August 12, 2005

IGN.com and Tom's Hardware have published reviews of the new Zen Vision portable media player from Creative. Features include a 3.7" 640x480 262k color screen, AVI / DivX / XviD4 / MPEG-1 / MPEG-2 / MPEG4-SP / WMV9 / Motion JPEG file format support, 30GB hard drive, up to 13 hours of audio playback and 4.5 hours of video playback, Compact Flash I and II support, TV-out, FM tuner, and microphone.

August 7, 2005

According to a number of news sources, Amazon.com is getting ready to launch a service to rival Apple's iTunes Music Store. All this speculation is based on a job listing posted by Amazon.com earlier in the week.

June 10, 2005

DAPReview stumbled onto information about Creative's forthcoming Zen Vision portable media player. The Zen Vision is reported to have a 3.7" 640x480 65,535-color display, a 1.8" 30 GB hard drive for storage of MP3, WMA, WAV, MPEG 4, WMV, DivX and XviD audio and video files, as well as JPEG and TIFF pictures. There is also a microphone for voice recording, a built-in FM tuner, an eight-preset equalizer, a USB 2.0 port for PC connectivity, and a CompactFlash slot for memory cards. According to sources, the device will be announced near the end of June.

May 25, 2005

Nokia is introducting the Nokia 770, a compact internet tablet based on the Linux operating system. Features include a 65,000 color 800x480 pixel display, a TI-OMAP CPU with DSP, 64 MB of RAM, 128 MB of Flash Memory, an RS-MMC slot, USB, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 1.2, Linux kernel 2.6, X11 server, GTK+ user interface, and a weight of 230 grams. Applications included on the device: Web Browser with Flash Player, Email Client, Internet Radio, News Reader, Media Player, Image Viewer, PDF Viewer, File Manager, and Games. File formats supported by the device: MP3, Real Audio, MPEG4, AAC, WAV, AMR, MP2, JPEG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, PNG, Animated GIF format, SVG-tiny, ICO, MPEG1 video, MPEG4 video, Real Video, H.263, AVI, 3GP.

May 24, 2005

Apple has announced that it will support and organize podcasts in version 4.9 of the iTunes software. Users will be able to find and subscribe to podcasts from within the iTunes interface, without having to use third-party software or web sites. The update is scheduled to be released in about two months.

May 18, 2005

PalmOne has just introduced their new LifeDrive PDA and a number of sites have published reviews. The device contains an internal 4 GB hard drive, and features both Bluetooth 1.1 and Wi-Fi wireless networking. Other features include a 416 MHz Intel XScale processor, a 320 x 480 pixel screen, 64 MB of RAM, PalmOS Garnet, a 1660 mAh Li-ion battery, and a SD/SDIO card slot. The device can also act as an external USB hard drive for easy file transfer and storage. As for media capabilities, the LifeDrive can play MP3, WMA, Vorbis, and WAV audio files as well as offering up to 8 hours of full screen video playback.

May 13, 2005

Tom's Hardware has published a review of the flash memory based iAUDIO5 MP3 player from JetAudio. This device is as small as the iPod shuffle and includes a number of unique features. It offers voice and line-in recording, FM radio, and an LCD screen with a color changing backlight. The iAUDIO5 comes in various capacities from 256 MB to 2 GB, and runs for up to 15 hours on a single AAA battery.

May 11, 2005

Yahoo has announced their new Yahoo Music Unlimited service, priced at just $6.99 a month or $60 for a full year. The service offers subscribers access to unlimited music downloads that can played on portable devices. In what may well be the start of a price war, Yahoo's service is priced at just half the cost of similar services from Napster and RealNetworks, and is certainly cheaper than Apple's iTunes Music Service.

May 5, 2005

According to several news sources, palmOne is set to introduce a new PDA called the LifeDrive Mobile Manager, which will contain an internal 4 GB hard drive from Hitachi. The device will be priced at $499, and will feature both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless networking. Other features include a 416 MHz Intel XScale PXA270 processor, a 320 x 480 pixel screen, PalmOS Garnet, and an SD card slot. The device will also be able to act as an external USB hard drive for easy file transfer and storage. As for media capabilities, the LifeDrive will be able to play MP3, WMA, Vorbis, and WAV audio files as well as offer up to 8 hours of full screen video playback.

April 28, 2005

Nokia has announced three new mobile phones, one of which is capable of storing 3,000 songs on an internal 4 GB hard disk. That model, the N91, supports digital music in four formats: MP3, M4A, AAC, and WMA. The N91 also has a 2 megapixel digital camera, e-mail, a web browser, Bluetooth, and video capabilities. Two other models, the N70 and the N90, don't have the hard disk, but do offer features like FM radio and better camera functionality.

April 26, 2005

RealNetworks completed the overhaul of its Rhapsody digital music service and has decided to take on Apple's iTunes head on. In what could be the start of a major price war, Rhapsody is allowing users to listen to up to 25 songs per month without paying anything at all. To protect downloaded music content, the Rhapsody service now uses digital rights management technology from Microsoft.

April 14, 2005

BFR has reviewed the Oakley THUMP 256MB MP3 Player Sunglasses. Optical features of the sunglasses include distortion-free vision at all angles of view, Oakley Plutonite lens material that blocks 100% of all UVA, UVB, UVC and harmful blue light, and impact resistance that exceeds ANSI Z87.1-2003 requirements. Technical and other features include 256 MB NAND flash memory (a 128MB model is available too), -85.058 dB signal-to-noise ratio, dual automatic EQ with static and noise correction, an audio range of 20 Hz - 20,000 Hz, highly adjustable ear buds, USB rechargeable lithium-ion polymer battery with up to 6 hours of playback time, USB 2.0 connectivity, MP3 / WMA / WMA with DRM / WAV audio file support, sequential and random playback, power save mode, and total weight of 52 grams (1.8 oz).

April 9, 2005

ExtremeTech has published an excellent review and comparison of a dozen commercial music download services. They compared not just the big ones like iTunes Music Store, MSN Music, eMusic, Napster, Connect, Musicmatch, Rhapsody, Virgin Music, and Wal-Mart Music Download Store, but also smaller ones like AllofMP3, MP3Tunes, and AudioLunchBox. Factors for comparison included music selection, file format flexibility, digital rights management, sharing and streaming capabilities, portable device support, and platform support.

April 6, 2005

Sony has unveiled a new Walkman digital music player, the 20-gigabyte NW-HD5. The device supports MP3, ATRAC3, WMV, and WAV file formats. A significant feature of the player is up to 30 hours of battery life, compared to 8 hours on previous models.

April 4, 2005

A new report from the Pew/Internet Project takes a look at the growth of podcasting. According to the report, 29% of U.S. adults who own an MP3 player say they have downloaded and listened to podcasts. This translates to roughly 6 million people. Almost half of MP3 player owners younger than 29 years old have tried podcasts, while only 20% of older MP3 player owners have done so. The free report contains dozens of fascinating statistics about podcast producers and their listeners.

April 3, 2005

Microsoft has announced MSN Video Downloads, a service that allows users to download many different news, sports, and entertainment videos to their Windows Mobile devices. The basic service is free, while a Premium Membership costs $19.95/year. Users must have Windows Media Player 10 or higher, and only a limited selection of Windows mobile devices are currently supported.

March 26, 2005

Slashphone takes a look at the Samsung SPH-v5400, the first mobile phone with an internal HD. It has a 2.2-inch QVGA LCD, MP3 playback, and a camcorder function. MobileBurn takes a look at the Motorola E680i, which features a large LCD display and is designed primarily for music and video playback. It even supports a stereo Bluetooth headset. MobileTracker takes a look at the Motorola E725, which features EVDO high-speed data connectivity, MP3 playback, and a built-in FM transmitter to send music to your car or home stereo system.

March 26, 2005

PocketNow has posted an excellent tour of Windows Mobile 2005 with more than three dozen screenshots. Mobile Review has a similar, but more detailed, article.

March 24, 2005

The Register has just reviewed the Creative MuVo Micro N200 MP3 player. This competitor to Apple's iPod Shuffle features an LCD display, 15 hours of battery life, line-in recording, WMA and MP3 support, and a built-in FM radio.

March 23, 2005

Neowin.net has posted an interview with the head developer of PyMusique, a program that lets user's buy songs from Apple's iTunes Music Store completely free of digital rights management (DRM).