MP3 Player

September 11, 2007 It's been a week for small format, video enabled MP3 players with the release of the new iPod nano and now the announcement of a new device from SanDisk that offers a range of features including full-motion video support, long battery life and slim line design.  Read More

September 5, 2007 Apple’s major announcement of the iPod touch was accompanied by a raft of other significant announcements including the introduction the new iPod classic, featuring 80GB or 160GB of storage, an iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, a new version of iTunes (7.4) with a custom Ringtone Maker, an all new iPod nano, with video playback on a two-inch display with 204 dpi (effectively the same resolution as the video iPod) and the news it is lowering the price of the 8GB iPhone from US$599 to US$399.  Read More

September 5, 2007 Yes folks, they’ve done it again. If the share price has been looking rosy, it’ll be better again tomorrow. Apple today introduced the new iPod touch featuring the same multi-touch interface used on the iPhone, a 3.5-inch widescreen display, Wi-Fi wireless networking, and a new version of the Safari web browser designed for mobile. It’s super slim at just 8mm and pricing starts at US$300 for the 8GB flash-based model and US$100 more gets you 16GB. It has a built-in accelerometer that automatically senses when you rotate it into its landscape position. When playing music, it automatically switches to Cover Flow so you can browse your music collection by album cover artwork. When in Photos, it automatically displays the photo in its landscape aspect ratio; and when in Safari it displays the web page horizontally. iPod touch also has a built-in ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts the display's brightness. The new design puts Apple waaay ahead of the pack ans sales start this month.  Read More

July 18, 2007 Ancient Zimbabwean wisdom suggests "if you can walk you can dance, if you can talk you can sing" though we're sure it is also true that if you can hold a note, carry a tune and belt out something relatively pleasant to the ear, everyone has more fun. There is currently a renaissance of music sweeping the world. More people are listening to more music thanks to the low cost high convenience MP3 player, and advances in user-friendly software and devices mean more people are beginning to explore not just listening to music but making it. One such device is the i-Sing, an MP3 player with the ability to digitally cancel out the original artist's vocals on any track, display song lyrics and record the user's own vocals over the instrumental tracks at the touch of a button. Bound to be popular with fans of the (insert country here) Idol TV phenomenon, the i-Sing harnesses some very cool technology and combines it with childproof ease of use.  Read More

February 19, 2007 In November we wrote about the newest of the elite mobile phone manufacturers, Gresso, which makes phones from 200 year-old African Blackwood and Gold. Now Gresso is to diversify and has announced a collection of ultra-exclusive Mp3 players, to be called Symphonia, and the idea to create an Mp3 player that is dedicated to create a device for those customers who demand the ultimate craftsmanship and exceptional design. Four Symphonia models will be released in Q2, 2007, being made from Blackwood and White Gold, Blackwood and Pink Gold, White Gold and Pink Gold respectively, with the same ancient blackwood and 18 carat gold in each case, with prices ranging from EUR 3000 (US$4000) to EUR 5000 (US$6500).  Read More

August 22, 2006 Competition improves the breed, and in the hot-hot-hot world of MP3 players, the 8 GB SanDisk Sansa e280 is the best of breed this week. Unveiled yesterday as the world's largest capacity flash-based MP3 player, the e280 has a suggested price of US$250, audio, photo viewing and video clip playback capabilities and a microSD expansion slot allowing expansion to 10GB of music with a 2GB microSD card. The player features an open digital rights management system that allows users to purchase songs or access subscription download services from numerous sources. In keeping with the ever-improving bang-per-buck trend, SanDisk has lowered its prices on the entire Sansa e200 line of products, including the existing 2 GB (US$140), 4 GB (US$180) and 6 GB (US$220) models.  Read More

August 14, 2006 We just can’t get over how hot MP3 players are at present. From being non-existent just a handful of years ago, portable audio player sales last year hit US$5 billion in the United States, which comes into perspective when you find out that the combined home and automotive market for fixed audio systems was US$5.11 billion. Whatsmore, the MP3 market is expected to more than double again by 2009. Then consider that the market leader (Apple’s iPod) has 75% of the market, despite offering no functional advantage beyond the user interface and charges a significant premium for its products. It seems logical then that the contenders are lining up with killer pricing strategies. We’ve already reported on the world’s cheapest MP3 player, but expect that with the price of flash memory continuing to fall, we’re going to see some outrageous bargains over the next few years and here’s another to start you thinking. The Chinese 1GB Ainol V3 is half an inch thick, supports all major formats, has a 1.3-inch 160 x 129 screen, FM radio, USB 2.0, miniSD slot and retails for US$69 in China (US$50 for the 512MB version).  Read More

August 13, 2006 With MP3 player sales booming and threatening to become a disruptive media technology, the BBC is planning to develop a “plug-in gadget that turns MP3 players into digital radios.” Plans are in the early stages and no functionality spec or firm details have been released, nor has a cost or availability details, but a BBC spokesman was reported as saying, “it's important for to us to make sure that people can listen to digital radio on their own terms" according to the BBC web site. The BBC spokesman said the BBC was conducting feasibility studies for the design, manufacuring and marketing of the device. The plug-in gadget would not be limited to playing the BBC digital radio stations and versions might also be available for mobile phones and cars. The BBC initiative comes just after the release of a study by global market research firm Ipsos which indicates that as many as one in five Americans over the age of 12 now own portable MP3 Players and one in 20 own more than one.  Read More

July 20, 2006 When it all boils down, as much as we love the iPod, it doesn’t seem fair that Apple should do as well as it has on the strength of what’s basically a good MP3 player because there are plenty of other good MP3 players out there without the charisma of a Steve Jobs and the cleverness of Apple’s marketing team at their disposal – like the US$200 iriver clix f’rinstance. The clix has a very intuitive interface, 2GB memory capacity, a large colour display, digital FM tuner, enhanced photo viewing, video playback, and FlashLite game support. Seen as the most likely to successfully tackle the iPod, iriver has cosied up to Microsoft and offers immediate Windows Media Player 11 compatibility with the clix, has already spawned a bunch of accessories from the leading accessory manufacturers and has developed a close relationship with MTV Networks' new URGE digital music service in the hope of matching the iPod/iTunes team. There’s a really good interview with iriver America President Jonathan Sasse discussing all this ...  Read More