Category — MP3 & Media Players

Here’s a TomTom GPS system likely to find its way on to many Holiday wish lists.  The TomTom GO 930 portable GPS receiver features MP3 playback for listening to your favorite music while traveling. This TomTom also comes preloaded with maps of the United States, Europe, and Canada,  and gives audible turn-by-turn reminders.

As far as memory, the GPS unit includes a 4GB flash memory, and an SD card slot.  I like that drivers can switch between 2D and 3D viewing on the 4.3 inch LCD  touch screen.  For me, 3D viewing is best for the city, and 2D on the highway.

This TomTom GPS receiver is Bluetooth compatible, and has a audio output for piping the sound through your car stereo system. A single charge of the built-in rechargeable battery powers the unit for 5 hours.  I found the TomTom GO 930 at Best Buy.

Both XM and Sirius satellite radios are available in hand held versions that look a lot like two-way radios.  But, until recently, I didn’t realize that some hand held satellite radios also include MP3 storage. So, now you can have access to satellite radio, and your personal music library on one gadget.

The Sirius MP3 radio above is the Sirius SL2PK1.  In addition to pulling in regular Sirius stations, this radio will pick up Sirius Internet radio via any WiFi connection.  As far as MP3 storage, there’s a 2GB internal memory, and a micro SD card slot for expansion. The Sirius Stiletto portable radio is available at Radio Shack for $329.99.

Here’s a similar XM satellite radio with MP3 storage options.  The XM MP3 radio is expandable for up to 8 GB of MP3 storage.  The radio plays WMA files, and comes with a remote control and USB port for scheduling recordings on your computer.  I found the Pioneer XMp3 satellite radio at Crutchfield for $249.99.

The next time you’re playing Nintendo Wii or XBox, think twice before offing anybody or anything.  According to an  article I read yesterday, a Japanese woman was jailed on charges of hacking to commit the virtual murder of her online husband’s persona after he unexpectedly divorced her.  Whew!  Time to step back into reality.  All of these acts supposedly took place within a game called “Maple Story”.

More in video game news… keep faithful old Fido away from your Nintendo Wii, and your iPod for that matter.  According to Britain’s Daily Telegraph, a recent study by PetPlan (a pet insurance company) named the top ten electronic gadgets for injuring pets.  iPod and Nintendo Wii topped the list, followed by Sony Playstation, and Nintendo DS.  Injuries named in the study included everything from falls to electrical incidents…eeewww.  One other thing that ranked high on the pet injury list- karaoke machines??  I don’t even want to know the details on that one.

There’s nothing more convenient than transferring the memory card from your digital camera to digital photo frames to create instantly framed photos.  This digital photo frame made by Coby goes a step further to include sound files, and digital video playback.

The Coby DP848 photo frame plays MP3 and WAV sound files, and AVI, MPG, and XviD video files.  The frame has an 8.4 inch LCD screen with 800×600 resolution, and a 500:1 contrast ratio.  There are options for creating a slide show set to music, and built-in stereo speakers.

The Coby digital frame, available at J&R, also includes a remote control, a 5 in 1 card reader,  and a headphone jack. You can mount the frame on a wall or place it on the included stand.

Quick, grab some eye protection, it’s the world’s most expensive MP3 player, and it’s encrusted with more than 400 diamonds (over 4 carats). Over the last couple years, Thomas Heyerdahl, a Norwegian jeweler, has produced a handful of these glitzy gadgets, some of which have been auctioned for charity. When it comes to MP3 players, this golden Apple accessory is a bit out of budget for most: $40,000+!

Heyerdahl also likes to put the Midas touch on cell phones. He received some attention last year for his similarly blinged-out Nokia 8800 cell phone.

You know, if you can’t afford the $40K iDiamond MP3 player, perhaps you could spring for the diamond earbuds to go with your Nano? Comparitively speaking, they’re a bargain, and available separately, for just over $6,000. Here’s the iDiamond video.

With gas at $4 a gallon,is it really possible to get an MP3 player for less than $20? I went on a search for the lowest priced, most affordable MP3 players around, and here’s what I found:

The Nextar MA 323 (shown above) is a 1-inch cube that you can put in your pocket or wear around your neck. For a mere $14.99, the Nextar MP3 player, available at J&R, includes 128 MB of storage space and an FM radio receiver. In case your wondering, 128 MB of storage equates to about 2 hours of MP3 playback.

Next up in my search for MP3 players under $20, we have the Hydra MP3 made by Ultra. With this one, you get 1 GB of memory, and it’s splash resistant. The Ultra Hydra supports WMA file format, and there’s a built-in FM receiver and voice-recording option. The Hydra MP3 player is listed for $16.99 at Tiger Direct.

And, finally on my list of MP3 players under $20, we have the refurbished Sansa Express 1 GB MP3 player. Also available at Tiger Direct, the Sansa Express is a flash based MP3 player. It supports WAV, MP3, and WMA files, and even includes a micro SD slot for expansion- all for $16.99.

After you and your fellow ghouls have picked out your Halloween costumes, it’s time to start looking for Halloween decorations and gadgets scary enough to rattle the neighbor kids. In my opinion, there’s nothing scarier than an eerie, low-lying fog around some fake tombstones in your yard.

Here’s a fog machine to complete your Halloween decor. It features a 1000 watt heater and it emits up to 4500 cubic feet of fog every minute. There’s also a wired remote for covertly blasting bursts of fog for your trick-or-treating visitors. The fog machine uses water-based fog juice (included), and holds a quart at a time.

Amazon’s digital reader, Kindle, is getting a makeover which will be revealed in the next month or two.  According to Business Week, the new version of the Amazon Kindle is reported to be smaller, thinner, and sporting a bigger screen.  Amazon’s been pushing the Kindle pretty hard for awhile now with seemingly lukewarm response.

However, there are those who think that Amazon’s Kindle going to revolutionize the way we look at print media.  According to this Kindle article, one Citigroup analyst thinks that Amazon might sell enough Kindles to match the first year of iPod sales…380,000 units.  What do you think?  Will we ever give up paper in favor of digital readers or any other gadget?

Here’s the Sony W350 cell phone, which includes a lot of gadgets for such a small flip phone.  It features a Walkman 2.0 player for your MP3s, and Bluetooth stereo streaming.  When the W350 cell phone is closed it looks like a Sony Walkman MP3 player.  There’s also a 1.3 mega pixel digital camera/video camera.  If you’re really into digital video or taking digital pictures with the Sony W350, the memory is expandable up to 4 GB.  The Sony Walkman cell phone is compatible with personal email and instant messaging programs.

You can get 7 hours of talk time, and 15 hours of music playback out of a single battery charge.  Without a cell phone contract, the Sony W350 will set you back about $249.

With a 160 GB memory, the Archos 605 media player offers a lot of storage space for media files including videos, photos, and music.  The handheld media player has a 4.5 inch LCD screen, and Wi-Fi capabilities (additional plug-in needed).

The Archos 605 is 0.6 inches thick and a full battery charge will give you 16 hours of music play time, and 5 hours of video playback.  What I like the most about this media player is that you can view PDF files with it. There are several optional plug-ins for the Archos 605 including a cinema application and Podcast plug-in.  There’s also the option to buy or rent media from Archos via the media player.