Category: MP3 players
Opinion: HMV need more than gimmicks to attract kids to "cyber store"
Quick quiz now – do you still buy CDs on the high street? I rarely do these days, unless it’s an impulse buy in a sale as I browse, but then I don’t get much time to do that either like I used to. Let’s face it, we’re a cash rich, time poor society now and that means one thing – the Internet!
I’m not going to spit out the obvious downloading facts and figures that we all already know, digital music is big business and only a miniscule percentage of people reading this will never have bought or “found” a music track via the web…
SanDisk announces Sansa View flagship video MP3 player
SanDisk has announced its new Sansa View video MP3 player, offering a number of cool features but without costing the earth.
The two new models, expected to arrive in October, are a step up from the Sansa e200 series, offering either 8GB or 16GB of built-in storage, plus up to 8GB of additional storage via optional microSD/microSDHC cards.
The players natively supporting major audio and video formats including MP3, WMA, WAV, H.264, WMV, and MPEG4, plus the ability to convert other formats, including DivX, via the Sansa Media Converter software. It also supports many music download and subscription services including Rhapsody To Go, Napster, and eMusic.
Sony unveils Rolly dancing music player: official videos
Rumours have been flying around about Sony’s Rolly player for weeks now, but this morning the company finally gave it a public unveiling. It’s a round player with built-in speaker, with 1GB of internal memory and a battery life of five hours.
Microsoft cuts $50 off the price of a Zune
Yesterday, no doubt to capitalise slightly on Apple’s iPod frenzy, Microsoft announced on its official Zune blog that the decent media player is getting its price hacked down to $199 with immediate effect.
Zune Insider also reports that “customer satisfaction” with the 30GB Zune…
Opinion: Are we not clever enough to withstand Apple's spin
Jonathan Weinberg writes… Hands up who's going to be buying a new iPod after last night's announcements from San Francisco? Keep your hands up if you are all fools – and what is it they say about those and their…
Microsoft gives Zune a 'B-' for its first year on sale, hints at ZunePhone
Here’s to consumer tech execs eschewing hype in favour of realistic assessments of their products. Mindy Mount is corporate VP and chief financial officer at Microsoft’s entertainment and devices division, so you’d expect her to bang on at length about Zune’s zeitgeist-seizing iPod-slaying revolution. And stuff.
Opinion: Why music geeks won't replace their iPod with a mobile phone just yet
Stuart Dredge writes…
We’re all set for Apple’s latest product launch tomorrow, with rumours about new iPods at fever pitch. There’ll be fat Nanos, touchscreen iPods with DAB tuners inside, and a Winehouse-branded model with a plug-in beehive speaker and trackmarks on the side. Well, some of those.
The point is that people are genuinely excited about the prospect of all-new iPods. Wasn’t the iPhone supposed to kill this sort of thing off? MP3 players, I mean. What with the iPhone, Nokia’s new Music Store, and Sony Ericsson’s success with its Walkman phones, you’d think standalone MP3 players were old news.
iPod obsolete, Walkman device will rule, says boss of Sony-owned record label
Rick Rubin, co-chairman of Columbia Records, has publicly stated that the iPod and iTunes models are doomed, with the way to go being subscription-based, music-anywhere, services.
In fact, he thinks the whole music business will only be saved by going to a subscription model, but he’s quick to pick on the iPod. “The iPod will be obsolete, but there would be a Walkman-like device you could plug into speakers at home,” he said.
Rubin’s motivation is that adopting cheap music subscription services will curb illegal downloads, believing that “If music is easily available at a price of five or six dollars a month, then nobody will steal it.”
I’m not convinced.
First video of Sony's Rolly MP3 player hits YouTube
Can Sony ever seize back even a fraction of its former dominance of the portable music market? Apple has done a good job of turning Walkman into a duff brand (well, at least until Sony Ericsson's successful music phones), but Sony is looking to get its MP3 mojo back with Rolly, an innovative new player.
Innovative how? Well, er, it rolls around in time to your music, like a little breakdancing robot. I'd be more sold on the idea if I had a decent coffee table. Nevertheless, Rolly has been creating a stir online with a drip-feed of internetweb leaks. The latest is a video showing it in action – feast your eyes below:
IFA 2007: Samsung YP-P2 Hands-on
Ashley goes hands-on with the Samsung YP-P2, a new portable media player that’s worth a look if you’re on the search for an iPod alternative. It’ll feature a 480 x 272 pixel touch screen, a Bluetooth, and a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. You can find more on it here.
