Digital Jukebox

Griffin iBeam

Two new plug-ins from Griffin. This time there's a torch and a laser pointer that can be plugged into the top of your iPod or iPod Mini. Although you can only fit one in at a time, they're being sold as a pair. The iBeam package costs $19.99 and will start shipping by the end of October. The kit is available on pre-order now on Griffin's website.

Griffin

Toshiba's 60GB music player

Toshiba's latest 60GB Gigabeat is part of a new range of Gigabeat F Series music players. All three players (the other two are 10GB and 20GB) use Toshiba's new 1.8-inch hard drives, with the 60GB version the first of its kind available. The design is a bit of a change from the company's other Gigabeat models, with a more iPod-like shape to it. The 2.2-inch colour LCD sets it apart, however, and the plus sign-shaped control pad also gives it a more individual look. Battery life is cited as around 11 hours. There's still no current plans to launch the players over in Europe, but Tosh hasn't yet ruled it out altogether. It's puzzling that the company is content just to sell to the Japanese market when it would surely do so well over here.

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Sony changes its mind about MP3s

Sony's somewhat unexpected decision to add MP3 capabilities to its digital music players suddenly makes its players look a whole lot more appealing. Previously only compatible with the company's own music file format, Atrac, portable hard drive players like the NW-HD1 now stand a much greater chance of offering serious competition to the iPod. The VGF-AP1 already offers MP3 playback and the company is aimiing to launch newly MP3-compatible devices later this year. Software upgrades for those who already own the music players will also be available.

One of the best things about the decision is that it will be far easier to use other downloads services and there will be no more faffing about converting files on your PC before copying music across. Sony Connect is one of the less user-friendly online music downloads services around, so the company should probably think about giving that a bit of a revamp before it loses all its customers to other sites.

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Indie labels give Apple a good bashing

The continued failure of Apple’s iTunes to secure deals with the independent record labels in the UK is causing a round of tutting and sighing within the music industry. The indie labels have been roundly criticising iTunes, and the downloads service continues to go without bands and singers such as Franz Ferdinand (this year’s Mercury Music Prize winners) and Eric Prydz, this week’s number one in the singles charts.

One of the more baffling aspects of the continuing saga is that Apple has actually signed a deal with some of the labels, such as Domino and Ninja Tune, but just hasn’t got round to adding them to the library. Chrysalis Music Group, meanwhile, is still waiting for the paperwork to turn up – as are a number of other companies.

Since independent record labels makes up around a quarter of the UK sales, you’ve got to wonder what Apple’s playing at. Napster and Sony Connect have managed to sort themselves out, so what’s taking Apple so long?

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Easy Music could make life very difficult for iTunes

Good old Stelios Haji-Ioannou. Not content with terrifying the airline companies by setting up one of the cheapest flights operators in the country, the entrepreneur has just confirmed that he’s made a deal with UK music downloads company, Wippit, to set up a rival to iTunes and Napster. The company, called Easy Music, will be charging as little as 25p for some tracks, which is just stupidly cheap. We’ll be waiting to see how Apple, Napster and the rest respond to this news, but there’s a good chance that this will start up a pricing war that should only benefit the likes of us.

You may recall our recent report that Stelios is also setting up a budget mobile phone network. Read article.

Oakley Thump MP3 Sunglasses

Oakley’s getting in on the portable audio market with the release of its Thump MP3 sunglasses. The shades come with a 128MB or 256MB music player built in that can play MP3 and WMA files. The headphones don’t actually stick in your ears, but rather “float by” them, and you can adjust them to get the best balance between external noise and the music. If you want to carry on with the music, but don’t want to continue wearing sunglasses, you can just flip the lenses up. You’ll look like a half-wit, but what does that matter. Judging by the press pics you have to be either Goldie or Vin Diesel to pull the things off anyway.

A USB 2.0 connection means you can transfer files across from your computer, and the battery has enough power to run for six hours.

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Sony Pocket (another "iPod Killer") on its way

Sony’s VAIO Pocket will be launching over here fairly shortly. The VGF-AP1 media player will be available to buy in October, although price details still haven’t been released (we’re guessing it’ll be around £400 for the 20 gig though). The VAIO Pocket has a picture viewer along with the music player and comes in 20GB and 40GB versions. The player is larger and heavier than its Apple rival, but the 2.2-inch screen gives it a reasonable excuse. The battery life is also supposed to be better than the iPod, quoted at 20 hours compared to iPod’s eight.

Unlike the NW-HD1, the Pocket has the distinct advantage of being able to play MP3 files. (The NW-HD1 converts them to Atrac.) It’s also compatible with WMA files.

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More competition for the iPod mini

iPod mini competitors are coming thick and fast. The Rio Carbon is an obvious contender, and the MPIO HD200 is also now available for pre-order. The 5GB hard drive in good old white should pinch a few of the mini’s potential customers. It offers support for MP3, WMA, ASF and OGG file formats as well as supplying an FM radio and a claimed 14 hours of battery life – far better than the measly 8 you get from the iPods.

A scroll wheel on the side along with a Back button does all the navigating, while the remote on the headphones means you can operate it while it’s packed away in your bag. Other features include a mic for voice recording and a line input for direct MP3 encoding.

It’s bigger and heavier than the iPod mini, measuring 60.6 x 84 x 19 and weighing 120g. It will also cost more than the mini, at £199. But it’s available on pre-order right now and will be on sale from mid-September, so if you’re desperate for a mini music player, here’s your chance.

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Mobile phone to kill iPod? Samsung debuts hard disk handset

Just the other week we predicted that phone manufacturers would soon be giving up on stupidly expensive flash memory cards and kitting out their handsets with hard disks. These are of course significantly cheaper and, most importantly for the consumer, offer a great deal more storage.

They could in theory also render hard disk music devices like the iPod redundant as users can store their tunes on the handset’s hard disk and have no need for a secobnd device. Motorola’s recent deal with Apple to offer iTunes on its mobiles shows that the iPod’s manufacturer is also sensing that this could be the way in which the market, at least in Europe and the far east, is likely to develop.

Anyhow it seems we were right for Samsung has just announced the world's first ever mobile with an integrated hard disk.

Unveiled yesterday at a Japanese telecoms show the SPH-V5400 is a clamshell type phone with a 1.5GB hard disk.

It comes with an integrated mega pixel camera, MP3 player and a TV out connection.

Drop in Guinness sales all iPod's fault

The Inquirer has a great story about how the decreasing volume of Guinness being imbibed over in Ireland is attributable to the emergence of the iPod. How you may ask? Well, according to the experts, young Irishmen are shunning the famous stout and saving their pennies (or, more correctly, their cents) in order to buy electronic equipment. The prime culprit is of course the iPod, which will no doubt soon be blamed for a rise in street crime and a drop in education standards.

The Inquirer poo poos the iPod theory, and instead blames the 6 percent drop in sales on the new anti-smoking laws in bars and pubs. We’d be inclined to suggest that young men are just more eager to keep their waistlines svelte in order to ensure a place in one of Ireland’s many upcoming boybands. We would, that is, if Irish boyband members weren’t so universally podgy.

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