Tokyo Edge: New Choices in Digital Music Players

If Apple hasn't been feeling the pressure in the digital music market, it surely must be aware of it now. New players from a variety of companies, including such veterans as Sony and flash-memory player leader Reigncom (better known by its IRiver brand name), are getting their digital music act together.

Until now, Sony has been unique in its preference for ATRAC3, a compression system it developed for use in its MiniDisc players. Sony responded to customer criticism and added the MP3 format to its digital music players a few months ago, but it continues to promote ATRAC3 and is trying to transition the format from the MiniDisc world to that of flash memory and hard-disk storage.

Sony is also keeping MiniDisc alive by using the Hi-MD format that both boosts the storage capacity of a MiniDisc and supports other forms of media such as photos in addition to music. MiniDisc is a popular format in Japan, but it faces tougher markets elsewhere in the world.

Sony Hi-MD Walkman

MiniDisc may be losing ground to MP3 and other formats, but Sony isn't giving up. Rather, the company is pushing its Hi-MD format, which supports the new features on the latest MiniDisc players as well as increasing the media's data storage capacity.

Noteworthy on Sony's new Hi-MD player, the MZ-DH10P, is its embedded digital camera. Users can take a snapshot of the CD cover and then show it on the main display alongside the track information when a song is played. The 1.5-inch color display can also show JPEG images. The MZ-DH10P is already on sale in Japan priced around $484. Sony has no plans to sell it overseas.

IRiver H10 Portable Music Player

Apple's IPod music player has two new challengers: South Korea's Reigncom is launching 1GB and 20GB versions of its IRiver H10 player.

The first model, a 5GB player, shipped earlier this year. The H10 series scores over the IPod in several areas: All three of the models have color screens; they can display images; and they have built-in FM radio. The players support MP3 and Windows Media Audio files, including files purchased from music stores that work with Microsoft Windows Media Player 10.

These extras come at a price, of course. Reigncom has released only UK pricing for the two upcoming players: $440 for the 20GB model and $267 for the 1GB model. Equivalent-capacity IPods cost $402 (20GB) and $190 (1GB) in the UK. Both new H10 models will be available in the UK in April, but Reigncom has not released pricing and availability details for other markets.

Sony Network Walkman

Sony is readying flash-memory versions of its Network Walkman players for worldwide release this spring. The seven new models differ in design, capacity, and function.

The first three models are circular and measure just about 2 inches in diameter. The 256MB NW-E103 is priced at $95; the 512MB NW-E105 is $134; and the 1GB NW-E107 is $192. They're being rolled out throughout March.

In April Sony will release an additional four players, all based on a stick-type form factor. The stick-style players will come with either 512MB or 1GB of memory and an optional FM radio. They use a three-line organic light emitting diode instead of an LCD as the main display. Prices will range from $163 for the 512MB NW-E405 without a built-in FM radio, to $240 for the 1GB NW-E507 with an FM radio.

Samsung SCH-V770 Cell Phone

When it comes to megapixels, camera phone makers seem to be entering the same battle that digital camera vendors fought several years ago. The "mine has a higher resolution than yours" argument is fine for cameras, to a point; but it is much less important on cell phones unless the jumps in megapixels are accompanied by suitably better lenses. So it's nice to see that Samsung Electronics has fitted a regular digital camera lens onto its latest camera phone.

The camera built into the SCH-V770 boasts a 7-megapixel resolution (which blows away most competing products) plus a bunch of features not usually found on camera phones. The extras include manual focus, user-controllable focal length, variable shutter speed, and a choice of shutter priority, aperture priority, and fully manual shooting modes. That's the good news.

The bad news is that the SCH-V770 currently works only on CDMA networks and Samsung hasn't revealed pricing or release dates. Still, it's a camera phone to watch for.

Panasonic Hard Drive Video Recorder

Do you seek immediate gratification? Get impatient when you need to wait 10 seconds for your digital video recorder to wake up? Panasonic has the answer.

The company (known as Matsushita Electric in Japan) has a new line of video recorders that use a hard drive as well as DVD-RAM drive and that are ready to record just 1 second after the power is turned on. The electronic program guide can also pop up as quickly. The top-of-the-line DMR-E60 has a 300GB hard drive and a DVD multiformat drive that supports DVD-RAM, -R, -RW, +RW and +R media. Its maximum recording time is 266 hours, according to Panasonic. The new models are scheduled for release in Japan in May priced at $952, but the company has no plans to sell them overseas.

Sony NAS-A10 Digital Audio Jukebox

Sony is readying an audio jukebox designed to integrate with a home stereo system and replicate many of the digital music functions that computers offer, such as a music library, CD ripping, and the capability to buy music from online services.

The NAS-A10 has a 40GB hard drive, a CD drive, AM and FM radio, and a Memory Stick slot. You can add songs to the library by ripping CDs or downloading music files, and you can transfer the tunes to devices such as Sony's Network Walkman, any NetMD Mini Disc player, or a Memory Stick Duo memory card (for use with products such as Sony's PlayStation Portable). The NAS-A10 supports version 1.0 of the Digital Living Network Alliance specification, so you can stream copy-protected songs across your home network.

Does it sound great? There's a familiar Sony catch: The NAS-A10's library supports only PCM or ATRAC3 formats, so you'll have to convert all of your MP3 files.

The NAS-A10 is now available in Japan, priced around $598. Sony has no plans for overseas sales.

Canon EOS Digital Kiss N

Recent price drops in digital camera technology mean that single-lens reflex digicams are within the budgets of others than professional photographers. Competition is heating up, and one of the market's strongest players, Canon, has a new entry.

The EOS Digital Kiss N has an 8-megapixel image sensor and can manage continuous shooting of 3 frames per second for up to 14 frames (when shooting large, fine-quality JPEG images). Miniaturization of several major components means the new model is not just smaller and lighter than its predecessors but, according to Canon, is the lightest digital SLR camera available.

It is scheduled for release in major markets worldwide starting in March. In the U.S., it will cost $899 for the body alone and $999 for a kit that includes a zoom lens.

Sanyo Xacti DMX-C5 Video Camera

Sanyo Electric's newest Xacti digital movie camera can record VGA-quality video at 30 frames per second, placing it close to conventional camcorders despite its funky look.

The Xacti DMX-C5 records movies in MPEG-4 and can take still images with up to 5-megapixel resolution. Images and video are recorded onto Secure Digital memory cards: A 1GB card can accommodate around 42 minutes of the highest-quality video and 5 hours in the lowest-quality mode, according to Sanyo.

The new Xacti is scheduled to ship in Japan in late March priced at $720; Sanyo expects to release it in other markets soon.

Martyn Williams is Tokyo bureau chief for the IDG News Service, a consortium of IDG publications.