If you want to see just why there are so many manufacturers fighting for the digital portable audio market right now, aside from all the iPod hype, sales of MP3 players more than doubled in 2004, to 6.9 million units, with dollar sales nearly tripling to $1.2 billion, according to data released by the Consumer Electronics Association. The CEA (organisers of the CES) projects that MP3 player sales in 2005 will reach 10 million units and $1.7 billion in dollar sales.

So another tidal wave of MP3 and multi media devices to mention from CES this week, some of them we’ve mentioned before but its the first US appearance for most of them here. Panasonic had four new flash players on show including the SV-SD100 (pictured above) with 256MB and an OLED screen MP3, WMA and AAC playback. Unremarkable judging by the spec but some unusual shapes in the 512MB units the SV-MP120V and the SV-SW120V.
The SAFA SR-M800 model we highlighted last month. There are four models, the 128mb M800F , 256mb M820F , 512mb M850F and the 1GB capacity M890F . The players are available in four colours, blue, red, black and silver. Besides having an integrated FM tuner, line-in recording, and built-in speakers, it also has a 1.5-inch 65,000 color LCD screen you can use to look at your digital photos.
Taiwanese ASmart Technology have some unusual flash models including the weird looking SU-745 and the U-538 (pictured above) both in 128 and 256 sizes and with SD/MMC slots for expansion. RCA/ Thomson introduced the 5 GB Lyra Mini Photo with a 1.5inch LCD screen (where everyone else is already moving to OLED) and a $270 price tag (more than the iPod Mini benchmark of $249).
Related CES News
DAP Review [DAPReview.com]
Report: 2004 U.S. MP3 Player Sales Double to 6.9 Million [CE.org]
I4U CES 2005 News Coverage [i4U.com]
Digital Audio gadgets Mobile Tech