Digital Trends

Who Doesn't Offer A Digital Media Player?

It seems as if every hardware manufacturer has either a portable MP3 player or a networked media player — or both. Digital music was one of the main themes of CES 2004 and we saw some innovative ideas.

As we predicted, networked media devices have really taken off. Until recently, most of the devices on the market were from smaller, lesser known companies. That has changed dramatically with many of the larger companies throwing their hat in the ring.

Yamaha impressed us with their MusicCAST home music network system. The system has been on the market for a few months now but this was the first time many in the industry got a look at it. The home-theater component sized MCX-1000 digital audio server features an 80GB hard drive and wired and wireless networking. It connects to two different clients — a in-wall client and a thin wall-mountable or free-standing client.

With their "Connected Planet" theme, Philips announced their Streamium line of wireless audio and video streaming devices. The 802.11g SL400i and SL500i allows the streaming of audio and video content from a server to a TV or home-theater system. Philips also announced Streamium products in an all-in-one home theater unit and a mini system.

Roku introduced the Soundbridge M2000, a networked music player with a 12-inch display that truly looks like it belongs in a home-theater. The Soundbridge plays digital music stored on a remote computer through a wired or wireless network and supports all major formats.

The Roku Soundbridge front view (top) and side views (bottom).

There were also many new MP3 players announced at CES 2004. Pendant style players were prevalent as flash memory sizes are starting to increase. Several companies had interesting products in this line featuring USB recharging and built-in speakers.

iRiver and a host of other companies showed off their 1.5GB MP3 players with a 1-inch hard drive. iRiver has been making a lot of noise in the MP3 arena and announced plans for a 20GB and a 40GB hard drive-based player. In 2003 they were the leading manufacturer of flash-based MP3 players and will refresh that lineup this year with higher capacities (up to 1GB), longer battery life and USB2.0.

These new hard-drive based players look to give the Apple iPod a run for their money. Besides the iRiver offerings, we were impressed by the new Gmini 220 by Archos and the hard drive-based players from Korea's Xclef. Archos' Gmini 220 introduces a new form-factor with a more squared look rather than the rectangle shape of most other hard drive-based players. The unit features a 2.5-inch gray-scale LCD, USB2.0 and a 20GB hard drive.