Posts in Music & Play

The 18k gold shuffle: Only US$10,000

Mike Yamamoto, CNET.com | Jul 20, 2007

Pity the poor shuffle. Even before all of Apple's music players took a back seat to the iPhone, the shuffle had to endure the pomposity of its older sibling, the iPod, in 24k gold.

But the little guy is finally getting some revenge. According to BornRich, a German company called Xexoo has created a shuffle cast in 18k gold for just US$10,000, including 24-hour tech support.

Before you rush out to take advantage of this bargain, be aware that the player is expecting--what else?--an upgrade. Instead of memory or other boring specs, though, the next version will have diamonds. At these prices, one would at least expect them to throw in a golden remote.

Via CNET Crave
Picture credit: BornRich

Filed under: Music & Play
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PSP redesign: Fact or fiction?

John Falcone, CNET Crave | Jul 11, 2007

Google PSP redesign or PSP2, and you'll get tens of thousands of results (and even a few interesting homemade Photoshop jobs, such as the "PSP Mini" shown above)--a testament to the fact that many gamers, it seems, were never quite comfortable with the design of Sony's first handheld gaming system.

To be sure, the PSP has its share of issues, not the least of which is the UMD format--the proprietary optical disc format is hobbled with slow load times, and the moving parts sap the PSP's battery life. Controls have always been suspect, too, with most gamers lusting for a second analog stick to better mimic the home PlayStation DualShock controller. And the dearth of onboard storage limits the device's media functions to the comparatively paltry storage of removable Memory Stick Duo flash memory cards.

At the same time, rumors of the PSP's demise have been greatly exaggerated--while it hasn't dethroned Nintendo from handheld gaming's top spot, the PSP has sold well by any other measure, with a worldwide install base estimated at more than 24 million and a growing library of great games.

But hardware refreshes are par for the course in the gaming world, and the PSP--which originally hit Japan in the fall of 2004--is due for a makeover. Citing anonymous "highly placed" sources, Kotaku provided a laundry list of improvements in an alleged PSP redesign--all the way back in March 2007. And rumors of a PSP phone continue to persist as well. Whether or not Sony will unveil a PSP redesign at this week's E3 conference in Santa Monica is anybody's guess--we'll know by mid-afternoon (US time) on Wednesday.

Photo credit: Kotaku

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Samsung YP-E3: Made for China

Nate Lanxon, CNET.co.uk | Jul 04, 2007

This morning we're directing your viewing spheres towards some fresh digital meat all the way from the 21st century Orient. No, it's not an oriental rug with sewn-in speakers. That would be stupid. We're introducing you to Samsung's YP-E3. It's a USB stick-styled MP3 player with a dinky colour screen and good old-fashioned FM radio functionality.

So far we've got no confirmation that this is going to make it onto any shores other than China, so excuse us for potentially giving you the same experience as almost sneezing and then losing it. That out of the way, we think the E3 looks pretty tasty--it's roughly only 50mm in length. We're looking at 1GB of memory, four lines of text (in two colors, no less) and about 11 hours of battery life.

There's support for MP3 and WMA and it'll come in a range of colours. If you're a sucker for good-quality sounds you'll appreciate the inclusion of DNSe audio-enhancement technology. Oh, and it'll display lyrics, too. Marvelous if you fancy making everyone else in your train carriage embarrassed.

Frankly we're a touch underwhelmed by specs alone, but Samsung doesn't really have a player that fits into this category, so the E3 has potential for the company. We'll keep you posted as to availability but don't pause your next purchase in hope of this player being out anytime soon. It'll sell in China for around 419 yuan. Go on, Samsung, bring that over here for that price and kick some, er, buttock.

Via CNET Crave.co.uk

Larger image of the YP-E3: