Microsoft made the strange decision a while ago to keep the Zune family stateside, but now, after being on sale in the US for over a year, the Zune is finally on its way to the UK.

Zunes have always faired well in the area that counts for mobile music devices – sound quality – and the Zune HD adds some lush hardware to this with a 480×272 16:9 3.3″ OLED screen powered by a Nvidia Tegra processor, WiFi, accelerometer and 720p output via a HDMI dock, all wrapped in a shell Apple would be proud of.

Is the Zune HD an iPod killer?

Indeed the Zune could now be seen as Microsoft’s iPod Touch to Windows Phone 7′s iPhone, more so with Zune forming the media playing arm of WP7. The Zune tagline – “Welcome to the Social” – rings true with its ability to run apps from Facebook, Twitter, MSN and even a web browser, plus Zune games like Xbox favourites Project Gotham and Hexic.

The Zune HD is a great device, the rare embodiment of Microsoft getting things right for once, and offers excellent integration with that other rare MS home run, Windows 7. It’s really attractive from the hardware to the software and will certainly turn heads, so keep an eye out for it before Xmas going up against the likes of the new iPod Touch and the cute Archos 28 mini Android tablet.

[Source: The Inquirer]

Top of the rumour tree is a new iPod Touch, and this fourth generation is whispered to be the most social of iPods yet.

Apple iPod Touch Rumours

The recent leaks of a supposed case and the digitiser for the new device all show it to have a hole in the top that’s roughly tiny camera sized. Given that Apple somewhat oddly stuck a camera on the iPod Nano (maybe Del Boy Jobs got a job lot) it would make sense for them to incorporate one into their premier PMP.

This would no doubt introduce Apple’s FaceTime video calling to those without an iPhone 4 and will allow iOS apps designed for the front camera to run on cheaper hardware. So will we see Skype video calling on the iPod Touch? You never know.

Apple TV Rumours

The other big rumour in Appleland is a(nother) revamp of the ailing Apple TV device. Currently only popular with a few consumers and techheads willing to hack it, Jobs is still backing the device long after the general public and are not.

The word is that Apple TV will return to its original moniker of iTV (um, may not happen here Steve) and will run iOS instead of a cut-down and skinned OSX, allowing access to the all-important App Store.

Certainly this would appeal to the iCrowd and if it can out-Google the forthcoming Google TV system with plenty of social interaction and syncing with iPods and iPhones, it may well find itself a niche in the living room, especially at the rumoured price of $99

[Source: Techwhack, Appleinsider]

In other words, it’s a DVD player, digitial photo frame, home cinema, radio and an MP3 player! Not like Samsung to be so modest with one of their new products!

None of this is what makes the IceTouch stand out, though. As you can see from the pics, the IceTouch’s screen is its unique feature – it’s transparent!

The reason for this is that it’s an AMOLED screen, which makes it super-sharp, crystal clear – and viewable from the front and the back, as you can see form the video below.

It’s also the world’s first touchscreen based on AMOLED technology (that’s more like it – this is Samsung, there had to be a “world’s first” there somewhere!). This makes accessing all your content extremely easy, particularly when the user interface is a variant of the same Touchwiz interface that Samsung uses in its mobile phones.

The IceTouch MP3 player supports tonnes of content formats, so you should be able to watch and listen to whatever yuo want. In particular, it supports the following formats:

Audio

• MP3
• WMA
• OGG
• FLAC
• AAC
• M4A
• WAV
• MP3 HD

Video

• MPEG4
• WMV
• H.264
• Xvid
• Divx

With 8GB and 16GB variants, the glorious looking Samsung IceTouch MP3 player will be out sometime in the first half of 2010.

[Source: Engadget]

In other words, it’s the first PMP from Sony that is a genuine contender to the iPod Touch.

My first reaction on hearing this news was “about bloody time!” I mean, the iPod Touch is a fantastic device, but it’s been around for a while, and the user interface that it uses, coming as it does from the iPhone, has been around for even longer. It’s not like Sony didn’t know what was coming, so I’ve not idea what took them so long in developing a genuine contender.

Fortunately, though, the contender is here now, and it’s a beauty. With a 3″ OLED screen that’s actually better than the iPod Touch’s while drawing less power, the Sony X-Series is the smaller device of the two, and arguably looks the more handsome.

It has better sound quality as well, thanks to Sony’s legendary audio electronics, with completely digital internals and Sony’s advanced Digital Sound Enhancement Engine (which does exactly what it says on the tin). There’s even an extremely effective noise cancellation system, which removes any extraneous noise from the background, ensuring you get crystal clear music wherever you are.

It’s not about the music though…

Unfortunately, MP3 players are not about the music these days.

Sure they have to sound good, but it’s how they look and the range of features that they have that also helps them sell.

In this, the iPod Touch killed the competition.

With Wi-Fi and Web browsing taken straight from the iPhone, and with the iPhone’s amazing user interface, no other PMP player even came close.

Well they do now.

Sony has seen the light and has also included Wi-Fi and Web browsing into its Walkman X-Series.

Not only can you download tunes from the Internet, but you can also watch YouTube videos wherever there’s a Wi-Fi connection.

Sony takes on Apple’s interface

Best of all, though, must be the Walkman X-Series’s user interface. Fully touch sensitive, it does exactly what the iPod Touch’s interface does, and then some.

There’s a CoverFlow equivalent, which lets you thumb your way through album art to select your tune; and there’s also a nifty feature for fast forwarding through videos – when the video’s playing, simply slide your finger forwards or backwards over it to jump forwards or backwards in time.

Check out the video below to see for yourself just how well this works.

Summary

In short, Sony has done what they should have done years ago – developed a Walkman that can truly take on the iPod Touch at its own game. Apple set the bar amazingly high when it released the iPhone and iPod Touch, and it’s only now that we’re seeing genuine competitors finally emerge. Let battle commence!

The Sony Walkman X-Series release date is set for summer 2009, priced $299 for the 16GB model and $399 for the 32GB model.

[Source: Akihabara News,Stuff.tv]

SanDisk showcased a rather usual mp3 player at the Consumer Electronics Show this year. It is called the Sansa slotRadio, priced at around $100 and doesn’t have its own internal memory to store the music. Instead it relies on a partner in crime, the slotRadio music card that was specifically designed for the casual music connoisseur. The slotRadio cards hold all the music for the player, and to wet your appetites SanDisk gives you a card preloaded with

This weekend I had the unhappy misfortune of using Samsung’s YP-U4 mp3 player; code named Litmus due to its colour graduation. First looks were good: it

Any exercise can get a little dull without your favourite bit of music to keep you going, so a small MP3 player has become a common site in gyms. It is all well and good to strap a MP3 player to your arm and go for a job but there are a few problems if you do this when swimming.

Waterproof MP3 players are generally on the pricey side and retro fitting a waterproof case to a standard MP3 player can be a little nerve wrecking, so it is with great pleasure that I introduce you to the Speedo AquaBeat MP3 player.

Let

The MPlayer Eyes come with 2GB of storage and 10 LEDs, and will go on sale in Korea initially for just $50.

Thank you, iRiver, for helping me sleep better tonight!

[Source AkihabaraNews]