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Apple: Microsoft of digital music
Another day, another article telling us that Apple's digital music reign will soon end. The old argument of 'platform independence' are trotted out in this article, referring to Microsoft's 'Plays for Sure' DRM program. Sure, you can play that DRMed music on different devices but you have to use Windows. How is that freedom? If Windows Media would work on my Mac I would give a little credence to this idea, but I seem to recall Microsoft having no interest in that (I wonder why?).Competition is good, and I'm glad to see that other purveyors of digital music are thinking of new ideas (which Apple will take and incorporate into iTunes I am sure) but until someone comes out with a player/store combo that is just as good as the iPod/iTunes Apple will retain the lead.
Dual's PlaysForSure-friendly XDRM7710 head unit
If you're one of the select few who've decided to say "iDon't," then A/V electronics manufacturer Dual has a new car stereo that might be right up your alley, as it allows you to hook up your PlaysForSure-compatible DAP and control it from the head unit or included remote. Well, it actually costs an extra $100 for the USB adapter that enables this functionality, but that still only puts you out a total of $350, and then you're able to play your digital tracks off of CDs or almost any non-iPod player, but unfortunately not SD cards as well -- hey, you can't have it all. The XDRM7710, as this model is known, also features a motorized faceplate and XM receiver jack -- but certainly not the most stylish design we've ever seen -- and is scheduled to ship in July.
MTV and Microsoft launch URGE
Some six months after first announcing it, Microsoft and MTV have launched their URGE music service. The new service will be fairly similar to other subscription-based services that rely on Microsoft's PlayForSure DRM, and will offer 2 million songs, and have a monthly fee of $9.99, or $14.99 for a "to go" version that will work with PlaysForSure-compatible audio players. Of course, URGE will have one advantage that will inevitably help it make up for its late entry to the market: integration into the next version of Windows Media Player. That may cause some grumblings from the likes of Yahoo and Napster, though Microsoft has already settled with Real, so we suspect we're not going to hear them crying foul (besides, Real has been focusing most of its ire on Apple lately, something we think Microsoft will be perfectly happy to support).
iRiver Clix (U10) hits the US
Farewell iRiver U10, hello iRiver Clix. It's the same device (well, this one's 2GB), but it looks like iRiver finally caught on to the fact that named products brand better and seem to sell faster than arcane alpha-numeric character combinations. Other than that this thing doesn't appear to be too different than its predecessors; CNET's got a review of it up (as well as one of Urge and Windows Media Player 11, here and here, respectively if you're interested).[Thanks, Jenn]
The Pipeline: The press gets game, Mossberg ignites Apple frenzy
Welcome back to The Pipeline, a weekly feature where we dig through the mainstream media and see what the pundits, prognosticators and and pencil pushers have been discussing over the past week. This week, not surprisingly the scribes from the mainstream press joined us at E3, checking out the latest from Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft -- though, from the looks of things, many of our ink-stained cohorts seemed more interested in seeing how the "booth babe" ban was going. The Los Angeles Times, E3's hometown paper, had excellent coverage overall, but that coverage was somewhat overshadowed by the booth babe reportage, which included text, a photo gallery and videos. A few miles up the coast, the San Francisco Chronicle didn't have the Times' wall-to-wall coverage, but still managed to pay homage to the girls of E3, pointing out that the highly publicized crackdown on the raciest attire has had results: "Where once cleavage, upper thighs and midriffs were almost impossible to avoid, they have been more or less hidden behind baby T-shirts and more-modest tank tops. And it seems like there are fewer booth babes overall." Of course, the biggest E3 scoop by the mainstream media came from Time Magazine, with its exclusive preview of the Wii, which appeared in the magazine a full two days before the conference started. For those of us who considered ourselves lucky to get a chance to try out the new console without having to wait in line for an hour, it was a stark reminder that the MSM still have a lot of clout when it comes to getting scoops from big companies.
Gigabeat S previewed by AV Watch
We're doing our best to not lament on the Japanese snagging the Gigabeat S first, which is officially due for release April 28th -- yes, this year. We still don't know how long it'll be until we get our own launch this side of the Pacific, but AV Watch's DEVICE Viking (ahem) took a good long look at the portable media device that first whet our appetites at CES. We won't waste your time with so much wonky machine translation interpretation, but from what we could tell, they liked it -- you know where to go if your appetite too could use a little re-whetting.
Venzero announces Venzero One
Remember that mysterious Venzero audio player that MusicMarker service was getting integrated into? Well, they announced what it is today: the Venzero ONE. Turns out it'll be a 3.8 x 2.3 x 0.55-inch 8GB audio player with an FM tuner, 2-inch QVGA display, FM radio, mic recording (for MusicMarker, of course), OGG and PlaysForSure support, video playback, a 90dB SNR, and even a lightweight RSS reader. It's also got a built-in full size USB On-The-Go port and retractable USB connector (what they're calling Shareport), so you can dock your Venzero with another -- or any other mass-storage compliant device, for that matter -- and move around data, apparently also including DRMed music (assuming, of course, your Venzero ONE is authorized with a PlaysForSure service). Should be available mid-June this year for $289.
RCA Lyra X3030 media player gets bump to 30GB
It may be only a couple of weeks since we first started seeing reviews of Thomson/RCA's Lyra X3000 portable media player, but that hasn't stopped the company from announcing a successor, the X3030. Like the X3000, the X3030, due out in May, can handle WMA, PlaysforSure, Audible and DivX files, and has a 3.6-inch LCD display. In fact, the main difference between the two models appears to be a bump in hard disk size, from 20 to 30GB (gee, that must be why this is the X3030). RCA has kept the suggested retail price at the same $399 level as the X3000, so if you like the Lyra's specs and 20GB will do it for you, now might be a good time for you to grab an X3000 from a clearance bin.
mobiBLU's B153 153-hour player US-bound
Looks like Hyun Won's got plans to bring their mobiBLU DAH-1900 to America as the B153, but the 153-hour player's gonna see some minor changes; its namesake, for one, and it'll also have direct podcastready support for software-free content downloads. It'll still have the FM tuner / recorder, line-in encoder, OLED display, and PlaysForSure support, but since the B153 doesn't come in capacities larger than 2GB (yet) you'll probably wind up listening to the same tracks a few times if you can't make it back to your music library for a while -- unless you fill up with low-bitrate Podcasts, anyway.
Samsung YP-U2X on sale in the US
Samsung YP-U2, here. Get yer Samsung YP-U2, here. It's a little less classy than its predecessor with the fold-out USB port, but Samsung's 512MB YP-U2X -- previously seen at CES -- is now available online for $70, four line LCD display, FM tuner, voice recorder, PlaysForSure support (sorry though, this one's sans OGG), 13 hour battery and all.
JVC XA-F57, XA-F107 flash audio players
JVC is making another effort to stake out some turf in the digital audio player market with two new flash models, the 512MB XA-F57 and 1GB XA-F107 (which are, basically, US versions of the Alneo models the company showed in Japan a few months back). Both models support MP3, WMA and PlaysForSure, and also include a line-in for direct encoding. They also include everyone's favorite feature du jour, a lanyard with an integrated headphones (of course, that could get in the way if you don't want to wear the player around your neck, but then if that's the case, you're probably not JVC's kind of customer). The players also have a mono LCD display, come in pink, silver, white and black, and support mass-storage mode for non-DRM'd files. The F57 is expected to sell for $99, and the F107 should go for about $149.
DRM and battery life: no real effect after all?
Last month we wrote about a CNET study that quietly laid claim to PlaysForSure DRM cutting player battery life by as much as 25%, and FairPlay draining iPod batteries by up to 8%. DAPreview put it to the test, though, by comparing playback time on 25 albums in 160KBps non-DRMed and DRMed WMA in sequence on a fully charged SanDisk Sansa e260 with volume at 50%, screen brightness at low, and the backlight left on. And wouldn't you know it, the DRMed files played all of 25 minutes less, or 2.8% less than the 14:55 pulled from the non-DRMed music. However, since the test was only run on a single device, this only means you can conclude that the Sansa e260 handles DRM well; with so many chipset designs for player internals, you couldn't expect all devices to produce the same positive results. But hey, it's encouraging, if nothing else -- especially if you're a Sansa e260 user.
Toshiba Gigabeat S shipping this month ... in Japan
If you haven't been getting your internet access via Webaroo, you must know that the Toshiba Gigabeat S is one of the most eagerly awaited new products of the year -- especially by us (we were seriously tempted to "borrow" one from the Toshiba booth at CES, but managed to resist). Now the Windows Portable Media Center is nearly upon us, getting a full list of specs and a rough ship date -- for the Japanese market, that is. Specs look basically consistent with what we saw at CES: both the 30GB S30 and 60GB S60 will include a 2.4-inch QVGA display, an FM tuner, and full compatibility with Windows DRM for both audio and video. They're expected to ship in Japan, in white, black and red versions, by the end of this month at prices of around $299 for the S30 and $399 for the S60. And we're going to have to decide whether to bite the bullet and pay the markup to pick one up through a gray market shipper, or continue waiting for the eventual US release.
Pioneer's BDP-HD1 Blu-Ray player works with Windows Media Connect
No, we haven't seen the expected BDP-HD1 Blu Ray player from Pioneer since CES, but might have overlooked an interesting feature. Aside from full 1080p output, the BDP-HD1 will also work natively with Windows Media Connect, which opens the door to additional content in the flavors of MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC, WMV, MP3 and more. According to Pioneer, the BPD-HD1 will also support the PlaysForSure platform from Microsoft. As happy as we are with this additional info, we have to ask: what's with all this Microsoft stuff working on a Blu-Ray machine? Didn't they "back" the HD-DVD crowd?
