Life Beyond iPods
Apple's little white ear buds have become a symbol of the portable media revolution, but there are alternatives to the iPod. Victor Chau checks out the competition.
Ichiban AFM-30
This small and powerful MP3 machine has a voice recorder, FM radio and a high-resolution color LCD monitor.
Price: $1,580
Memory: 1GB
Voice recording: Yes
FM Radio: Yes
Battery Life: 10 hrs
Weight: 34g
Oakley
Oakley pushes the style element to the forefront with these hybrid sunglasses/MP3 player. The compact design reduces the clutter of wires and the player is especially rugged.
Price: $3,990
Memory: 256MB
Voice recording: No
FM radio: No
Battery Life: 6 hrs
Weight: 51g
Oregon Scientific
MP120
Designed for swimmers, this new MP3 player is shock-resistant and waterproof up to one meter underwater. You can even swim with the earphones on, though some owners say the sound quality can become garbled.
Price: $1,198
Memory: 256MB
Voice recording: No
FM Radio: Yes
Battery life: 12 hrs
Weight: 55g
JNC SSF-9100
This MP3 player might be five times larger than its dice-sized cousin SSF-8100 (opposite). But it’s packed with 10 times more functions.
Price: $2,290
Memory: 1GB
Voice recording: Yes
FM Radio: Yes
Battery Life: 12 hrs
Weight: 45g
Picture viewing: Yes
Text viewing: Yes
Sony NW-HD5
Playing for up to 40 hours, this MP3 player is one of the most long-winded music devices on the market. The removable lithium-ion battery makes it an economical choice because when the rechargable battery eventually dies, you can simply buy a replacement, instead of a new device (as with the iPod).
Price: $2,398
Memory: 20GB
Voice recording: No
FM Radio: No
Battery life: 40 hrs
Weight: 135g
Iriver H10 6GB
Hailing from Korea, this best seller is equipped with more than 30 EQ's (sound modes), and you can view a slide show of digital pictures on its
1.5-inch high-resolution LCD display.
Price: $2,198
Memory: 6GB
Voice recording: Yes
FM radio: Yes
Battery Life: 12 hrs
Weight: 96g
JNC SSF-8100
This new player is the smallest multimedia gadget in town, about the size and shape of a single die. It comes in three memory sizes:
1GB (as shown), 512MB (SSF-8005) and 256MB (SSF-8002).
Price: $1,890
Memory: 512MB - 1GB
Voice recording: No
FM radio: Yes
Battery Life: 15 hrs
Weight: 18g
MP303
Sleek and slim, it holds up to 380 songs and has a FM radio that can bookmark 30 channels.
Price: $1,698
Memory: 1.5GB
Voice recording: Yes
FM Radio: Yes
Battery life: 12 hrs
Weight: 119g
Directions:
Oregon Scientific: Shop 302, Harbour City, Ocean Center, Tsim Sha Tsui, 2303-1889
Sony Shop: Room 209, Man Yee Building, 60-68 Des Voeux Rd. Central, 2882-0101
Ichiban: City'Super, Basement, Times Square, Causeway Bay, 2506-8888
Iriver and JNC: Fortress, 8/F, Times Square, Causeway Bay, 2506-8888
Oakley: Giga Sports, Unit 220, Level 2, Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, 2918-9088