Thanko Microsports MP3 player

Ah, the wonders of miniaturization! Thanko has shrunk the MP3 player into something as small as 16mm x 25mm x 22mm, tipping the scales at a barely recognizable 8 grams, which is useful, too, since you will need to wear this in your ear so any extra weight is not welcome. An extremely thin cable will allow you to enjoy stereo tunes while you're working, and folks with long hair will be able to better appreciate this as they have their mane to cover up the black colored Thanko Microsports MP3 player from the sight of others. The 2GB and 4GB models will go for approximately $55 and $76, respectively.

[via ubergizmo]

PLAYERS > Maxfield debuts Mcody M20–like MP3 player

German digital music player maker Maxfield has begun touting its Max-Sin Touch MP3 player ahead of the device's debut at the IFA show in Berlin next month. The snag: it's the same device the UK reseller Advanced MP3 Players unveiled earlier this month as the Mcody M20.

Yes, Max-Sin is the same all-black gadget reminiscent first of 2001: A Space Odyssey's monolith and then, on closer inspection, of LG's Chocolate phone.

As we said of the M20, the Max-Sin weighs a mere 31g and is just 7.5mm thick, a whole half a millimetre thicker than the Nano, but who's counting when the player squeezes in an FM radio, voice and line-in recording, SRS WoW and TruBass sound enhancement and, for the Linux boys, Ogg audio support.

The M20/Max-SIn also plays MP3, WMA and WAV files. There's no video or photo support: the M20's 128 x 64 white-on-black OLED screen's not really up to that. It will be available with 1GB of Flash storage.

PLAYERS > Sandisk unveils 8GB Flash MP3 player

Sandisk will today introduce an 8GB Flash-based digital music player, launching the device ahead of the anticipated roll-out of an 8GB iPod Nano from Apple. Sandisk will also slash its prices, it has been claimed.

The 8GB Sansa e280 will retail in the US for around $250 - the same price as the 4GB Nano. Sandisk currently offers a 6GB player, the e270, for $280, suggesting that machine will come down in price when the e280 ships.

Sandisk's 4GB player, the e260, is already $20 cheaper than the same-sized Nano. Yet it hasn't dented Apple's US market share. For the first six months of 2006, Apple took 76.6 per cent of the US retail MP3 player market, compared to number two placed Sandisk's 8.9 per cent.

Rumours that Apple is preparing to launch - possibly in the current quarter - higher capacity Nanos have been flying since February.

The 2GB e250 now retails for $140, the e260 for $180 and the e270 for $220.

Like the existing e250, the e280 will incorporate a memory card slot to boost its storage capacity further, and we're hearing whispers that the company is planning to launch a device designed to make it easier to get non-music content onto its players via memory card. Since Sandisk's real business is selling memory cards, this makes sense, and it could do a lot worse than offer a product like Neuros Audio's MPEG 4 Recorder.

PLAYERS > Samsung sleek speaker-sporting MP3 player spotted

Samsung has revealed it will demo a digital music player equipped with a built-in speaker at next month's IFA show in Berlin. Or will it? Google has revealed some tantalising glimpses of the player missing from the page the online advertising broker's search engine links through to.

The YP-K5 is fitted with up to 4GB of Flash memory and plays the usual array of audio formats, along with Linux-friendly Ogg files. There's an FM radio on board too, and the player features Samsung's 3D audio Digital Natural Sound engine (DNSe) for "full basses and a full sound".

The player's controlled by touchpad and incorporates a battery capable of powering music playback for up to 25 hours. The speaker hinges off the back the player.

eMusic intros UK MP3 download service

US digital music supplier eMusic has launched its MP3 DRM-free download subscription service in the UK, and its attempting to tempt would-be buyers with a free two-week trial and 25 free downloads.

Over here, eMusic currently has some 1m tracks on offer, most of them from independent music labels. Songs are not available as one-off downloads: subscribers can download any number of tracks up to the limit specified by their monthly plan.

A £9 a month subscription buys up to 40 downloads in a given 30-day period, rising to 65 and 90 songs if you're willing to spend £12 and £15, respectively. If you don't use all your allotted downloads, any left over are not added to the following month's total.

However, unlike subscription services from Napster, Virgin Digital and the like, if you cancel your subscription, you can still continue to listen to the songs you've downloaded. Any they'll play on almost any device, from iPods to lesser known players. Tracks are transferred using eMusic's own Download Manager app, which runs on Windows PCs and Macs.

The trial period runs for two weeks and encompasses up to 25 downloads, but you still have to register a valid credit card with the company.

DEPECHE MODE ** MP3 Player - Depeche Mode Edition (Modell : I-Vision by Trekstor) 2 GB

The first Depeche Mode branded MP3 Player is now available from European company TrekStor. The new i.Beat vision Depeche Mode MP3 player even comes to you pre-loaded with the video for "Suffer Well".

The player is available in black, with a white "Mr. Feathers" overprint, and a storage capacity of 256MB, 512MB, 1GB or 2GB. It comes with high quality Sennheiser headphones, Depeche Mode branded neckstrap, a USB 2.0 cable, line-in cable, and other items.

The player supports conventional MP3, WMA and OGG files, and also WMA9 DRM (Digital Rights Management) format. It can also play back videos, display JPEG photos, receive FM radio and be used as a dictation machine, using the voice-recorder function. The USB host function allows connection of other devices, e.g. digital camera for copying, storage and playback of digital photos or high speed exchange of data files with a PC. The line-in jack allows direct MP3 recordings from an external sources.

You can learn much more about the player by going to the German DM Shop. As the page is from a German web site, we advise you to use a site like Google's Language Tools page to translate the text in the "Country" pulldown (unless you could already figure out that "vereinigte staaten von amerika" was "United States Of America", et cetera). You can order globally from the site.

World's Most Expensive Mp3 Player

An anonymous reader writes "TrekStor, a German manufacturer of MP3 players has developed the world's most expensive MP3 player. This unique custom-made portable player is based on TrekStor's i.Beat organix mp3 player, and has one GB of memory, 25 hour battery life, supports MP3, WMA, WAV, ASF, OGG audio files, and is cast in 18 carat gold with 63 diamonds (one carat)."

Sony's iPod Assault Is No Threat To Apple

PLAYERS > New Sony CE-P Series

THEMP3PLAYERS.COM: Finally, Sony decided to make MP3 player with color display! Sony China has introduced the new CE-P series that features an 1.5″ 260K color OLED display. The new MP3 player is also the first model that design by Sony China Creative Center based in Shanghai. Other features include MP3/WMA playback, build-in FM tuner, FM recording, voice recording, BMP/JPEG display and so on.

There are 3 models in new CE-P series, which are:
CE-P17: 1GB, black and gold color, RMB1199 (approx US$150)

• CE-P15: 512MB, black, silver and red color, RMB999 (approx US$125)
• CE-P13: 256MB, black, silver and red color, RMB799 (approx US$100)

Why Sony Should've Put Its Weight Behind Hi-MD

OSNEWS.COM: Currently, .mp3 players are all the hype. Everyone has one, and if you don't, you're old-fashioned. I do not have an .mp3 player. I tried to have one, but for various reasons it did not please me. I'm a MiniDisc guy. I've always been. MiniDisc has some serious advantages over .mp3 players, whether they be flash or HDD based.