MP3 Players & Accessories

Amazon MP3 store now available in the UK

Amazon has finally launched their UK MP3 store. If you don’t want to be hooked into iTunes DRM you now have a viable option. Single tracks range in price from 59p to 80p, and albums start from £3.00 up to £10. You can download songs direct from the site, or you can install a program which allows you to download more than one song at time and download entire albums. The Amazon MP3 store is DRM free so once you have bought a track you can have it on any device you wish, they are compatible with iTunes so this maybe a good route for iPod and iPhone users too. Don’t expect a selection as big as iTunes yet but it will come with time. Take a look here.

OrbLive now in the App Store

OrbLive 2.0 will change the way you enjoy your media.OrbLive gives you immediate, anytime access to ALL your media. No sync-ing or uploading favorites. In fact, you can forget about your iTunes library. OrbLive uses the network to beam media from your home PC. Orb has optimized the transmission so it’s great over 3G, WIFI, or Edge.Imagine all your music, videos, photos – even live TV if you have a tuner card – in the palm of your hand. Turn your iPhone or iPod touch into an on-demand media center. Get OrbLive today for £5.99 in the App Store. Or try OrbLive Free on your iPhone or iPod touch before you buy, all you need for live TV is the tuner card – no other boxes or services to buy. This is how media was meant to be enjoyed.

via Press Release

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1i Review

The Xperia X1 is a new phone from Sony Ericsson powered by Windows Mobile 6.1. It has amazing build quality and is smaller than I expected from seeing the press shots and other reviews. For me this device is for keeps and I am very happy for it to replace my HTC Touch Diamond and keep me away from iPhone 2G.

Full review after the break.

Review Slingbox Pro HD

If you are interested in the Slingbox line of products or just want to find out what they are all about, you must check out Dave at Mobility Today’s review of the latest Slingbox Pro HD. The Slingbox PRO-HD is the first ever HD-streaming Slingbox. With the Slingbox PRO-HD, you can watch and control multiple devices – including your standard- or high-definition DVR, digital cable, satellite receiver, or DVD player – from anywhere in the world on your computer or mobile phone. Dave has done a fantastic high definition video showing you the unboxing right through to streaming 1080i video. Check out the video at Mobility Today.

ARCHOS 5 Official Guided Tour

If you are having trouble understanding the attraction of the Archos 5. Here it is laid out in simple terms with a nice walk-through of the features. They manage to squeeze in an iPhone along the way. whilst I admit the email client is pretty unnecessary I’m impressed its there. Check the video out after the break.

Archos 5 unboxing at Engadget

Engadget have taken the time to record their unboxing experience with a series of interesting pictures. The device is complex for a media player and therefore it is hard to capture a lot of the features.

Archos 5 reviews appearing

A gadget close to my heart and hopefully in my Christmas stocking is the Archos 5. Archosfans.com has found some fairly thorough reviews of the device and I’m alarmed that the general consensus is middling. A number of the problems outlined can be worked on with future firmware and Archos have always been good at getting these out.

SanDisk announces Sansa Express MP3 player

SanDisk announce an affordable, cable-less, flash-based MP3 player: the 1-gigabyte (GB) 1 Sansa Express. Designed for the value-conscious consumer, the compact Sansa Express stands out amongst the competition as an affordably priced device with many high-end features, including a microSD™ expansion slot, FM tuner, recording capabilities, data storage and a direct connection to a consumer’s computer – no USB cable required.

Sansa Express specification:

The Sansa Express can hold up to 3GB of music—or 750 songs4 —by utilizing a 2GB microSD card in the player’s memory expansion slot. This card feature also enables secure transferring of music to other devices equipped with microSD card slots such as mobile phones and PDAs.

About the size of a pack of gum, the dimensions of the Sansa Express MP3 player are .99 inches wide x 3.09 inches long x .64 inches high.

Available in March 2007 in the U.S. and Europe, the Sansa Express will be priced at $59.995 (MSRP).

Matt

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SanDisk add FM radio to Sansa e200 series

Following on from the successful launch earlier this year, SanDisk announce that the Sansa is now shipping in Europe with the option of an FM tuner.

Here is an excerpt from the press release:

SanDisk® Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) today announced that the award winning Sansa™ e200 and c200 MP3 player series would both be offered with FM functionality to consumers in European Community member countries starting in December.

Launched earlier this year, the European models in both the Sansa e200 and c200 series did not contain an FM Tuner due to increased costs caused by tax requirements. However, following significant demand from the consumer, SanDisk has taken the decision to offer both FM enabled and FM disabled devices to the consumer with a marginal price differentiation.

Both the flagship Sansa e200 series and the corresponding Sansa c200 series with added FM functionality will be available in stores. The feature-packed players all include a flash memory card expansion slot, allowing users to add up to 500 additional songs through a 2GB 1 microSD™ card; extensive battery life with removable and rechargeable batteries 2 ; photo-viewing; voice recording with built-in microphone, and non-proprietary digital rights management (DRM) to allow users to purchase songs from numerous digital music sources.

In addition, the e200 series offers a rugged, scratch resistant alloy metal back casing for added durability, as well as photo and video capability facilitated through the Sansa Media Converter for the optimum user viewing experience.

The FM enabled device will ship beginning in December.

Matt

[Technorati tag(s): MP3 Player, SanDisk, Sansa e200, media player, SanDisk Sansa e270]