Technofile: Digital music is still going strong. All the latest trends from the consumer technology world show that we can't get enough of digital music players. So it makes sense for manufacturers to keep bringing out new products in the hope that they can at least eat a little into the lead created by Apple's popular iPod.
Step forward Philips, which has returned to the digital fray, with a new pair of hard disk music players. In the past, Philips almost rivalled the iPod with its debut player, the black and slim HDD100, and now its newest models are going to try and give the iPod a run for its money.
Both models have colour screens, SuperScroll navigation, voice recording capabilities and are able to play back WMA files (including WMA music bought from online music shops like Napster). The HDD6320 costs around €365 and has a 30GB storage - equivalent to about 15,000 songs or 8,400 images. Meanwhile, the HDD1620, which costs €293, has 6GB of storage - up to 3,000 songs or 1,600 images.
You will get 15 hours of battery life out of the HDD6320 model and 18 hours from the HDD1620. There is also a number of accessories for the players like splashproof cases, charging docks and cassette adaptors. Meanwhile, over in iPod land, a very useful gadget has appeared to enhance our iPod-filled lifestyles.
There are a lot of iPod docks on the market and most are capable of synching the iPod with the PC and charging it.
EDGE Tech's iPod Docking Station and Multi Flash Card Reader cannily includes... a flash card reader that is compatible with xD picture cards; SD; MMC; Memory Stick; Memory Stick PRO; Memory Stick Duo; SmartMedia; CompactFlash, and IBM Microdrive cards.
So that means that you can sync your iPod while you move files around on memory cards.
For €45 from Edgetechcorp.com, that pretty much covers all bases. Long live desk space!
Lastly, the Technotunes MP3 watch is quite possibly the only decent looking watch to double as an MP3 player Technofile has seen.
Having a watch which doubles as an MP3 player has an unexpected bonus - it can reduce your gadget-carrying load down to just your mobile phone. Coming in black for the boys and pink for the girls, the Technotunes MP3 watches are simple to use, look good and hold a very respectable 120 songs with 256MB of memory.
These quartz analogue watches allow you to plug in and "drag and drop" songs to and from the computer and they are even water resistant to 90 metres. Sporting a 10-hour battery life from a full charge, they also work as USB storage devices, so you can carry around powerpoint as well as power chords. And best of all, they work on Macs as as well as PCs. They weigh 50g-80g and cost €214 from iwantoneofthose.com.
