If you're shopping for a high-end portable media player, but the iPod just isn't your cup of tea, the Sony X-Series Walkman and the Cowon S9 are two of the best options around.
But aside from the fact that both players include beautiful OLED touch screens, they couldn't be more different. The X-Series comes with a Web browser, noise-canceling headphones, and lacks Bluetooth, while the S9 includes Bluetooth, standard earbuds, and wants nothing to do with the Internet.
To see which iPod Touch alternative offers the most bang for your buck, we've handed the S9 and the Walkman over to our Prizefight team, who put each player through five rounds of scrutiny. To see which player came out on top, check out the full CNET Prizefight.
Pretty Pebbles galore.
(Credit: Samsung)Rarely has a device so immediately inspired as much scorn as the latest Apple iPod Shuffle. Within 12 hours of its release, the third-generation of the littlest iPod had no shortage of complaints railed against it. It's too small, shuns compatibility with third-party headphones, and doesn't have a screen or even any buttons. At least one tech editor has even gone so far as to call it a disaster. Still, like most things, the iPod Shuffle undoubtedly has a few redeeming qualities, and some people have come to its defense.
Having spent some hands-on time with the teeny MP3 player, I can verify that it's not all bad. There is something impressive about the smallness of the device, and the design has a certain simple, understated appeal. However, operating it is not an intuitive exercise, and the lack of controls on the device itself borders on infuriating. Plus, not being able to swap in your own headphones out of the box is rather obnoxious. (And, frankly, I'll take a display over spoken menus any day.)
Luckily, the iPod Shuffle is not your only option if you're looking for a simple, ultracompact MP3 player. I've rounded up a selection of alternatives that offer at least a few benefits that the Shuffle does not, such as a lower price tag, a display, or--heck--even buttons on the device. To that end, I've been so bold as to include the previous generation Shuffle in a story dedicated to its successor's alternatives (now is the perfect time to start looking for deals on that device). Oh yeah...I went there.
Enter our MP3 Insider contest to win a new 120GB Zune (Gears of War 2 Edition), courtesy of Microsoft.
(Credit: Donald Bell/CNET Networks)Donald and Jasmine discuss Zune price drops and a Zune Pass deal that may put some pressure on other subscription services.
Also on the agenda is the latest iPod Touch firmware, some products that failed to impress, iTunes alternatives, and a reader question about stripping audio from DVDs.
Plus, we're giving away a 120GB Zune MP3 player from Microsoft (see contest details below). Not just any Zune, in fact, but the thoroughly badass Gears of War 2 Edition, which features an etched logo and comes loaded with Gears of War videos, photos and music.
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This is not your father's country music. With twangy arrangements and indie rock-approved vocals, the Avett Brothers inspire thoughts of a traveler who is somehow both homesick and sick of being home. If there's a future for bluegrass, this remarkable trio will lead the way.
(Credit:
Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)
No doubt about it: the Apple iPod Nano is an excellent MP3 player. It's ultraslim, generally easy to use, and has a high-quality feel and appealing extras such as a tilt sensor and a smart playlist feature called Genius. However, like all MP3 players, it's not perfect. Sound quality isn't great, there's still no user-definable EQ, and adding voice recording and an FM tuner requires that you drop more of your hard-earned cash. Luckily, if you're not convinced you want to hop on the Nano bandwagon, there's a handful of worthy alternatives, and most of those listed below beat out the Nano in audio fidelity. Of course, the important thing is selecting the best MP3 player for your needs. If the Nano doesn't suit you, one of these players should certainly do the trick.
- Cowon D2: In the premium flash MP3 player category, you have the Cowon D2, which offers an ample touch screen, stellar audio quality, a smorgasbord of features, support for OGG and FLAC audio formats, and a fantastic battery life: 50 hours for music and 10 hours for video.
- Creative Zen Mozaic: The Creative Zen offers a cool, customizable user interface; a funky design; great sound quality; and useful features such as bookmarking, on-the-go playlists with naming, and a built-in FM tuner and voice recorder--all for less than $100 (for the 4GB version).
- Microsoft Zune: You can't have a list of iPod alternatives without mentioning the Zune. This worthy contender serves up excellent sound quality, great podcast support, and an innovative user interface that still manages to be intuitive. Plus, you can sync music from your computer and share songs over Wi-Fi.
- Samsung S3: The S3 is perfectly poised to take the Nano on in the style department. This supersleek player features a glossy paint job, glowing touch-sensitive controls, and a fun, animated interface. The bargain price ($79.99 for 4GB), boatload of sound enhancement options, and great sound quality don't hurt either.
- SanDisk Sansa Fuze: Bargain-hunters will appreciate this pick--you can find the 8GB Fuze for about $100 online. It's compact, easy to use, and packed with features such as Rhapsody Channels support and a microSD card slot capable of accepting high capacity cards.
- Sony NWZ-S710F: This Editors' Choice award-winning Walkman is among the most stellar we've ever laid ears on. The NWZ-S710F delivers a perfect storm of on-the-go features, including music, photo, and video playback; FM radio; subscription music support; remarkable battery life (32 hours for audio); heavenly sound quality; and a feat only Sony could pull off: active noise-canceling in-ear headphones included in the box.
(Credit:
Horizon)
Bought one too many duty-free vodkas from the airport and wonder just what to do with the stash? Well, eco-friendly company Horizon has the answer. Not quite in the league of the trash-to-fuel De Lorean in Back to the Future, the Horizon fuel cell Bio-Energy Kit is, after all, only $99.
But it will chug down any alcohol for fuel, albeit diluted first with water, and then distill this cocktail into pure electricity. The makers claim it's good enough to power small devices such as an iPod or a fan nonstop for days. Shipments begin September 5.
Drinkers may consider this a waste of good tipple, but hey, it could just save your liver, not to mention the environment. Bottoms up to that.
(Via Crave Asia)
(Credit:
Crave Asia)
Shake your booty, lads and lassies. If Club4Climate founder Andrew Charalambous realizes his vision of expanding his environmentally sustainable style of dance club into every country, the world could be a much better place.
The Club4Climate project not only preaches eco-clubbing, it practices what it preaches. Besides the usual organic beverages, waterless urinals, and automatic taps, the London outlet features a piezoelectric dance floor. This uses quartz crystals and ceramics to turn all that gyrating energy into electricity. So the more you jump up and down, the more you charge those batteries to power the club.
(Credit:
Crave Asia)
Before you thumb your nose at what might seem to be a self-serving agenda behind the self-sustaining intentions, the surplus power from a wind turbine and solar energy system used at the club will also apparently be used to power homes in the area.
And thumbs up to the U.K. project for offering free entry to those who can prove they have walked or cycled to the venue. A Club4Climate island is also in the pipeline for 2010, though where this will be and how one "walks" there remains a mystery. But if eco-clubbing takes off globally, talk about a dance dance revolution!
(Via Crave Asia)
The Cowon D2 is a worthy competitor.
Sure, the Apple iPod Nano is ultraslim, easy to use, and nice to look at, but it lacks desirable extras such an FM radio and a user-definable EQ, and the sound quality isn't exactly spectacular. Luckily, if you're not convinced you want to hop on the Nano bandwagon, there's a handful of worthy alternatives, and most of the ones I've rounded up for you beat out the Nano in audio fidelity. Of course, the important thing is selecting the best MP3 player for your needs, and I'm hoping one of these will do the trick.
Eco Media Player
(Credit: Crave UK)Thanks to modern technology, we can waste time in ways our ancestors could only dream of, while they were working down the mine, in black and white. Unfortunately our world of gizmos and gimmicks, doodahs and doofers isn't entirely free: Just ask the polar bears.
One way to save money and the planet simultaneously is to ditch the fossil fuels and electrical leash and seek alternative sources of power. That's where our new sister site SmartPlanet comes in: It reviews products on their quality, value, ethics, and greenness, so inconvenient truths are balanced by conveniently thrifty products. We've picked you out an elite bunch of the best money- and power-saving gadgets our eco-expert buddies have rated. Click here for a sampling.
(Source: Crave UK)
'Find the Lost Ring,' a brand-new alternate-reality game, is a promotional vehicle for McDonald's and the Beijing Olympics. The game, which went live on Monday, is centered on a woman named Ariadne, who claims to have woken up with amnesia in a South African corn maze on February 12.
(Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET Networks)
For anyone who follows alternate-reality games (ARGs), it should come as no surprise that the latest entry in the genre, The Lost Ring, is the brainchild of, among others, Jane McGonigal.
Until now, it was only suspected--though with extremely high levels of confidence--that the game, which is centered on helping a fictional amnesiac woman named Ariadne discover her identity, was a promotional vehicle for this summer's Beijing Olympics.
But McGonigal, who is keynoting at the South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin on Tuesday, confirmed to me that the game was in fact designed in collaboration with the International Olympic Committee and that McGonigal's partners in the creation of the game were McDonald's and global interactive experience design shop, AKQA.
"This ARG extends McDonald's historic sponsorship of the Olympic Games in a brand-new direction," said McGonigal, who is a research affiliate with the Institute for the Future. "Its goal is to create global collaboration and bring the spirit of the Games to people around the world. It will invite players from across the globe to join forces online and in the real world, as they investigate forgotten mysteries and urban legends of the ancient games."
McGonigal, an alumna of leading ARG design firm 42 Entertainment, has either been lead designer on or helped create a wide variety of multimedia games such as A World without Oil, Cruel 2 B Kind, Last Call Poker, and I Love Bees.
Since The Lost Ring went live on Monday, its Web site has offered up a number of clues for players to follow, while ARG-related sites like ARGNet and Unfiction have been actively discussing the game. It will play out over many months, likely not finishing at least until the closing ceremonies of the Olympics on August 24, 2008.
