Gadzooki

RIAA says it’s illegal to sell your iPod preloaded

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The RIAA gets weirder by the minute. Now the Recording Industry Association of America, the umbrella organization representing music record labels in the US, will sue you if you sell your iPod (or any other media player, I guess) pre-loaded with music.

Selling an iPod preloaded with music is no different than selling a DVD onto which you have burned your entire music collection.

Yes, this is straight from the people who had sued 83-year old grandmas and twelve-year olds for alleged music piracy.

My take on this issue can be summarized by one word: greed.

Nokia N91 gets FCC nod

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Nokia N91Expect to see another cool Nokia phone in the States in the next few weeks, as the N91 is approved for US release by the FCC. Not just another ordinary Finnish brick, the N91 is touted as a Motorola ROKR-killer, with its 4 Gigabyte hard drive and drag-and-drop / plug-and-play file management capability. No special sync software is necessary, as the phone will be detected by your OS as a mass-storage USB 2.0 device. The N91 can play MP3, WMA, AAC, and M4A, and a host of other media formats–so many that our alphabet soup ran out of letters (and numbers–is there alphabet soup with numbers?).

The N91 runs on the Symbian series 60 operating system, so you can expect the same flexibility as with most of Nokia’s other smartphones. Basic features include an XHTML web browser, email client, and advanced Personal Information Management.

A two-megapixel still and video camera is included, and there’s visualradio support, in case you run out of audio tracks to play.

The phone runs on EGSM/GPRS 1800 and 1900MHz plus WCDMA-type 3G. The N91 also supports WiFi, so you can probably make free VoIP calls via a wireless network if you feel like being cheap. But with a cool phone like the N91, you probably won’t (feel cheap, that is)!

Technical specs here.

Toshiba Gigabeat S Series

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Toshiba Gigabeat S

Toshiba and Microsoft have joined teams and are offering an eye-catching portable media center, hailed as the Gigabeat S Series. The PMC will be available in either 30/60GB capacities, with a 2.4�? QVGA 320.240 LCD screen and a battery life of 20 hours music playtime or 5 hours video playback.

Supported files include MP3, WMA, WAV, WMV, WMA, as well as MPEG4, AVI, MOV. Other features of the Gigabeat S include FM radio tuner, landscape viewing mode, transfer and view pictures from a digital camera via USB, and it can also be connected to an Xbox 360.

The Gigabeat S will be available sometime this year… for more info visit

Jens of Sweden MP-500

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Much smaller than the Motorola RAZR, the new MP-500 by Jens of Sweden is a very attractive alternative to the Ipod Nano.

JOS MP-500

The MP-500 measures in at 81x40x13mm and weighs only 51g. Supported video formats include MPEG4, MPEG, WMV, AVI, ASF, DAT and MPG, which are viewed on a 1.6�? screen (260,000 colors). Other supported media include MP3, WMA, OGG, TXT and JPG.

Additional features include stereo speakers, with SRS, TRUBASS, WOW, equalizer, radio, scratchproof black or gold casing, and built in USB2.0. The battery has 15 hours of audio playtime, or 8 hours of video playback.

The JES MP-500 is available in both 1GB and 2GB flavours, costing 190USD and 240USD respectively.

Via [Fosfor Gadgets]

iriver U10

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iriver u10 pmp

The new PMP from iriver measures in at 2.7�?x1.8�?x0.6�?, and some how manages to fit in a 2.5�? LCD, FM tuner and recorder, an equalizer and alarm; similarly, this tiny unit is capable of playing MP3, ASF, WMA, OGG, JPG, TXT, and MPEG4.

As evidenced in the picture of the U10, the real highlight of this portable media player, is the fact that it has no buttons on the front face. Iriver has accomplished this by creating what they call the ‘D-Click system’, where you navigate by pressing either up/down or left/right direction buttons.

The U10 by iriver is small and sleek and costs around 250USD (1GB).

[via EverythingUSB]

Samsung YP-Z5

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Aimed to be released in February of this year, the YP-Z5 by Samsung is poised to intrude on the Ipod Nano’s market share. Measuring in at 3.5�?x1.6�?x0.4�? (only 0.13�? thicker than the Ipod Nano), the YP-Z5 comes with a 1.8�? LCD screen, plays both MP3 and WMA (also pays protected WMA’s from Napster), is capable of viewing JPEG’s, and also utilizes Digital Natural Sound Engine 3D audio processing [DNSe].

Samsung YP-Z5

Samsung has improved battery life to 38 hours, and 24 hours of continuous play, as well as using brushed metal / gloss black casing that is scratch resistant, with a sensitive interface controlled by a touch pad, and is available in both 2 and 4GB capacities.

The retail price for the Samsung YP-Z5 is 199USD (2GB) and 249 (4GB)

Creative Zen Vision:M

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Creative Zen Vision:M

The 30GB Zen Vision:M by Creative measures in at 4.89″ x 2.93″ x 0.79″. It is equipped with an amazing 2.5-inch screen, with which you can view JPEG, MPEG-1/2/4, WMV, DivX, and XviD files. Similarly, the Zen supports MP3, WMA and WAV audio formats. Creative have also included an FM tuner and voice recorder as well as the ability to sync with your Microsoft Outlook tasks, contacts and calendar.

The Vision:M has approximately 4.5 hours of video playback, and 14 hours of audio playback, before the battery has to be recharged.

The better screen and longer play time of the new portable media player by Creative, give Apple and their Ipod a reason to be looking over their shoulder.

Cowon iAudio 6

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Cowon iAudio 6

The new portable media player from Cowon is touted for a Feb 2006 release.

Until then here is a pretty picture and some basic details.

The iAudio 6 will support standard digital audio files (WMA, MP3, WAV, JPEG, TXT, OGG, FLAC) as well as MPEG4 video playback viewable on a 1.3inch OLED color screen. The files are stored on a 0.85inch 4GB HDD (instead of flash), and are accessible by using the ‘swing touch’ control system. The Cowon also sports an FM tuner and recorder; similarly you can record your own voice.

Sandisk e200 MP3 player

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Sandisk e200 MP3 Player

Sandisk’s new portable MP3 player is quite an attractive device, with a 1.8inch TFT color screen and scratch resistant titanium back cover, it measures in at only 1.7�?W x 3.5�?H x 0.5�?D.

The e200 has a maximum capacity of 6GB ~ 1400 songs

Audio/image/video playback

Digital FM tuner and recorder

Slots for additional memory and content cards

Lithium rechargeable battery.

All this for 300USD…

ZVUE 500 Portable Media Player

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ZVUE 500 PMP

The PMP, from Handheld Entertainment, is expected to be released mid 2006, and will measure approx. 3.5�? x 5.5�? x 0.5�?. The ZVUE 500 will have a 3.5�? screen (320×240 resolution @ 30fps), containing 1GB of internal memory, Wi-Fi, memory card slots, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, and the ability to plat both Windows Media Video and Audio files. The portable media player is expected to cost no more than 300USD