portable media player

Tonium’s 60GB Pacemaker, a portable DJ system, in now available in the United States at Amazon.com for $499 (See Amazon’s site for the latest pricing and availability).

The Pacemaker is a 60GB portable media player that features full DJ capabilities in a package the about the size of a PlayStation Portable (PSP).

Features:

• Portable DJ system lets you mix, play and perform music anywhere, anytime
• 1.7 inch TFT Display with 166 ppi screen resolution
• 60GB Harddrive-holds approximately 15,000 tracks in 128 Kbps AAC format
• Built-in rechargeable lithium battery, play time up to 15 hours when fully charged, mix mode up to 5 hours when fully charged
• USB 2.0, Pacemaker editor computer software, quick start guide included in the box

Leave a comment with your thoughts on the Tonium Pacemaker!

Description:

Imagine two turntables, a mixer and an entire record collection contained in a device that fits into your pocket. Pacemaker’s two independent audio channels let you play two tracks side by side. Beatmatching is easily done by the click of a button, with a full set of audio effects and a crossfader.

The Pacemaker itself is part of the larger Pacemaker platform that encompasses the Pacemaker Editor and the Pacemaker Community. Pacemaker Editor is a free, downloadable PC and Mac compatible computer application that allows you to play music and edit and create mixes. The Pacemaker Community is an online music community that allows members to upload and legally share the mixes of their music, created by the Pacemaker or the Pacemaker Editor software.

Yamaha has announced a new MP3 player, the BodiBeat, that promises to DJ your workout, selecting tunes based on your heart rate.  According to Yamaha, it’s “the world’s first music player/heart rate monitor that selects and plays songs to match the pace of the user’s workout.”

The player goes beyond Apple’s Nike + iPod combination, a wireless system that connects running shoes to iPods. The system monitors your heart rate using an earphone sensor, and selects songs based on BPM and your preferences. It can also randomly remix “beat loops” to create a continuous mix adapted to your workout pace.

BodiBeat also will let you manage workouts and your music via PC and Web software. No word on Mac software.

While the BodiBeat promises to introduce some interesting twists to the MP3 player market, pricing is expected to be a steep $300 for a 512mb player, and Yamaha’s BodiBeat marketing is lousy compared to Apple’s.

Teuthis has several kits and parts available for making your own MP3 player.

The Super-Simple MP3 Player is based on the PIC 16LF877, with plenty of processor time to spare. There is a bare bones assembly version, and a new C version with more features and stability.

It uses compact flash cards up to over 100 gigabytes (once they exist) including microdrives. (right now they are about 8 gig). It’s open source.

And most importantly, it plays music!

Listening to iPods for as little as 5 minutes a day can cause hearing loss.

Researchers Brian Fligor and Cory Portnuff estimate that a typical person could safely listen to an iPod for 4.6 hours at 70 percent of full volume using the supplied earphones without greatly increasing the risk of hearing loss.

However, listening to an iPod at full volume for more than 5 minutes per day, they say, could increase the risk of hearing loss in a typical person. These guidelines apply in general to other music players, such as the Sandisk Sansa and the Creative Zen Micro, which they found to produce similar volume levels.

In a separate study, researchers found that only 6% of iPod users listening in quiet environments turned their iPods up to unsafe levels. When in noisy environments, though, a full 80% listened at dangerous levels. When they used an “in-the-ear” earphone designed to block out background noise, only 20 percent exceeded sound levels considered to be risky.

Creative Technology has introduced the Zen Vision:M, a 30GB video player, photo viewer and MP3 player. Designed with a 2.5-inch, high-resolution 262,144 color LCD screen, the Zen Vision:M displays rich, vibrant digital video, and photos, full-color menus and album art.

Creative is positioning the Vision:M as an alternative to the recently released video iPods.

“When people see the Zen Vision:M, they tell us it’s incredibly cool,” said Sim Wong Hoo, chairman and CEO of Creative. “We designed the Zen Vision:M with its mesmerizing 262,144 color screen to display four times the color of the 30GB iPod that plays video, and to provide twice the battery life for video playback. Plus, we offer people the freedom to choose their video in a variety of different formats, and to get subscription music or download tracks from a number of different sites to their player.” Read more…