Category: MP3 players
ATTENTION TWEAKERS: Rockbox version 3.0 is out, adding OGG support to iPods and more
If your ideal evening is installing something, realising it doesn’t work very well, trying to reinstall it again then taking it all off and putting the original version back on before eventually getting to bed with very sore eyes at 3.47am, you’re well within the target demographic of Rockbox and its custom MP3 player firmware.
Upgrading older iPods (up to fifth-gen, but not the Touch) and numerous models by Creative, Sandisk and the likes of Archos and iRiver, Rockbox 3.0’s main boast is adding OGG and FLAC playback support to these common players, also opening up locked devices for easy use as an external HD…
Baylis Eco MP3 player is a wind-up
No really, you have to wind it up. The new MP3 player from Trevor Baylis, powered entirely by renewable energy (i.e. crazy winding action) has finally arrived, allowing you to take your music anywhere without the need for batteries…
Atari getting behind Apple's App Store – Missile Command and Super Breakout on the way
Not only are Missile Command and Super Breakout both coming to the App Store for play on iPhone and iPod touch, but they’re also getting tacked-on motion controls to make playing them in public more than a little embarrassing. It is the way of the future.
Missile Command uses the Multi Touch feature to allow missile placement with your fingers, a clever idea which ought to emulate the original arcade machine’s trackball controller far better than any other modern day console could…
NOISE GATE: Wi-Fi enabled MP3 Players
From today, I’ll be contributing a new weekly column to the site every Tuesday afternoon about digital music. We’re calling it Noise Gate – which refers to an electronic device that cuts through the noise and crackle of an analog signal and delivers you a noise-free result. In the same way, I want to cut through all the crap surrounding digital music, mainly delivered by major labels and tech companies, and deliver you the pure, unadulterated facts. Think you can handle them?
Parrot MKi – handsfree kits for car-based music fans
Parrot, the unfeasibly-difficult-to-Google producer of in-car hands-free kits has just brought out a range of new iPod-enabled music control systems for your vehicle. These devices hook up to your car stereo and allow you to play almost any device through your car speakers…
Over 60,000 portable gadgets left in London taxis over the last six months
Oh, so that’s what happened to your previous phone. And your previous MP3 player. And your previous laptop. And your previous house keys, wallet, trainers, watch and coat.
A survey by security firm Credant Technologies asked London cabbies what devices they’ve found in the backs of their cabs recently, coming up with the amazing figure that more than 60,000 gadgets have been forgotten in taxis by people we would assume to have been massively intoxicated, over the last six months…
Slacker G2 – properly personal radio on the move
Okay, close your eyes and relax your mind. Think about nothing – just a grey backdrop. Now allow an MP3 player of your choice to float in. iPod, Zune, whatever. Doesn’t matter. Now, from the other direction, float in Last.fm, or Pandora, or any other personalised radio service. Allow yourself to get a little cross-eyed as the two objects merge in your head and you visualize a portable device that streams a mix of songs to you based on your listening habits – your likes and dislikes.
UPDATED: iTunes 8 causing crashes for Vista users
If you’re a Vista user and you haven’t updated to iTunes 8 yet, it might be worth holding off a little longer. There are isolated reports across the internet that it’s causing blue screens of death when you plug an iPod or an iPhone into your PC. Downgrading to iTunes 7.7 seems to solve the problems, but not without other issues…
Zune 3.0 firmware – heavy on "the social", light on the "useful in the UK"
Firmware details for the upcoming Zune 16 and Zune 120 have just showed up online, and as before, fantastically, all new features are being added retrospectively to existing Zunes.However, as a British Zune owner, I’m afraid to say that not many of the new features are very useful for us over here. Read on for full details…
British man invented iPod in 1979. 3.5 minute storage capacity failed to impress. Apple stole idea
That poor bloke there invented the concept of iPod back in 1979. He’s British, although his alarmingly American-sounding name – Kane Kramer – suggests otherwise. Kane lives in Hitchin.
Mr Kramer came up with the idea of a portable music player, called the IXI, when he was 23. However, technology wasn’t ready for this in 1979. Kramer’s player could only store 3.5 minutes of music on its memory chip…
