Meizu M8 / miniOne Pricing.

We're not sure when a CEO heading to a forum to make an official announcement became standard practice, but apparently Meizu CEO J. Wong does it all the time. On what was presumably his most recent visit, Mr. Wong posted pricing information on the suprisingly very real and upcoming M8 (also known as the miniOne).

The 4GB and 8GB iPhone-looking players/phones will be available with and without the 3-megapixel camera for the following prices: $195 (4GB without camera), $310 (4GB with camera), $285 (8GB without camera), and $400 (8GB with camera). We're still a bit hesitant to completely get rid of the "rumor" label this thing has been wearing since the summer, but the info is coming from the CEO. And we hobnob with B. Gates and S. Jobs in forums often enough to be able to spot the unequivocal truth when we see it.

Sweex Blaze MP4 Player.

Dutch company Sweex has loaded its 1GB ($93) and 2GB ($117) Blaze MP4 players with the film's trailer.

Sure, the Blaze bears a striking resemblance to the Soap, but there are only so many ways to fit a 1.8" TFT display and control pad on a 3.5" x 1.7" x 0.5" piece of black or pink plastic. The "MP4" player only supports videos in WMV format, but it's got a voice recorder, games, photo viewer, ebook reader, and non-removable battery rated at 7 hours for music (MP3, WMA, WAV) and 2.5 hours for video.

Meizu M8 / miniOne Pricing.

We're not sure when a CEO heading to a forum to make an official announcement became standard practice, but apparently Meizu CEO J. Wong does it all the time. On what was presumably his most recent visit, Mr. Wong posted pricing information on the suprisingly very real and upcoming M8 (also known as the miniOne).

The 4GB and 8GB iPhone-looking players/phones will be available with and without the 3-megapixel camera for the following prices: $195 (4GB without camera), $310 (4GB with camera), $285 (8GB without camera), and $400 (8GB with camera). We're still a bit hesitant to completely get rid of the "rumor" label this thing has been wearing since the summer, but the info is coming from the CEO. And we hobnob with B. Gates and S. Jobs in forums often enough to be able to spot the unequivocal truth when we see it.

Kenwood M1GD55 M1GD55 M2GD50 M2GD55 Media Keg

A choice of two alternative designs are offered for the latest Media Keg digital audio player, both of which possess identical feature sets. Kenwood claims, by the same token as their hard drive players, that the 1GB and 2GB M2GD55/M1GD55 (pictured left) and M2GD50/M1GD50 (right) focus on high sound quality.

Format support is limited to MP3 and WMA (DRM) which can respectively play for 21 hours and 16 hours on a single charge and be transferred with both MTP and MSC (UMS) protocols. Four lines of text can be displayed on the monochrome OLED (looking very similar to Panasonic D-Snap SV-SD950N). Both designs come with a pair of Kenwood canal phones and will go on sale in Japan next month

Dell 30 GB Juke Box.

Dell quietly rolled out a new 30GB version of their Digital Jukebox MP3 player. If you didn't like what they were doing before this isn't going to turn you around, since it's essentially just their 20GB player with a higher-capacity drive, but this new 30GB model does retail for $299 and have a 1.92-inch LCD screen, 12 hours of battery life, and support for WMA and WAV as well as MP3.

GODOT M8570 And M8670.

Taiwanese OEM GoDot recently released two new "JukeBoxes", the M8570 (seen here) and the M8670. Both are 20GB, 1.8-inch hard drive based players — the big difference between them is the addition of a color LCD screen on the m8570 (the M8670 just has a monochrome backlit one). Both also have an FM tuner and recording, play MP3, WMA and OGG, and promise 10 hours of battery life. But don't expect to see these over here, GoDot's products mostly show up in Europe and Asia under the a variety of other brand names.

Iriver Releases X20.

We're not sure why it didn't hit Korea first, but the iriver X20 will soon be up for the taking in Japan.

Beginning on February 23rd, the 2.2" screened player, which supports MPEG-4/WMV and iriver's standard set of audio formats, will sell for $157 (2GB), $191 (4GB), and $250 (8GB). Not too shabby for a pocket-friendly (3.88" x 1.93" x 0.58") device that packs in a lot of features (FM radio, voice recorder, photo viewer) without sacrificing battery life, which is rated at an impressive 22 hours for music playback.

Aluminum Minigigi C1000 Flash DAP.

It may look like a lot of other tiny flash DAPs out there, but the new aluminum-bodied minigigi C1000 player is actually stuffed with a pretty impressive set of features. Sure, it's got the usual MP3, WMA, WAV, and ASF support, but also packed into its 2.3" x 0.8" x 0.4" frame are an FM radio, sleep timer, e-book reader, photo viewer, and voice recorder. The C1000 can also be used as a removable disk with some sort of "memory lock" to prevent prying eyes from sneaking a peek at your private data. We have our doubts about it being a fortress of security, but it's still not bad given its dimensions and 2-inch OLED.
Shame about the storage capacity (2GB max), availability (Korea only), and price ($170), though.

M-Bird's XT-22 Audio Player

When we checked out the M-Bird X-21 audio player last year, we commented that although it looked like it was cobbled together from spare parts of other players, the fact that it had built-in stereo speakers made it a unique and possibly worthwhile product. Well, M-Bird has gone ahead and updated the unit, and the X-22 still sports the original's butt-ugly distinctive look, but has dropped one of the speakers, making it an audio player with built-in mono playback, hardly a unique feature these days. Other additions to the Korea-only unit include USB 2.0 and Ogg Vorbis support, but let's face it: you're not buying this for what it does; you're getting it for what it looks like. Consider it the anti-iPod — instead of a sleek and shiny unit, you get something that Max Rockatansky might have used to add some tunes to his travels.

Kenwood New Media Keg HD30GB9 MP3 Player

Although an acknowledged player on the audio market, Kenwood hasn't really tried a serious MP3 player until now. Surprisingly, Media Keg HD30GB9 MP3 player.

seems to pack some interesting features that would put even an iPod to shame.

It features a 30 Gb micro HDD which can be easily detected by Microsoft's WMP 10 or higher or it can work with Kenwood's own software. In spite of a 2.2-inch, 240X329 splendid screen, the player does not support any video formats, but can tackle with most usual formats such as MP3 and WMA and even Kenwood's very own Kenwood Lossless audio files.

FLAC format support seems to be a little too much for HD30GB9, but in order to compensate, Media Keg comes equipped with a digital amplifier, preserving the 44110 Hz sound frequencies, when most of the other players downgrade the sampling rate.

Kenwood HD60GD9 Digital Audio Player

Media Keg HD60GD9 is a new product with astonishing sound quality from Kenwood. This digital audio player comes with 60GB HDD capacity and inevitable support of WMA and MP3 files, a built-in ?? digital amplifier as well. Not much details is revealed though, but surely it will deliver a very high sound quality.

Sandisk Sansa Fuze Video

Audio Player.

Smaller than a credit card and as thin as a pencil, the new Sansa Fuze MP3 digital players looks great–and has the brains to match. With room for up to 1,000 songs, you can listen all day long. Jam to FM radio with 40 preset stations, play with the built-in voice recorder, and listen to your favorite audiobooks wherever you go. And with 24 hours of battery life, you’re free to listen in mp3 speakers, watch, and play all day–literally.

Watch Your Favorite Videos.

The Sansa Fuze comes with 4 GB of built-in memory enough to store 12-hour video playback segments. Watch your favorite video clips from wherever you are. To ensure speedy file transfers, the unit features a USB 2.0 connection. Simply connect the player to a PC, and start dragging files from your Windows Media Player 10 or 11 applications.

Expanded Capacity.

With an option to extend the capacity, its MicroSD/SDHC memory card slot means storage possibilities are essentially unlimited. Expand your music collection, show albums of photos with up to 2,000 images, and watch your favorite videos on those long trips.

FM Radio.

If you’re feeling like a break from your own tunes, or want to dial in the TV frequency at the gym, use the digital FM tuner. Save your favorites on the 40 user presets.

Voice Recorder.

Use the voice recorder with built-in microphone to take memos, record meetings or lectures, or capture whatever else you might feel inclined to point a microphone at. When you’re ready, transfer your files for listening on your PC.

Sandisk Sansa Clip 2 GB.

Enjoy a high-quality digital music player at an affordable price with SanDisk's Sansa Clip MP3 player. You have a nice slim and sleek mp3 player for the best portability of your digital music. Additionally, you can enjoy wearing your Sansa Clip player easily via the included clip accessory. With the included 4 line OLED screen you can enjoy excellent navigation of your music via songs sorted by title, artist, album, genre and more. Enjoy up to 15 hours continuous playback using the internal rechargeable battery.The Sansa Clip equals everything you need for a great digital music experience.

Includes MP3 player, Clip accessory, USB 2.0 transfer cable, Earphones, Quick start guide, Installation CD with user guide.

* Up to 15 hours continuous playback using internal rechargeable battery.

* Supports MP3, WMA, secure WMA, and Audible audio file formats.

* Hi-speed USB 2.0 port for fast and easy transfer of files.

* Includes digital FM tuner with 20 preset stations voice recorder with built-in microphone.

SPECIFICATIONS.

CAPACITY. 2 GB (2048MB) FORMATTED CAPACITY MAY DIFFER

INTERFACE. USB 2.0

REQUIREMENTS. Windows XP SP2 or Vista Operating System, Windows Media Player 10 or 11.

CD-ROM drive.

High-Speed USB 2.0 port required for hi-speed transfer.

DIMENSIONS 2.17" x 1.35" x 0.65"

Mplay MP4 Player

The 1 & 2 Gig mission CU & CU2 are simply the best value for money MP3 / MP4 players available on the market. M Play Offers a winning solution with optimum functionality for the user. Features include a 128 x 128 pixel, 65 000 colour screen to compliment the AMV format which allows for 8X compresion of video files enabling the storage of up to 8 entire full length movies on 1 Gig of memory . Ebooks & built-in games offering great interactive capability. For the office there is the dictaphone with playback & telephone book. Enjoy all your J-peg moments by making use of the photo album.

Record from a 21 station built-in radio & store along with all the other great tracks on the multi-format MP3 player. The Lithium Ion battery ensures 14 hours MP3/4 playtime & up to 25 hours radio playing. Rechargable from AC power mains, or PC/Notebook, all cables, adaptors & software included. These players are tiny, powerful, adaptable, compact & versatile, you will love yours.

Cowon iAudio X5.

I have been using my iAudio X5L for nearly two years now... long enough to really get to know the animal and write a review about it.

Why write a review about a "nearly obsolete" player? Well, for many users the X5 is still in a class of its own. It's one of the very few 1.8" hard-disk-based audio players still in production that use the UMS Mass Storage Class for connecting to a computer; most others use the MTP protocol, which can require installation of additional software. The X5 supports a huge variety of audio codecs, and its sound quality still rivals and even surpasses many new players. The X5L's 35 hours of battery life are unmatched in the field of HDD-based audio players.

The player is available in several different configurations: the slim X5 with a battery life of 14 hours and capacities of 20 and 30GB, and the bulkier X5L rated at 35 hours of battery life and the same capacities. A 60GB version of the X5 also exists, with the same dimensions as the X5L (due to the bigger 60GB hard disk). There is no 60GB version of the X5L

Sony NW A800 Series.

Surprisingly exactly on schedule, Sony's NW-A800 series of video-enabled Network Walkman players have hit the virtual shelves in Europe. The 2GB NW-A805, 4GB NW-A806, and 8GB NW-A808 can be preordered now in the UK for an outrageous $235, $294, and $392 (respectively) in black, white, pink, and violet. Certain models can also be ordered with accessories like a speaker cradle ($647 with A808), leather case and neckstrap ($420 with A808), and Bluetooth dongle and headphones ($490 with A806).

The players measure 3.46" x 1.72" x 0.36", have 2" QVGA displays, and support the usual onslaught of audio codecs. Battery life is exceptional at up to 30 hours for ATRAC playback and 8 hours for MPEG4 videos, but is it $400-for-8GB exceptional?

No word on when the NW-A800 series will be available in the U.S. (or how much it'll cost when it gets here), but UK orders are expected to begin shipping in April.

Sony NW-E013 / E015 Simple 1GB and 2GB Flash Players

Sony is bringing another stick-like player to their lineup in 1GB and 2GB sizes. Witha built-in USB plug, the player follows the typical minimalistic approach of the stickform factor with a 3-line OLED screen that disappears when off.

The player supports Sony's ATRAC format as well as MP3s natively.

Unfortunately, you are probably still stuck with using SonicStage to get music onto

the player.The player is appearing on all of Sony's European websites, but has yet to appear on their US site.

Walkman NWZ-610

This new walkman series, NWZ-A810 and NWZ-610 will be available in September. These two devices support an open platform. They can play a variety of music formats such as WMA, MP3, etc and they provide more choices for downloading and managing music and video collections online0Sony in its statement also highlighted that the models’ battery life allows up to eight hours of video playback for the NWZ-A810 series and more than nine hours for the NWZ-S610 series.

NWZ-A810 will be selling between $140 and $230 while NWZ-S610 is around $120 to $210.Sony has also added that it would pull the plug on its Connect Music Services, which distributes music in Sony’s proprietary ATRAC audio format in North America and Europe. Specific timing will vary, but the move.