Digital Developments could be Tipping Point for MP3

Topic:

By Ed Christman

NEW YORK (Billboard) - A yearlong download promotion planned between Pepsi and Amazon, Billboard has learned, is among several developments forcing further consideration by Warner Music Group (WMG) and Sony BMG Music Entertainment to follow EMI and Universal Music Group's lead in distributing music in the MP3 format, which forgoes restrictive digital rights management technology. Read more

Posted on Sun, 2 Dec 2007 01:20:24 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Oakley Split Thump MP3 Sunglasses

Topic:

Last year I reviewed the original set of Oakley Thump MP3 shades and thought they were pretty cool. Sure, they could have been better looking, but overall they were OK. Oakley has announced an upgraded set of shades called the Split Thump.

The cool part about this latest version is that when you don’t want to get your groove on or answer questions from the technologically challenged about your shades, you can remove the ear buds and they look like normal shades. Read more

Posted on Wed, 7 Nov 2007 12:17:11 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Sony ICD-UX80 and ICD-UX70 USB MP3 Voice Recorder

Topic:

Sony announces two new digital voice recorder ICD-UX80 and ICD-UX70.

The new Sony ICD-UX80 and ICD-UX70 record stereo in MP3 format. You can easily transfer the recordings to a PC via the integrated USB port known from flash memory drives. On the Sony ICD-UX80 with 2GB you can record 581 hours. Read more

Posted on Tue, 6 Nov 2007 08:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

New study underway on MP3 Player impact on Pacemakers

Topic:

In May we reported about a 17 year old student who conducted a study on the effect of iPods on pacemaker at the Thoracic and Cardiovascular Institute at Michigan State University.

Now researchers at the Children’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, will start an extensive test on how four different MP3 players affect children and adult patients with pacemakers. Read more

Posted on Mon, 29 Oct 2007 05:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Bang & Olufsen Launch BeoSound 6 MP3 Player

Topic:

Bang & Olufsen have announced a new MP3 player called the BeoSound 6. The claim is that this MP3 player has superior sound to other players on the market. B&O says that it's BeoSound 6 has clear and pure CD sound quality due to high performance on signal to noise playback.

The player has 40 hours of continuous music playback from its battery, which is about double the playtime of most battery packs. Exact storage capacity of the device isn’t offered, but Bang & Olufsen say the device can hold up to 1000 songs. Read more

Posted on Fri, 26 Oct 2007 10:04:36 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

eBay sold More than $152 Million in MP3 Players in 2006

Topic:

A company called Packaged Facts released a report recently that showed that in 2006 eBay sold $152.5 million in MP3 players alone. Packaged Facts says this data is a window into the mindset of online MP3 consumers.

The report is based exclusively on primary data from eBay and looks at MP3 player trends. The sales figure covers more than 1.4 million new, used and refurbished MP3 players sold over the year on eBay. Read more

Posted on Fri, 5 Oct 2007 11:00:10 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

SigmaTel Announces New Creative Zen Uses its STMP3700 SoC

Topic:

SigmaTel announced that the new Creative Zen PMP launched last week by Creative is the first device powered by their SigmaTel 3700 SoC. The ARM-based, 90nm STMP3700 is a highly integrated media processor.

SigmaTel says that the processor allows manufacturers to build more integrated devices. The STMP3700 allows for up to 60 hours of music and 6 hours of video. Other features of the STMP3700 are QVGA, MEPG4, H.264, and WMV video support at a full 30 fps. Read more

Posted on Thu, 13 Sep 2007 10:06:18 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

Freestyle Audio Fusion DMP 512 waterproof MP3 Player Review

Topic:

Our review partner Digital Trends published a review of the Freestyle Audio Fusion DMP 512 waterproof MP3 player.

Quote from the review: "Freestyle Audio has released the "world's first completely submergible and waterproof mp3 player." Read more

Posted on Tue, 14 Aug 2007 06:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

JVC Victor releases XA-S208 and XA-S108 MP3 Player

Topic:

JVC releases under it's Victor brand the XA-S208 and XA-S108 MP3 player in Japan.

The Victor XA-S208 features 2GB of memory and the XA-S108 features 1GB of storage.
Both new DAPs feature a 4 line OLED display, MP3, WMA and WMA-DRM 9 format support, 6.5mW×2ch, 18bit DAC, line-in recording and 20 hours battery life. Read more

Posted on Wed, 8 Aug 2007 03:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

New Samsung U3 MP3 Player

Topic:

Samsung announces the simple U3 flash memory music player line U3.

The Samsung U3 comes in 1GB, 2GB and 4GB storage versions and in five colors.

Features of the Samsung U3 include a 3 line OLED display, 15 hour playback time, MP3, WMA and OGG file format support, voice controller and USB 2.0. Read more

Posted on Tue, 19 Jun 2007 09:10:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

New SigmaTel STMP3700 PMP Chip at Computex 2007

Topic:

SigmaTel will show their newest portable media player chip STMP3700 at the Computex 2007.

SigmaTel's PMP technology is behind digital media players like the Zen Stone, Sandisk Sansa Express, Disney Mix Stick Player and Oakley Thump MP3 sunglasses.

The new ARM-based, 90nm STMP3700 PMP processor features 30 fps QVGA MPEG4, H.264, WMV video playback and 4 hours of video playback and 60 hours of audio playback using a small 400mAh Lithium Ion battery. Read more

Posted on Mon, 4 Jun 2007 06:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

TurboLinux Wizpy Linux MP3 Player Ships in June

Topic:

Japanese company TurboLinux is ready to ship their Linux MP3 player Wizpy this month world-wide. You can already order it in Japan on Amazon.jp.

TurboLinux announced Wizpy in November of 2006.
The Linux player will let you boot Linux in its memory when connected to a PC. Besides that it is a full media player supporting OGG, MP3, WMA, AAC audio formats and DivX video formats Read more

Posted on Sun, 3 Jun 2007 04:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

Italian Music and Sons offers Street-style MP3 Player T-Shirts

Topic:

Music and Sons based in Italy offer street-style fashion T-Shirts with integrated earphone cabling and pocket for players.

The earphones are part of the garment, so there are no more flying cables. A thread extension runs from the back collar to the side pocket, and the wiring is washable with the t-shirt as the earphone can be disconnected at the collar. Read more

Posted on Fri, 1 Jun 2007 08:00:00 CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr

SanDisk Sansa Connect WiFi MP3 Player Review

Topic:

SanDisk has one of the most popular lines of MP3 players around with the Sansa PMP devices. The newest in the Sansa line is the Sansa Connect and we have it up for review today.

The coolest feature of the Sansa Connect is the integrated WiFi that is capable of doing things that should make the Zune blush. Great sound quality, great use of WiFi and a good music service make the Sansa Connect a fantastic all around PMP. Read more

Posted on Fri, 13 Apr 2007 14:03:49 CDT | by Shane McGlaun

It's a Pen, It's a MP3 Player, It's a Voice Recorder! No, it's Super Pen!

Topic:

Wing Inter showed off a pen that rolls all sorts of geeky goodness into one package. What all can a pen do you ask? Well it’s an MP3 player for starters, replete with headphone jack.

Just think how cool you will look in the bus with headphones coming out of your pen. It also has a USB flash drive inside and a voice recorder. The battery is good for 5-6 hours of record time and it recharges via USB. Read more

Posted on Fri, 9 Mar 2007 18:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun

Siren DP100 Necklace MP3 Player

Topic:

Siren offers a digital audio player to wear around your neck. It looks similar to the iRiver N10, but not as elegant.

The Siren DAP100 features an OLED screen, 2GB storage, supports MP3 and WMA (DRM9) audio files and weighs 28g.
The battery life is 18 hours.
Read more

Posted on Fri, 23 Feb 2007 10:45:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Funky LED Light Show for MP3 Players

Topic:

Add visuals to your music with the Dancing Light MP3 Synchronizer gadget.

This music light show device uses 33 multi-colored LEDs and a concave mirror to project light effects synchronized with the beat and tempo of music played from a connected music player.
A moving cylinder houses the LEDs as they flash, creating the illusion of pulsing, dancing lights. The lightshow can be set horizontally, vertically, or angled, and can be preset to one of four programs, including Andante, Moderato, Allegro, and Presto.

Hammacher Schlemmer sells the Dancing Light MP3 Synchronizer for $39.95.
Read more

Posted on Sun, 28 Jan 2007 10:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

JVC Victor XA-C210, XA-C110 and XA-C51 MP3 Players

Topic:

JVC releases under its Victor brand the XA-C210, XA-C110 and XA-C51 music players.

The top model is the XA-C210 with 2GB. Features include WMA-DRM10, MP3, AAC and Wav music file support, FM radio, stereo microphone, color OLED display with 64k colors, Line In and a 19.5 hour battery life.
The XA-C110 has 1GB of memory and the XA-C51 has 512MB. Read more

Posted on Thu, 18 Jan 2007 10:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

SanDisk Sansa Connect Wifi MP3 Player announced at CES 2007

Topic:

SanDisk adds Wi-Fi to an MP3 player as Microsoft did with the Zune. Maybe Apple does it tomorrow to an iPod at the MacWorld 2007? It would not surprise me.

Update:
Order on Amazon.com now

With the Wi-Fi connection you can access or purchase music.
The Sansa Connect features 2.2 inch screen, photo player, internal speaker, community connections via Internet and USB 2.0.

SanDisk teamed with ZING to develop the product. Sirius also partnered with Zing on their wi-fi music players a while ago. Read more

Posted on Mon, 8 Jan 2007 18:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Qstarz GPS and MP3 Gadget Review

Topic:

DigitalReviews published a review of the tiny Qstarz GPS receiver with MP3 player functionality.

Quote from the review:
"Our quest for ever smaller GPS receivers has taken us today to the Qstarz BT-Q920 with a really tiny footprint. However, the Qstarz BT-Q920 GPS Receiver also comes with an interesting addition which brings back its proportions to a normal size. I'm talking about the FM transmitter which allows you to play music through your car stereo system. Is this a case of useful integration or does it fall in the category BWC -- Because We Can? "
Read the full review. Read more

Posted on Sat, 6 Jan 2007 16:00:00 CST | by Luigi Lugmayr

Walletex Wallet MP3 Player

Topic:

If the iPod Nano is just too portly for your tastes Walletex has the rail thin Paris Hilton of MP3 players dubbed the Walletex Wallet MP3 Player. The player is about the size of a credit card and appears to be the same size as the Walletex Flash drives currently on the market.

Storage capacities of 128MB to 2GB will be available and the players can also be produced with custom graphics for use as promotional give aways. The headphones attach to the player via a USB adapter and it appears that you directly plug the player into your PC for music transfer. Read more

Posted on Tue, 2 Jan 2007 16:00:00 CST | by Shane McGlaun