Digital Jukebox

MP3 Goggles

US-based Finis just unveiled its answer to an MP3 player for swimmers. Whereas the Orgegon Scientific MP120, which is already available in the UK, relies on a traditional earphone design, the SwiMP3 uses bone conduction technology to transfer sound to the inner ear via the cheekbone. According to Finis, this dramatically improves the sound quality underwater. A special pair of goggles is supplied to house the SwiMP3. The player is Windows and Mac compatible and has 128MB of storage space. In the US it costs $250, but there's no news of a UK launch at the moment.

Finis

Sony 1GB flash player with MP3 support

Sony is releasing its first digital music players that are compatible with MP3 files in the UK next month. From November, you'll be able to buy Network Walkmans NW-E99 for around £160, and NW-E95 for £120. The flash-based players have 1GB and 512MB of memory respectively. Using Sony's Atrac music file compression, the NW-E99 will be able to squeeze in over 40 CDs worth of music. The players should provide around 70 hours of battery life and weigh around 40g.

Sony

Griffin follows Apple's lead

Griffin's releasing a black version of the i-Trip to match the Special Edition iPod. The company has also re-released its black version of the PowerMate, so you'll be able to goth up your whole Apple collection in no time.

Griffin

Black U2 iPod

Not content with making themselves look foolish on the current iPod ads, U2 has collaborated with Apple to produce a black Special Edition iPod. The player has been rumoured for some time, and Apple has finally released the official announcement along with pics. The 20GB iPod is apparently inspired by the design of the band's latest album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb . Whatever, the bright red scroll wheel seems a tad unnecessary to us - what was wrong with having it all totally black? Plus, the earbuds are white, so it's all a bit of a mish-mash. We haven't actually seen one yet, though, so maybe it's more dazzling in the flesh.

U2 fans will be delighted to hear that the iPod comes with the signatures of the boys laser-engraved onto the back. There's also a free poster of the band and £40 off the band's music on iTunes. It will cost £248.99 (since the normal 20GB version is £219, we're guessing you do have to pay for those free extras after all).

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Apple's iPod Photo in 40 and 60GB versions

Typical. We desert our post for a couple of hours to chomp on pizza and chuckle at Little Britain and Apple goes and makes it biggest announcement of the year so far.

Yes, that iPod Photo that has been rumoured for the past month or so isn't just vapourware but a real world product that goes on sale in the UK today.

The basic details are that it is available in 40 (£359, £90 more than an ordinary 40 Gigabyte iPod) and 60 Gigabyte (£429) versions, it sports a 65K colour 65k-color screen with 220 by 176 pixel resolution, has the same click wheel as it predecessor and has - in theory - 15 hours of battery life.

The screen can be used to view your own JPEGs, which you transfer via iTunes, or to see album artwork. It comes with a TV out too so you can view the images on your TV screen. The Photo iPod is exactly the same size as an ordinary iPod.

Buy Apple iPod Photo 40GB for £354 here[M9585]
Buy Apple iPod Photo 60GB for £424 here [M9586]

Music downloads from a phonebox?

Now that everyone's got a mobile phone, hardly anyone uses phone boxes anymore - except as toilet facilities of course. BT says that 60% of its 70,000 phone boxes lose money and the company hasn't built any new ones since 2001. Now, in an effort to stave off their inevitable demise, BT has taken a leaf out of Madonna's book and is going for a radical reinvention. The company is apparently in talks with "a leading provider of digital music content" to work out a deal that would see its 12,000 internet connected Information Kiosks turned into music download stations. The service would be for anyone with an iPod (so guess the "leading provider of digital music content") and users will be able to pay for downloads via a credit or BT charge card. The service could be in full swing as early as next year.

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100 Gig MP3 player

How much storage space do you need on your hard disk digital jukebox. 20 Gigabytes? 40? 80? Well Xclef has once again upped the ante by delivering a version of its Xclef 500 player that sports a monstrously large 100 Gigabyte jukebox.

Can there really be that many people in the world who need a 100 Gig player? Probably not, but it does mean that chances are you need never worry about the player's hard disk ever being completely full.

Not surprisingly the Xclef 500 is a bit of a chunky beast, but it does boast plenty of features including a very respectable 20 hours battery life, an integrated FM radio and direct encoding of MP3s via its optical line in connector. No news yet on price or UK availability, but we reckon it will land here soon probably via www.advancedmp3players.co.uk and will retail for around the £400 mark

Archos taks on iPod mini with 20 Gig player

How do you fancy an iPod mini size digital music player with a full iPod sized storage capacity of 20 Gigabytes? Well Sony got close with its NW-HD1, and now it appears that French manufacturer Archos has actually pulled off this marvel of miniaturisation with its upcoming Gmini XS200.

The tiny player measures just 7.6 x 5.9 x 1.9cm and weighs 120g which is roughly the same size as Apple’s, unbelievably hard to find the UK at least, iPod mini. Yet the XS200 has five times as much storage as the mini offering 20 rather than four Gigabytes. It also trumps its Apple rival on battery life, offering ten hours as opposed to the mini’s eight, and it will play WMA files, though not AAC ones.

One rather cool innovation in that it sports a virtual keyboard that enables users to name tracks and playlists on the fly.

The Register, which got a sneak preview, reckons though that it is not much of a looker and that its LED screen is a tad tricky to use.

Can’t imagine that Apple will launch any more iPods until its next Expo in San Fran in January. Then we’d be amazed if we didn’t see the iPod form factor splintering all over the place with larger capacity iPods with colour screens rubbing shoulders with smaller ones offering at least 20 Gigabytes of storage but featuring more basic facilities.

Napster pre-paid cards the first of their kind

Roxio's online music service, Napster, is to become the first in the UK to offer pre-paid cards in shops for buying digital music downloads. The cards, which are being sold through the Dixons Group stores (Dixons, Currys, The Link and PC World), are similar to pre-pay cards on phones. Each card contains a unique code that users enter on the online store in order to buy tracks. The cards can also be redeemed against subscription costs. They will cost £14.95 for 15 tracks, £56.95 for 60 tracks and £25.95 for a 3-month subscription. That should make buying Christmas presents that little bit easier this year. The cards will be in store from November.

Napster

Aigo's MP3 players

The E808 and the F186 are the two latest music players released by the relatively unknown Aigo. The E808 is being pitched as the most affordable MP3 player on the market, with pricing starting at £39.99 for the 128MB version. There's also a 256MB version for £49.99 and a 512MB variety at £89.99. The player comes with an FM radio with 10 presets and users can record straight from the radio into MP3 and WMA formats via the ADPCM recording feature.

Meanwhile the F186 comes with a few more features, including a voice recording facility and a line-in for recording from other devices onto the player. Any analogue files are converted automatically into digital MP3s. There's also an FM radio with 20 preset stations and FM recording. The F186 starts at £69.99 for the 128MB version, £89.99 for the 256MB version and £109.99 for the 512MB version.

Aigo