If anyone is going to make a decent waterproof MP3 player this time around, it would have to be someone like the tight bathing suit-producing Speedo brand. The Speedo Aquabeat — made by Iriver — contains 1GB of storage, plays for nine hours on one charge, come in three coors, and weighs just 35 grams. So what’s so Speedo about them? These players (and earphones) are good for up to 3 meters below the surface and they float — so you can just leave the things floating about while you go mix another margarita. Retail price is $145, available now from your local Speedo dealer or high school coach — just listen for the whistle.
It has been quite a while since Creative has released anything substantial since the Zen, but here it is and what looks like their new flag ship. Details of the player have been confirmed via software found on the net (via). What is cool is included in the software is a user manual showing off all the new features and this Zen is pretty feature packed.
On the wireless side the X-Fi will be Wi-Fi 802.11 B/G allowing you to stream media from your computer and chat with friends over Gtalk, MSN Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger. From reading the manual it doesn’t look like there is any wireless sync. Update: GenMP3 does mention that you can transfer content over Wi-Fi, perhaps something I missed going over the manual at 1 AM.
Apple is preparing significant changes to the iPod nano as it prepares a dramatic ramp-up in iPhone 3G shipments, according to a report by FBR Research analyst Craig Berger. The investment expert now anticipates an updated, lower-priced iPod nano in the near future on top of refreshes for both the iPod classic and iPod touch. Further details are unavailble, though Apple has traditionally increased capacities of the iPod in August or September as flash memory and hard drive technology improves; the company took the unusual step this year of doubling iPod touch capacity to 32GB just a few months after the product was introduced.
Apple is also now said to be increasing its iPod production to match and is estimated to be building 15 percent more of the media players than it did with Berger’s previous check, although he adds that the shift is now more towards the iPod nano and classic rather than the iPod touch, which has regularly been Apple’s second-strongest iPod in terms of online Apple Store sales since its debut. The move is reported to push Apple’s profit margins down for the sake of maintaining or growing iPod sales share.
Podcasts are available in ridiculous quantities around the net ranging from tech news to transsexual talk shows and everything in between. Podcast downloaders have been around for a while in software form like iTunes and Juice, but the first one requires actually using iTunes and the second failed rather epically when I tried it as it didn’t even detect any MP3 files in the RSS feed I gave it. Software downloaders of course also reuires the computer to be on and the player to be connected and it’s not really that automatic if you still need to fulfill those criteria.
The CastGrabber is the first standalone podcast downloader for pretty much any MP3 player on the market and it might just make it that much simpler to get updated podcasts automatically. Its basically a box where you plug in an Ethernet cable and the USB cable of your MP3 player and it will do it’s thing without further hassle after the initial setup along with charging the player. It’s all very easy and according to the website you manage everything online with no complicated processes whatsoever. It all sounds well and good, but there is very crucial (for many, including me) feature missing - WiFi. Since you can only connect with an Ethernet cable, that means that it simply won’t work unless you place it directly beside your router. I’d imagine a lot of people would use this at work, on the nightstand or similar places and that’s not exactly the most common place to put a router. Either way, nice piece of hardware that might just be worth the $120.
These cool STACK iPod speakers have just seen a launch from MonoDO in Japan.
Available in "Scandinavian Birch" and "American Walnut" they are designed for the iPod classic and nano.
Offering 2 x 1 watt output they can be powered by AC or hook-up to your PC via USB and offer iPod syncing too.
With prices from around £45, sadly there’s no news on a UK launch.
