mp3

5th Generation iPod nano features video recording

One of the new products announced at Apple’s event yesterday was the new iPod nano, now with a video camera and pausable FM radio. The new iPod nanos now have a polished anodized aluminum finish and comes in 9 different colors. But the most notable feature has to be the video camera that is paired with the larger 2.2″ screen (240-by-376-pixel resolution). Sync up the nano to your computer and it’s just one more step to sharing your video on YouTube, Facebook, et al.

The FM Tuner not only lets you listen to live FM radio, but to pause it for up to 15 minutes. You can rewind as well. Also included is the ability to tag songs that you like, so that you can look them up later on in iTunes.

The VoiceOver feature speaks the artist and song title to you, and the Genius feature in iTunes can help you put together cohesive playlists.

The new iPod nano comes in 8GB and 16GB sizes.

Buy now!
More info from the manufacturer
Price: 8GB: $149, 16GB: $179
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Sony Walkman turns 30

In a day of MP3 players that hold thousands of songs, some of which are so small you can swallow, the Walkman seems blocky and ancient. Yet, the Sony Walkman (and all of its various imitators) had such an impact on our music listening habits that the brand name still survives to this day, 30 years after it first appeared.

For an amusing, and still insightful, piece on how far technology has taken us, you read Scott Campbell’s (13 years old) review of a Sony Walkman.

Happy birthday Walkman!

Microsoft Zune HD – coming this Fall

Zune HD

While style is usually an Apple trait and is typically last on Microsoft’s mind, they seem to have got it right on this one – the Zune HD. This is the latest in the line of Zune players and is beautifully angular to fit in with the modern world. This new 3.3-inch OLED touchscreen Zune can browse the internet via WiFi, play movies and snag digital radio feeds – hang about, this is starting to sound like an iPod Touch (bar the design). The player is available in silver (pictured) and black.

When hooked up to the TV, playback can be produced at 720p for a superior high definition image and a hookup between the XBox Live Marketplace TV/video service has been confirmed. The limited announcement from Redmond has left many users wondering whether or not this is some sort of PSP rival and will support XBox games and is it going to develop into some sort of Zune phone? Let’s just wait for the release in the fall!

More info at Zune.net.

Bluetooth MP3 Sunglasses

Bluetooth MP3 Player

Last month we featured a pair of Bluetooth Sunglasses but this new device combines both a MP3 player and Bluetooth connectivity, and for around than half the price of the other pair for the top memory.

Built-in memory ranges from 128MB to 2GB, depending on how much music you want to listen to in your glasses, and battery life is 6 hours after a full charge. Like many in-car Handsfree kits, if you’re listening to the MP3 player and you get a call coming in then the MP3 will shut off and switch to your call. It plugs into your computer via USB and is compatible with the basic audio file formats; MP3/WAV/WMA. Price is a bit uncertain – but if you order in bulk you could get down to about $22 for the 2GB model.

Our thoughts? This product is quite a bit more bulky on the sides than the other pair we featured, and probably isn’t the same quality, but is a lot cheaper. It’s a toss up between MP3 and quality/style, but we recommend you go for the other pair.

More info from the manufacturer

Price: ~$22.00
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

#CES09: TriSpecs all-in-one sunglasses, headphones, Bluetooth headset

This is a bit wonky, but TriSpecs thinks there’s a market out there for those who want what I’ll call integration of head-devices – sunglasses, stereo headphones, Bluetooth headset, and even power and volume controls for your MP3 player.

TriSpecs actually got together with a company called Step Labs to ensure that the audio quality is up to snuff and probably then some. It even has noise-cancellation, the ability to detect and switch between music and incoming phone calls. The lenses on the sunglasses are Zeiss Sola and are interchangeable.

Despite all of these high-tech and seemingly expensive components and materials, starting price is rumored to be around $200.

Holiday Gift Ideas: Dell’s tech ideas sorted by price ranges

In case you didn’t know, Dell sells way more than just their computers, primarily electronics, gadgets, and computer accessories, but as you well know, that’s a ton of stuff! Anyway, they’ve done a nice job of putting together a nice collection of gadgets sorted by price.

There are 3 price ranges: under $100, under $200, under $300 and everything else above that which they are cheekily calling “Ultimate gifts”. Products include everything from USB Flash drives, cameras, monitors, printers, MP3 players, laptops, GPS all the way to high-end big screen TVs.

Dell’s Hot Gift Ideas

Holiday Gift Ideas 2008: MP3 Players

More gift ideas for the music fan, but honestly, who doesn’t want an MP3 player today? The vendor choices haven’t changed much since last year: Apple, Microsoft, Sandisk, Creative, Cown and Sony. There are 2 main choices in MP3 players – whether or not it has a Flash drive or a hard drive. The Flash drive based ones are a lot smaller and lighter. Here are but a few good samples.

Apple iPod Touch (2nd gen, 32GB: $370, 16GB: $280)
Apple iPod Nano (4th gen, 16GB: $200)
Sony Walkman (8GB: $92)
Creative Zen (16GB: $153)
Microsoft Zune (Video 120GB: $225)
Cowon PMP (16GB: $177)
Sandisk Sansa View (32GB video: $210)

(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Holiday Gift Ideas 2008: for the Music Lover

Everyone knows a music lover or 2 or 12. What better gift than an album (starting around $10 on average), collection (varies), or box set (varies, could be as low as $25)? This is definitely a gift that can keep on giving for a lifetime.

Amazon has a great page with lots and lots of music ideas.

If you’re not sure about your friend/family’s preferences, give them a gift card from iTunes ($1/song) or perhaps Rhapsody ($13 & $15/month subscriptions).

iPod nano 4G – back to tall and slim and now in 16GB size

Thank you Apple for bringing the iPod nano back in its very cool, tall, thin, original incarnation. Not only that, but for adding some bright, rad colors (9 total). Oh yes, it now comes in 8 and 16GB versions. So what else is new? For starters, it has a feature called Genius which auto-creates playlists based on what songs ‘go together’. It’s an algorithm developed by Apple. The other notable feature is the built-in accelerometer which allows you to shuffle the songs when you shake it!

The screen on this new nano is a bit larger and you can view your cover art in landscape mode (yes, automatically), as well as in Cover Flow (the moving album covers feature). And back to the accelerometer: this means that you can now play games based on tilting and rotation. To that ends, one of the built-in games is Maze; I’ll let you guess what that’s about.

Apple is also touting this as the ‘greenest’ nano as they’ve stripped most of the hazardous chemicals and plastics out of it. Kudos on that move Apple.

Gimme!

Price: $149 for 8GB, $199 for 16GB model.
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)

Scroll to Top