When Toshiba announced their new F series I was kind of excited to get my hands on one of them. Our friends at Dynamism then sent us recently the top of the line Toshiba Gigabeat F60 (MEGF60) with a 60GB drive for review.

The cool looking Gigabeat F60 features a 2.2 inch QVGA color TFT screen and the measurements of 2.48 x 4.17 x .62inch and a weight of 160g. The iPod Photo with the 60GB HDD has pretty much the same measurements. It is a bit disappointing that Toshiba did not continue with the ultra-thin form factor of the Gigabeat G20 (Review) The Toshiba player uses also a touch sensitive input area in the shape of a cross. The screen with its 320x160 resolution is clearly the main attraction and the biggest advantage to the iPod photo, which features a lower resolution.

Right now the Toshiba F series is only available in Japan. The one we got is a Japanese model. Toshiba still requires Software installed (Toshiba Audio Studio) to upload music files to the music player as it was the case with the G20. Only problem the software that comes with the Gigabeat F60 only runs on Japanese version of windows. It is not possible to install the software on an English language OS. Dynamism says that upfront in their product description, but I wanted to see for myself.
I tried to use the old Toshiba Audio Application I got with the G20, but the .SAT files are incompatible. Toshiba uploads wma and mp3 files and attaches the extension SAT to the files. What it does is to add meta data to the music files. One of the features for instance is to add a image to a song file, which can be displayed during playback. The F60 registers as USB storage drive and I can upload files but they are not recognized by the player software. Ergo - I could not test the Toshiba Gigabeat F60, because I could not upload any data. What is left of this review attempt is a photo gallery of the Gigabeat F60 player.

Toshiba showed the Gigabeat F series at the CES 2005 and made statements that they will introduce their music player in the US in Q2. I guess they still will have the issue that the software is needed to upload music, which I think is a major drawback. At least I assume the software will install then on english language OS.

If you want to own a Gigabeat F60 now, visit Dynamism.com and also don't forget to install a Japanese Windows.


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