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When is a digital photo frame not a digital photo frame? When it’s a printer and MP3 player as well, that’s when. Keian’s Japan P71-ʌ-JP is a rather chunky looking device with a 7″ 480×234 resolution screen for showing off your snaps. If you see one you like you can print it out right away at up to 300dpi on 6×4″ paper. There’s a multi-card reader that’ll take memory sticks and SDHC cards up to 32GB and a USB port on board for connecting sticks full of pics. You’ll also find that it can play back MP3 files to keep you entertained while you’re browsing and printing. It’s a pretty good all-in-one then, but unfortunately Keian hasn’t released any details on pricing or availability as yet so you could be stung for a pretty penny. - Paul Lester [GearLog] photo frame photo printer MP3

Original post by nafiz

Sandisk has always been pretty good at offering a combination of large capacities and value for money to the consumer, and its popular matchbox-sized Clip player has just received an 8GB upgrade. The music-only player supports MP3, WMA, WAV and Audible formats, has a built-in FM radio and can play back content from subscriptions services like Rhapsody, Napster and eMusic. There’s also a microphone so it can act as a voice recorder and all of this in something that weighs just 25g. You′ll get 15 hours of playback from the battery and though it’s not nearly as sleek and stylish as the Nano, there are some big savings to be made if this sort of thing isn’t a priority. The 8GB version has an MSRP of just £44.09, which makes it less than half the price of Apple’s player, making it a great choice for the less discerning consumer. - Paul Lester [Sandisk] Clip Sandisk MP3

Original post by nafiz

MP3 players are dime a dozen these days and you have to work pretty hard to make your offering stand out from the crowd. Creative crammed in a decent speaker on its tiny Zen Stone and now, a bunch of ex-iRiver employees think they have something completely different too with Mintpad. This little portable media player will do the usual music/video playback bit but also throws in the ability to create digital Post-It notes. The Mintpad’s screen acts like a tablet, letting you write notes or draw pictures with a stylus which you can then send over the Net via Wi-Fi. Pretty cool indeed. Of course, there has to be a hitch: you can only send the notes to other Mintpad owners. At 90g, it’s not exactly light for a portable player with a 3in screen but, it does come with a 1.3MP camera, voice recording, the aforementioned Wi-Fi for Internet surfing, 4GB of memory in-built and a microSD card slot for adding more. Music and video playback is rated at 30 hours and 5 hours, respectively. Out in Korea first, the Mintpad from Mintpass, costs £100.-Martin Lynch MP3 gadget

Original post by nafiz

Everyone likes their tunes but it’s fair to say that not even your favourite Tom Jones’ track is worth dying for. A study presented in the US to the American Heart Foundation has stated that the little earphones commonly bundled with MP3 players can cause interference with pacemakers and defibrillators. Earlier this year Apple’s iPod was cleared of being a danger to those with pacemakers but it seems that audio tech is back in the firing line - and that includes the earbuds distributed with the iPod too. It’s the strong little magnets inside the earphones that are causing concern. Around 25% of 60 patients in the test found that the earphones, when placed within 1.2ins of the pacemakers or defibrillators, interfered with their normal working to a noticeable degree. The incidents were twice as high with defibrillators. So, if you have a dodgy ticker with some internal tech hooked up, just keep the buds away from your chest.-Martin Lynch [Source] music health ipod

Original post by nafiz

A new scheme to promote the increasing number of websites that are now offering DRM-free MP3 downloads has been put in place by ERA Digital. It’s designed to reassure people that the music they are getting will be compatible with any media player, computer or handheld and also reassure them that a particular site is legal. So far there are seven companies backing the campaign, including Play.com and 7Digital, though reports also suggest that ERA is working to get the logos put on MP3 player packaging as well. We’re not sure quite why this is, since we doubt there are many MP3 players out there that won’t play MP3s. Still, from a purchasing point of view it could work quite well and even the British Phonographic Industry is excited about the move. Chief executive Geoff Taylor stated: “This logo will not only help give consumers confidence that the music files they are buying will play on a wide range of devices, but will also help them know that they are legal and that artists are getting paid.” If this is the kind of thing that forces more websites to adopt DRM-free content then it’s more likely we’ll get some sort of price war where the cost of music will drop to a level where we don’t feel like we’re getting ripped off. So we’re all for it. - Paul Lester [WebUser] DRM music downloads

Original post by nafiz

This certainly isn’t the first time we’ve seen a multi-format media streamer/jukebox but it is a little different from the majority of other devices out there. Western Digital′s WD TV HD Media Player is a simple black box that comes with a simple remote control and offers nothing more than to be able to play back your video, audio and photos through an HDMI port on a big screen. There’s no internal hard drive and no network access, instead you′ll find two USB2.0 ports into which you can attach flash storage, external hard drives and other media containing files. The WD TV will then sort them by name, type, genre or recently viewed and send them at up to 1080p resolution to your TV. We’re impressed by this rather basic solution because A) we can see definite appeal in producing a bare-bones system quite cheaply and B) the list of formats supported really is comprehensive. We’ll list them below after rounding off by saying that the device is available now for £78.99 and comes with a free copy of ArcSoft MediaConverter 2.5, just in case this lot isn’t enough. - Paul Lester WD TV HD video support: MPEG 1/2/4, WMV9, AVI (MPEG4, Xvid, AVC), H.264, MKV, MOV (MPEG4, 𑩈), JPEG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, PNG, MP3, WMA, OGG, WAV/PCM/LPCM, AAC, FLAC, Dolby Digital, AIF/AIFF and MKA. [TrustedReviews] Western Digital digital media jukebox

Original post by nafiz

Of the seemingly endless supply of iPod Docks on the market, a large proportion of them are cheap, tacky-looking, poor quality or a combination of the three. Not so in the case of Revo’s new Blok, which holds distinct aesthetic charm with its hand crafted wooden cabinet carved from natural materials, something which it claims is a contributing factor towards the excellent sound. Audio is apparently of a ‘hi-fi’ standard with 2×20W of output from the twin full-range speakers capable of a frequency response of 55Hz to 20kHz. There are a full range of iPod adaptors available for the perfect fit and a particularly snazzy remote control which it calls the ‘Kontrol′. Yep, see what you did there. Still, we think it looks great in either of the American Walnut or Black Oak colour options and though it’s fairly pricey at £200, this is an occasion where it certainly looks like you’re paying for quality. - Paul Lester [Revo] Revo iPod speaker

Original post by nafiz

Filed under: Portable Audio

Cue that “rollin′ back prices″ theme and break out the bouncy smiley faces, Walmart is trimming prices on its DRM-free Ṃ music store. Many tracks will still be offered at the original 94 cent pricepoint, but certain “Top 25″ songs will go for a mere 74 cents — a quantity of money which is officially insufficient to buy anything in the meatspace anymore. In perhaps even more exciting news, Walmart is finally making things easier on the folks averse to or incapable of running Internet Explorer: the store finally works with Firefox, Safari and IE running on Mac, Linux or Windows. As for content, Walmart now boasts more than 3 million Ṃs and exclusive Walmart Soundcheck content, which predictably boasts of performances from Beyonce, Nickelback and David Cook. “Light On,” Walmart, “Light On.”

Walmart spruces up its MP3 offering with select 74 cent tracks, cross platform compatibility originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original post by Paul Miller

If you don’t use your mobile for listening to to your music but still want to be able to take calls when you’re rocking out on your Ṃ player, then check out the Philips GoGear Luxe. The Luxe Ṃ player comes with in-built Bluetooth and dual mics, which means that you can also use it like a mobile headset. Just pair it with your phone and, even though Metallica are doing their best to make your ears bleed, any calls you receive on your phone will mute the tunes while you take the call. The little LCD display will even throw up the caller’s number so you can decide whether you want to chat to them or let Metallic thrash on with the ear-bleeding. The 2GB player [a bit weeny, I know] is styled like some precious stone, or some ‘out-there’ 1970s living room, and it also sports an FM radio, 10-hour playback time and a claimed 100-hours of standby, It is shipping in Singapore first and comes in silver or red for around £50.-Martin Lynch [Source] music mp3 mobile phone

Original post by nafiz

Last week we had a lot of politically correct oddness going on and it looks like Apple is planning to give us all another dose. iTunes UK has started censoring song titles so that supposedly offensive words like ‘pussy’, now appear as p***y, making innocent tunes like Richard Price’s The Owl & The P***y Cat sound very devious indeed. You’ll also get no joy if your song title contains the words whore, snatch, s**t and f**k. But, bizarrely you’re good to go if the song has the words beaver, f***ing and f***ed. We’re not sure exactly what Apple’s intentions are here and maybe this is all some terrible f***ing mistake but if people are allowed to buy and listen to these songs from iTunes, what exact harm is there in reading the title? Hell, even Dick Van Dyke [above] gets a few *** in his surname. Check out the silliness yourselves and feel free to report on some of the stupider censored tune titles. -Martin Lynch [Thanks to Giz US for the great pic] music itunes censorship

Original post by nafiz

HMV has been in the news a lot recently, rolling out gaming centres and offering second hand games for sale in its stores . It now wants a piece of the music pie and seems particularly keen on getting people up off their arse and into a shop. Plans for a ‘next-generation’ store, which will open at the Westfield Shopping Centre in White City, London on October 30th, focus on offering an online and gaming experience to customers through interactive digital kiosks.People will be able to preview, purchase and download Ṃ files which can be stored on USB sticks or memory cards from here, and it’s also planning to offer ‘interactive games hubs′ where customers can sit around on comfy chairs playing the latest console titles. It’s an interesting idea but we think the size of an audience who A) Don’t have access to a gaming console at home or a friend’s and B) don’t have access to the internet at home or a friend’s would be pretty small these days. Can’t blame it for trying though, and hey, perhaps it’ll price digital downloads cheaply enough to make it worth your while venturing in. - Paul Lester [Billboard] HMV gaming music

Original post by nafiz

Nokia′s free music smorgasbord, Comes With Music, has been launched on the ỗ today with mobile phone operator 3. Those ordering special ỗ 8GB phones will get access to millions of tunes via the ‘unlimited’ music download service from November 3rd. We say ‘unlimited’ since there will probably be some limits to how much you can eat and, let’s not forget, that all those free songs will by infested with scummy DRM copyright technology, restricting your use of them to the Nokia device in your pocket. The only upside is that you get to keep them for as long as the device remains working. Cool, if you never plan on changing your phone. The service went live last week, to some criticism, with the arrival of the new Nokia 5310 XpressMusic phone. The tracks number around 4 million from independent labels and majors like EMI, Universal, Warner and Sony BMG. The Nokia Comes With Music ỗ 8GB has to be bought on an 18-month, £35-per month contract. For that you get 300 minutes/texts and 1GB data downloading thrown in.-Martin Lynch mobile phone nokia music

Original post by nafiz

Can’t decide whether you’re a bit of an angel or an evil little devil? Then maybe the funky Angel &amp Devil earphones from Greenhouse can help with your dilemma by placing one of each at your disposal. The earphones sport different colours, while one has a little halo and the other sports some little horns. They are certainly a bit different from your regular bland black fare and a clever updating of the old images of a little devil or angel perched on someone’s shoulder whispering helpful advice or cajoling you into some devilment. The earphones have a frequency response of 20Hz - 20kHz, impedance of 16? and output of 5Mw. They’ll be available in 5 colours and are coming out in Japan first [Grrr] next month for around £6.-Martin Lynch [Newlaunches] music earphones gadgets

Original post by nafiz

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Portable Audio

For turntablists, there have been a plethora of options when scouting a deck with integrated vinyl-to-Ṃ capabilities. Until now, though, you’ve had to deal with second-rate brands (we kid) like Numark and ion — neither of which possess the prestige and haughty factor that comes with a Denon logo. The DP-200USB enables deep-pocketed DJs to rip vinyl straight to MP3, and you can even save the digital files to a USB drive thanks to the built-in USB socket. The unit will be available in Japan early next month for ¥31,500 ($310), though it’s hard to say if or when Denon will see fit to bring this Stateside.

[Via T3]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Portable Audio

For turntablists, there have been a plethora of options when scouting a deck with integrated vinyl-to-MP3 capabilities. Until now, though, you′ve had to deal with second-rate brands (we kid) like Numark and ion — neither of which possess the prestige and haughty factor that comes with a Denon logo. The DP-200USB enables deep-pocketed DJs to rip vinyl straight to MP3, and you can even save the digital files to a USB drive thanks to the built-in USB socket. The unit will be available in Japan early next month for ¥31,500 ($310), though it’s hard to say if or when Denon will see fit to bring this Stateside.

[Via T3]

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Original post by Darren Murph