Fairfield, Connecticut based TV Eyes, the real-time broadcast search provider which has been indexing television and radio broadcasts since 1999, will debut a Podcast search engine called Podscope later this month. Every word within an Internet podcast will be made searchable which is equally applicable to video blogs and personal videos. Podscope will crawl the web to look for podcasts, when it finds one, it will create an index against every word within the content. Podcasters are also able to submit url(s) for crawling.

“With a looming explosion in such user generated rich content as Podcasts and video blogs, there is a growing need to empower consumers to find and subscribe to programs that meet their diverse interests, commented Allen Weiner, Vice President and Research Director at Gartner. “Searching and indexing these varied audio and video programs will not only benefit content-hungry consumers, it also adds legitimacy and velocity to this burgeoning space.

Podscope isn’t the first speech recognition search technology. HP’s Speechbot has been online for years in demo form using speech-recognition technology to create a searchable transcript. BlinkxTV which we featured here last December also uses speech-recognition technology to create searchable text transcripts.

Related Links

Podscope: New Search Engine Will Allow You to Keyword Search Every Word Spoken in a Podcast [SearchEngineWatch Blog]
Pod Catch [PodCatch.com]
BBC To Massively Expand Podcast Trials [iLoveRadio.org]
Podcast Lab [PodcastLab.com]
Podcast Alley [PodcastAlley.com]
Busy Podcasters Guide [iPodder Sourceforge]
Podcasting (aka How To Get Podcasts and Also Make Your Own) [Engadget.com]
Podcasting Power [MercuryNews.com]
A Look At Other Video Search Tools [SearchEngineWatch.com]

We’ve already mentioned the Beastles and the ‘Revolved’ Beatles remix mash-ups on these pages in recent weeks and now there’s another one worthy (or not) of your attention. Beatallica.

Although they’re not in the truest sense of the meaning, mash-up or ‘bastard pop’ as celebrated vigorously on the bootleggers ‘bible’, ‘Get Your Bootleg On’ (or GYBO to those in the know), Beatallica have the spirit of the art down to a tee. A sense of humour and an unlikely clashing of musical genres. Online rockzine Blabbermouth probably summed them up the best by saying that musically they were, “arrangements of Fab Four standards with wonderfully unsubtle references
to Metallica’s songs and a spot-on imitation of James Hetfield’s distinctive vocals…”

So probably more in common with parody like the Rutles and Dread Zeppelin than the genius of Loo and Placido but worthy of a mention here also for their usage of BitTorrent to distribute both their albums, ‘A Garage Dayz Night’ and ‘Beatallica’, not only in the ubiquitous MP3 format but in the lossless audio format Flac. Props all round and great fun to boot (no pun etc….).

Related Reading

Another Beatles Mash Up [MusicbizNews24.com]
Meet the Beastles [MusicbizNews24.com]
Music For the Bootleg Generation [MusicbizNews24.com]
Culture Deluxe [CultureDeluxe.com]

As predicted for a while now just about everywhere, Apple CEO Steve Jobs yesterday announced Apple Computer’s Flash memory based MP3 player, dubbed the iPod Shuffle.

Unveiled for the first time at the Mac World Expo in San Francisco CEO Jobs said, “It is smaller than most packs of gum,” and, “It weighs about four quarters.”
The iPod Shuffle will sell for $99 and $149. Unlike other iPods, the Shuffle uses flash memory, rather than a miniature hard drive, to store songs and it is priced lower than many competing flash players with less memory than the 512 megabytes and 1 gigabyte Apple will include.

As predicted at MacMind over a month ago the unit comes without an LCD screen.
“Get this: NO SCREEN. Got a cellphone with one of those flat joysticks? This is apparently how you’ll get around on the screenless iPod.”
Like its big brother the hard disc drive iPod, the iPod Shuffle includes a navigation wheel. There’s also a slider on the back of the player that determines how tunes will be played. The first switch position tells the iPod shuffle to play songs from the beginning of the playlist to the end in orderm, one more notch and it will shuffle the songs on the device. The third position turns the device off.

Jobs told Conference goers, “With most flash-memory music players users must use tiny displays and complicated controls to find their music; with iPod shuffle you just relax and it serves up new combinations of your music every time you listen.”

Users can charge and transfer music from their Mac or PC by plugging iPod shuffle directly into a USB port. The Shuffle also doubles as a portable USB flash drive and comes with its own lanyard so you can wear the tiny player. Apple already have a number of accessories for the new iPod including an arm band, dock connector and sports case.

The players go on sale from today on the Apple website.

Related Reading

iPod Shuffle:First Impressions [PlaylistMag.com]
iPod Shuffle Sparks Stampede [Wired.com]
Apple Introduces iPod Shuffle [Yahoo Finance]
Apple Makes Tiny Steps for the Masses [Washington Post]
Apple: Jobs Unleashes Mini Mini Pod [Silicon.com]
Apple iPod Shuffle (512MB) [CNet Reviews]
Turn Any iPod into an iPod Shuffle in 3 Easy Steps! [Flickr.com]

Its not exactly a groundbreaking new idea, grab an old Beatles album, mash up with random choice of other tracks etc. Still, mash-up DJ/ ‘Frankenstein Pop’ artist CCC has undertaken the not undaunting task of putting his own spin on the Beatles classic 1966 ‘Revolver’ album.

The full track listing and ubiquitous MP3 downloads for ‘Revolved’ will be up next month on its completion, meanwhile there’s five variations already up for grabs, the most promising of which is ‘Eleanor Ciccone’ a rather wonderful pairing of Madonna’s ‘Ray Of Light’ and the Fab Fours ‘Eleanor Rigby’ . Theres an unadventurous mash-up of the Jams ‘Start’ and the Beatles track that was the inspiration for Paul Weller, ‘Start’ and overall its great fun but not nearly as clever as DJ Dangermouse’s groundbreaking (at least in terms of column inches)‘Grey Album’.

Related Reading

Meet the Beastles [MusicbizNews24.com]
MTV Premier’s New ‘Download’ Show [MusicbizNews24.com]
Music for the Bootleg Generation [MusicbizNews24.com]

Philips were showing off one of the oddest entries amongst the army of new MP3 portables at CES last week with the dinky looking Personal Sound System (or the PSS 110 as its known officially).
The super compact digital stereo comes with built in speakers, doing away with the need for the after market accessories needed for iPods to escape the restrictive headphone only playback.

The unit comes with a relatively sparse 256MB (though this is still sufficient enough to cram over four hours of reasonably high bit rate MP3′s on there) with no expansion slot. In its favor there’s an FM radio tuner, WMA and MP3 playback and a built in clock/alarm. Its due in the US in April for around $159.99.

Still a huge list of MP3 players, PMP’s, PVP’s and other similar acronymed portable music and video players that we havn’t had time to mention from the CES gadget fest last week. Koreans iAudio/Cowon ( JetAudio in the USA) had a bunch of funky looking new models–new to the USA that is, some of these have been floating around the Far East for a while– on show in Las Vegas. The iAudio5 (pictured below) has a choice of flash memory ranging from 256MB right up to 2GB. It has a color screen, USB 2.0, support for Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WMA and the newer secure Janus/WMA (see PlayForSure.com, better known as PayForMore amongst digital cynics). Other Flash memory players included the G3, and the U2. Cowon were also showing off the 20GB hard drive big brother M5 and the unexpected A2 portable media player.

Elsewhere there was the Korean Enox EMX 830 said to be the worlds smallest and lightest MP3 player and featuring capacity ranging from 256MB to 1GB.

LG had the 20GB MF-HE 700 with color screen and MP3, Ogg, WMA and video playback function, FM tuner/recorder and voice recording capabilities. And another name new to these shores was Koreans Ezav who were showing off the smooth looking EMP 500 flash player, with the usual 256MB-1GB range, color display and direct MP3 encoding feature.

Related Links

iAudio Cowon Forums [iAudiophile.net]
CES 2005 Portable Audio and Video [CNet]
DAP Review [DAPReview.net]

Geeks and electronic gadget fans attention will be shifting from Las Vegas to San Francisco tomorrow as the much anticipated Mac World Expo opens just 48 hours after gadget-fest Las Vegas ends.

Much of the anticipation surrounds the expected official announcement of a smaller Flash based memory version of the iPod which has already been much whispered and speculated about web wide (including here). I cant think of a portable device that has sprung up so many speculative DiY designs and gossip ever.

The MacMind website was the first one to actually post leaked mock-ups early last month. A few days ago Think Secret had even more information (from reliable ‘sources’) with claims that the device will be in 1 and 2GB sizes with the Flash memory module sourced from Samsung. Prices are said to be $149 for the 1 Gig player and $199 for the 2 Gig (which is said to have two mini Flash modules) with manufacturing already underway in Taiwan courtesy of Asustek.

The other much talked about device expected to be elaborated on at the San Francisco Expo (there was a sneak preview at CES) is the Motorola iTunes capable phone which has been the source of frantic debate almost as much as the Flash iPod.

Related Reading

iPod Flash Will Have a Screen? [Engadget.com]
The Chinese MP3 Invasion [MusicbizNews24.com]
Applele [Applele.com]
iPod Flash Player Revealed? [MusicbizNews24.com]
the Cult of Mac Blog [Wired Blogs]

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]

As well as all the usual leading audio manufacturers displaying new MP3 players at this years CES that market is set to get decidedly busier in 2005 with a whole raft of new names (at least to the US) showing off an interesting (though not exactly ground breaking) group of new models. The Mobiblu brand from Korean firm Hyun Won Inc. have some sharp looking players on show.

Three flash models are making their US debut, the DAH 1000 and 1200 both come in choices of 128/256 and 512MB while the 1400 has a 256/512 and 1GB memory option. The DHH-100-5 has a 5GB HDD and is compatible with MP3 and WMA and also the newer DRM’ed WMA format. The feature rich unit has built in voice recorder, USB 2.0, an SD/MMC memory card slot and built in stereo speakers and direct MP3 plug and play encoding (rip without a PC) and retails for $229.

Related Reading

MobiBlu DHH 100-5GB Review [Cnet Reviews]
I4U CES 2005 News Coverage
[i4U.com]
CES 2005 Daily Updates [CrutchfieldAdvisor.com]
Portable Audio and Video CES 2005 [CNet News]
Engadget at CES [Engadget.com]

Dont know a whole lot about Korean gadget manufacturer IOPS but they have a handful of nice but quite generic looking flash players. At CES they are showing off the F4 model which plays WMA, MP3 and Ogg, has USB 1.1, comes in four colors and four memory sizes, the pretty standard 128/256/512 and 1GB flavors. There’s FM receiver and recording, voice recorder, direct encoding feature and OLED display. No details on price or availability. The model is marketed in Europe via Czech Republic based brand Emgeton.

Related Reading
Global Gadget Sales Seen Up 11 Percent in 2005 [Reuters.com]
2005 International CES:Audio [CESWeb.org]

There’s an overused buzz word, the PVP, or the Portable Video Player, or PMP, the Portable Media Player. Whatever. Chicago based Ovideon are better known for their LCD TV screens though they have jumped on the increasingly crowded PVP/PMP bandwagon with the promising looking Aviah portable media player/recorder.

The Aviah player/recorder comes with an integrated TV/Cable Tuner, 5GB 1 inch microdrive, 2.2 inch high res 521 x 218 pixel OLED display, voice recording, Windows Media, DivX, JPEG, MP3 and AVi compatibility and a weight of 5.1 ounces. The device will retail for $599.

Related Reading

Best PVPs [BestPVPs.com]
PVP For You [PVP4U.com]
Portable Video Players [CNet Reviews]

Atlanta based Giant International are at CES showing off some of their Tao brand consumer electronic devices, in particular the Tao WiFi MP3 player and the XM 2Go handheld satellite radio receiver.

The black clad WiFi MP3 unit has a 20GB hard drive and the device lets you download music from anywhere you have WiFi access and can transmit MP3′s to your car or home stereos or any FM radio using the FM transmitter. It’ll be available for around $350 retail.

“The Tao WiFi MP3 once again allows us to deliver on the promise of the Tao brand by bringing wireless downloads to MP3 players,” said Cortlandt Minnich, vice president of marketing for Giant International. “Now, music and audio book lovers with active lifestyles can update their collections whenever they wish and wherever they go.”

Rival gadget maker Soniqcast were the first to market with a wireless MP3 player with the Aireo which appeared February 2004 though was ‘hampered’ by its small 1.5GB drive and chunky size. The sleeker looking 20GB Aireo 2 will follow in mid 2005. Oh, and the Aireo 2 and the Tao WiFi Mp3 look identical, except one’s white, (Aireo) and one is black (Tao).

Related Links

Tao Life [TaoLife.com]
Squeeze Box [SlimDevices.com]
Barix Exstreamer [SmartHome.com]

All the hype may be about the expected Apple anouncements in San Francisco (the much rumoured Flash iPod and 5GB Mini Pod for two) at the Mac World Expo in a few days time (January 10-14th), but a few days earlier–January 6-9th– in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show 2005 there are bound to be a barrage of new MP3 players unveiled, not least from the Far East.

If Apple are going to show off a flash-memory based player, whats it going to be, 512MB, 1GB ? The bar may already have been set and raised by Korean gadgets kings EZMax who are set to unleash the EZMP-4100 at CES. Looking like just another sub 1Gig flash player the 4100 actually boasts a 2GB drive inside which is double the capacity of nearest rival, the 1gb Creative Muvo Micro N200 and also half the physical size.

There is line-in and voice encoding, a dual earphone jack to share your music with a friend, FM tuner/encoder and even support for open source audio codec OGG Vorbis and the usual MP3 and WMA formats. There is an OLED display and fast USB2.0 connection. If the company can compete pricewise (the Muvo N200 retails for $200) this one will certainly create some ripples against the established giants in the US.

Related Links
Creative Muvo Micro N200 (1GB) [Cnet Asia]

Korean MP3 manufacturer Muzio are introducing another new model next month to add to their range of flash-memory based MP3 players. The JM300 comes in 256/512 and 1GB sizes, three colors (black, red and silver), supports MP3, Ogg Vorbis and WMA and weighs 45.5g with dimensions of 70 x 44.5 x 19mm.

The device has a 180 degrees swivelling USB connector, two headphone outs, FM radio and recording, a watch function, 3D sound support, voice recording and direct encoding feature. No news on USA prices or availability as yet. Muzio have also started to branch out into the increasingly popular HDD player market with the JMH 1000 a 1 inch HDD 4GB model, the companies biggest capacity model so far, though already surpassed by the new breed of 5GB mid range players appearing elsewhere.

Related Links

AVing Korea [Aving.co.kr] Google Translation
South Korea Pushes Digital Music Ubiquity [DigitalMusicNews]
South Korea Leads the Way [CNet News]
MPIO Korea [Mpio.com]
iRiver Korea [iRiver.com]

BenQ are Taiwan’s market leading flash-based MP3 player manufacturer with around 20% of local market share and are cashing in on the increased demand for larger capacity players with the release this month of the Joybee 720, which was originally unveiled in prototype form at Japans Createc back in October.

The 99 x 58.4 x 14.7mm, 114gram sized player looks like it’ll be aimed at the UK and Australia outside of the local market where its list price is $9900Taiwan ($311 equiv.). The 5gb player uses a Seagate 1 inch drive and has a slot for SD/MMC cards.It has the standards like WMA and MP3 compatibility, FM radio, 1.8 inch color display, USB 2.0 and 10 hour battery life.

Oddly there is no voice recording facility, something which usually comes as standard on these things. Again, a nice looking, full featured player in the increasingly busy mid sized market, but it’ll take something more to dislodge the iPod mini which is expected to increase capacity early 2005 from 4 to 5GB (using the same Seagate hard drive).

Related Reading

Apple Begins Manufacturing New iPod Mini Player [AppleInsider.com]
Apple Readies 5GB iPod [theRegister.com]
Creative Zen Micro [Creative]
Zen Micro Review [PCMag.com]
5GB MP3 Players [i4u.com]
Micro Hard Drive MP3 Players [CNet Reviews]

Some nice looking compact MP3 players on the way from Korean manufacturer Safa next month. The SR range has 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.

On the up side they will play Ogg Vorbis, WMA and MP3 formats have a 1.5inch color screen, FM tuner and are a compact 41mm x 76.2mm x 17mm, on the downside they only come with USB 1.1. The units also come with built in stereo speakers. The models will be available in the UK next month with the 1GB coming in at a hefty $365 (189 UK pounds) . Hard to see where their market is aiming at with the 20gb Apple iPod retailing in the UK for just another 30 pounds. More details will be announced at the Las Vegas CES 2005 in January.

If we tried to feature just three Far Eastern MP3 manufacturers here a day, it would take over a year to squeeze all of them in. Recent reports suggest that including smaller low volume operators there could be as many as 1000 manufacturers in China alone. We decided to look at a few of the more unusual, ugly or just plain odd MP3 players being churned out in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea, some of them you’ll never find in the West some of them will find their way to mainland Europe, the UK and USA eventually.

The Zarva MM comes in four sizes of 128/256/512 and 1GB of flash memory, supports the usual MP3, WMA, Wav and ASF, has a recordable FM tuner, USB 2.0, voice recorder and a choice of three body colors, silver, blue and red. Its ‘big brother’, the Z-Pod M200 has a 20gb HDD, FM radio, voice recorder support for MP3/WMA/WAV and OGG Vorbis. It clocks in at 186grams, 66.5�99.5�22mm dimensions and has a 160 x 105 LCD display.

The Korean Woodi brand boast a big range of flash players including the funky looking 256mb Swing WD M400 model pictured here in white/grey (see also below). Still in Korea, iBead (or T Mode as its known for the Korean home market) have a number of smaller flash models and the larger iBead 1000 which has a 1.5gb HDD, support for MP3, WMA and Ogg, 128 x 128 pixel color screen, USB 2.0, FM radio and voice recorder which are standard features on even the smallest models in Korea and China.

Ann are another Korean manufacturer with a range of flash players including the 128mb FM 7000.Chinese manufacturer EZMax have a nice looking range of flash players including the EZMP 3100 model in a choice of red and silver and 128/256mb capacity. Hong Kong’s WeWa have a big range of models ranging from bog standard 128mb models to the king size 20gb HD 200. Gemei, Pisa, Koky and BeAll are just another handful of the army of firms popping up in China by the day it seems. In the flash player market ‘war’ things will be hotting up a tad in the new year should Apple announce their own entry in the flash player market as expected at Mac World Expo , something which will not only boost Apple’s own profile but also have a ripple effect on some of the more promising newcomers.

Related Reading
The Chinese MP3 Invasion [MusicbizNews24.com]
Whats Hot and Whats Not in the MP3 Market [Chosun Korea]
Sales of MP3 Mobile Phones to Break 5 Million at Home This Year [Chosun Korea]

Far EastTech Sites
Ez iT [Ezit.com.cn]
MPLove Korea
IMP3 [IMP3.net China]
MPNavi [MPNavi China]
PC Online Digital Audio [PC Online China]

We’re not sure if there are any plans for its its availability in the West but Hong Kong based Matsunichi announced a mid range MP3 player last month with a 2.2 GB micro hard -drive. The MD289 comes with a 1 inch 2.2 GB hard drive, OLED screen, FM radio, the usual support for MP3, WMA and Wav and a choice of five colours, silver, pink, blue, white and light green. There’s a 5GB version on its way too. Matsunichi are better known for their wide range of Flash based memory players in China.

Such is the ferver and anticipation of the (still as yet unconfirmed by Apple) soon come Apple Flash-memory based audio portable, that impatient Mac addicts have taken it upon themselves to come up with a slew of predictive dummy prototypes of the much rumoured ‘iPod Flash.’

The best examples of which you’ll find at the independent iPod user site iPod Lounge and Isamu Sanada’s accomplished Japanese Applele Mac fansite . One thing that is certain is that Apple’s ‘inevitable’ arrival into the smaller capacity portable market will undoubtedly have the same effect on the Flash player arena that it did on the hard disk drive player marketplace when the iPod was introduced in late 2001. This will quite possibly have the effect of putting a rocket under the profile of some of the (hundreds) of manufacturers in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. A report by market research specialists IDC in September predicted that the worldwide market for MP3 players would hit $58 billion by 2008.

The report predicted that the biggest growth in MP3 players should come from portable flash players. The volume of flash players shipped will jump to 50 million units in 2008, up from 12.5 million in 2003. The competitive global MP3 player market is expected to more than double this year to 15.4 million units from last year’s 7.5 million units.

There is estimated to be over 400 MP3 manufacturers in mainland China and 2003 saw up to 4.5 million units shipped, half of which were for export markets . Export figures are projected to reach 6 million by the end of 2004. Recent statistics by the China Center for Information Industry Development show that 1.77 million MP3 players were sold in the country last year, a 235.8 percent growth compared with the previous year. It predicts that for this year, China will have domestic sales of over 4 million players, a projected 200 percent increase. In other studies, Taiwan based AT Chip Corp, a major designer of MP3 chips projects annual shipments of MP3 players in the Chinese mainland will reach 20 million units next year, and 50 million units in 2007.

The dramatic growth of the Chinese mainland’s MP3 player market has also been fuelled by the increasing penetration of broadband Internet, which accommodates faster downloads. The average price of an MP3 player fell from 1,100 yuan (US$133) last year to 700 yuan (US$84) in the first half of this year, indicates Beijing-based data tracking firm CCW Research. AT Chip Corp’s Micheal Chang told China Daily that more dramatic price drops are expected, given decreasing costs of chips, which will boost the MP3 player market. AT Chips unveiled a new semiconductor for MP3 players last month that the firm claim is the least expensive chip of its kind in the industry at much less than $5. “When the cost of a chip is lower than US$5, the MP3 player market will undergo snowballing growth,” said Chang.

The possibility of a Flash-based iPod surfaced in October this year, when Thomas Weisel analyst Jason Pfaum claimed, citing “numerous” Asian sources, that Apple will use MP3 chip maker SigmaTel’s controller chip in an upcoming music player.

Related Links

Shenzen Hosts up to 500 MP3 Player Manufacturers [GlobalSources.com]
China to Lead Global MP3 Market Growth [MacWorld UK]
Apple to Sell 22m Flash-iPod Within Two Years – Analyst [Yahoo News]
iPod Share Slips 5% on Strong Flash Sales [Mac Observer]
MP3 Player Market at Full Volume [China Economic Net]
The ABoss iPocket Says, Apple Please Sue Us! [Engadget]
iPod Competitors are Going After a Slice of Apple’s Pie [Seattle Post Intelligencer]
MP3 Player Market Set to Explode [CNetNews]
Korea Loses Out in MP3 Player Market [Korea Times]

They say that imitation is the highest form of flattery, though we’re not sure if Apple will be so amused when they see the latest digital music portable from Taiwan’s ABoss.

ABoss were up to now renown for their entry level priced DVD players but have now jumped into the exploding market for portable MP3 players with the most outrageous iPod rip off so far. The closest copy that we have encountered up to now has been the German Medion MD 95200 pictured here.

The ABoss iPocket is as near as you can get to being a complete copy of Apple’s iPod Mini, even down to the same choice of five colors as the iPod Mini. They sling in the same four-button set-up from the third generation iPod just for good measure. Not many technical details available right now (try as we might no info found on memory capacity) bar for the devices built in memory card slot for removable Memory Sticks, MMC and SD cards and an OLED screen.

Thanks to the wonderful Engadget

ReignCom, Korea’s leading digital music device manufacturer, said it will release its first hard-disk model next week in Korea in a direct stab at the popularity of Apple’s iPod . The new iRiver H10 is built around a 5-gigabyte hard disk that is capable of holding more than 1,200 songs (ripped at 128kpbs) and has several features and functions not available on the iPod mini. With colour 1.5-inch LCD, an extra GB of storage, FM radio, voice recording, digital photo album display and a text viewer program viewer that supports more than 40 languages.

The player features a vertical touch-scroll controller and a rechargeable battery that allows 12 hours of playing time and is set to appear in the USA in January. At 363, 000 Won in local money that converts to around $342. It will come in four colors, Neo Silver, Deep Red, Midnight Blue and Slate Grey.

Speaking to the Korea Herald a ReignCom spokesman said : “The release of our hard-disk-type model doesn’t mean that our focus will shift away from our flash-memory-based products. It’s more of a counter against Apple’s rising popularity in the market,” adding that the company is planning to release 20-gigabyte and 40-gigabyte models next year.

More than 90 percent of Korea’s digital-music players use flash memory for storage with some models offering up to a gigabyte of capacity, according to industry analyst groups. However, the world market for hard-disk music players is increasing by 45 percent annually and is expected to over take flash-memory products by the end of 2005. Flash-memory MP3 players accounted for 60 percent of the world market in 2003.

Related Reading

Reigncom Unveils Hard-Disc MP3 Player [Korea Herald]
For iRiver Enthusiasts [MisticRiver.net]
Reigncom Challenges Apple’s iPod [Korea Times]
iRiver H10 is Out ! [DapReview.net]
iRiver May Finally Have an iPod Challenger [AudioGoGo.com]
iRiver H320 [CNet Reviews]

Portable MP3 player chip manufacturer SigmaTel, released a consumer survey this week that shows up to 20 percent of Americans (13.5 million according to 2000 U.S. census data) between the ages of 18 and 35 are considering an MP3 player purchase within the next six months. The nationwide survey found that 59 percent of would-be buyers plan to give MP3 players as gifts. The survey was fielded by independent research firm StrategyOne on behalf of SigmaTel.

“In the U.S., the portable MP3 player category has expanded far beyond early adopters. A compelling selection of device form factors, storage capacities, price points and compatible online music services has driven this expansion,” said Susan Kevorkian, senior analyst with IDC. “Younger consumers have been on the cutting edge of this trend, which is only gaining momentum during this holiday season.”

“If consumer intentions are any indication, the MP3 market has moved beyond its infancy stage and is poised for significant growth,” said Ron Edgerton, president and chief executive officer of SigmaTel.

When asked why they would consider buying an MP3 player, 63 percent of would-be buyers cited new music download services and 69 percent cited audio quality. “This survey clearly shows us that consumers have embraced this technology and the wide range of MP3 players available to suit every budget and lifestyle,” noted Edgerton

In another report, “Today’s Handheld Electronics: What do Consumers Think About Current and Future Devices?” released this week by In-Stat/MDR they found that 90% of MP3 player owners are over the aged of 35. 31% of people have downloaded music (mainly over a broadband connection) and there is a 20% increase in those paying to download from last year. 30% of the respondents indicated they were familiar or very familiar with handheld audio/video players.

In a recent survey of buying preferences among U.S. teenagers, analysts at Piper Jaffray found a strong preference for the iPod over competing products. Of the 600 teens surveyed, 16 percent already owned an iPod, and 24 percent planned to get one within the next year. Only 8 percent planned to acquire another brand of music player in that time.

According to a market research study in September from researchers at the NPD Group Apple’s iPod maintained its strong hold on the market with a 87.3% share among hard drive-based players, down from 92.0%, followed by HP in second with its iPod made by Apple at 3.6%. Combining the HP and Apple percentages, Apple controlled 90.9% of the market share. Finishing out the top five of hard drive-based players was Rio with a 2.8% share, Creative in fourth with 2.6% and iRiver at 1.5%.

Related News

Digital Music a Prime Opportunity for Music Industry, But Challenges Remain [NPD Group]
Its All About the iPod [CNet News]
Creative, Apple Battle For MP3 Player Market [Slashdot.org]
The iPod Economy [Forbes.com]
iPod: How Long Will It Reign? [BusinessWeek.com]
iPod Share Slips 5% on Strong Flash Sales, HP Second [MacObserver.com]
MP3 Player Market Set to Explode [CNet News]

MP3 Audio Resources

MP3 Player Buying Guide [CNet Reviews]
MP3 and Digital Music Players [PCMag.com]
Flash Mp3 Players [Gizmopedia.com]
Everything iPod [Everythingipod.com]
HDD MP3 Players [Gizmopedia.com]
Tech Gift Guide [MP3.com]
Portable Audio [Engadget.com]
Audio GoGo [Audiogogo.com]
Digital Audio Player Review [DAPReview.net]

AudioFeast, a subscription radio service that offers downloadable radio shows for portable players–the first of its kind, the company said has raised $10 million in funding through venture capital firms Mayfield who led the investment round, and were joined by Worldview Technology Partners and previous company investors.

AudioFeast said the additional funds will be used to further advance its product and business development opportunities and enhance its sales efforts. AudioFeast is currently compatible with iRiver, Rio, iRock, Creative Labs, Dell and RCA MP3 players and is available via several subscription plans beginning at $2.99. AudioFeast also offers a free service with eight, 60-minute channels of popular music, news sports and entertainment and other programs.

“In deciding to invest in AudioFeast, we were especially impressed with the company’s strategy of being the premier portable Internet radio provider,” said Irwin Gross of Worldview Technology Partners. “There is a tremendous potential for AudioFeast’s service to grow with emerging MP3 market, and Worldview is committed to being part of this growing personalized entertainment space.”

The subscription based web radio service debuted at the DemoMobile conference in September. The service delivers over 400 channels of programming and acts like a sort of TiVO for radio, letting you capture and listen to favorite radio programming at leisure somewhat like Podcasting in essence in that you subscribe to the programmes you want, sync and plug in your compatible portable audio player and then listen while you’re on the move or at your PC.

Related Reading

Audiofeast Raises $10 Million in Funding [DesignTechnica]
Podcasting [Wikipedia.org]
Audiofeast [SlimDevices.com]
AudioFeast: Radio Streams for Digital Portables [MP3Newswire.net]
Almost Retro? It’s Radio for MP3 Players [CNet News]
AudioFeast Launches Internet Radio Service [NewsFactor.com]
Podcasting Directory [Podcasting.net]

We’re not sure where the rumors of a smaller, Flash based memory iPod emerged, though it was quite probably here last month on the Apple Insider website:

Apple Computer in December will begin manufacturing a third variant of its flagship iPod music player, which will be based on solid-state flash memory, AppleInsider has confirmed through well placed and extremely reliable sources.

Unofficial sources predict that the player will be officially revealed at next months MacWorld Expo in San Francisco, come in at under $200 retail and feature a storage capacity in the range of 256 MB to 1 Gig. No official confirmation from Apple itself and although they dominate the market for hard drive based players with something around 90% share, that share drops to 65% when flash models are included in the tally.

Last night MacMind were showing off ‘exclusive’ mock ups from insider information they’d gleamed from a reliable “anonymous tipster” and their site went into meltdown after it got ‘SlashDotted’ this morning. Its said to have no display and set to retail at $99. Anyway, we’re not convinced by the 3D mockups, the player actually looks more like a mouse.

We much prefer the classy looking mock up from Japanese designer and Mac addict Isamu Sanada on his Applele site. Thanks to the Cult of Mac blog for that lead.

Related Links

Rumored iPod Flash Leaked [Slashdot.org]
the Cult of Mac Blog [WiredBlogs]
Apple iPod Flash Said to Ship January [the Register]
Flash Gordon [Daring Fireball]
Bronfman Likes Telcos in iPod Race [theStreet.com]
the iPod Year in Review 2004 [iPodLounge.com]

Musicians believe the internet is an essential tool to help create and market their work, but at the same time more than half of artists say file sharing of unauthorized copies of music should be illegal, according to a new report. The study titled, “Artists, Musicians and the Internet,” by US. researchers suggests that musicians do not wholeheartedly agree with the tactics adopted by the music industry against file-sharing, artists are divided on the issue but not deeply concerned. 60% said they did not think the lawsuits against song swappers would benefit musicians and songwriters.

In Spring of this year, the not-for-profit Future of Music Coalition and the nonprofit, non-partisan think tank the Pew Internet & American Life Project worked with an array of other musician and songwriter organizations including Just Plain Folks, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, CD Baby, the Nashville Songwriters Association, Garageband.com, and the American Federation of Musicians. to conduct an online survey to gauge musicians’ opinions of copyright and the internet in general. Over 2700 musicians completed the survey, the results of which were revealed yesterday.

“Even successful artists don’t think the lawsuits will benefit musicians.” “We looked at more of the independent musicians, rather than the rockstars of this industry but that reflects more accurately the state of the music industry,” research specialist and author of the report Mary Madden told the BBC News website.

52% of all artists and 55% of Paid Artists believe it should be illegal for internet users to share unauthorized copies of music and movies over file-sharing networks, compared to 37% of all artists and 35% of Paid Artists who say it should be legal.

Songwriters Eric Lowen & Dan Navarro, who wrote the Pat Benatar hit “We Belong” said free file sharing can have tremendous promotional value, but artists should be able to decide if they want to give away their music. “I want the ability to choose whether it goes out there for free or not,” Navarro told Wired. “When people start taking (the music for free), it takes the control away from us. I don’t think that’s fair.”

Makers of file-sharing software like Kazaa and Grokster may be unnerved to learn that nearly two-thirds said such services should be held responsible for illegal file-swapping; only 15 percent held individual users responsible.

The report continues to say that 87% of the musician respondents say they promote, advertise or display their music online, and 83% provide free samples or previews of their music on the internet. 69% of the respondents say they sell their music online. 63% say that they sell their music online someplace other than their own Web site.

56% sell CDs through online stores like Amazon.com or CDBaby, 28% sell downloadable files through digital stores like iTunes, and 18% sell their music someplace else online.

“Some in the policy community and in media companies have feared that the internet would bring financial Armageddon to musicians and other artists,” said report author Madden, “What we hear from a wide spectrum of artists is that, despite the real challenges of protecting work online, the internet has opened up new ways for them to exercise their imaginations and sell their creations. To many, this feels like a new Digital Renaissance rather than the end of the world.”

For independent musicians, in particular, this newfound ability to bypass traditional distribution outlets and geographic boundaries has been a watershed. One musician explained that having the ability to sell music online was the most significant impact of the internet.

“A huge positive benefit is being able to have my music available for sale to anyone in the world who wants it. Ten years ago there was absolutely no way to sell your CD except through major distribution deals or at your own shows.”

The survey found that musicians were overwhelmingly positive about the internet, rather than seeing it as a threat to their livelihood. Almost all of them used the net for ideas and inspiration, with nine out of 10 going online to promote, advertise and post their music on the web.

The survey is the first large-scale snapshot of what the people who actually produce the music that downloaders seek (and that the industry jealously guards) think about the Internet and file-sharing. The Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group for the major music labels, declined to comment on the study.

Download the 61page PDF. report.
‘Artists, Musicians & the Internet’

Related Reading

Study:Musicians Dig the Net [Wired.com]
Musicians ‘Upbeat’ About the Net [BBC News]
Pew File Sharing Survey Gives a Voice to Artists [NYTimes.com-reg. req.]
How do Musicians Feel About File Sharing? [USAToday.com]

Further Reading

The WIRED CD: Rip. Sample. Mash. Share.[CreativeCommons.org]
File-Sharing Getting Bad Rap? [Rolling Stone] April 2004
Download This! Chuck D Interview [CBCNews.ca] March 2004
Grey Album Fans Protest Clampdown [Wired.com]
Killing the Music [CommonDreams.org] Feb. 2004
An Eagle Almost Gets it [A Networked World blog]
Musicians United for Strong Internet Copyright [MusicUnited.net]
RIAA Radar [Magnetbox.com]
Downhill Battle-Music Activism
[DownhillBattle.org]
Feeding the Mouth that Bites [ChrisVreeland.com]
Let the Music Play [EFF.org]
Recording Industry Association of America [Wikipedia.org]
Model & History of File Sharing [InfoAnarchy.org]
Tracking the Downloading Revolution [BigChampagne.com] PDF
Privacy & Piracy: The Paradox of Illegal File Sharing on Peer-to-Peer Networks and the Impact of Technology on the Entertainment Industry [US.Senate Study] 169pg PDF
Rappers in Disharmony on P2P [Wired.com] Oct. 2003
Changing Industry:Moby [Moby.com] Sept. 2003
Moby on File Sharing [Moby.com] Aug. 2003
the Internet Debacle-An Alternative View [JanisIan.com] May 2002
Lars Ulrich’s Death Wish: Metallica v their Fans [Disinfo.com] Oct 2000
Chuck D: Gotta Share the Tunes [Wired.com] Oct 1999
Downloading the Future. The MP3 Revolution & the End of the Industry as We Know It [LAWeekly] March 1999
Negativland and the RIAA
[Negativland.com] 1998