasn't enough of a clue? Still, with that massive feature set packed into such a stylish cube and the much appreciated ability to move files via USB Mass Storage in addition to MTP, CNET awarded the MobiBlu Cube2 a 7.3/10 very good rating. [Thanks, nana]
iRiver S10 reviewed
Last we spotted iRiver's diminutive S10 digital audio player it was riding the coat tails of Apple's 2G Shuffle, but now that reviews are starting to trickle in, it's gotta stand on its own to make a name for itself. The folks at CNET Asia were some of the first to get their hands on one, and as usual, they put the unit through its paces -- apparently without managing to lose it. The biggest plus, obviously, is the S10's size, measuring just 42 x 30 x 10.8 millimeters and weighing in at 17.5 grams; which could have been a drawback if not backed up by an intuitive design featuring iRiver's D-Click input system. On the downside, the player's small size comes at the expense of battery life, which actually beat iRiver's rated time of eight hours by about 30 minutes in CNET's test, but that still falls well short of what many peeps are used to in their DAPs by now. Nevertheless, if you're looking for the smallest, full-featured MP3 around, CNET says the S10's "the best that money can buy."[Thanks, Mr. Riveria]
Keian's KDV8900S MPEG-4 SD video recorder and MP3 player
Oh lookie, yet another low cost MPEG-4 video camera with MP3 player. While we're certainly not expecting this ¥19,800 (about $168) MPEG-4 shooter from Keian to deliver anything near the quality as the ¥50,000 (roughly $429) CG6, it's worth a peep for that price, eh? The KDV8900S (pictured) brings 32MB of on-board storage with a 5 megapixel CMOS sensor capable of shooting MPEG-4 recordings at 640x480 / 30fps onto SD card. The cam also snaps stills which can be previewed on the twist-and-fold, 2-inch display and throws in an MP3 player with built-in speaker and headphone jack just for fun. Also announced is its lesser, 3 megapixel KDV6800S cuz which attaches a larger 2.4-inch display but without MP3 playback for ¥16,980 or about $144. Don't worry, we wouldn't bore you with a picture of that one even if we could dig one up of decent quality. Both expected to launch in Japan on Wednesday.
StormBlue busts out A9+ Bluetooth PMP
While StormBlue didn't update the aesthetics of its Bluetooth-equipped A9 PMP with its latest offering, the company did up the ante by adding capacity, tossing in a text viewer, and boosting the recording abilities. The A9+ sports a silver or black finish (sorry, no white option here), comes in 2GB and 4GB flavors, and rocks a built-in SD slot for further flash expansion. The 2-inch 220 x 176 resolution screen displays a proprietary MPEG-4 format (touting "20fps" playback), but includes software to "quickly convert" from AVI, WMV, DAT, ASF, and MPEG; musically, it supports MP3, WMA, OGG, and WMV-DRM. The integrated Bluetooth can be paired up with your favorite set of BT cans, and by boasting 39 hours of battery life (11 in movie mode), you'll probably quit before this thing does. Voice memos and MP3 line-in recording are also on tap, but you'll pay a premium for all these goodies -- £109 ($207) for the 2GB version and £149 ($283) for the 4GB edition.[Via MobileWhack]
Aigo's Patriot MP-F986 digital audio player
Chinese manufacturer Aigo has let loose a new digital audio player in its home country, the Patriot MP-F986. Weighing in at just 1.5 ounces in a pocketable 2.6 x 1.85 x 0.6-inch form, this one's available in both 512MB and 1GB varieties -- each packing a 160 x 128 OLED screen for some pint-sized AVI viewing -- and supports MP3, WMA, and OGG files on audio front; you're also getting voice recording and an FM radio for good measure, because, you know, to be an iPod killa you gotta load up on the bells and whistles. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be any word on pricing just yet, though we wouldn't recommend holding your breath for the F986 to show up on this side of the Pacific.[Via I4U News]
Napster bumps their free DAP to 512MB
Yeah, we never really bothered to get our hands on the 256MB version, but Napster hasn't messed much with the formula here -- just tossed in a bit more flash memory. All you've gotsa do is sign up for three months of Napster To Go at $15 a month, and Napster will ship you this little 512MB PlaysForSure player for free, complete with screen and, um, buttons. Good times, indeed.