Nameless Rhapsody
Rhapsody is working with iRiver on a Wi-Fi-equipped player as well, one with a few interesting tricks up its sleeve. The as-yet-unnamed device sports a 3-inch touch-screen display with a Flash-based interface. iRiver says it plans to make the player available in both 2GB and 4GB capacities sometime this summer, and it claims the device will go 25 hours on one battery charge.
Rhapsody subscribers will be able to access the Rhapsody service using the device's Wi-Fi connection and thereby stream music without a PC. The player also includes VoIP support, although iRiver hasn't released details on which services that capability will be able to work with.
Media-Friendly Archos Player
Archos got a head start on Wi-Fi integration last fall with its $450 604 Wi-Fi, a 30GB hard-drive player with a 4.3-inch, 480-by-272-pixel color screen. The 604 actually behaves more like a media-capable PDA--though it can record audio and video with various add-ons, its Wi-Fi connection is more focused on e-mail and Web access than on acquiring music.
Later this year Archos will release an updated version of that player. Details are still sketchy, but the Archos 704 is reported to boast a DVD-friendly screen resolution of 800 by 480 pixels and an 80GB hard drive. And according to one report, the 704 should be able to stream video directly from your PC.
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