Update: It's already sold out!

For a limited time, Sony Style is selling a 16GB S630 series Walkman for just $64.99 and free shipping. That's a smoking deal that will no doubt sell out soon. The S639 series, as you'd expect from Sony, has top-notch sound quality, and comes bundled with a pair of premium EX-series headphones. It'll play back MP3, WMA, AAC codecs and has an estimated battery life of up to 50 hours. This was reduced to $90 just last month, so this might be the final markdown before they're gone for good.

LINK

(via SlickDeals)

It looks like Samsung is thinking outside of the box for their newest line of players. First, there was the IceTouch, a touchscreen player with a cool transparent screen, and now we have the TicToc (aka YP-S1). It's a colorful little player that's controlled by motion. You increase the player by shaking it, and decrease the volume by turning it upside down (while pressing the volume button). Check out a quick demo of it courtesy of "DigiTalk News".


The idea isn't exactly new. Sandisk did the same thing with kid-friendly Sansa Shaker. Still, it's nice to see the technology in a more stylish and compact form-factor. The Samsung Tic Toc will be available in 2 and 4GB capacities later this year. will support MP3, WMA, OGG, and FLAC, and have roughly 12 hours of battery life,

You can see a few more pictures at AVing and Cnet

I decided to check out Cowon's site tonight and guess what I saw? Well, besides the barrage of pop-ups (seriously Cowon?), they've put up a teaser page for the Cowon W2. A few months back, we reported on the W2, which was outed by some Bluetooth certification documents. It's a MID device, which is what everyone seems to be making these days. The W2 has a really clean brushed metal design, and is being powered by an Intel Atom processor. They haven't provided the full specs yet, but here's what we have so far:

W2 Features

• Display: 4.8" Touchscreen LCD (1024 x 600 resolution)
• Powered by: Intel Atom 1.33GHZ CPU
• Runs: Windows 7
• Built-in: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Speakers
• Connections: USB/USB-mini, Ethernet Port/Monitor Out (via cable)
• Component/Composite Out (via cable)

Yeah, like I said, not much to really go on so far. We'll update you as soon as we find out more.

Cowon Global

CES 2010 is officially underway, and Creative has some new stuff to show off. The first is a pair of noise-canceling in-ear earphones called the EP-3NC. The EP-3NC boasts an impressive 100 hours of battery life from a single AAA battery. It also has a really cool Monitor function that allows you to listen to outside noise without removing the earphones.

Key Features

• Effective ambient noise reduction by up to 90%
• Stylish closed-type earphones with 9mm Neodymium magnet drivers produce superior audio with deep bass for all types of digital music and entertainment
• Extended battery life of up to 100 hours with a single AAA alkaline battery
• Ergonomic in-ear design allows the earphones to serve as passive noise isolation earphones when Active Noise-Cancelling is switched off or when battery power runs out
• Convenient push-to-hear Monitor function allows users to listen to ambient sound without taking off the earphones
• Comfortable soft silicone eartips in 3 sizes ensure an optimal fit for long hours of usage

Technical Specifications

• 9mm Neodymium magnet drivers
• Frequency response of 6Hz ~ 23kHz
• Impedance of 33 ohms (ANC on) and 16 ohms (ANC off)
• Sensitivity at 1kHz of 104dB/mW (ANC on) and 102dB/mW (ANC off)
• Cable length of 1.3m Oxygen-Free Copper (OFC) wires
• Battery life of up to 100 hours from 1 x AAA alkaline battery. Duration may vary depending on temperature and condition of use
• Product weight of 27 grams

The EP-3NC earphones are already available at Creative's online store in Singapore for a price of 149 Singapore dollars, or roughly $107US.

LINK

via epiZENter

In Summer of 2009, Samsung did a study* and found a staggering 90% of those surveyed want more transparency. Being vaguely worded, responders thought this was in reference to the government, but the Korean company had all the evidence they needed. Samsung CEO, Geesung Choi states "If transparency is what the people want, that's what we're going to give them". And so, the Samsung IceTouch (aka YP-H1) was created. The Ice-T, as I shall amusingly call it, features a 2.0" transparent AMOLED touchscreen display. I can't really think of a reason why they made the screen transparent, other than to be different for the sake of being different. Without any controls, the bottom half of the player is also noticeably barren.

As for specs, the IceTouch comes with 16GB's of storage, has audio support for MP3 (and MP3HD), WMA, OGG, FLAC, AAC, and M4A. It'll also play back the following video formats: MPEG4, WMV, H.264, Xvid and Divx. Additionally the IceTouch also touts some sort of 5.1 channel surround sound enhancement. We'll report back with more info on this players once CES kicks off.

via Akihabara News

Not-so-Fun fact: With the IceTouch, the wallpaper in your home can now double as the players wallpaper!

*Actually they didn't, but that would have been funny right? No? Fine then, be that way.

Remember Songbird? The open-source music program has been a work in progress for many years now. It's made huge strides in that time, but it still hasn't really caught on yet. It looks like that's about to change; At CES, Songbird will announce a new partnership that will bundle their program with Philips' line of GoGear MP3 players. Future devices will come bundled with either a CD, or a self-extracting application on the player itself. The program will be customized for GoGear players, and will be used to download updates, as well as purchase music. From my experience, Philips doesn't make the best players, but they've still managed to hang around. They also have a strong international presence, which Songbird will certainly need. Hopefully this partnership can bring the best out of both companies. Songbird via CrunchGear

There is a 5th dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as....ah screw it. Not even Rod Serling could prepare you for the horror you see above. A member at epiZENter named "Powertorsk" recently posted this beauty. Here's how he did it:

Surprisingly the screen is still responsive, save for the bits of glass that come off every now and again. What's more shocking is, he was more upset that the store didn't have any Dr Pepper than he was about the S9 breaking. Maybe we are in the Twilight Zone after all...

Happy New Year Everyone!

Samsung has just released a new firmware for the YP-R1 (aka R'mix). Among other things it increases the battery life while using DNSe, adds an SDK for users to create their own themes, and improves the responsiveness of the GUI. Here's a translation (from Korean) of the Firmware log:


The word "Pay" caught my eye. If I'm reading this correctly, some theme packs (like the ones above) will apparently be sold at their UCI Shop. The one in the middle is called "Simple Text Style" or as I call it "Zune Menu Style". You can download the firmware below.

On a similar note, I'd like to know how everyone feels about micro-transactions. Are you willing to pay a small fee to buy new themes, fonts, and so forth?

Samsung R1 FW 3.0

via GMP3

So it's nearly midnight here, and I think I just heard Santa on my roof. He's been up there for a while now actually probably trying to figure out how to get in to my chimney-less apartment. Anyway, I'm in the middle of watching the Nightmare before Christmas, but I just wanted to wish everyone, on behalf of DAPreview, all the best for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus and all the rest! Make sure to tell us what you got in our comments section too.

(image credit)

We haven't heard from Cowon in a while, but with CES 2010 coming in less than a month, it was only a matter of time. Today they announced their newest PMP, the V5 HD. At first glance, the V5 looks nearly identical to the O2, but it has a larger display (4.8" vs 4.3"), and it's a bit slimmer (15.7 vs 18mm) The two players share most of the same features, but the V5 separates itself with the ability to play 720P videos natively, the inclusion of an HDMI-out port, and the fact that its running on Windows CE 6.0.



Extras include a dictionary, an office app, a notepad/paint app, and oddly enough an RSS reader. The Korean market will also have a DMB TV edition.. It'll come in sizes ranging from 8 to 32GB, plus an SDHC expansion slot. The V5 HD will be released in early January starting a 299,000 KRW, or about $252US.

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