Creative has shown a new MP3 player called Zen V. Available in 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB capacities, the Zen V have a 1.5-inch, photo-capable OLED display, feature a line-in jack for direct-from-disc recording, support PlaysForSure subscription services, and offer a claimed 15 hours of battery life before recharging becomes an issue. The Zen V will be available in July for $120, $150, or $200, depending on capacity.

Philips Electronics anounced a new MP3 players. Nano-like SA9100 and SA9200 have a 1GB and 2GB of flash-based storage, respectively. Both models also sport color screens for viewing photos and album art, a backlit touchpad for navigation, FM tuner, voice recorder, and a rechargeable battery promising 14 hours of playback, and both devices are also PlaysForSure-compliant. You’ll be able to pick up the higher capacity model for around $200 when it hits stores next month, while the single gig unit will cost about $150 at its scheduled September release.

The Zing prototype was shown at the D4 conference, and is rolling out a service that enables other companies to build their own complete music infrastructures - content to player - without the need for a PC.

Working with Zing’s partners, Sirius and Yahoo, the device will use WiFi to download music and to upload data about what you are listening to. If you have one of these players, you can do fancy things, like see what your friends are listening to, then play samples of those tracks, or buy songs and albums directly from the player. If you try buy items when you’re not in range of a Wi-Fi access point, the product will queue up your requests and batch-process them when you do eventually connect.

The player will stream Sirius radio content (via the Wi-Fi connection) and will enable you to flag and buy the songs as you’re listening to the radio stream. Sounds too good to be true!

The Zing player comes with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections built in, along with a speaker and a microphone. Combined with the Wi-Fi radio, means the Zing player has all the hardware a voice-communication platform needs. So as a bonus, the software enables you to talk with your friends, walkie-talkie style, over the Wi-Fi network!

cnet.com

Apple Computer has filed a second copyright lawsuit and a trade complaint in the US against Creative Technology.
This is the latest in a string of legal challenges and counter challenges between the two rival makers of portable media devices.
In its latest lawsuit, Apple claims Creative is infringing three patents relating to using icons, and displaying and editing data.
It is asking for cash damages and a court order to stop Creative from further breaches.

At the same time, Apple wants the International Trade Commission in Washington to block imports of Creative’s music players.