Gadgets & Services
Review: Latest IPod and Zen Touch
PC World's Eric Dahl finds that although Apple's updated IPods (20GB, $299; 40GB, $399) offer some valuable improvements, such as easier navigation and an improved battery life now rated at 12 hours, they're not quite perfect. Music fans with WMA, Ogg Vorbis, or FLAC files are out of luck, as the IPod doesn't support those formats.
In the same review, Eric looks at Creative Lab's newest hard drive player, the 20GB Zen Touch ($270). It's smaller, and features an easy-to-use touchpad control. But the inability to move songs around within a playlist, as you could on previous Creative models, is one of several disappointments.
For details, read "New Apple IPods vs. Creative's Zen Touch."
News: Altec Lansing Speakers for the IPod Mini
Altec Lansing's InMotion speaker set/docking cradle for regular-sized IPods has become one of the hottest IPod accessories--with good reason. For their size, the foldable, compact speakers produce great sound. Now Altec Lansing has come out with an even smaller set of portable speakers, designed especially for the IPod Minis. The IMmini speaker set ($130) provides clear sound and deep bass, according to the company, in a foldable package that measures only 7 by 1 by 4.4 inches and weighs just 10 ounces.
News: Streaming Media on Sprint Phones
Sprint recently announced a new 15-frames-per-second streaming video service that runs on a Samsung MM-A700 mobile phone ($400 or $250 after rebate, with a two-year agreement).
The Sprint PCS Vision Multimedia Services, which includes streaming audio and video, plays video clips faster than the 1-frame-per-second offered by the Idetic MobiTV service that Sprint began offering last year, according to a Sprint spokesperson. PCS Vision Multimedia Services is a pure streaming service, while MobiTV requires you to download the video to your phone before playing it.
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