By Richard Menta 5/20/06
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iRiver Clix In Asian countries, where the iPod barely manages an appearance on the top 10, iRiver has about a third of the market. Now it takes its next stab against the iPod here in the states and this time it is working with a few friends. The new iRiver Clix will be the first unit to support Microsofts just released Windows Media Player 11 and it will designed to synchronize with MTV Networks' also new URGE digital music service. iRiver hopes that MTV's branding will draw enough of its TV audience to feed it like iTunes feeds the iPod. The iRiver Clix offers 2GB of memory in a player that is not that much larger than it 2.2 inch TFT display. Along with WMA 11 the Clix supports OGG and MP3. Throw in the now common FM tuner and voice record capabilities and you have a feature set that is good, but needs a little more. So iRiver gives you a little more. The screen allows the user to select to display items in both portrait and landscape mode and the Clix offers support for FlashLite games. The iRiver Clix will sell for $199. |
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Samsung YP-Z5 Samsung has released its direct competition to the iPod nano with this slim line design designated the YP-Z5. Coming in at 1.66" x .45" x 3.54", the Samsung YP-Z5 comes in two flavors, each representing a different capacity to again match the nano. The YP-Z5A is the unit's 4GB persona, while the YP-Z5Q is the 2GB version of this flash unit.The model numbers that are listed lower in the press release tag an additional "S" (for silver presumably) at the end suggesting other colors will be introduced in the future. A 1.8" TFT display serves as the player's screen. Where the Samsung differs from the iPod nano is where most iPod competitors differentiate themselves, with expanded features. The Samsung YP-Z5 supports the MP3, WMA, WMA-DRM10 (PlaysForSure) and OGG format. The YP-Z5F adds an FM tuner and voice recorder to the mix. |
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Maxfield Max-Joy Protects the Ears The risks to hearing from listening too much to MP3 portables continues to circulate the news. Maxfield has a solution by introducing its Max-Joy (a name that sounds just a tad creepy to me. Pray it does not have a vibrate mode), a player that adds an an audio limiter restricting the volume to 60DB.That is significantly less than the near-100 db sound pushed out by most MP3 players. The unit also comes with Koss headphones, which they claim are designed to reduce potential damage. The May-Joy is encased in a rubberized shell to keep out dirt and moisture with rounded edges to better absorb the inevitable drops, the latter feature a compelling one to us fumble-fingered adults. The unit comes with only 256MB of memory, but has an SD card slot to expand it. It gets 19 hours on a AAA battery. |
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Lenovo Easy Cube MP500 Who says that MobiBLU gets to have all the fun with little cubes. The Lenovo Easy Cube M500 is 2 3/4 inches on all sides, which is a nice size for a unit with a built-in speaker on the side. Despite the fact that these speakers usually offer tinny sound at best, they can be quite useful at picnics and trips to the beach. In fact, I wish more players offered this practical option as a feature. As Engadget explains, the Easy Cube has no display and storage is strictly handled through any SD cards you have lying around the house, but at $50 the Lenovo makes a reasonable impulse buy. |
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Kiss MP3 Player Ok this one is a little cutesy, but it will probably score huge points with your 10 year old daughter. That's assuming you aren't afraid of making your young child deaf with one of these things, but I suspect big girls will like it too. It is a nice heart-shaped portable for that loved one who already has a penchant for heart-shaped baubles around their necks. It's sweet and it comes with up to 1GB of memory. Yes, nothing says romance like small electronics from your lover. The Kiss MP3 player is available in red, white, and silver, which appears to be the only feature besides the player's shape. There's no price on the Kiss MP3 yet, but expect it to hit English-speaking countries by summer simply because the word kiss is, well, in English. |
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Sony Thumb-drive Player This Sony offering looks like a simple USB thumb drive, but Sony's new E-series MP3 portables are really just going after Apple's iPod Shuffle niche of stripped down DAPs. According to ATRACLife the new units will possess a single line display that runs like a seam down the E-Series body. The player comes in several colors and capacity ranges from the NW-E002 with 512MB, the NW-E003 with 1GB and the NW-E005 with 2GB of memory. Sony hinted that these players would be cost comparable to the iPod nano, a higher-end Apple player that offers a full, though tiny, color screen. That already puts Sony at a disadvantage |
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Tomy Bear MP3 Everybody is getting into the MP3 business, including toy manufacturers. Hearing risks aside, I guess they see a viable niche market targeting your kids. Yes, it is cutesy this digital music player from Tomy. It has to be as it aims for are those at the cusp of school age. Now your little tikes can listen to music like the big kids and feel all grown up and the like. Actually, I can see this tiny device becoming popular among early teenage girls, though even there I am not so, as many young teens are already waiting for their mobile phone contracts to expire so they can upgrade to a more feature-laden phone. So what are the basics for Tomy Bear? It is a 128MB portable, quite modest in today's iPod nano times, but still enough to cause the hearing damage audiologists fear earphones are causing. The Tomy bear MP3 plays music in both MP3 and WMA, gets 8 hours to a battery, and weighs in at 1.8 oz. Dimensions are 3.7" x 2.5" x 1.6". |
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Inkel Widetouch 5.6 The only reason the Inkel Widetouch 5.6 is listed here is to show how far the Korean brands have already come. The Widetouch 5.6 has touchscreen controls, a huge 5.6" widescreen LCD display and can receive digital media broadcasts, an asian broadcast format that does not exist in the US (we are stiill struggling with HDTV, which is a compatibility mess over here). Oh yes, one more thing, the Widetouch 5.6 is also a GPS unit. It is players like this that give some validity to those seemingly bizarre iPod rumors. There is nothing bizarre about a GPS or Bluetooth iPod other than we haven't seen one yet. |
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Sharp Music Carry QT-MPA10 The boombox isn't dead, its just getting a makeover. This 5lb player by Sharp offers 1GB of memory to go with the AM/FM for those picinics. The Sharp Music Carry plays MP3 and WMA and records from the radio. The unit is powered by 6AA and comes in several colors. The QT-MPA5 is the same unit with 512MB of memory. |
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Memorex MMP8565 Memorex is best known for its tape line and a 1970's TV commercial stariing Ella Fitgerald. Of course this means little if you are from the post-cassette, post All in the Family generation. Frankly, this little MP3 player will do little to endear the company to geberation X, Y and whatever. The Memorex MMP8565 is a low-end unit without even the decency of a color display, as if a color display makes the music sound any better. The 6 line monochrome display make not make those tiny album screens look any better, but the player does offer 1GB and 2GB capacities and a 20 hour battery display, which bests a certain iPod nano we all know and love. The unit offers MP3 and WMA PlaysforSure support, which already may be behind now that WMA 11 is out. The unit measures a thin 3.1" x 1.8" x 0.6". No pricing is available yet on the unit, but it will probably be reasonably cheap. |
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Memorex 8550 and 3774 Memorex also introduced two lower end models. The circular 8550 is an attractive player with its simple lines and very modest 256MB capacity. The 2.3" x 2.3" x 0.8" player offers no screen and aims for the iPod Shuffle market. The 3774 possesses 512MB of memory in its stick design and offers an SD/MMC memory card slot for expansion. The unit also adds an FM tuner in its 3.5" x 0.8" x 1.3" dimensions. |
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Shiro AS What I have always felt is one of the advantages of digital audio players is the fact that they can take any fun shape without being limited by hard insertable recording media like cassettes or vinyl records. The Shiro AS is a case in point. For you soccer fans (I know, football everywhere else, but the US) Singapore outfit Shiro has released the Shiro AS. The Shiro AS is a 1GB portable with an FM radio, OLED screen and claims 10 hours of battery life. It plays both MP3 and WMA (PlaysForSure?) formats. The unit will become available this spring. Maybe, next week we'll catch a couple of golf ball DAPs for the links, or possibly a Frisbee MP3, or....... |
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Evergreen DN-2000 sells for under $10 This is the most primitive, simple, basic MP3 portable you can buy today. It doesn't even come with memory, you have to use your own SD/MMC cards. So why is this player so important? Because the manufacturers of the little credit card DN-2000 were able to bring the cost down so much it RETAILS for only $8.50. That says a lot about what it really costs to put a basic MP3 player together and how cheap basic brand name units will be in a couple of years. At a price point under $10 the Evergreen DN-2000 will probaly be most visible in the states as the next big conference booth giveaway. You personally will probably acquire one by mailing in 5 boxtops and $3.00 S&H to.... |
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