Gizmodo: digital audio players

Musinaut Music Player DJs Music According to Your Brainwaves

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 10:50:00 EDT

French company Musinaut wants to make the music you listen to change according to your mood. To achieve this, they have invented a special player capable of reading your brain waves, interpreting them, and then mixing the music to match your state of mind. So if I was using one right now, I would be listening to a funk version of Abba's Dancing Queen.

Sadly, the key for this feat is a new format called MXP4, which may limit its adoption in the music industry. MXP4 has several mixes of the same song built in, recorded by the artist. When the player detects a mood variation, the music changes accordingly to fit it. According to the company, this makes the song some kind of living creature, with endless variations to match your mind.

I would have been happy with the same technology applied to current players, mixing existing songs automatically as the mood changes—although often I use music to change mood, rather than match it. What about you? Do you think this automatic DJ playing is useful? [Musinaut]

Olive Media Adds Some Spice to the OPUS Nº5 Digital Music Player

hook — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 11:20:29 EST

Olive Media teamed up with designer Karim Rashid (the guy with the glasses who's in those Dirt Devil commercials) to release a series of OPUS Nº5 music players with four different psychedelic graphic designs. According to Rashid, the inspiration for his designs came from music itself (we're guessing music from the '70s), "Omni-directional like sound, the patterns emphasize the 'voluminous' beats that radiate from music." The specs on the Karim Rashid flavors of the OPUS Nº5 remain the same, and include up to a 750GB hard drive, a CD player/burner and audio streaming capabilities. If you want the digital audio player in your living room so you can get down tonight, be prepared to hand over $2999. [Olive Media]

Archos 104 Gains Weight, To Hit 4GB and 8GB

Gizloco — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 08:31:04 EST

Just last March Archos bestowed upon this DAP-loving world of ours the 104, a 1GB flash-based player complete with OLED display. Now it looks as if Archos is upping the storage capacity a little bit to 4GB; rumors suggest we might even see an 8GB version in stores. Some careful Amazon browsing spotted this, so thumbs up to people who have so much time on their hands that they can cruise online stores for potentially non-existent products.

Thanks, but a certain other flash-based DAP comes out tomorrow that might just steal the show (and capture the flash-based market). – Nicholas Deleon

Archos 104 in 6 GB and (soon) 8 GB flavors [dapreview.net]

Creative Xmod Promises to Make Your Crappy MP3s Sound Better With X-Fi Technology

Gizloco — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 13:08:27 EDT

Creative claims that its latest invention is able to improve the sound quality of everyday music sources—like the iPod, Zen or just a stack of MP3s residing in your computer—to "beyond the original CD quality." It uses Creative's X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity technology to enhance the sound. Basically, you place the Xmod, which is the size of a "candy bar," in between your speakers and digital audio source and let it work its voodoo. It draws power from your computer, so if you're hooking it up to a portable audio player, you'll need to make use of the AC adapter, which is sold separately, natch.

The Xmod will hit stores this month and will retail for $79.99. For some reason, the phrase "wait and see" comes to mind. – Nicholas Deleon

Product Page [Creative via CrunchGear]

Philips SA4000 Digital Audio Player Has 512MB of Memory, Not Much Else

Gizloco — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 16:06:36 EDT

Philips must be trying to redefine the term "entry-level" with is SA4000 digital audio player, which sports a massive amount of built-in storage—512MB— and a seven-color backlit screen. Something called a AAA battery supplies the DAP with power and it's rated to last for 10 hours. Thank God it PlaysforSure. No price listed, though. For shame.

You know what, this player is even bested by digital audio players released years ago, like the Creative Zen Nano, released in 2005: same storage capacity, but with Audible compatibility and an even better battery life (18 hours).

The Philips SA400, say hello to 2004 for us, will you? – Nicholas Deleon

Product Page [Philips via dapreview.net]

Thomson Quietly Releases PMP2008 in China

Gizloco — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 13:44:28 EDT

Chinese digital music fans now have yet another high quality digital audio player to choose from, the Thomson/RCA PMP2008. Judging this book by its cover, the DAP actually looks pretty decent, what with it's post-modern blue lights and metally (yes, a fake word) aesthetic. Under that shiny hood is 1GB of flash storage, almost enough to store all the music you can grab from Usenet in just under five minutes. The 2-inch color screen looks nice, but the USB 1.1 connection is outrageously outdated.

So, it looks nice and is only available in China. It does, however, have a great name. I wish people called me Pimp 2008. – Nicholas Deleon

PMP2008 (in Chinese) [PConline.com.cn via dapreview.net]

Corgi iCar Speakers For Digital Audio Players

Gizloco — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 09:41:37 EDT

Respected replica car maker Corgi has come out with the iCar, a tricked out set of speakers that's compatible with digital music players. What puts the "car" in "iCar" is the 1:24 scale model car. In addition to the sporty-looking car above, there's also an Escalade version, so you can pretend to be Jay-Z all over again. Once plugged in, the model jumps and tilts just like all those urban assault vehicles on the road. What's more, you don't really even have to plug in a digital music player: the iCar comes with is own set of tunes that it'll play in lieu of real music. There's enough lights and annoying sound effects to drive any man daffy.

The iCar is available now for and can be found for around $30 online. Corgi's Web site has a video of the iCar in action, so get to it. – Nicholas Deleon

Product Page [Corgi USA via Pocket-lint.co.uk]

ThirdWave 8030 MP3 Player, Not Garbage Can

Gizloco — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 09:29:10 EDT

Here's another wacky MP3 player from Japan, the ThirdWave 8030. Apparently only compatible with MP3 files (since this is 1999 and all), the first thing you'll notice is its shape: it looks like Oscar the Grouch should be living inside it. Rest assured, however, that its shape has no ill effects on the quality of sound coming from the little guy. There's two, 2-channel speakers, each with a 3-watt power rating, and a 6-watt subwoofer. Crazy big sound? No, but then again, it's a garbage can for Pete's sake.

The 8030 accepts many of the different memory card formats floating around the market and a line-in jack lets you plug in an external audio source. And good news for all the doped-out kids out there in radio land: Third Wave has included the ever-popular shuffle mode for when playing music off a memory card. 'Cause kids are so random.

The 8030 measures about 4x7-inches and can be found in Japan for around $45. – Nicholas Deleon

Third wave cylindrical 2.1ch MP3 Player 8030 [Fareastgizmos.com]

ThirdWave Home Page (in Japanese) [ThirdWave]

Panasonic D-Snap: Noise-Canceling Digital Audio Player

Charlie White — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 10:11:59 EDT

Panasonic announced D-Snap, a noise-canceling digital audio player that lets you listen to high-quality sound without having to overcome ambient noise levels with high volume. Music is stored on a removable SD card rather than a hard disc or internal flash memory, probably a good decision given the plummeting prices of SD memory.

Panasonic plans a variety of accessories to go along with the D-Snap, which is shown conveniently docking into the company's upcoming D-Dock SD stereo system. Available in two models, the SD800N will be available in purple or gray, and the SD400V comes in pink, aqua, white, and yellow. The SD800N is set to ship in Japan on September 9, with no word on US availability yet. – Charlie White

Product Page [Panasonic, via Sci Fi Tech]

Trekstor Vibez Digital Audio Player Looks Odd, Might Actually Be Good

Gizloco — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 14:15:44 EDT

Trekstor, the same company that brought us that Depeche Mode digital audio player, is coming out with yet another odd DAP, the Vibez. Available in an 8GB and 15GB version, the Vibez, aside from looking rather odd, is trying to make a name for itself with its support for FLAC and Ogg Vorbis. Throw in the usual MP3 and WMA support (is DRM even worth mentioning anymore?), and the Vibez is shaping up to be a pretty decent digital audio player.

There's a few other bonuses under the Vibez's hood, including JPEG picture viewing, FM tuner (perhaps...) and a wired controller. Expect the Vibez to makes it European debut this November for around $254 for the 8GB and $292 for the 15GB. U.S. dates and prices are still missing in action. – Nicholas Deleon

http://www.dapreview.net/news.php?item.3565.5 [dapreview.net]