Archos 405 is available in only one storage capacity of two GB and there is also an expansion slot. The small internal memory is disapoointing considering that it has a video player but you can always put more memory through the external card slot. This slot supports up to 16 GB of cards and it is easy to swap them in and out of the player. You can buy a couple of cards and load the entire music/video library on them. But if you find it monotonous, there is the Apple iPod Classic but it costs a bit more.

Archos 405 has a 3.5 inch LCD display and it is not as good as that seen on the 605. The screen gives a resolution of 480×272 pixels but the image quality was below my expectations. On the bright side, the viewing angles are really good and the matte finish resists glares. The player is four inches wide, three inches high and the thickness is about half inch. On the right side, there are controls for navigation.

You would be surprised to know that the Archos 405 has a few advantages over it predecessor. The 405 has both proprietary Archos USB jack and common mini-USB connection. The feature set is less here and hence the device is more compact and light. There is no kickstand that we found on 605 but if you miss it bitterly, you can purchase extended battery back which also doubles up as a stand. This device may not have a lot of high end features but I would still recommend it looking at the low price of $169. However, it sometimes seems that the manufacturer has deliberately sacrificed in some features in order to keep the price low but you still get all the essentials.

Supported file formats for the Archos 405 are WAV, WMA and MP3. You can purchase support for files like AAC. Archos 405 can play music, photos, videos and you can view PDF files. The device shows album artwork for the content that it being played.

Sansa Fuze+ is a successor to the original Sansa Fuze which the manufacturer first came out in 2008. It was a good product and things have been made even better here. Fuze+ can handle photos, videos, music, and there is a good feature set including FM radio, podcast, video recording, etc. There is a external card slot for storing additional content. The display size has been increased from 3 to 5 inches.

Below the screen, you will find a capacitive touch controls which replaces the clickwheel. Sansa Fuze+ connects to the PC through a microUSB generic cord instead of the proprietary version on the predecessor. On the bottom, you have a headphone jack; which the company could have placed somewhere on the top because you will now have to put the music player upside down in the pants pocket. If you put it straight, it will be hard to handle the wire.

On the Sansa Fuze+’s left, there is the volume rocker key and on the top, you will find the power button. Apart from a few cosmetic differences, the manufacturer has made a few changes in this version which is really liked. Fuze+ is amongst the first music player to offer support for unprotected AAC audio. This is a huge deal if you download plenty of songs from iTunes store.

Sansa Fuze+ supports WMA, FLAC, MP3, WAV, and OGG format files which means the player covers all the essentials. For videos, MPEG4, H.264 and WMV content is supported. There is a software bundled with the player to optimize the videos and photos for the screen. You can reshape any videos to fit on this screen.

Audio quality on the Sansa Fuze+ is really good considering the cost that it is offered for. However, you won’t find a lot of sound enhancing or EQ settings which is found on a lot of Sony or Samsung music players.

This player comes with ear buds, USB cord and a protective pouch. I would recommend this player to music enthusiasts on a small budget and for people who want a no frills device. All major file formats are supported so there is not much to complain here. The design will not turn any heads but it will still serve as an excellent companion while traveling.

Apple sent an eight gigabyte version of the iPod Touch 2010 in my labs for review. You can also get it in 32 GB and 64 GB models. The cost is $399, $299 and $229 for the 64GB, 32 GB and 8 GB model respectively. As compared to the predecessor, the new iPod Touch doesn’t have a ton of new features but you still get some. On the front, there is a huge 3.5 inch capacitive touch screen and it now has the Retina display of the iPhone 4. The resolution here is much better than the previous iPod Touch. On the bottom, you have the home button and Apple has moved the screen lock button from left to right. For the volume control, you have two separate buttons instead of the single rocker button seen on previous models.

There is a headphone jack on the bottom along with a tiny speaker grille and iPod dock. I saw two big changes on the back, first the camera lens along with a microphone. You can record 720p HD videos at 30 frames per second. There is also the built in video editor, like the iPhone. If you are looking for advanced options, get the iMovie app for $4.99. This camera can take stills too but both the photo and video quality is inferior to that of the iPhone 4.

The second difference is the flatness. The Apple iPod Touch 2010 doesn’t have the bulge on the back and the gadget is slimmer too. Unlike the predecessor, this player doesn’t wobble when you place it on a flat surface and type on it.

On the front, there is another low resolution camera for the FaceTime feature. It can be used to clicking self portrait photos too but the quality is awful. This camera is made for making phone calls on compatible iPhones and iTouches. For video calling, you have to put in e-mail addresses and not phone numbers. I tested this feature in my labs, I worked well.

Apple iPod Touch 2010 has a few improvements and a lot of ideas have been trickled down from the iPhone 4. Just like the cellular mode, this music player now has an A4 processor along with gyroscope sensor for a detailed 3 axis motion sensor in apps and games. For connectivity, you get Bluetooth and 802.11n Wi-Fi.

When compared to the iPhone 4, you will find that the Apple iPod Touch 2010 doesn’t have 3G data connection, cellular service, or five MP camera. On the positive side, you are not tied to any contract. This new version doesn’t have a lot of new features but I still liked the few ones that are included here. Videos, photos and e-mail is better than the predecessor. Gaming on the gadget is a much better experience and TV shows too can be rented on this player. The headphone set doesn’t have a mic because it is now shifter inside the phone. The device now also runs third party apps for video and camera.

Finally, I would say that the Apple iPod Touch 2010 is worth your precious money. If you’d been waiting to upgrade the iPod Touch, I would say that now is a good time to do it. There are goodies here like two cameras, FaceTime calling and some extra featuers.

Thumbs Up:

Good quality of music, comes with a screen which is really great for such a lot price player.

Thumbs Down:

Bundled ear buds have poor quality.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Philips GoGear Vibe has a 4 GB integrated memory; the headphones have 84 dB signal to noise ratio, the player weighs 1.2 oz. The unit is 4.6 inches high, 2.6 inches wide, and 1.7 inches deep. The bundled software includes Philips Media Converter software and standard utilities & drivers. Supported audio formats are MP3 and WMA. Sample rate is 8-48 KHz, response bandwidth is 20-18000 Hz, supported bit rate is 8-320 kbps, the screen is 1.5 inches big and has a 128×128 pixels resolution.

Additional features include USB 2.0 compatibility, Volume control, Upgradeable firmware and SuperScroll. Factory equalizer presets include Jazz, Techno, Hip Hop, Classic, and Rock. The player has 20 presets for FM. You get binaural ear buds and USB cable bundled with the player. The device runs on 290 mAh lithium polymer battery. Supported OS for computer connectivity are Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or later and Microsoft Windows Vista.

Razzle Dazzle:

The player might not look the sexiest but we were interested at its compact design. Philips GoGear Vibe is 2.5 inches high, 0.25 inch thick, 1.25 inches wide which lets you slip the device easily in your pocket.

Inside Dope:

Philips GoGear Vibe may not be as good as iPod and we think it was not made to compete directly with the Apple’s product anyways. Still, this is a really affordable (just $50) MP3 player and gives the Shuffle a good for the money. In terms of the design, the player looks pretty attractive. Inside the package, you get an installation software, booklet, ear buds, and USB adapter. The device has a glossy surface and it surely attracts a lot of finger prints. The body is really small and this will easily fit in to the tightest of jeans. But, we didn’t like the buttons, as they were quite stiff to press. There is also a cheap clicking sound when you press the buttons. However, looking the price point, this is forgivable. The player is excellent for portability, it cuddles nicely in your palm and looking at the tiny size, we would recommend this for gym work outs. The battery has a rated life of 25 hours for audio and for video, it is four hours.

Philips GoGear Vibe integrates well with Windows Media Player; it gets recognized by the software immediately when you plug in the device to your computer. We used WMP (Windows Media Player) for playing all our tracks and so we were glad that it supported the player so well. For creating play lists, all we had to do was drag and drop.

Menu feature set on the Philips GoGear Vibe is typical of music player; you can control the quality of sound through equalizer settings and also see song titles. The screen is just 1.5 inches big but Philips does really well fitting in the album art and track information on the display. The interface, overall, is simple and clean. Options for playback include standard playback and shuffle. You don’t have the scroll wheel or any of the cool touch screen features but the cross pad still is user friendly. The Back and Play button are easy to operate. Along with the player, there is a reference manual which gives detailed information about the player features. This will be really handy if you are new to the MP3 music player world. But for people like us who drool on gadgets all day, getting along with this device doesn’t take more than ten minutes.

Philips GoGear Vibe’s audio quality is not that good when heard through the bundled headphones. We took this off and replaced it with our Bose headphones. The sound quality now was as good as the iPhone. What we mean to say here is that the bundled ear buds are not good but we won’t complain about that here looking at the low price.

Philips GoGear Vibe also has FM radio. The supported audio formats are WMA and MP3. Other features include photo viewing and voice recording. This device also has video playback capabilities but we were skeptical about watching the clips on such a tiny screen. We put some videos on the player and our worst fears came true. The small screen has awful resolution and it is really poor in displaying videos. You also have to convert your clips in some low end format (software for this is provided) so we won’t recommend you watching movies on this player. Don’t buy this if you are just looking for a dedicated video player.

This player is made for music enthusiasts who are on a stiff budget. Switch the headphones and the audio quality will be as good as your iPod. Thus, the price and sound quality are the best features on of this player.

Nitty Gritty:

Swap the ear buds for some good quality headphones and you will have stellar sound quality from the Philips GoGear Vibe. It has a compact design and so we would recommend this player while working out in the gym.

Thumbs Up:

Innovative and ultracompact design, player comes built in to the ear buds, easy to use, ZAPPIN feature is great for selecting tracks

Thumbs Down:

Doesn’t have a screen, some users might not like the design.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Sony W-Series Walkman has 1.68 GB integrated memory, weight is 1.5 oz, included accessories are ear buds, holder and stand. Drivers as well as utilities come bundled with the player disc. Supported formats for the player include WMA (DRM), AAC-LC, WMA, MP3, PCM and AAC. Response bandwidth is 20 – 20000 Hz. Amplifier response bandwidth is 20 – 20000 Hz. Some other features include ZAPPIN technology and volume limiter. Shuffle and normal playback modes are supported. USB cable is included with the player. Estimated battery life is 11 hours.

Supported OSes are Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, Microsoft Windows Vista Business SP1, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic SP1, Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP2 or later, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Basic, Microsoft Windows 7 Professional, Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1, Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2 or later.

Razzle Dazzle:

The design of the Sony W-Series Walkman is really appealing, it is available only in black model. On each of the sides, there is a rectangular audio pieces which are rounded off and this makes the player look pretty. The pieces are about two inches long, 0.4 inch deep, 0.8 inch deep and they are attached to each other through twisting, flexible neckband. This has to be one of the most compact player ever and the player is extremely lightweight at 1.3 ounces. But it does come with a few sacrifices like display and ergonomics.

Inside Dope:

Size of gadgets is getting smaller day by day and this might be the smallest you can get when it comes to MP3 players. It comes built in with water resistant headphones and the design makes it ideal for use while working out at your gym. We first saw Sony do this with W Series Walkman in 2009 and the growing popularity has made Sony make another such device. This player has two gigabytes of internal memory and the manufacturer has chucked $10 off the price bringing the cost to $59.99. This music player is recommended if you are sick of cords dangling from the player to your ears.

When it comes to such MP3 players which are meant to be worn while working out, secure fit is really important. We wore this player on our ears and jumped, jogged and walked. The player snuggled up comfortably in our ears and refused to come out and this is due to the inward pressure of the neckband along with the ear looping design. We are a bit concerned about the one size fits all design, as the hard plastic part of the ear buds didn’t fit in our ear comfortably and our cartilage felt a bit of pressure. You might have some problems with the earbuds and this is why Sony gives you three separate silicon eartips.

Sony W-Series Walkman is very compact and one of the sacrifices that you have to make is the screen. But we won’t complain about that here because a screen somewhere on the neckband would have been quite uncomfortable. Tracks are played in alphanumeric order and there is a shuffle switch on the right ear piece for random playback. On the right module’s bottom edge, you get the jog dial and two buttons for controlling the volume. When you swipe the dial backward or forward the tracks are cycled through and when you press it once, the music is played or paused. The player shuts off automatically when you connect the earpieces through the two tiny magnets.

Interface of the Sony W-Series Walkman is not traditional but still it is simple to get your tracks on the player. For copying music, you have to drag and drop through the folder using Mac or Windows. And there is a Content Transfer app if you want to transfer the music from jukeboxes like Windows Media Player or iTunes. This Walkman can play just audio and supported track formats are WMA, AAC and MP3. We saw something called Playlist when we connected the player on the computer but there is no dedicated button on the player for it. If the player had playlist feature, it would have been like icing on the cake.

Being a compact music player, the extras on the Sony W-Series Walkman are sacrificed but still there are a few useful and unique features. For instance, there is Zappin feature which gives you a ‘preview’ of the song by playing the chorus. If you like it, you can press the jog button and the device will start playing it from the start. Quick charge feature is also there, a three minute charge gives you a 90 minute playback. Rated battery life of this player is eleven hours which is not impressive but still OK given the size of the gadget. There is no integrated FM tuner.

Sony W-Series Walkman is a water proof device which means it can stand sweat when you are working out at your local gym. There are people in our labs who sweat like a pig and they tested it at the gym. The player was indeed unaffected. We also washed the player under a tap of running water and the device came out shinning through it.

Nitty Gritty:

This player is made for fitness freaks, buy it if you are work out a lot in the gym.

Thumbs Up:

One of the cheapest portable media players, you can rent and purchase video from Amazon, great audio quality, superb battery life, features like FM tuner and FM recording rock!

Thumbs Down:

Features have been cut down to make it cheap, it doesn’t have noise cancellation feature or upgraded headphones.

Inside the Trunk:

Included accessories – earbud headphones, USB cable, flip-out stand.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

The Sony S-Series Walkman second generation has a 2.4 inch display, with resolution of 240 x 320 pixels, supported audio formats are AAC, WMA-DRM, L-PCM, MP3. Supported video formats are WMV, AVC, MPEG-4. There are 2 external speakers at the either side of the display. 8 GB internal memory.

The device comes with four built in equalizer jazz, pop, unique, heavy. There is FM tuner with 30 station storage memory. There is a choice of colors – pink, black, violet, red. Other feature include voice recording, FM recording, etc. Lithium ion rechargeable battery has life of about 42 hours.

Razzle Dazzle:

The exterior of the second generation Sony S-Series Walkman is the same as the first generation device, but it has a bit of plastic feel which makes it look cheap. You get a choice of black, pink, violet and red. It is very much thin, as it is just a MP3 player and not much hardware is required for that.

Inside Dope:

Sony makes one of the best devices when it comes to MP3 players. We put Sony’s players in the list of elite which has big names like Apple and Cowon. Sony has been a trusted name when it came to music because we are still in awe at those music systems that Sony made in the 90s and it delivered awesome sound.

Well, Sony is here with a new PMP, the second generation Sony S-Series Walkman and it was disappointing to find out that it has cut down on a few features that we were fond of. But there is a trade off, all this decreases the price of the player making it one of the cheapest players in the market.

This player is a bit bigger than what we got in the first generation. While this may not go well in the pocket you get a bigger screen which will give you better video viewing. The screen is 2.4 inch QVGA LCD and it has the same great quality. There are also speakers put up on the two sides of the display which was not found earlier.

A PMP is not supposed to have a lot of buttons below the display and Sony doesn’t have much either. There is just circular navigation button, there is a key in the centre which is for play/pause. Other than this there is a power off/option key and the home/back key on the two sides of the circular button. The set up of the navigational button and the 2 button on the sides looks like face of Mickey Mouse. We don’t know if this is done intentionally by Sony but the resemblance is uncanny. But this setup cannot beat the sleek and sexy click wheel that we found in iPod nanos.

There is a volume rocker on the sides on the phone and there is also a switch which locks the buttons against accidental presses when you put it in your pocket. The player has speaker, so there is a switch which toggles between the ear phone and the speaker phone. Other than this there is the 3.5 mm head phone jack and USB port.

We have already said that the price of the player has been slashed down and so are the features. This player doesn’t come with noise cancellation feature and you don’t get upgraded headphones in the package. Podcast support has also been discontinued and features such as SensMe Channels and smart playlist creator are also absent. Integration of Rhapsody DNA is also not there but we can do without it.

When it comes to playing music second generation Sony S-Series Walkman can play formats like WMA, MP3, AAC, Linear PCM which is Sony’s own version of WAV. You can store photos of JPEG format on the player but we were turned off by the fact that you cannot set these photos as wall papers. For video playback there is support for purchasing and renting videos from Amazon and the formats accepted are AVC, WMV and MPEG-4 but again you have to go by the player’s requirements of frame rate, size, etc.

The one feature where this device scores above Apple’s iPod is the FM tuner and it can store up to 30 stations. You can record directly from FM to the memory of the device. You can also record with the built in recorder in the device and there is an alarm feature with which you can set up the device to wake you up with a radio station or with the tracks stored in the player.

Another feature of the device which still is very much rocking is the sound quality of the PMP. The device absolutely rocks in sound quality and definitely is better than any player that we have seen. The battery is long life with rated audio playback of 17 hours and video playback of 5 hours. If you think Sony has cut down on the features to make it a deal breaker, it emerges from the ashes like a phoenix with great sound quality and battery life. The music quality will be even better if you ditch the bundled ear phones and buy a separate set of ear buds.

The player was next tested for video and photo quality and it came out with flying colors. Videos look crisp though a bigger screen would have made viewing a better experience. FM reception too is good.

Nitty Gritty:

If you are already an owner of Sony S-Series Walkman there is no reason to upgrade. We will recommend this player to people who have stiff budget. But be warned, this device doesn’t have features that you might expect from it. People who don’t mind splashing their money around will prefer sticking to the first generation of the Sony S-Series Walkman.

Thumbs Up:

Sleek, thin, easy to use interface, huge storage space, genius play list feature, better battery life.

Thumbs Down:

EQ presets are bad, you need a latest version iTunes and it may not be compatible on your old computer, no scratch resistant glass screen.

Inside the Trunk:

Included accessories – Docking station adapter, Cable included USB cable – External.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Digital player, Hi-Speed USB, Built-in 160 GB Hard disk drive,
4.9 oz, Dimensions 2.4 inch wide, 0.4 inch thick x 4.1 big, Body material Aluminum

Supported digital audio standards
AAC, WAV, Audible, Apple Lossless, MP3, AIFF

Playback modes
One track repeat, Playlist, Random play/shuffle, All tracks repeat

Response bandwidth
20 – 20000 Hz

Supported bit rate
8 – 320

Additional features
MPEG-4 playback, Variable bit-rate compatible, JPEG photo playback, ID3 tags support, External hard drive function, Digital graphic equalizer, Notes , Battery level indication, Playback speed control, USB 2.0 compatibility, Upgradeable firmware, Genius technology, Volume limiter, Built-in games, Photo wallet, Date display, Hold button, Phone book, Cover Flow, Calendar.

Display menu language
Czech, French, English, Finnish, Korean, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Polish, Japanese, Danish, Italian, Hungarian, Greek, Russian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Chinese (simplified), Dutch, Chinese (traditional), German

Head phones
Binaural Ear-bud wired headphones, Stereo sound, Response bandwidth 20 – 20000 Hz, Impedance 32 Ohm

Connector type
1 x Docking station, 1 x Headphones Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm

Battery
Lithium ion Rechargeable Player battery integrated, Battery life 36 hours for audio and 6 hours for video.

Operating system
Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP3, Apple MacOS X 10.4.11 or later, Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition SP3

Razzle Dazzle:

When it comes to looks, the two most important features of Apple’s products are the sleekness and aluminum shell. We are used to these two features but we can’t get enough of it. It has now become synonymous with Apple. We thought that the sleekness that Apple’s MP3 players have couldn’t be replicated in a computer because of the hardware inside. But then Apple blew us of our feet with Mac Book Air. The company rightly claims that it is the world’s slimmest laptop. The third generation Apple iPod Classic it is still thin and sleek with the sexy aluminum exteriors. We won’t call the third generation Apple iPod Classic light because of the presence of hard drive which adds up to the weight. But it looks very pretty.

Inside Dope:

We all know about Apple’s prowess when it comes to making MP3 players. They are far ahead of the nearest competitors, we reviewed Zune HD before this and we couldn’t help compare every single aspect of Microsoft’s product with Apple iPods

The third generation Apple iPod Classic sports a 2.5 inch screen which is quite good for watching videos. It will give you a resolution of 320X240 and can play files which are encoded at 640X480. You can also purchase a cable from Apple to hook up this player to your LCD TV for viewing pleasure. Videos look better when watched on an HDTV but we guess this screen is also good when it comes to portable video players.

You will have to take good care of your screen because it doesn’t have the scratch resistant glass screens and such scratches will ruin the look of the player as well as give you a bad viewing experience. Mostly all companies making LCD screens in players and mobiles have moved on the to the glass screens, we don’t know why Apple is still shy to adopt this technology.

If you want a good reason to upgrade to the third generation Apple iPod Classic it has to be the enhanced battery life. Apple boasts that this player can play about 36 hours of music on a full charge and about 6 hours of video. We were pleased with the video time of the player and with the extended music playback you can go without a recharge for about 12 days with moderate usage of about three hours. We guess a flash drive would have extended the battery life but a 160 GB flash drive would make the player more expensive.

When it comes to video playback formats, iPod refuses to entertain files other than MP4.

The player only plays videos of H.264 or MPEG-4 video in MOV, MP4, or M4V file formats. We have thrown tantrums in Apple’s face for quite a long time about this and we have given up, since they have fallen on deaf ears.

If you have video of any other format and you want to play it in the third generation Apple iPod Classic you will have to go through those boring video converting soft wares. We consulted the internet for converters and we were impressed with the number of soft wares made by various manufactures for converting the videos for iPod. We would have also appreciated if Apple bundled free software for converting to MP4 format videos.

But there is always iTunes, which gives you ready made MP4 format files and we are all aware of the millions of songs and videos which are purchasable on the iTunes store. You can buy latest movies, videos and TV shows on the store.

The audio quality of the third generation Apple iPod Classic is great but it is nothing spectacular as compared to other players like Sony, Samsung and Creative offer. The head phones of the third generation Apple iPod Classic are plain jane, just like other Apple’s MP3 players and we would have liked a better sounding headphones since these products are a tad costly than other players, which offer similar functions. If you want a better experience then you will have to shell out some more to buy a noise canceling headset or alike. We tried the player with some of the better quality head sets that we had and the sound quality was awesome.

The third generation Apple iPod Classic has a huge 160 GB storage space which lets you carry your entire collection of songs and videos with you on the player. There have been earlier players from Apple which have a 120 GB and a bigger storage space means more media. This player also lets you carry your data files because it also doubles up as a mass storage device.

The only way you can put media in Apple iPods is through iTunes. Initially we threw tantrums at this feature too but later we realized that media management is better when you do it through the iTunes. This is a two way deal, wherein you get a great media manager and Apple keeps it pockets jingling because the soft ware has a built in store which is bound to tempt you to buy music and videos. The third generation Apple iPod Classic needs you to download latest version Apple iTunes on the computer. If your computer is too slow or is not compatible with the latest version then you might get stuck. Check with your computer before purchasing this product.

The third generation Apple iPod Classic has 20 presets for equalizer, just like other Apple iPods but these presets are not very helpful in changing the tone of the tracks. In fact they are useless and the music is not affected much. These presets seem like a cheap imitation of other PMPs, it seems Apple’s put the feature just to show “Duh, we can do it too” Apple claims using the equalizer will tax the battery more so we recommend you to switch it off if you don’t need it.

The third generation Apple iPod Classic, just like previous iPods has the genius play list feature where in Apple clubs up to 25 songs looking at a single song that you have selected. The feature needs a big enough collection of songs on your iPod, you select a song and tell the player to find more songs like this and the iPod does it for you. This feature was also seen when we reviewed Apple’s iPhone all we had to do was to tell the gadget “play more songs like this” and the phone did the job well.

There is a catch though; you won’t be able to use the feature if you haven’t enabled it in your iTunes software. Some may balk at privacy invasion because Apple takes a note of what you are listening. But if you don’t mind this, go ahead and use the genius play list feature.

The iPod is now one of the few iPods which still has the divided screen look. There are two parts one which shows the selection which you are making and other shows the picture like album artwork of the song. This mode is also available when you are viewing the photos on the player, it will give you a ‘preview’ when you surf through the list. We found this feature really attractive and the divided screen doesn’t feel like clutter.

The third generation Apple iPod Classic can record voice memos for you but you will have shell out money for using this service.  There are a few head sets which are from third party manufactures and they can work well this feature. You don’t have to go digging in to the iPod to change songs, videos, etc. Apple makes it own set of headset and you can use it with the iPod.

Nitty Gritty:

The third generation Apple iPod Classic still features simple interface that made us fall in love with it in the first place. There is just still a click wheel with four buttons in four directions and the middle button. It is still easy to use and there is no fuss. This player has an increased battery life and it has a big storage space which is yet not matched by other players. If you haven’t bought an iPod till now and have been thinking of buying one we would recommend you to go for it now but if you already own an Apple iPod (which plays video) and are thinking of upgrading we would tell you otherwise because this is not much different from the player that you already have.

Sum and Substance:

Thumbs Up:

Great OLED display, HD radio tuner, long batter life, movie rentals and subscription features.

Thumbs Down:

Not compatible with MAC, the screen is not clearly visible in bright sunlight, Marketplace’s ‘Microsoft Points’ is a turn-off, Microsoft Marketplace is nowhere close to the iTunes which has great apps and games.

Inside the Trunk:

Included accessories
3 pairs of ear tips,  Software -  Drivers & Utilities, Cable included – 1 Data cable – External.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Display
3.3 inch OLED screen, Resolution – 480 x 272, Display Languages – French, English and Spanish

Supported audio formats
AAC, MP3, WMA, WMAPro, CBR, VBR.

Supported video formats
WMV, MPEG-4

Still image format
JPEG

Playback modes
Random play / shuffle

MPEG-4 playback, Variable bit-rate compatible, JPEG photo playback

Other Features
Wi-Fi, Hi-Speed USB, Built-in games, Web browsing, Built-in FM radio, Wireless music download

Memory
32 GB Integrated

Weight
2.6 oz, width – 2.1 inch, depth – 0.4 inch, height – 4 inch

Available body colors Black and Platinum silver
ID3 tags support

Additional features
MPEG-4 playback, Variable bit-rate compatible, JPEG photo playback

Headphones
Binaural Ear-bud

Lithium ion Rechargeable Player battery integrated

Recharge time
2 hour(s)

Estimated battery life 33 hours.

Razzle Dazzle:

The display of the player is 3.3 inch big and is only 0.3 inch thick. The body is made of aluminum, just like Apple’s products, and it gives the Zune a cold and solid look. Videos on this player look great due to the big screen and the cool 480×272 pixels resolution.

Inside Dope:

Microsoft’s products have always been thought of as a second fiddle to what is available in the market. They reign when it comes to computers, no doubt about that but their prowess in the gadget markets seems limited only to computers.

Sony launched Sony Playstations and Microsoft realized that their computer sales were in danger since Sony Playstation could be used as a computer too plus it gave great gaming experience. So Microsoft launched Xbox360 to lure PS3 fans. Xbox 360 sales haven’t been the same as Sony’s PS3. Sony PS3 was selling like hot cakes when they first came out and sales were so fast that manufacturers actually ran out of stocks.

Then came Apple’s iPod and Microsoft launched Zune. So Microsoft has always been seen as someone made products as an alternative substitute to the original ones.

Zune first came out it was nowhere close to iPod. But now it is back with a better look. So let’s see what it is all about.

The main display of the screen has words music, videos, pictures, radio, social, more. No, this is not a wall paper these are icons for selecting what you want. You are supposed to touch what you want and the relevant feature will be launched. While some might like at the simplicity of the home screen, style freaks may balk at its blandness. The text seems to be written somewhat recklessly and everything is written in small letters, one below the other. There is a secondary main menu called quickplay.

There are only three physical buttons on the device – a large power/hold button on the top of the device, a home button below the screen and a button on the left edge of the device for calling up the onscreen playback and volume controls. The volume control is worst part of the device and we would have appreciated the volume control somewhere on the face of the player. We are sure you won’t use this control much and would rather go for volume control slider on the touch screen interface just like iPod touch.

We have said it once and we will say it again here, Microsoft’s Zune seems like it is a cheap alternative to the iPod touch. Few of the things have been changed so it doesn’t look like an exact copy, maybe Microsoft is trying to save its face, but then when it comes to music players, we would prefer iPod touch.

If you are an iPod fan, Zune might take sometime to get used to it, but once you use it for a while, it will be just fine.

Playing music is the main job of this player and it plays MP3, AAC, WMA, and WMA Lossless formats, as well as audio book files from Audible or OverDrive. When you sync music with Zune HD it will be sorted by artist, album, song, genre and play list. What followed after this made our eye balls popped out of the sockets, when you select and artist to play you will get a list of their albums set against a background photo of the artist. There are tabs which contain biographical information, additional photos and a list of related artists. All of this information is pulled offline from the Zune software.

If you connect the Zune HD to the internet through Wi-Fi, the album listings will show an artists entire music catalog, it will also let you preview of download additional songs or explore the music catalog of similar artists. You can download unlimited songs with the Zune’s pass subscription plan which costs $14.99 per month. If you don’t like this then a similar artist feature connects you to Zune Marketplace where previews of songs are limited to 30 seconds and downloads are sold individually just like iTunes

Just like music players on mobile phones you can create play lists on the fly. You will be glad at how the player manages media. iPod has a “recently added”, “most played” thing which shows the latest added tracks. The Zune HD has Quickplay menu which organizes music with newest tracks right up front, along with the play history, currently playing song, and anything that you may have deliberately “pinned” to the menu. If you want to pin something to the Quickplay sceen you hold your finger on the item you want pinned, and the context menu will pop up to ask if you want to pin the track. You can also add the track to your now playing list. You can put entire albums, genres or playlists in the Now Playing queue and a disk icon which is at the top of Now Playing view allows to you to save the playlist that you have just created.

Zune HD has everything that you as a music player might need. It will be your ultimate MP3 player if you are not a fan of Apple’s products. The player can also play video which is the next most sought out feature after the music. The 3.3 inch screen of the Zune HD gives a 480×272-pixel resolution.

The OLED screen on the Zune HD is better than the standard TFT LCD screen that you get in mobile phones. You will see the difference when you go in to bright sunlight with the player. A mobile screen LCD is overwhelmed by the bright lighting where as a OLED screen would do better picture than a standard LCD. But it is not as good as iPod touch which is best among the three. But the use of colors such as white menu against the dark background in the Zune HD helps in clear viewing. If you stay outdoors all day, Zune is not for you. If you check out this device for GPS in direct sunlight, you will understand what we are talking about. But a OLED screen would give you better video viewing experience as compared to a LCD.

The iPod touch refuses to support anything that is not in mp4 format. This player too will play only MP4/H.264 format or Microsoft’s WMV format. For other file formats you will need to sit in front of a computer and go through the boring video conversion procedure. iPod also has this same restrictive feature but then the iTunes store makes up for it, it delivers ready made mp4 format files on your player for a price.

You can buy Zune AV dock which costs about $89 and you can pair up this player with LCD TV. What you get is a huge display and when you flick on the screen, you see the result on the TV. It was great to see the icons moving and the great HD video on LCD TV. Zune HD is capable of handling 720p high definition content.  HD videos can also be purchased or rented from Microsoft’s Zune Marketplace download store or advanced users can create videos manually by DVD ripper. You can also use the videos that are downloaded to Xbox 360 from Zune Marketplace on the Zune HD. All you have to do is sync them through a computer. But the process is tedious and you will have work a lot before you finally get the video on your Zune HD.

In spite of repeated cries, Apple has refused to put FM on its iPod products. This is where other players in the MP3 player market are cashing in. Zune HD carries FM and Microsoft has HD radio broadcast support along with the FM tuner. HD radio broadcasting is not available in all cities, though. Our eye balls popped out again when the currently playing song on the radio gave information the track as well as tag for the song. The combination of FM radio and HD broadcast makes it one of the best radios we have ever seen on any gadgets.

The audio quality of Zune HD excellent. There is a built in equalizer which you can play around with and change the presets. We have seen quite a lot of music players which are great in sound quality but do not have equalizer presets built in. Zune HD’s equalizer is among the best in mp3 players.

Apple iPod needs software to sync songs in to the device. While some thing this is a pain in the neck (they prefer simple drag and drop), people who like to be organized like such syncing soft wares. Zune HD doesn’t have a drag and drop interface and you will have to install Version 4.0 of the Zune soft ware. It provides pretty much the same features like iTunes does.

We tested the Zune HD with Wi-F turned off and it ran for 33 hours for audio and 8.5 hours for video which is quite impressive.

The Zune soft ware has a tab for Marketplace download store; you can browse through a catalog which contains more than five million songs. There is also a huge library of free audio and video podcasts as well as a revamped video download section that includes TV shows, music videos, and movies that can be purchased or rented. We were impressed by the organization and presentation of the media on the software, but it is nowhere close to iTunes store. Speaking of Apple’s products we would like to tell you that Zune HD won’t work with MAC. If you are MAC user virtualized Windows is the only option for you.

Talking about the browser of the phone it is much better than Microsoft Internet Explorer that we get with Microsoft’s Operating Systems. We hated the way the browser was forced onto us with Windows and we quickly jumped to Mozilla Firefox when we discovered it. Over all this time, we still don’t like Internet Explorer that much and the browser on Zune is a welcome change. There is a built in accelerometer for which makes the display go horizontal when you hold it by the sides. The pages can be zoomed with a pinch just like iPhone’s Safari browser. The browser is one of the best that we have ever come up against and scrolling on this screen was pure joy. The big screen and the high resolution adds to the experience of the browser. The catch is that you don’t get Flash Web content support and many of the features that you find in smartphones like auto-fill, copy-paste, and multiwindow browsing. You can check out networking sites and also e-mail and stuff but if we were asked to choose between Zune HD or Apple’s browser we would go with Apple’ Safari.

Zune HD is made to serve you primarily as a music and video player. Though it has some smartphone features, like Wi-Fi we would have liked it if there would have been more features which would close the gap between a smartphone and the music player. We would have also appreciated support for products beyond the Zune, such as compatibility with other MP3 players or streaming audio products like Squeezebox or Sonos.

Apple has iTunes where in you can download lots of applications, games and other stuff, and this is where you can’t match iPod with other MP3 players. iTunes is just perfect with lots (and really lots) of applications. To make Zune HD at par with iPod, Microsoft will have to make a store like iTunes which is an uphill task.

When you go shopping for songs on the Zune Marketplace you will remember your childhood days of playing board games. The prices of songs are based on ‘Microsoft Points’, 100 points is about $1.25, we don’t know why this is done and we certainly didn’t like it as it leads to confusion while purchasing.

Nitty Gritty:

If you are buying Zune HD as a cheaper alternative to the iPod touch you need to think again. Maybe you can throw in a few more bucks and get iPod anyways since it is worth the extra money. We were glad that Zune HD had lots of features like unlimited song downloads, over-the-air album and song streams, playlist channels, and the seamless exploration of new music through Similar Artist links but all this isn’t cheap, you have to pay $14.99 per month for the Zune pass for this, which is about $0.50 per day or $180 per year which is a little expensive. But this is certainly the best Zune product as compared to the earlier ones. If you are Zune fan have been thinking of buying one, this is the time.

Sum and substance:

Thumbs up:

The Archos 5 Internet tablet has a large screen which gives you good experience in video quality, photo viewing and gaming. This device can be paired with cell phone for internet usage. Bluetooth pairing is fast.

Thumbs down:

There is IM but not voice chat which makes it incomplete. No voice chat support, locating places on GPS is slow, flash not supported for internet (further versions of Archos 5 Internet tablet support flash), awful music quality.

Inside the trunk:

4.8 inch screen, 720p HD video playback, built in GPS, Bluetooth, FM transmitter, Support for Micro SD memory cards, Built in speaker, microphone, USB, Headphones, Composite video, Lithium polymer battery, DVR station adapter.

Razzle Dazzle:

The Archos 5 Internet tablet has a big screen and doesn’t have any buttons on the surface. This product is the thinnest one Archos has ever produced. It is 3 inches tall, and a relatively svelte 0.4 inch thick so it comfortably sits in your jeans, but the hard drive models are twice as thicker.

The Whiz Kid speaks: The Archos 5 Internet tablet has lot of features packed in to one gadget. It has WI-FI, Video playback, Music, Internet applications like IM, and support for micro SD cards. All this makes a good product to buy. An addition of phone would have been icing on the cake.

Inside Dope:

The Archos 5 Internet tablet with Android is supposed to be a competitor to the iPod touch and Zune HD. But if seen quality wise, the manufacturers seem to have rushed in to making this product and there is plenty of room for improvement on this product. A lot seems to be desired in various departments on the Archos 5 Internet tablet.

The first thing that you notice about this gadget is the huge screen which stares at you. If you look at the screen and think this is a great video player then you won’t be disappointed. Archos 5 Internet tablet churns out video at resolutions at 720p and watching videos on such a big screen is pleasure. There is support almost all the formats like AVI, WMV, MPEG4, h.264, MKV, and Flash video content, many of which support resolutions up to HD-quality 720p.

FM transmitter is built in but there are quite a few problems with the reception. It is quite bad and Archos could have done better than this. But if you are making up your mind whether to buy iPod touch or Archos 5 Internet tablet, this one might give you the edge since iPod touch doesn’t have built in FM radio.

There is support for micro SD memory cards and we had plenty of issues with that too. Sometimes the Archos 5 Internet tablet refused to access the cards and showed them as corrupt, but then things went fine once the device was rebooted. So every time the Archos 5 Internet tablet refuses to show data on the card, you have no option but to reboot and try accessing it again.

Inclusion of WIFI gives way for internet access on Archos 5 Internet tablet. We had a hard time accessing websites that supported flash and the gadget didn’t load all the data on the site. It came to a abrupt halt after loading a few advertisements on the sites. However the Archos promised us that the further models will support flash 5 fully which gives us the idea is device is not finished product.

The applications included have support for IM talk, but the support for voice talk is not present which will disappoint the users. Users can also pair up this device on a celluar phone to access the internet. Thumbnail view is supported but it takes a long time no load the thumbnail view. Archos 5 Internet tablet has an edge over iPod touch here. iPod touch doesn’t support drag and drop transfer while the Archos 5 Internet tablet does.

Viewing photos is a pleasure when it comes to Archos 5 Internet tablet thanks to the huge screen. The supported formats are JPEG, BMP, GIF and PNG. But again there are drawbacks here, it is not easy to navigate and absence of “pinch” or resize options like the iPod touch has is something which the photographs enthusiast will balk at.

Games are supported for the user to play at his leisure while he is traveling or simply when he feels like it. Again games are a pleasure since the screen is huge. Games can be purchased from local website and you can play them, but the game quality is below par compared to iPod touch and Sony PSP. (Games for such large screen except iPod touch is not yet made, so maybe this will be made good in the future).

There is integrated GPS receiver on the Archos 5 Internet tablet but I takes a long time to locate places and has a cold boot time of 45 seconds.

Archos 5 Internet tablet also supports Android applications by Google but the support for these applications is limited. The cooler Android applications are not yet supported and only the basic ones can be used. This is perhaps the biggest plus point that this gadget has over iPod touch, since iPod touch doesn’t support Android applications.

Music player on Archos 5 Internet tablet is definitely not a competition to other MP3 players in the market. The sound quality is passable and is nothing compared to Cowon or Sony. A host of formats are supported like MP3, AAC, WMA, FLAC, OGG and WAV files but the audio quality will something that turns you off.

Nitty gritty:

The Archos 5 Internet tablet has more of negatives than positives. It was made simply to compete with the iPod touch. The features are same as iPod touch minus the phone but the feature quality is nowhere comparable. The features are all half served like, support for photos, but no support for pinching or resizing the photos. Apart from big screen, there is nothing about this device that you make you buy it.

Thumbs up: Good user-interface; reasonably priced; personalized alarm; memory is expandable.

Thumbs down: Screen is small; exclusion of features such as AAC support and the itunes AAC support; not much different from the previous model.

Inside the trunk:
Memory capacity of 16 GB; FM radio; 2.5 inch TFT LCD with  resolution of 320 x 240 pixels; SD/SDHC Memory Card Compatibility with a Card Reader; Video Playback; Voice Recording; built-in Lithium Ion Battery; 30hours continuous audio playback and 5hours continuous video playback.

The whiz kid speaks: Creative has launched the Zen Mx a follow up to the much acclaimed Zen and supposedly, an answer to Apples revamped Nano. But there a few glaring faults in the MX, that threaten it from becoming a successful MP3. Let’s find out.

Starting with the design, Creative have barely deviated with the design on the MX , making it a carbon copy of the older Zen.  It still sports the excellent, glossy black, 2.5 inch, TFT LCD screen with a very good resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. Much of the navigational buttons remain unchanged. The only difference so far, is that, the hold key has been replaced with a menu option which can be dedicated to a soft key.

Other than that, features like its ability to expand its memory to almost double through the SD cards and the awesome user friendly menu system have still been retained.

Some of the other features include a radio, fixed audio presets, personalized memo recorder and a personal alarm alert. The sound quality was excellent with, deep bass and clear trebles. The video quality was good too, colours were naturally displayed in the small 2.5 inch screen.  The creative MX also features a lithium–ion  built in rechargeable battery, which can last up to 30 hours on continuous audio playback and an approximate 5 hours of continuous video playback.

All the features mentioned above are also found on the older Zen. What’s new on the MX is that, it does not support, AAC files any more,  even the itunes AAC support what the older Zen could play has been removed. To make it worse, the video formats all have to be converted to the proprietary .CMV. The screen is also very tiny to watch a video or movie  for more than 20 minutes.

On one side you have Apple who is going on expanding the feature list of the ipod (like the inclusion of the pedometer , radio and the camera) and improving its functionality in terms of performance and here we have Creative which instead of adding features and improving its performance to compete with apple, is dropping features which was present on it older models.

Nitty gritty: The Zen MX is easy to plug and play and is pretty light in weight. It also has good user-interface  and stylishly designed but the exclusion of features like the lack of AAC and DivX support has  really not earned any brownie points for the player. The older Zen is still more appealing than the MX let alone the new Nano. The Creative Zen MX will retail for approximately $ 80.