Think the color of your player isn't that important? Toshiba believes it is, at least for the people of Japan. They've just announced the Gigabeat U103 in 24 different colors. In their press release they explain why (roughly translated):


Harmony huh? More like sheer madness! Truthfully speaking, I am glad to see DAP's in color palettes rarely used. I just think 24 different colors is pushing it a bit. Hell, most of us thought Creative went overboard when they released the Zen Micro/Photo in 10 colors. There's one alternative that I'd like to see used in the DAP industry: Faceplates. Faceplates are a commonplace in the mobile phone industry, and I can definitely see them being implemented effortlessly with DAP's as well. Ultimately, Toshiba would benefit more from this strategy since consumers are more likely to buy multiple faceplates, than multiple players.

On the feature side of things (yes, people care about that too!), the U103 offers the same specs as the U102, which in turn had the same as the U101:

• 1GB Capacity
• 1.1" OLED display (96x96 resolution, 65K colors)
• MP3, WMA, and WAV
• FM tuner/Recorder
• Built-in FM transmitter/receiver
• Enhanced DAC
• Battery life: 20 hours
• Colors: All!
• Dimensions: 76.7mm x 36.2mm × 11.4mm

So what's your favorite color? I'm torn between the Sea Pine indigo, and the Green Onion one. The prismatic U103 goes on sale today in Japan for 13,800 Yen, or around $113US.

via AV Watch