The Creative Zen Micro Photo – is the new portable MP3 player from Creative. Creative will bring a color screen and photo-viewing capability to its most popular MP3 player. The Creative Zen Micro Photo will have a 262,144-color organic LED display, which the company claims will offer a very wide viewing angle and better color than a standard color LCD.

Creative Zen Micro Photo Reviews

CNET Reviews reviews the Creative Zen Micro Photo and gives it a ‘Excellent’ rating. They write – ‘The Creative Zen Micro Photo features a bright, colorful OLED that’s viewable from any angle, and it’s available in a choice of 10 body colors. This MP3 player also includes useful extra features such as a user-replaceable battery, a voice recorder, a photo viewer, an FM tuner, and an onboard calendar and task manager that syncs with Microsoft Outlook. The Zen Micro Photo is also out-of-the-box compatible with Janus (Windows Media DRM 10) and offers excellent sound quality. Resume: The Creative Zen Micro Photo is an excellent full-featured MP3 player and, for its size, a decent photo viewer; it just doesn’t combine the two effectively.’

Creative Zen Micro Photo Press Release

Be captivated. Be spellbound. Winner of the prestigious Best of CES 2005 award, Zen MicroPhoto features a revolutionary vivid colour display, letting you view photos or browse through music playlists from wildly colourful menus. With a huge 8GB capacity, store up to 4000 songs for music on the go. Choose from Zen MicroPhoto’s custom EQ or 8 EQ settings so your music always sounds at its best: Acoustic, Classical, Disco, New Age, Vocal, Pop, Rock, and Jazz. Keep thousands of photos with you and if you’re in the mood to share, the one-touch photo slideshow feature makes it the easiest way to share your adventures with your best friend.
The first of its kind. Zen MicroPhoto’s vibrant colour screen displays 262,144 vivid colours, ensuring every picture is sharp, detailed and extraordinarily clear. Using revolutionary display technology, view photos from any angle. The first of its kind. Zen MicroPhoto’s vibrant colour screen displays 262,144 vivid colours, ensuring every picture is sharp, detailed and extraordinarily clear. Using revolutionary display technology, view photos from any angle. The perfect complement to the vivid colour display, watch Zen MicroPhoto illuminate with a beautiful blue glow every time you use it.

The vertical touch pad makes navigation easier than ever. Micro-sized and curved to fit your hand, enjoy pure ergonomic comfort and bliss. Get up to 15 hours of continuous playback time. With a removable, rechargeable Li-ion battery included, simply do a quick swap for non-stop entertainment. Charging the Zen MicroPhoto is easy too – connect it to your computer, or use the USB travel charger when you’re on the move.

Do more than carry your photos with you. Use a USB cable to transfer all the files you need from your computer to Zen MicroPhoto. Presentations. Documents. Spreadsheets. Whatever that’s important. Its Hi-Speed USB 2.0 connectivity gives faster file transfers. Feel like listening to more than 4000 songs? Tune in to your favourite radio station with the built-in FM radio. 32 preset stations make it easy to switch between stations whenever you want. You can even record your favourite songs, live radio interviews with the convenient FM radio recorder. It’s easy to stay organised with Zen MicroPhoto. Record lectures, meetings, even personal voice memos. Working perfectly with Microsoft Outlook, you can now organise appointments, business contacts, or even wake up to your favourite song.

Box contents:

Zen MicroPhoto
High fidelity Creative earphones with dynamic bass response
Removable rechargeable Li-ion battery
USB 2.0 Cable
Pouch
Installation CD
Quick Start Guide

Creative Zen Micro Photo Features

8GB: 4000 songs, thousands of photos
262,144-colour OLED Display
Striking Colour Menus
Slide Show and Photo Album modes
Beautifully Designed In and Out
Removable, Rechargeable 15-hour Battery
Convenient Portable Storage
FM Radio and Recorder
Integrated Voice Recorder
Syncs With Microsoft Outlook Contacts, Calendar & Tasks
8 Preset EQ Settings

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Ten to Avoid from PCmag.com. Full article read here.

10. Oakley Thump: If you’ve overdone it with the eggnog, a $350 pair of sunglasses with a built-in MP3 player might seem a divine combination. It’s not. The poorly fitting earbuds chafe, the glasses feel flimsy, and the style is dated. Avoid the first version, and be careful of the second—better, but still not great. And what happens if you want to rock out at night? Unless you’re buying for Bono, pick up an iPod shuffle and a pair of Revos for less.

5. PQI mPack P800 Media Player: Looking for a portable music and video player? The mPack looks attractive—you can record video and FM radio directly, and it even includes a CompactFlash slot. But playback is a problem. Even with the most recent flash update, fast-forward and rewind simply do not work, despite the manual’s direction. The screen is terrible, the interface abysmal, and the physical buttons erratic. Apple’s video iPod, the Creative Zen Vision, and anything from Archos deliver a better experience for less.

2. Sony S2 Sports Network Walkman NW-S23: Pity poor Sony. It invented the Walkman and then squabbled as Apple stole its lunch. This player finally supports MP3 files, yet it lacks so much else that it’s hardly worth the price. With ergonomics straight from a Klingon warship, balky software, and a poor display, this one deserves a place in the remainder rack. Again, you’re better off with a shuffle.

1. Samsung Digimax V700: Samsung can seemingly do no wrong these days. The company has supplanted Sony as the top electronics brand, exuding both quality and cool. We hope this terrible digital camera is an aberration, not a sign of things to come. With slow performance, lousy auto-exposure, and some shutter lag, this 7.1-megapixel camera never should have been released. Compact cameras from Canon, Sony and Nikon are far better—even if they do cost a bit more.

RWC Company (Japan) made Christmassy gift for MP3 player funs.

RWC will release new models in its Arex Thumbstick Solid line dubbed the “Aqua” on December 15th. There will be five colors total available in the Aqua line and they’re expected to retail for about $100. The new Aqua versions will feature a premium clear color, allowing one to see through the player. The available colors are skeleton pink, skeleton green, skeleton yellow, skeleton purple, skeleton blue and skeleton red. The Thumbstick Solid has 512MB of built-in memory; plays back MP3 and WMA files and is USB 2.0 compliant.

Powered by a rechargeable battery that can be charged via USB, the player will have a maximum playback time of 16 hours.

Samsung has finally released one of the products with which the company has touted its customers for a long time: the YP-C1 MP3 player series.

The flash-based MP3 player is fitted with standard features, including MP3, WMA, ASF and OGG support, but not much else.Sure, it has an FM tuner and a microphone for voice recording, but what player doesn’t these days? There is no colour display—just a 4-line LED display—and it’s powered by a bulky AA dry cell battery.

Actually, that could be considered a major plus for this product, since it makes life a little easier for travelers who don’t necessarily always have access to a power outlet, and 42 hours of life isn’t too shabby. However, they already released the more powerful YP-U1 series, so these YP-C1s might be a hard sell.

The 512MB YP-C1XB can be had for as low as $120 USD. Whether the 1GB YP-C1ZB will ever find its way to retailers is still up in the air.

Korean company Joyfriend put on the market a small mp3 player with integrated GPS.

The Joyfriend mp3 player measures 65×110x20mm and features a 128×64px FSTN display. 128MB memory is built-in.
Not quite sure how useful the navigation functionality is on this low-cost mp3 player. It definitely does not support graphical maps.

The JoyFriend mp3 player sells for about $128.

Sharp, Japan based electronic corporation, introduce a new MP3 players that feature a mountain-climbing style carabiner design.

Sharp MP-S200 ( contain 512MB flash memory) and MP-S300 (1GB) feature a aluminum metal case with a honeycomb structure. Apparently the new Sharp players can be dropped from a height of 140cm without damage.
The carabiner can be used as key holder or to attach the Sharp music player to a belt.

Features of the MP-S200 and MP-S300 include: FM Tuner, FM Transmitter, direct encoding, MP3 and WMA DRM support and USB 2.0.

The new Sharp MP3 players will go on market on November 26th in Japan. The mp3 player is available in four colors. No pricing set yet.

The new anti-shock Sharp players highlight is the karabiner. As with the new Toshiba Gigabeat P Series introduced today, the Sharp MP-S200 and MP-S300 also cannot touch the Apple iPod nano.

Softpedia reported: Olympus has announced that it will be leaving portable MP3 players behind and switching focus to single lens reflex cameras in the future.

Olympus, the Tokyo-based company, has announced that it is stopping production of portable digital music players, as it is unable to keep up with the stronger players such as Sony and Apple.

Olympus is the second major victim of the rapidly growing market and the dominance of Apple’s iPod. Earlier this year we witnessed the retreat of D&M Holdings from the portable music player market due to their Rio brand of music players loosing more and more ground.

The ultra-portable T10 delivers exceptional sound quality in a unique, sport-ready design. The T10 is PlaysForSure verified to support subscription-based music download services, giving you instant, affordable access to millions of songs. It also feature a vivid color display, battery life up to 45 hours on one AA, a built-in FM tuner, voice recorder and an integrated sport clip.

iRiver T10 Reviews

PCMag reviews the iRiver T10 and wrote – ‘This odd-looking player sounds good, but is more expensive than it should be, and the color screen is just too small for photos. Good sound quality. Excellent battery life. Works with subscription and download services. Broad file format support. Useful Study mode.’

CNET Reviews the iRiver T10 and gives it a ‘Very Good’ rating. They write – ‘The good: Durable, sporty design; small but bright color screen; FM tuner, voice recorder, OGG, WMA DRM 10 (Janus), and basic picture support; awesome battery life; excellent sound quality and overall performance.

The bad: No line-in recording; bulky, awkward design; pricey; USB cover doesn’t stay closed.

The bottom line: The hunky, feature-filled iRiver T10 can play subscription-based music, but it might take time to acclimate to the awkward design and control buttons.’

Theregister reviews the iRiver T10 and write – ‘The T10 isn’t for folk who prefer their digital music players to be as small and discreet as possible. But if you prefer something a little bulkier, a little more rugged then this could well be the player for you. It’s a solid machine that will appeal to anyone off on a trip, not only for its relative resillience but its use of over-the-counter AA batteries. The T10’s sound quality is as good as it gets.’

iRiver T10 Specs

Player Type: Flash
Radio: Yes
Recording, Voice: Yes
Recording, FM: Yes
Recording, Line In: No
Supported File Types: MP3, OGG, WAV, WMA
Battery Life: 2700 min
Battery Type: AA
Capacity: 1000 MB
Dimensions: 3.4 x inches
Weight: 2.6 oz
Video Recording: No
Built-in speakers: No
Notes: $149.99 for the 512MB model; $199.99 for the 1GB model

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Swissbit combines an MP3 player and Swiss Army knife.

Technology is all about making things smaller and having more functions. Swissbit has embraced this philosophy with their line of Swiss Army knives that double as a USB key, and now, the company has taken the next logical step and mated a Swiss Army knife with an MP3 player. The s.beat comes in 1, 2, and 4GB capacities, and the MP3 player itself is detachable. It is capable of playing MP3, WMA and OGG formats as well as having a built-in FM tuner and 3-line high-contrast LCD display.

Packaged in with the tiny unit (measuring 74 x 22 x 24 mm) are a stylish remote control, headphones, USB extension cable, arm strap, and a protective cover for the USB port. It isn’t the fanciest of Swiss Army knifes: it only has a screwdriver, file, knife and scissors. Of course, the MP3 player portion can double as a USB flash drive as well. The built-in lithium polymer battery will give you a good eight hours of juice.

Expect the s.beat to hit stores November 15th, with the 1GB version priced at ?156 ($276 USD), and the 2GB at ?235 ($415 USD). The 4GB version will ship in Spring 2006 at a yet-to-be confirmed price.

The knife comes with a red remote control in the shape of the Victorinox logo, along with a set of headphones, a USB extension cable and a rubber arm strap.

The knife is expected to be available in mid-November.

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Some people sing in the shower, and apparently, some people sing on the john too. A toilet that plays MP3 music files really caught our eye and ear.

Japanese bathroom manufacturer Toto is now offering a commode that senses when you enter the room and automatically lifts the pre-warmed lid. Additional sensors next to the toilet activate an MP3 player with 16 preloaded tunes and a media slot for SD cards so you can load in your own music library.

After you’re finished, the toilet automatically flushes and closes the lid. There’s a separate attachment for a bidet if you happen to be into that kind of thing.

Most people spend a few quality minutes in the bathroom every day, so why not make it more inviting? You could probably put this toilet right next to your illuminated bathtub and sink and really create a high-style and relaxing room.

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