Eh ok. Forget about MPEG-4 playback, line-in encoding or even gapless playback - these days, you need DAPs that have detachable magnifying water ball/hologram lenses, or at least an MP3 player that... smells. Well, you got lucky: Audiotronic fully agreed on former statements and has developed a DAP called "iCool". Not related to THIS unit in any sense, by the way. They just happen to share the same product name.

So what exactly is the iCool supposed to be? Well, there's one edition that comes with a see-through window, in which water is... dancing. I guess Audiotronic means us to throw their player into the water, which would result in weird swoosh-like effects because of the magnifying water ball lens. Ah, what do I know - it's just very confusing but strangely appealing.

The "Water ball" type iCool seems to be compatible with the other unit, the so-called "embossed art" edition. These players also have hot-swappable face plates although in this case, it's mostly about the actual designs rather than dancing water stuff. Supposedly the faceplates have some kind of 3D hologram carved into them. The mentioned designs are somewhat disturbing at times - varying from "Sea Turtle" (real pieces of turtle in here?) to "Marijuana". Latter faceplate even comes with something advertised as "aroma smell" - seriously twisted. Same goes for the aroma smell edition of the "casino" face plate, part of Audiotronic's "Addiction series" - yes, I always wanted my MP3 player to reek of cigar smoke, cheap beer and sweaty fat Italian guys playing card games. "More normal" but still weird are the smelly "coffee" and "chocolate" versions, whereas the whole "Fruit" series might actually seem pleasant to the nose - same goes for "Roses", which might prove a useful gift for your girlfriend after she found out you got high on your Marijuana iCool again.

Ok, so, are there any normal specifications to be found in here? Yes, there are. The iCools measure some 66 x 51 x 17mm, weigh a mere 35 grams and run for about 10 hours on a standard AAA battery. Capacities range from 16MB (woohoo!) up to 256MB, but there is an SD/MMC slot for memeory expansion purposes. These DAPs are actually USB2.0-compatible and come with a built-in voice recorder, MP3/ WAV/ WMA support and a simple 96x24px blue-backlit LCD screen. Altogether, just as exceptional as Pokemon. Not sure if that's a good thing.

LINK & LINK

^{Oh, and of course, Audiotronic also makes stuffed animals with MP3 functionality - if it's strange, these guys are ready to put a DAP inside of it}