At first sight, I thought I was looking at a new Apple Radio Remote, but turns out it is the new iPod shuffle (only in 1GB). Cupertino does away the white plastic in favor of the non-stratchable aluminum. The screen-less MP3 player, measuring in 1.62" x 1.07" x 0.41", also has a clip that naturally hold on to a purse strap, waistband, yada yada instead of wearing around your neck like Apple suggests you do with the previous gum-packed iPod shuffle.
You never knew iPod nano can get any thinner, but Steve has proved to us his team can trim another 0.01" off this Fall model. Lol... Maybe the size did not get a lot smaller, but you may want to know the new nano get a boost to 24 hours of battery life, 40% brighter for the 1.5" LCD, and $50 price cut across all 3 capacities, now refreshed to 2GB, 4GB and 8GB. For the price as the 4GB nano shipping since January 2006, you now get 8GB for $249.
The Apple "Its Showtime" Special Event brought us 2 updated iPod videos. Known as version 5.5, the new duo in 30GB & 80GB are considered to be just a somewhat modest upgrade with all the hype surrounding a touch-sensitive wide-screen iPod and movie download service. Though, the latter did materialize with debut of iTunes Movie Store. The $349 80GB got a much a lot more storage, brighter screen, longer battery life & $50 price drop.
Another portable manufacturer has jumped on the multifunction portable bandwagon. iRiver has introduced the U10, which supports MP3s, WMAs, ASF, OGG, JPG, TXT, Flash Lite 1.1 and MPEG-4 SP video at 320x240 (QVGA). It also features an FM tuner with recording and alarm functions. An equalizer with 10 presets is included.
Creative's first flash-based portable media player. Available in 512MB and 1GB capacities, the 33-gram player is equipped with an 1.18", 65K color OLED display to conserve power, allowing for a whopping 10-hour battery life. Under the hood the MuVo Vidz supports WMA, MP3, and JPG media, along with MPEG4 video transferred over the Hi-Speed USB 2.0 connection.
Do you need more than just music and pictures from your hand-held player? Would you like voice recording? How about e-books support? Would you like it to be able to transfer data without a PC? Well, the Samsung YP-T8Z (1GB) Player has what you need. On top of the previously satisfactory iPod-type music and image management, the YP-T8Z is also a USB host device.
iRiver's first micro hard drive MP3 player sports 260k color 1.5" LCD; equips with a 5GB Seagate; conforms to MS' PlaysForSure music subscription specs; and holds tons of photos. Plus, you get to pick from four different colors.
The sleek black and silver appearance, intuitive interface, ten-hour battery life, and micro form factor put this Dell's first 5GB MP3 hard drive-based player in direct competition with Apple’s iPod Mini.
With a removable 12-hour battery pack, 5GB hard drive, FM radio, voice recorder, organizer, DRM 10 compatibility, and ten colors to choose from, the micro-Zen is aimed to compete with Apple iPod Mini.
25% smaller than the predecessor, the 2nd generation 20GB DJ will play back your tunes for a continuous 12 hours, and can then be recharged via AC or USB. Supported formats are WAV, MP3, and protected WMA. With the bundled MusicMatch Jukebox 9 player, it’s easy to download and sync the latest tunes to the player.
The 20GB MP3 player with touch sensitive navigation is the first major overhaul of the Zen series. It boosts battery life to 24 hours on a single charge, yet FM tuner, voice recording and remote features are still left out.
The 20GB is now the base model of the 4th generation iPod with a click-wheel navigation; 12-hour battery life; and dual FireWire 400 and Hi-Speed USB interface support plus battery re-charging. But missing from this iPod are a remote, a belt clip and a cradle.
As the fourth generation Apple's MP3 player, iPod 40GB sports a click-wheel navigation; 12-hour battery life; and dual FireWire 400 and Hi-Speed USB interface support plus battery re-charging. But missing are a remote and belt clip. It doesn't matter anyway since Apple discontinued this model in favor of the 30GB photo and 60GB photo, both of which have 65k color LCD.
