Sony Reader Touch @ Best Buy $299.99
Haier America Rhapsody Ibiza Touch
(Credit: Haier America)Last year, appliance manufacturer Haier America surprised me by producing its very first MP3 player. More specifically, I was confounded by the fact that the company actually made a decent one that offered a variety of compelling features most mainstream MP3 player companies had overlooked (wireless podcast updating, for example).
Now, Haier is updating its Rhapsody Ibiza line with--get this--the Mini and the Touch. Those certainly aren't the most original names (in fact, the words "blatant rip-off" come to mind), but to Haier's credit, the new players look nothing like the iPods of the same name.
First up is the Rhapsody Ibiza Mini, which will replace the current flash-based Ibiza Rhapsody. This pocketable player measures just 3.5 inches by 2 inches by 0.4 inch and features a 2.2-inch color QVGA screen dominating its face. Just below is a four-way directional pad composed of tactile controls for main navigation. Around the edges of the device, you'll find a dedicated volume rocker, a power button, and a Wi-Fi connect key.
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(Credit:
Haier America)
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: an MP3 player is the perfect workout companion. There's nothing like a little music to get you motivated for a sweat session. Of course, some MP3 players even take things a step further by offering other fitness-friendly extras. Such is the case with Haier America's latest Ibiza device, the Trainer. This 2GB player includes a built-in heart-rate monitor, a pedometer, a calorie counter, and a stopwatch. Really, what more could you ask for from a gym-ready gadget? How about an FM tuner, you say? Why yes, there's one of those as well. The Trainer is also compatible with Rhapsody To Go for when you get sick of your same old rotation. Other supported audio formats include MP3, WMA, and WAV. The 10-hour battery life leaves something to be desired, but for an ultracompact fitness-oriented player, it's adequate.
The Haier America Ibiza Trainer is expected to go on sale by the second quarter of this year and will cost about $60.
(Credit:
Iriver)
Iriver's latest iPod Nano competitor comes in the form of the E50, a smaller and much sleeker relative of the E100. It may not be the most exciting thing to come out of CES this year, but it is a feature-packed MP3 player that will fit comfortably in your pocket--and that has to count for something. Plus, the design is a huge improvement over its bigger sibling, and that was one of our chief complaints about the E100. Rather than have a plastic body, the E50 is wrapped in a slick, brushed-metal exterior. The controls are integrated into the faceplate, which adds to the sleek look and feel.
As expected with Iriver players, the E50 is not wanting for features. A 1.8-inch color LCD displays a variety of options, including folder-based browsing. There's support for MP3, WMA, OGG, FLAC, and ASF audio; AVI and WMV video; and JPEG, BMP, PNG, and GIF images. You also get an FM tuner with autoscan, presets, and recording as well as a built-in mic for voice recording. The player offers nine EQ settings, including SRS WOW and a five-band customizable EQ. In addition, the unit includes A/B looping, lyrics display, shuffle and repeat modes, and bookmarking. All this and an impressive 52-hour battery life in a package that's about the size of your average pack of gum.
With all the iPod imitators and wannabes out there, it's always a breath of fresh air when a company makes something that is actually different enough to garner a double take. In this case, the company is Iriver, and the product is the new P7 PVP. The interface on this device is so unique that I actually couldn't figure out how to use it at first--a rare occurrence for someone who's been in the game for more than five years. That's not to say the P7 is overly complex; in fact, it's quite intuitive once you get the hang of it. The big eye-catcher is the main menu, which rather than using text or icons, lays out your options magazine-style, with a snapshot of the last item played leading into the various media submenus. Words really don't do it justice, but a glance at the closeup below should give you an idea.
(Credit:
iriver)
As you might expect with a UI like the one above, the P7 is controlled almost exclusively via its full-color, 4.3-inch touch screen (480 x 272 resolution). Iriver does offer a few tactile controls around the edges: a power button, a hold switch, and--yay--dedicated volume keys. The player is as feature-packed as we've come to expect from the company. There's music, video, and photo (including slide show) playback; a text viewer; voice recording; and an integrated FM tuner. You also get a wide array of sound enhancement features, including SRS WOW HD, and there's a built-in microSD card slot for adding more memory, which may come in handy considering the P7 maxes out at 16GB (4GB and 8GB versions will also be available).
Although Iriver hasn't confirmed format support for the P7, we expect it to be comparable to what you find in the Spinn, which is MP3, WMA, OGG, ASF, FLAC, and APE for audio; MPEG 4 SP, WMV SP, and XVID SP for video; and JPEG, BMP, PNG, and GIF for photo. The rated battery life of 50 hours for music is plenty impressive, especially given the large, brilliant display. The P7 is expected to be available in the U.S. by the end of Q2 and pricing has yet to be determined.
There's more than one way to do a wireless MP3 player, and building it directly into a set of headphones may seem like the easy way out, but it gets the job done. Plus, there are none of those audio-fidelity issues you might run into with technologies such as RF and Bluetooth, which is probably why Sony elected to take this route with it's new W-Series Walkman. This 2GB MP3 player is built into a set of impressively small earbud-style headphones and sports a palatable price tag of just $69.
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Sony)
As you might expect, the W-Series Walkman has no screen as is pretty light on extras. Music plays in shuffle mode by default, though Sony offers an innovative feature called Zappin that lets you browse through tracks by ear by playing a snippet of the chorus of each song. You can choose between long and short settings for this mode, and if you come across a song you want to hear, a press of the jog button will start it from the beginning.
The W-Series Walkman, more formally termed the NWZ-W202, has a rather paltry rated battery life by Sony's standards--a mere 12 hours--but given the ultracompact form factor, I can overlook this detail. Besides, 12 hours is more than enough for any workout I can think of. Plus, there's quick charge, which gives you 90 minutes of battery life from a 3 minute charge, and the entire 12 hours in just 30 minutes. The W-Series is expected to be available by the end of March.
(Credit:
Sony)
Looks like my fellow MP3 editor Donald Bell is gonna have to eat some words, although he was right about one thing: we won't be seeing a touch-screen MP3 player from Sony all that soon in the States. You're going to have to wait until May to get your hands on the X-Series Walkman, which was officially announced at CES 2009. I can wait longer than that, personally, because while this player has some sweet features, there's something about the look of it that comes off as just a touch generic to me. Still, Sony tends to do a good job of giving its portables a nice, solid feel, so I suppose I'll wait to cast my final judgment until tomorrow when I get to lay hands on the player for a photo shoot. (Stay tuned for a slide show a bit later this week.)
In the meantime, about those features: there are a lot of them. The X-Series Walkman offers a three inch OLED display with wide-screen-format compatibility. While the majority of control is taken care of on the touch screen, the player also offers an array of tactile keys, including a dedicated volume toggle and a prominent home button; Sony calls this a "hybrid operation system." Extras include an FM tuner and integrated Wi-Fi, which will allow for automatic podcast updating and streaming from content providers such as YouTube, which you may recall is not presently available on the iPod Touch. The X-Series will offer a fairly wide array of content support--MP3, WMA, AAC, and L-PCM (WAV) on the audio side and AVC(H.264/AVC), MPEG-4, and WMV for video (and that WMV includes the protected variety offered by sites such as Amazon Video On Demand).
Considering the already-impressive audio quality offered by the Sony Walkman line, we weren't expecting much of an improvement in this area on the X-Series. However, Sony asserts that this player will sound even better than any predecessors, thanks to its new Digital Clear Audio Technologies and "S-Master" Digital Amplifier. Also, as with the S-Series, the X-Series will offer integrated noise-canceling functionality and complementing headphones.
The X-Series will be available in 16GB and 32GB capacities, and while Sony wouldn't release an estimated MSRP due to fluctuating flash pricing, I was able to confirm that it will be priced competitively when compared to the iPod Touch. Natch.
(Credit:
Corinne Schulze/CBS Interactive)
What can I say? I'm a big fan of gadgets that play into my inherent laziness. You may have figured this out while reading my various accounts of Slacker's Internet radio service and MP3 player. Now, SanDisk is following Slacker's line of thinking, albeit with a much more basic premise that involves simplicity and a low-cost device, rather than fancy wireless technology and the capability to tailor music to your liking. Instead, SanDisk's new MP3 player, dubbed slotRadio, uses preloaded microSD cards filled with 1,000 handpicked songs arranged into playlists. The device is clearly not for everyone, but for mainstream listeners who balk at the idea of spending their time tailoring playlists, it could be just the ticket. And considering the relatively low cost of the songs overall, the slotRadio could make a great secondary player for many people.
So what exactly is the cost? It breaks down to about four cents per song. Each slotRadio card includes 1,000 songs and carries an expected MSRP of $39.99. The device itself comes with a Billboard top tracks card that offers seven playlists--Alternative, Contemporary, Country, R&B/Hip-Hop, Rock, Workout, and Chillout--and will sell for $99.99. Of course, the catch in getting the songs so cheaply is that you don't get to pick them yourself, and they're also locked to the MicroSD card, so you can't transfer them to your computer or any other device (although the cards are expected to be compatible with with the Sansa Fuze). You also can't toy with the order of the tracks, though of course you can skip the ones you don't like. In my two weeks of using the slotRadio player, which included a preproduction card that had a mishmash of decade- and genre-based stations, I found that the selections were pretty solid mainstream hits ranging from the '60s to today. Going forward, SanDisk will offer cards geared towards specific genres--all rock subgenres, for example--as well as themed versions, such as decades and moods.
(Credit:
Corinne Schulze/CBS Interactive)
As for the slotRadio player, our preproduction model has proved to be a pretty sturdy little device. It measures 1.9 inches tall by 1.9 inches wide by 0.6 inch deep, is constructed mainly of aluminum, and includes a built-in belt-clip, a popular feature according to SanDisk's research. A small black and white screen on the face of the player displays the station name, current track, next track, and an animated graphic themed to match the current station. Clicking on one of two arrows flanking the screen cycles through stations, while a single FF key on the right edge skips tracks. Dedicated volume buttons live on the left spine, and the bottom houses the standard headphone jack and a mini USB port for charging. The slotRadio includes an AC power adapter that connects to the included USB cable, so there's absolutely no computer required in order to use the player. The package also contains earbuds, a protective silicone case, a jewel case, and a media case for storing the cards.
The final physical attributes encapsulate the slotRadio player's few features. There is, of course, the microSD card slot, which can not only accept slotRadio cards, but also the album-based cards designed for the slotMusic player and any other microSD cards that you have loaded with music. There's also a power switch with three settings: off, FM, and play. Flip it to play, and your slotRadio card automatically resumes playback. The FM mode takes you to the integrated FM tuner from where you can set presets and scan frequencies. The device is compatible with RBDS, so it will display call letters and any other data (such as track name) that the station broadcasts along with its audio.
Now, the slotRadio could never be my main MP3 player--I'm a bit too much of a control freak for that--but I appreciate it as the lazyman's (or woman's) device, or as a secondary player for the gym. Still, the fact that the cards are static--meaning you can't update them as new music comes out--is a bit of a problem in my book. What do you think? Does getting music in such a cheap and legal way make it worth it?
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