wma
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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.
iRiver Japan announces 2GB T10
iRiver Japan is Reigncom's only region we've seen make the announcement today, but they've got a 2GB version of their lime green T10 due out there for ¥19,980 (about $170 US). Doesn't look too different than the MP3, WMA, OGG, ASF playing, FM tuning, voice recording device we're well used to otherwise, and it's still got that same damned single-cell AAA battery, making it one of the more capacious players to take said cells. Expect these to go on sale the 26th of this month over yonder in the land of the rising sun -- who knows (if and) when, elsewhere.
Woodi CA-C360 MP3 player
What do you get when you release an irked rodent onto a keyboard? Why, the randomly named Woodi CA-C360 MP3 player of course. This 39.6 x 54.4 x 11.6-millimeter player, while featuring a clean design is just another regular ol' MP3/WMA player with 1.8-inch 65k color LCD, FM tuner, voice recorder, line-in recording, and image viewer available in capacities from 256MB to 1GB. Woodi, they ask? Probably, not.[Via Akihabara News]
Toshiba's Dynabook whale DAP
We know oddly shaped DAPs are hard to come by, so we thought we'd run this whale seal-influenced unit by you, just in case you've been scouring the market for a marine mammal that can pump the tunes. The Toshiba Dynabook IPCZ100A sports 512MB of storage, stores a USB 2.0 connection in its tail, and has a small LCD display in its belly. There's no WMA DRM support or really much of anything, but, well, it's a seal, so let's cut it some slack.
Samsung releasing Helix and Nexus this month?
Well, looks like 25th of April will see the official release of Samsung's Helix and Nexus XM sat rads at the Samsung Experience in the Time Warner Center in our fair city of New York. We've been kind of expecting the release of the Helix (which was announced at CES) any day now, but the Nexus is way overdue, having been announced last September. For those thinking of swooping in to make a purchase, the Helix is Samsung's portable with live streaming XM and an FM transmitter. The Nexus doesn't have the same live sat capability, but does have 512MB and 1GB versions for playing back pre-recorded XM streams; both feature MP3 and WMA playback, and can use the XM / Napster service. You can already pre-order the Nexus for $219 / 270, but don't forget that you can pre-order that Pioneer Inno for $399, too.
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.
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.
Sony CE-P MP3 players with color OLED, MP3/WMA
Sony has a new series of flash-based players, though for now, it looks like you may have to go to China (where it was apparently designed) to get one. The CE-P series includes a 1.5-inch color OLED display, MP3 and WMA playback (no word on PlaysForSure, but we're not holding our breath), FM tuner and voice recorder. Capacities and prices include the 256MB CE-P13 for about $100, 512MB CE-P15 for about $125, and the 1GB CE-P15 for about $150. No word on if or when they'll be available on a continent near you.
Convert WMA files into something useful
I thought we'd posted on this before, but I couldn't find anything so here you go: EasyWMA is a simple little tool that can convert WMA files into m4a, mp3 and wav audio files. It supports DnD (drag and drop), even with entire folders of songs to convert. Other features include: Input formats : wma, asf, wmv, wav Manual or automatic bit rate selection from source (32-320kbps) Batch processing ID3 tags support One catch I've found so far: I'm not sure if EasyWMA can handle the latest WMA 10 format, and it doesn't state anywhere on the site. Either way, this looks like a handy little app for those who are trying to convert their WMA files into a format that's actually useful. It sells for $10 and, as of its last update, is a Universal Binary.http://www.easywma.com/
