Obviously, Apple was the last to the party with a color screen, but now that they’ve emphasized photos over video, you can bet everyone else will, too. Case in point: Gateway’s new MP3 Photo Jukebox, a smart-looking 4GB hard disk-based player (no 5GB?) with a 1.6-inch color display. The highlight features look very nice: MP3, WMV, and AAC playback, including support for Microsoft’s PlayForSure DRM and the “Janus” DRM that will let you copy downloaded songs from all-you-can-eat monthly subscription services like Napster and Rhapsody to the player (I’m very curious to see how customers respond to that). And of course, all the photo stuff, too, including USB Host functionality, so most newer cameras can be connected directly to the device and dump their images to its hard drive.
On the down side, the screen resolution is sort of awful (just 128 by 128 pixels), and the battery life is only 8 hours, among the worst for players of this capacity. It’s an interesting option, for sure, priced at $250. Should be available in November, they say.
Gateway to tap out photo, MP3 player beat [CNet]
Product Page [Gateway]
