4G iPod Gets the Device Viking Treatment

Today we get two new updates from the Device Viking. Earlier he reviewed the Creative Zen Touch. Now we get the 4G iPod as well (machine translation here).

First Big Creative Zen Touch Review

The Device Viking conquers all again. He's got another photo-packed, first on the web review. This time the victim is the new Creative Zen Touch (machine translation here).

Don't miss the sequence of photos that compare the dimensions of the Zen Touch, a new 4G iPod and an older iPod. Creative did manage to shrink the Zen Touch down to iPod size in the length and width dimensions, but in depth there is no comparison. However, much of that extra space is probably taken up by the battery that gives the Zen Touch twice the battery life of the 4G iPod.

Related Links:
Creative Zen Touch Arrives
Creative Zen Touch Available Sooner Than Expected
New Creative Zen Touch Available for Pre-Order
Creative Zen Touch First Look

Motorola Enters the Market

A couple of days ago, Motorola announced a first-of-its-kind deal with Apple that would let Motorola cell phone owners play iTunes music on their phones. We didn't note it here at Player Blog because this site is geared towards devices that are full-time, high capacity MP3 players rather than devices with MP3 playback tacked on and with limited storage. Cell phones certainly fit in the latter category. However, Engadget snapped a photo at a Motorola press event of what is said to be the m500, a 5GB audio player. No word on whether it too will play iTunes music, which would be questionable given Apple's refusal to allow any devices but its own to play songs from iTMS.

Creative Zen Touch Arrives

Creative's latest device, the Zen Touch, has made it to the general public. Nomadness users are reporting that they're receiving the units they ordered from Creative's online store.

User jlbrach has a few initial thoughts on the new Zen Touch:

• the unit is about the same size as an ipod for comparison,somewhat thicker and alittle heavier
  
• the unit is dramatically more attractive and sleek..the clunkiness of prior zen units is gone
  
• the unit performs well and so far the most impressive thing to me is the hard drive noise that i found so annoying on the older zen units seems to be gone....i can only speak of the one day of use but it appears to be far quieter and thus for me at least more enjoyable

there are a few negatives although they can probably be fixed with a firmware upgrade:

• i cannot seem to get the unit to open the menu page when it starts up...it defaults to playlist and unlike the older units there does not seem to be an option to change this
  
• when you scroll through the lists of albums etc. you cannot go all the way from a-z and then continue around to a....you have to scroll all the way back up to a....a small issue perhaps but one that i had gotten used to
• the zen extra allowed you to press and hold the back button and be brought to the now playing...on the touch you have to go back to the menu and then click to get to now playing..again a small but annoying issue

all in all i am very impressed with the new unit...in fact if these small problems were ironed out and a larger capacity player were to be offered i would give it a big thumbs up!

Related Links:
Creative Zen Touch Available Sooner Than Expected
New Creative Zen Touch Available for Pre-Order
Creative Zen Touch First Look

Apple Out of Tune With Harmony

Don't say we didn't warn them. The introduction of Harmony from Real Networks, a way to make Real's Helix DRM technology compatible with the iPod, has drawn the ire of Apple's legal team. Apple says that it is "stunned that RealNetworks has adopted the tactics and ethics of a hacker to break into the iPod".

Reportedly, Apple is looking into taking legal action via the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998. The DMCA includes provisions against "circumvention" of copy-protection technologies. IANAL, but is Harmony really circumventing FairPlay? In DRM terms, I would characterize circumvention as removing DRM from a piece of protected music. As I understand it, Harmony adds FairPlay DRM to music rather than subtracts it. All it really circumvents is Apple's iTunes Music Store.

More bits at the Wall Street Journal, Mac Rumors, Dan Gillmor's eJournal and BBC News.

Related Links:
Real Networks Introduces Harmony

iRiver Trifecta: New Firmware Schedule in English

Completing the trifecta of iRiver news, the company has posted a rough schedule and a list of features that will be implemented in its upcoming firmware updates. Previously this was only available in Korean.

If you aren't an iRiver H-series you may not have been aware of the furor over these updates. Originally promised in May, they still haven't been released and iRiver's community forums have been bombarded with complaints and even attacks that, for a while, rendered them NSFW.

Updated iRiver PMC Design

Portable Media Center Player has just posted a set of photos of the upcoming iRiver PMC. It does look as if iRiver re-tooled the design since we last saw the PMC.

Tweak Your iRiver Firmware

If you just can't wait for the major, forthcoming (no really) iRiver firmware update for it H-series of audio players, here's something to play with. Some intrepid Japanese hackers have created the iriver H Series Firmware Customizer (machine translation here). The application lets you tweak some of the look and feel, such as the boot display image. As far as we can tell, it only works on Japanese devices, so YMMV. [Via DAP Review]

Trusted Reviews on the Rio Karma

​ ​​​​For the last several weeks Apple, iRiver and Sony have been capturing many of the headlines here with new product releases. Rio, on the other had, is a name we haven't heard much from lately. We expect them to make some noise with new devices in the not to distant future, but in the meantime the 20GB Rio Karma is still a popular choice. Trusted Reviews has a new review:

The Rio Karma is a very strong alternative to the iPod. If you're not obsessed with the undoubtedly stunning styling of the iPod, you'll find that the Karma has some great features that make it an overall better product.

Walt Mossberg: Sony HW-HD1 is "markedly inferior"

Walt Mossberg, the Wall Street Journal tech columnist and (IMHO) the most pragmatic and dependable reviewer in the business took on the new Sony NW-HD1 Network Walkman today. In a word, ouch:

Our verdict: While the new Sony is smaller than the iPod and has much better battery life, it is markedly inferior overall. It has a confusing, complex user interface that makes it hard to use; weak software for the PC; an oddball music format that makes loading it with songs tedious; and a companion music download service that offers less than Apple's. The iPod wins this round, and remains champion.

More bits at MacMinute, Engadget and Digital Media Thoughts.

Related Links:
Gotta Have the Sony NW-HD1?
Photos of the New Sony NW-HD1
Sony Debuts Another New Network Walkman

Turn Your iPod into a Universal Remote

Engadget has posted yet another interesting how-to: using your iPod as a universal remote control. It's probably not the most practical solution to remote overload, but it's pretty cool that you can do it at all. Their solution does require a Pocket PC and a Griffin Total Remote, so if you've got one lying around, give it a go.

More bits at BoingBoing and Slashdot.

4G iPod Sound Problems?

iPodlounge is reporting that some owners of the new 4th-generation iPod are experiencing some sound distortion:

The defect manifests as audible static and noise interference in the earphones that is most prominent whenever a new iPod's hard disk is accessed. Similar interference was not detectable through line out (Dock Connector) output.

Users of affected iPods will be able to hear a hard disk-like whirring sound in their earphones, coupled with several seconds of light static at the start of a song that has just been loaded. This should not be confused with the quiet hard disk loading sounds that an iPod makes, which sounds are not audible through earphones, or with normal static-like compression artifacts in your audio.

In the words of Astro Jetson, "rhut roh rorge". From the responses to the iPodlounge post, not every 4G iPod owner has the problem, but it definitely seems to exist. No word from Apple on this yet. [Via Engadget]

Related Links:
iPod Mini Sound Problems?

DesignTechnica Reviews the iPod Mini

Just days after the overseas launch of the iPod Mini, DesignTechnica has published a new review:

“A thousand songs in your pocket�, smaller, lighter, more colorful, and with loads of extra features, the iPod mini easily outdoes all other portable audio players on the market in terms of style and quality. It is too hot to handle, too easy to play with, and too lovely to not obtain one. Apple has surely scored another homerun with this little sister to the original iPod.

It's clear that the iPod Mini is very popular since it is almost never in stock at major online retailers, but we're curious as to how much Apple was able to increase production to meet worldwide demand. Presumably the wordwide release coincided with the 4G iPod launch, possibly taking some pressure off iPod Mini demand. [Via i4u]

Related Links:
iPod Mini Finally Available Worldwide

PMC Player Site Launches

Diane Dumas has launched a new site devoted to Portable Media Center devices at www.pmcplayer.com.

Portable Media Centers are a type of portable video player that are powered by Microsoft's Portable Media Center Technology. Currently, there are 3 PMCs the Creative Zen PMC, the iRiver PMC-100 and the Samsung YH-999. Good luck with the new site! [Via Digital Media Thoughts]

Related Links:
Creative Zen and Samsung PMCs Available for Pre-Order at Amazon

CNet Reviews the 4G iPod

Another short review of the 4G iPod has appeared, this time at CNet:

The good: Click Wheel improves user experience; better battery life; useful firmware enhancements such as multiple On The Go playlists; more bang for the buck.

The bad: Dock, remote control, and carrying case not included.

Related Links:
Early 4G iPod Review

Want to Build Your Own iPod Remote?

Someone has done a bit of reverse engineering on the iPod dock and remote control and determined how the iPod communicates via its connector. Theoretically at least, this is pretty much all you need to know if you wanted to make a homebrew remote.

There's no mention of song title or other track information, so I'm curious as to whether there are command strings to fetch this. Then you could build an LCD remote along the lines of the iRiver H-series. Or scroll your playlist along a LED reader board. [Via DAP Review]

Present at the Creation of the iPod

Wired has an interesting look behind the scenes during the creation of the original, 1st-generation iPod. The story is based on the experiences of Ben Knauss, a former employee of PortalPlayer, the company that helped engineer the first iPod and continues to produces the internal iPod and iPod Mini chipsets. [Via Slashdot]

Related Links:
Some Corroboration for the New iPod Rumor?
Apple Video iPod Demystified
iPod Can Supprt WMA?!?

iRiver PMP-140 Preview

Portable Media World has got its hand on pre-release version of the upcoming iRiver PMP-120 portable video player and they've done a photo-filled preview (in both English and French). Unfortunately, the software isn't quite baked yet:

As explained before, I'm not able to provide you with a final judgement on this product because of the version of Beta version of the firmware. But beware, this beast is already very very sexy as it is now. The occasional bugs and crashes did in no way spoil the pleasure I had by playing around with this little device! We predict that the final version will totally blow you away!

Also to be noted is that fact that this PMP will be able to act as a small game console, as 6 games are included in this whole package.

Archos (even with their 500 version) has a serious competitor with this PMP-140, and as end-users, we can only be happy with this, because it will push the manufacturers to keep amazing us with new devices.

Weekly Price Guide

Well lookee here, for the first time in the (admittedly short) history of the weekly price guide, there wasn't a single price increase. Why would that be now?

Also, don't forget that Amazon is still offering a $50 gift certificate for purchases over $250 in their Electronics store. We believe this deal will last until 8/1 and covers all the audio players that Amazon sells. Including the GC, that makes the 20GB 4G iPod only $250.

A Wireless Player from Creative?

The Register is reporting that Creative has designed a wireless MP3 player. However, it uses neither WiFi or Bluetooth, but rather LibertyLink from Aura Communications.

LibertyLink would let the Creative device wirelessly beam music to headphones at a distance of up to 2m without significant sound degradation. Also, you would not be able to wirelessly connect the Creative device to a computer, you would still need cables for that. [Via Engadget]

Real Networks Introduces Harmony

Real Networks announced a new technology that will supposedly ease some of the incompatibility problems of digital music store DRM systems between different types of devices. The technology is called Harmony and will be included in a beta version of RealPlayer v10.5, available on Tuesday.

The problem that necessitated something like Harmony is that there are a number of DRM protection technologies in wide use today. DRM is supposed to keep purchasers of digital music from freely duplicating songs by controlling how and where the content can be used. There are a number of schemes in use today, but all are incompatible with each other.

Real Networks has its own DRM technology, Helix, but the Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra was the only device that supported it. Harmony, then, was designed to bridge Helix-protected songs (purchased from Real's online music store) onto devices previously incompatible with Helix. Essentially, Harmony converts the protection wrapper from Helix format to the DRM format of the target device. This conversion shouldn't (theoretically at least) degrade the quality of the music, since only the protection wrapper is being changed. According to Real, Harmony make a laundry of devices Helix-compatible:

With Harmony Technology, RealPlayer Music Store supports more than 70 secure portable media devices, including all 4 generations of the iPod and iPod mini, 14 products from Creative, 14 from Rio, 7 from RCA, 9 from palmOne, 18 from iRiver, and products from Dell, Gateway, and Samsung. Generally speaking, Harmony supports any device that uses the Apple FairPlay DRM, The Microsoft Windows Media Audio DRM, or the RealNetworks Helix DRM, giving RealPlayer Music Store support for more secure devices than any other music store on the Internet.

It is worth noting that the reason why Real only had 1 compatible device before today was largely uninterest on the part of audio player makers. The big two in the DRM race are Apple and Microsoft. Microsoft was compatible with just about every device on the market, except for the market-leading iPod. Manufacturers just didn't see the need to add yet another standard into the mix. As was widely reported, Real CEO Rob Glaser attempted to get Apple CEO Steve Jobs on board, but was flatly turned down:

In April, Glaser e-mailed Jobs suggesting they meet to discuss making the iPod compatible with RealNetwork's music store, an alliance that would help fend off digital music advances by their shared rival, software giant Microsoft. Instead, RealNetworks said Apple officials did not respond and accused Apple sources of leaking the private e-mail to reporters.

Also, there is one big caveat to Harmony and one big implication. The caveat is that Harmony doesn't allow you to covert between the two dominant schemes, Microsoft WMA and Apple iTMS. Harmony converts from Real Helix to WMA or iTMS only.

The implication, however, is that Real or other companies could bridge between WMA and iTMS. This would be a much bigger deal, since the number of songs sold by these stores is drastically larger. Of course, Real's legal department is probably already standing by to take calls from Apple and Microsoft's legal teams.

More bits at Corante, Geekzone, SFGate, NetImperative, Billboard, BBC News, Slashdot, Engadget and BoingBoing.

Early 4G iPod Review

iPodlounge has just posted a lengthy review of the new 4th generation iPod. This review was written for the "New User", someone who is looking to buy their first MP3 player, but still does a good job of pointing out the differences between the 3G and 4G iPods. A "Power User" review is supposed to follow. Also, they have a big batch of photos. Not surprisingly iPodlounge likes the new iPod:

From a new iPod buyer's perspective, the new fourth-generation iPods from Apple are pretty exciting. At $299 (20 gigabyte) and $399 (40 gigabyte), they're cheaper than their comparably sized predecessors, feature better battery life, and have all the features that iPod owners have known and loved for the past year and three months, plus the iPod mini's superior Click Wheel. Fully compatible with existing iPod electronic accessories and likely to be more widely available in stores than iPod minis through the end of 2004, they're strong competitors against virtually every other music player on the market today.

Also, they agree with us that the 4G model and the $100 price cut is Apple's move to hook the masses:

Today, Apple's fourth-generation iPods have taken another step towards global ubiquity. While not substantially different from their predecessors, they offer better battery life, value for the dollar, and a collection of small user interface improvements that are mostly of interest to current iPod owners. But importantly, the new iPods - like this review - were not designed to appeal to current iPod owners. They were mostly made for converts and first-time digital music buyers. And judged by that standard, they are an almost unmitigated success.

Related:
The iPod's Tipping Point?
4G iPod Officially Official
More on the New iPod

Creative will Add 40GB Zen Touch

In a not entirely unexpected move, Creative has announced a 40GB version of their new Zen Touch audio player. Previously only a 20GB model had been announced.

The odd thing about the announcement is that no Zen Touch's of any size or shape have been shipped! Back in June Creative said "end of the month". Now, near the end of July, they say it's "available for shipment this month at US$269.99". I'm not holding my breath. I say we set up a pool between the Zen Touch ship date and the new iRiver firmware release...

In any case, Amazon is taking pre-orders for the Zen Touch at $270.

Related Links:
Creative Zen Touch First Look

MPM-201 Portable Video Player Review

The field of portable video players is becoming rather crowded. Portable Media World has an in-depth review of yet another entrant, the NHJ MPM-201. Like most of its ilk, it has a 3.5" color LCD, but a larger 30GB capacity and slots for reading both SD and CompactFlash media cards.

The one feature that makes the MPM-201 really stand out is its ability to record video directly without having to be attached to a computer. However, great features don't mean a thing if the basics aren't there. Unfortunately the MPM-201's screen quality just wasn't there:

On paper, the MPM is the ultimate device, and it had everything to put the Archos to shame (except for the AV-500) and make the other Microsoft PMCs blush. But a small error by NHJ spoils everything, the screen is really bad and I urge NHJ to rectify this error as soon as possible, as they will get a serious beating when they put the device on the US market like this. You do get an enormous amount of kit for this price, because it's almost 100 Euros cheaper than the first PMCs by Samsung and Creative (which are lower specs).

Cowon iAUDIO M3 Price Drop

eXity let us know that Amazon has beat this week's low price for the 20GB Cowon iAUDIO M3. The silver M3 with the cradle is only $299 or without the cradle for $281.

Related:
Weekly Price Guide

The iPod's Tipping Point?

Now that the dust has settled a bit from Monday's surprise announcement of a 4th generation iPod, I'd like to step back and analyze the strategic implications of this move.

First the backstory. As is widely known, Apple has an enormous lead on its nearest competitors in the audio player market. In the minds of much of the American general public, MP3 player equals iPod. Period. The average person has probably never heard of iRiver or Creative (unless they happen to own a Soundblaster or some other accessory where Creative is a brand leader). Simply put, to the masses, Apple has total mindshare and its hardware competitors might as well not even exist.

However, hardware competitors such as Creative and iRiver (and Rio and Cowon and on and on) are not what drive Apple's business strategy. Microsoft drives Apple's business strategy. This is because the real, long-term, clash-of-the-titans fight is over whether Apple or Microsoft ends up as the dominant digital rights management (DRM) technology. Apple has iTMS that powers its iTunes online music store and only works on its iPods. Microsoft has WMA, which works on just about every audio player on the planet except the iPod.

So how does new-iPod-Monday figure into all of this? Normally when a company has such high brand awareness, it can charge a hefty premium for its products. Until Monday, this was the case. iPods have always been quite a bit more expensive than rival devices. But the hipsters had to be seen with the white headphones, so they bought them in droves, prices by damned.

Why then did Apple lop $100 off the price? This is the key to their strategy: they've already sold the hipsters, now its time to cleanup selling to everyone else (translation the other 99% of the population).

I think that Apple is trying to manage the iPod's Tipping Point, a la the Hush Puppy revival that rapidly quadrupled sales of a moribund brand sparked only by a few New York City hipsters. As an aside, I can't recommend Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point highly enough, which explains and gives endless, highly-entertaining examples of the Tipping Point in effect. What Apple wants is for the iPod to "tip" into being a nearly ubiquitous device in the way that cell phones and DVD players are now. This, I believe, is the "it" Apple CEO Steve Jobs referred to in the Newsweek article:

Steve Jobs noticed something earlier this year in New York City. "I was on Madison," says Apple's CEO, "and it was, like, on every block, there was someone with white headphones, and I thought, 'Oh, my God, it's starting to happen'."

That big price cut was designed to fuel this. Today the iPod is a whole lot more appealing to all of us less hip and more price-sensitive types. Before Monday the two main drawbacks of the iPod were high price and short battery life. Guess what? That's exactly what the 4th-gen iPod ponies up. The remaining gripes about the iPod pale in comparison and I can be cool with the cool kids without having to break the bank. Oh and there are hundreds of accessories available too.

At this point, I think that this is a very astute (dare I say brilliant?) business move on Apple's part. I expect them to immediately follow up with expanded marketing efforts to the mass market. And assuming they can deliver 4G iPods in volume, I expect Apple to blow the lid off iPod sales records.

Microsoft, for the time being at least, has put its money on portable video players (or at least has its attention divided between audio players and PVPs). Apple disagrees and has gone all-in with the audio-only iPod. Only time will tell who has the winning hand.

Related:
4G iPod Officially Official
More on the New iPod

Do People Actually Want PVPs?

The first big wave of portable video players have recently hit or are close to hitting the market. Whether these devices will be a market success on the level of the original iPod is completely unclear. Apple, the undisputed audio player king, has made it quite clear that it thinks PVPs are going nowhere. And it's the only major MP3 player maker without one (except Sony, for now).

CNet has a nice article on the big questions surrounding this nascent market: will there be content available, are execs being overly optimistic and "the squint factor":

Another problem is making it work for users on the move--and on a screen the size of a credit card.

"There are two obvious sources of video for these devices--TV shows and movies," said Ross Rubin, an analyst with NPD Techworld. "But I don't see consumers having long sessions with these devices."

Archos GMini 220 Review

Gear Live has a new review of the Archos GMini 220 portable video player. With a striking resemblance to a 3.5" floppy disk with a LCD screen, the Gmini 220 has a 20GB capacity measures only 2.66"x3.07"x0.9".

Related Links:
Archos Gmini 220 Review

Weekly Price Guide

As you can see, we've added the brand spanking new 4th-generation iPod to the roundup. Needless to say this is causing some price confusion on 3rd-gen iPods. Expect their price to plummet until stocks are drained. Also, I've noticed that mainline online retailers are listing the new iPods, but don't have yet have them in stock. Maybe by next week we'll start to see some movement off the retail prices.

Also, let us observe a small moment of silence for everyone who bought a new 3G iPod in the last week. I hope they all kept their receipt...

New iRiver Firmware Dates

The deadlines iRiver gave a couple of months ago for major firmware updates have long passed, causing much wailing and gnashing of teeth in iRiver's community forums. Today, however, iRiver announced new schedules and proposed changes for their whole product line. While the announcement is in Korean, Mistic River has kindly translated the important parts.

There will be a series of updates for the H-series players, but must of the new features will be delivered in late July or early August. Some enterprising soul should start a pool on whether iRiver delivers on time.

More bits at DAP Review.

Related Links:
Upcoming Updates for iRiver iHP Players

4G iPod Officially Official

As previously reported, Apple did indeed make the 4th update to the iPod official today, updated the iPod specs page and put it up for sale online at the Apple store. Changes are pretty much as expected: a bit slimmer, iPod Mini-style click wheel and a lower price on the 20GB and 40GB, while the 15GB iPod takes a dirt nap.

More bits at Gizmodo, Slashdot and Engadget.

Frontier Labs L1 Review

The Frontier Labs L1? I'd completely forgotten about it! Bjorn3D has lifted it out of obscurity a bit with a review of the L1, a relatively compact device (3.88"x2.5"x0.88") with a 20GB capacity. [Via DarkVision Hardware]

Frontier Labs has done an excellent job in creating the L1. There is a lot to like about it, such as the strong list of features and the nice bundle of accessories. Moreover, it's a very stylish, light and easy to use MP3 jukebox with a generous 20GB hard drive that should provide plenty of space for the average digital music fan. Simple software and a fast USB 2.0 connection help make the L1 more convenient and enjoyable.

The L1 is of course not perfect though. While the two button and joystick control combo works well, I'm not sure how much I like it. It's not that I dislike it necessarily. I would just like to try other players to see what alternatives there are so I can see how well the L1's configuration really works. Several times I found myself accidentally pushing the joystick in while trying to push it to the right or left, which then meant a wrong selection on the menu. It's a minor quibble and not a deal-breaker by any means as I'm getting more and more used to the navigation every time I use the L1. Some people will pick it up right away and feel natural using it while others may have to practice more, but that's just like any other gadget out there.

Related Links:
First Harddrive Player from Frontier Labs

iPod Software Updated

Along with the new 4th-generation iPod, Apple has released new software for all models of iPod and iPod Mini. Here's what's new in this version:

New for Click Wheel iPods

• Shuffle songs with one click
• Create multiple On-The-Go playlists
• Delete songs from On-The-Go playlists
• Select reading playback speed for audiobooks
• Hear the clicker user interface sound through headphones
• Charge via USB 2.0 connection
• Enjoy improved playback performance

• Compatibility with iTunes 4.5 or later and the iTunes Music Store
• Improved playback performance
• Support for the Apple Lossless Encoder, to enable compressed music encoding at high quality

• Compatibility with iTunes 4.5 or later and the iTunes Music Store
• Improved playback performance

[Via Mac Rumors]

More on the New iPod

The set of Newsweek articles that will hit newsstands tomorrow are already online, including the one on the new iPod.

Even better, more substantial details on the next-generation device are coming out:

• 12 hours of battery life, a 50% improvement (hopefully Apple didn't pull a Sony here, though). "This is accomplished, Apple says, not by a heavier battery but diligent conservation of power."
• One millimeter thinner (roughly 0.6" thick, instead of 0.62")
• Removed buttons under the display in favor of controls on the revised scroll wheel (a la the iPod Mini)
• "More efficient menus"
• Multiple on-the-go playlists
• Retail price drops by $100
• 20GB and 40GB models only, no more 15GB
• New colors include white and white in addition to the original white

More bits at Mac Daily News, MacRumors and Engadget.

Yup, New iPods on Monday

Apparently there is some truth the rumors of new iPods on Monday. It was said that they'd be announced via "an out-of-the-ordinary publicity medium". In the Internet age, I guess the print edition of Newsweek magazine qualifies. In any case, the new iPod is right there on the cover, with its re-worked scroll wheel. [Via Engadget]

Related:
New iPods Re-Rumored for Monday Launch
New iPods in August?

New iPods Re-Rumored for Monday Launch

Think Secret has published an update to their previous murmurings on new iPods. Their sources say that the new iPods will be announced this Monday, July 19th through "an out-of-the-ordinary publicity medium". Instead of color LCDs and other big changes, reportedly the new models will be slightly thinner, less costly (wha?) and have a re-engineered scroll wheel.

Also, the previously rumored August announce date and color choice expansions reportedly refers to the iPod Mini.

More bits at MacRumors, Gizmodo and Engadget.

Related:
New iPods in August?

Gotta Have the Sony NW-HD1?

If you absolutely have to be the first person on your block (or city for that matter) to get the new Sony NW-HD1, you're in luck and out $570. DAP Review has discovered that Japanes retailer Audio Cubes has them and will ship worldwide.

Announced just a few weeks ago, the NW-HD1 Network Walkman has a 20GB capacity and sizes up at a relatively tiny 3.5"x2.4"x0.55", compared with the iPod at 4.1"x2.4"x0.62". Unfortunately, it does not directly play MP3 and WMA music. Sony has its own DRM format, ATRAC3, the only format the device plays. MP3s you want to put on the player have to be converted to ATRAC3 format first, degrading the quality of the sound in the process.

Related:
Sony Debuts Another New Network Walkman

Free iPods? Maybe not...

Maybe you've seen the webads for FreeiPods.com and their deal for getting a free iPod or a $250 iTunes store credit. Engadget thought that the deal was maybe to good to be true and did a little sleuthing:

The company rep we spoke to insisted that this thing was for real and that they had already given away about 400 iPods to people. To get it to work you actually have to sign up for one of their sponsors’ offers (like the Columbia House DVD club, the GM credit card, AOL for Broadband, etc.) and also get five other people to also take them up on one of their offers.

Even if you've got 5 friends lined up, do read the comments on the Engadget post first. A least a few people there were burned.

HPod Back on Track

Remember when HP said that it was going to sell an HP-branded iPod? According to iPodlounge, it's actually going to happen. The HP iPod will reportedly appear sometime this summer and will compete head-to-head with the Apple original. [Via DAP Review]

iPod Your G35

This is what happens when web designers mod their iPod into their car: G35iPod. Actually the site documents (very prettily as you can see) two mods, the original FM transmitter mod and then a later hardwire.

If you're interested in hacking your MP3 player, iPodlounge has a whole forum devoted to MP3 players in the car. It's an excellent starting point, even if you're aren't using an iPod. [Via Engadget]

The DRM Wars, Part XXVIII

CNet has an article on what's happening with copy-protected CDs and the balance of power between the digital rights management (DRM) technologies of Apple and Microsoft. Even though Microsoft has lots of support for its WMA technology, the market-leading iPod keeps it from being a one-horse race. [Via Gizmodo]

Two big players in the CD copy-protection business were relying on Microsoft's Windows Media Audio format to placate consumers and create songs that could be copied in a limited way. That gave Microsoft a potentially profitable inroad into the music industry. Until, that is, Apple's iPod became a phenomenon. The iPod doesn't do WMA--thus, neither will many consumers.

neoSOL Lineup: 1 Device, 4 Ways

The guys at DAP Review stumbled upon another no-name portable video play maker, neoSOL. Whether these devices actually exist or will ever appear for sale in the US is anyone's guess, but they have an interesting strategy.

neoSOL seems to be covering all the bases in terms of product design. The four devices listed on their website are basically the same under the hood, but each has slightly different form factor. Also the neoSOL players have pretty interesting specs: each only has a 2.5GB capacity, but a 2.2" OLED color screen, can record broadcast TV, plays and records MP3 and WMA audio and plays and records AVI, DivX, XVid and WMV video. That's a nice feature set but don't hold your breath for them to appear on the market.

One Way to WiFi the iPod

Simeda has released Pocketster Pro, an upgrade to their Pocketster product, that (in a sense at least) brings WiFi to the iPod. Pocketster started life as a way to transfer files between Pocket PC devices, but Pocketster Pro brings the iPod into the fold as well. The solution is unwieldly to be sure. You still need a Pocket PC to connect to the iPod, but you can share playlists and transfer or stream songs wirelessly. [Via Engadget]

More bits at Slashdot.

Great Today-Only iPod Deals at Target

Today is the last day to get a 15GB, 20GB or 40GB iPod at prices that handily beat this week's price guide. Target has a 15% coupon (enter the coupon code TCSAVEJULY55 at checkout) and free shipping. Not too shabby.

• Apple 15GB iPod: $300 - 15% = $255
• Apple 20GB iPod: $400 - 15% = $340
• Apple 40GB iPod: $500 - 15% = $425

Creative PMC Panned

Extreme Tech roundly pans the upcoming Creative Zen PMC portable video player, but lays most of the blame at the feet of Microsoft, who made the Portable Media Center software that underpins the Zen PMC. The article is even entitled "Another Dumb Idea from Microsoft". Ouch:

The PMC tries to be good, but it's so full of compromises it winds up being worse than Bill Gates doing the white-boy rap with Eminem.

The Sharp HR-GB201H

DAP Review has dug up a bit of information on the Sharp HR-GB201H. It was first announced several months ago, appears for sale in Europe, but is never in stock. DAP Review thinks it will debut in mid-September though. The HR-GB201H has an incredibly unwieldy name and a stylish looking package. With a 20GB capacity, it measures in at 4.13"x2.5"x0.75" and weighs 5.28oz. Compare this with the iPod at 4.1"x2.4"x0.62" and 5.6oz. It doesn't play OGG format music, but it does have the now-standard digital recording functionality and a docking station.

X-Clef HD800 Review and a Look Under the Hood

Austin (of DAP Review) never keeps his hands idle for long. He attacked a new X-Clef HD800 and posted a nice set of under-the-hood photos. To go along with a look its insides, A True Review has written their own photo-filled review:

To say the least, the HD-800 is a grand improvement over the HD-500. While the features and navigation have not changed (and there is no reason to), everything else has been improved. With a new look overall smaller size, revamped control layout, support for OGG Vorbis, and an LCD remote; Xclef has created a real contender in the field of hard drive based digital audio players. While there are a few minor issues, overall the HD-800 is a great player.

PQI mPack Portable Video Player

Portable Media World has discovered yet another portable video player (that seems to strongly resemble the iRiver PMP-140), the PQI mPack. The mPack will come with either a 20GB, 40GB or spacious 80GB capacity and the now-standard 3.5" color LCD.

It also looks to have excellent audio and video format support, including MP3, OGG and AAC (certainly not protected iTunes AAC, no doubt) audio and MPEG1/2, MPEG-4(DivX3, 4, 5), Xvid, WMV and MJPEG video. It can even record WMA audio or WMV format video.

The icing on the cake is a CompactFlash slot, meaning you can offload photos from a digital camera CF card onto the larger mPack drive.

iRiver PMP Photos

DAP Review has mirrored a large set of photos of the iRiver PMP-140 from a slow-loading Chinese site. The upcoming PMP line, with both 20GB and 40GB flavors, are one of iRiver's two attempts at portable video player. The other branch, the PMCs, are based on Microsoft's Portable Media Center technology while the PMPs are based on Linux.

A Pair of Sony HMP-A1 Reviews

A pair of reviews on the new Sony portable video player, the HMP-A1, have recently hit the web. The HMP-A1 is one of several new devices from Sony, this one is a 20GB PVP with a 3.5" color LCD. The first review comes from Portable Media World. The review is in French, but they have lots of photos, a video and do include an English translation:

The first moments with the HMP were nice. The design is superb. The materials used give a "luxury" touch to the device, without making too big a hole in your wallet (430 Euros; available from June 26).
The interface is driven by buttons that are really responsive.
The screen is a beaut, with terrific brightness. Watching videos and movies on this device is pure pleasure.

Next up is the review from Gizmodo, who also seemed positive on the device:

So my advice? Wait for one of the new iRiver or Archos players -- or maybe that new DVX-Pod; that looks sort of hot -- instead of paying the importer's premium for a device that isn't much of a video player, isn't much of an MP3 player (and I didn't even try, but I can just tell from the size and interface it's probably not what you want), and doesn't have much hope for firmware upgrades or the like from Sony in the future. It is cool, though, and that's something. I'm starting to warm up to the idea of a video player on my portable hard drive player now just a teensy bit more. It's not that I want one, exactly, so much as I wouldn't mind one.

New iPods in August?

It all started with murmurings reported at Think Secret. The usual "reliable sources" said a new batch of iPods was going to be announced in the first 3 weeks of August. This 4th generation of iPod would be markedly smaller than previous models, offer larger capacities (most likely including a 60GB choice) and come in a number of colors, a first for the full-size iPod. Furthermore, the new form factor will be the new "standard" iPod size along with the iPod Mini form factor. Also, Gizmodo has chimed in with possible looks for the new iPod and confirmed that electronics buying managers were hearing of an early August launch.

Weekly Price Guide Take 2

OK at bit of sloppy cut-and-pasting munged the previous price guide. This one should be correct.

Warning: iRiver Forums NSFW

For quite some time the iRiver user forums have been filled with people complaining about iRiver not delivering new firmware in the time promised, but things have taken a turn for the wose. Dozens of forum threads immediately redirect you to other websites that are, at best, annoying or, at worst, well you don't want to know about at worst. As far as we can tell, someone is posting comments that contain HTML that immediately "refreshes" your browser to another page.

BTW, thanks to the readers who noticed the price guide is completely out of whack. We're redoing it now and will post a new, improved version.

Weekly Price Guide

The Weekly Price Guide welcomes, by popular demand, the iAUDIO M3 to the charts.

Up From the Down Time

We apologize for the down time, but our hosting facility is in the process of a big hardware move. We think that we're back up for good, but, you know, YMMV.

Open-Source Firmware for the X-Clef HD500 and More

One of the team members just let us know about the Open Jukebox Project. Open Jukebox an open-source, alternative firmware for the X-Clef HD500. They've just released a major upgrade which now supports OGG and ASF music formats.

Even if the alternative firmware isn't for you, if you own a HD500, check out their forums. Also don't miss the articles on building an external battery pack and opening the HD500 case.

No-Name Device Roundup

The web-scouring DAP Review gang have discovered a bunch of MP3 players from a number of vendors and OEMs with names that you've probably never heard before. This is our attempt at a brief roundup of some of those devices.

First up is the Kinzo 9088 with a 2.2GB capacity. It measures 3.5"x2.2"x.63" and comes in three colors. Like pretty much every new device out there, it has an FM radio and digital recording to MP3. Unlike too many others, it has four games you can play, including Tetris.

Next up is the TGE MP3-H04, a compact 1.5GB device. Even though it has less space than the Kinzo, it's noticably larger at 3.94"x2.4"x0.87". However, it does have USB Host (also known as USB On the Go) capabilities, a really big plus. FM radio: check. Digital recording: check.

Third we have a trio from GoDot, the 8370, 8470 and 8570. GoDot must spend a fortune on product naming.

The 8370 is a blatant copy of the iPod Mini design and comes with a 1" harddrive. GoDot doesn't specify the actual capacity, though. FM radio: nope. Digital recording: yup. It does play OGG format music though.

Apparently GoDot's legal department is more creative than their naming department. The 8470 is an 8370 in a black case that looks nothing like an iPod Mini.

Last and certainly not least from GoDot is the 8570, which contains a 1.8" drive of unspecified capacity. This one is definitely the most interesting of the GoDot trio and has several features rarely found in one device. Specifically it has a 2.8" color LCD, supports USB Host, plays OGG music, displays JPEGs AND has a slot for either CompactFlash or MMC/SD flash memory cards. This one, folks, could be a winner.

Next are duo from Besteam, the Nazca 1000 and Nazca 1800. The 1000 is a compact 1.5GB player while the 1800 has a 20GB capacity. Both have the standard features: USB 2.0, FM radio and digital recording. However the Nazca 1800 does also have USB Host capability.

Bringing up the tail-end of our roundup is the iBead 1000, another 1.5GB device. Notably the iBead 1000 has a 64k color LCD color in addition to the usual FM radio and digital recording.

Piles of Pics of the iRiver H320

A handful of iRiver H300s are starting to escape into the wild (in Asia at least) and the photos are starting to hit the web. DAP Review found a couple of reviews with tons on photos. First is a Chinese review at imp3.net (machine translation). Second is a Korean iRiver forum user review (machine translation).

Also, we found someone brave enough to tear the cover off and peek at what's under the hood. EasyDigi (machine translation) hacked up their H320 and got photos of the circuit boards and highlighted the chips that power the device.

Creative Zen and Samsung PMCs Available for Pre-Order at Amazon

Amazon has just launched a portable video player section and put two upcoming PVPs up for pre-order, the Creative Zen PMC and the Samsung Yepp YH-999 PMC. These two guys have a lot in common. They both have a 20GB capacity, both cost about $500, but most importantly they are based on Microsoft's Portable Media Center (PMC) technology. Portable Media World has a few new photos of each.

Also, Major League Baseball has gotten into the PMC act as well. They've also teamed up with Microsoft to deliver content to the new devices. We would presume that this content will not be compatible with non-PMC devices, meaning if you want the baseball, you have to get a PMC:

-- Full game downloads. Full game replays of Major League Baseball games.
-- Condensed games. All the action, in a fraction of the time! Complete game replays, minus the pitching changes, between-inning breaks or long at-bats. All the action of an MLB game in about 20 minutes.
-- Extended game highlights. Fans can check out an extended, hosted highlights package from any MLB game in a daily highlight reel.
-- Weekly bloopers and homerun reels. A specially produced weekly wrap-up of the best homeruns and bloopers from around Major League Baseball.
-- The Leadoff Show. A hosted preview showcasing the best upcoming MLB player and team matchups.
-- Classic footage. Fans can relive baseball's greatest moments with full video and audio game rebroadcasts from classic MLB games.

Sounds a lot like over-the-Internet-TiVo-for-the-baseball-junkie-in-portable-form-factor. It'll be interesting to see how well MLB can deliver as it will likely affect how other content producers (even beyond sports) will react to and engage with PVPs.

Archos AV 400 PVP Reviews

A number of appearances of the new Archos AV400 portable video player have recently come out, so we'd like to make mention of them. The AV400 is a 20GB A/V player with a 3.5" or 3.8" color LCD that can playback MP3 music and MPEG4, AVI, DivX and XviD video. Weighing in at 9.9, the AV400 measures 4.9"x3.1"x0.8". The Tom's Hardware gang is up first:

Convergence has been on the lips of OEMs for years, but Archos' AV 400 lends credence to the concept. Here is a nine-ounce handheld device that offers more-than-just respectable digital recording and playback, TV capabilities, music-file playback and more.

CNet liked it too:

We've been waiting for the Archos AV420 with bated breath, and after playing around with it, we can safely say that portable TiVo has officially arrived.

Don't miss the video brief either.

Finally a French Archos forum site has a bunch more AV400 photos.

Dragon PV-330 PVP

The Register has a brief writeup on the new Dragon PV-330 portable video player. The PV-330 has a 20GB capacity and many of the standard features for a non-Windows Media Center device: 3.5" color LCD, plays MPEG 4 and Real video, MP3 music and displays JPEG photos. Also it has USB 2.0 connectivity and acts as a portable harddrive (USB Mass Storage Device).[Via i4u]