PC owners jealous of their Apple-owning friend's highly desirable iPod MP3 players need covet no more. For not only is there now software available that enables the iPod to function with Windows based operating systems the first serious challenger to the Apple gadget is about to reach the UK market.
Coming at the end of the month is the £350 Archos Jukebox Recorder 20 (right); a hard disk-based palm-sized MP3 player that rivals the iPod in almost every department. Its trump card is its 20GB hard drive - which is four times larger than the one supplied with iPod.
Archos claims that this will store up to 300 hours of music (or 500 audio CDs) in MP3 format at its standard download rate of 128kbps. The recorder is also among the first gadgets on sale in the UK to come with a USB 2.0 lead. Developed by Intel, this second generation version of the ubiquitous USB connection is designed for use with MP3 players, camcorders and portable hard drives.
Whereas USB 1.0 transfers information at 12mbps, the USB 2.0 interface shifts data at up to a much speedier 480mbps - even faster than the 400mbps offered by the Firewire (also known as I-link and IEEE 1394) connection as used by the iPod. This enables the Archos Jukebox to be filled with tracks in a matter of minutes rather than hours. The downside is that the first PCs sporting a USB 2.0 input won't go on sale in the UK until later in the year (the lead is backwards compatible with USB 1.0 connections). Furthermore, a faster Firewire connection offering transfers of up to 800mbps is on the horizon. A line-in input coupled with an MP3 encoder means the Archos is also capable of recording music from any source (CD/hi-fi) and not just via a PC. Its blue and silver styling isn't quite as alluring as the iPod, and the unit is much bulkier than its Apple rival. It is compatible with Windows 98 and higher or Mac OS 8.6 and higher operating systems. www.archos.com
Internet radio
Dutch manufacturer Philips has confirmed that its micro hi-fi system with internet radio facilities will go on sale in the UK in the summer. The Streamium MC-i200 (right) uses a broadband connection to access the thou sands of radio stations currently transmitting via the net.
British buyers should be aware, though, that the unit isn't entirely plug and play. In order for the system to be connected to a cable or ADSL broadband modem, it needs to be first hooked up to a home network router that is not supplied in the package. Philips has also inked deals with a variety of music content providers to enable users to personalise the music the system plays. For example, they can access music they have stored in a secure online jukebox provided by the MP3.com site.
Alternatively, they can listen to themed music channels that play tracks in a certain genre or by a certain artist, via the MusicMatch Jukebox website. Other sites offering services include classical music provider Andante, AOL, and Radio Free Virgin. Users will be able to find out what they are listening to as the system offers artist and track information on its LCD screen supplied by Gracenote's online CDDB system. In addition to its internet radio facility, the Streamium also features a built-in CD player and a conventional AM/FM radio tuner. The price of the system is expected to be between £350-500.
Philips is also hoping to make its mark in the mobile phone market with a new GPRS-equipped model, the Fisio 820 (left). Available in the spring via the Orange network, the 820 features a large colour LCD display, Bluetooth connectivity, and voice command and dial. The company is also reducing the cost of DVD home video recording this spring by launching a pair of models, the DVDR980 and DVDR985 set to retail for around £800 and £900 respectively, slightly cheaper than existing DVD recorder home decks. Both are compatible with Philips' new write-once DVD+R discs, set to retail for around £6-£8 - less than half the price of the existing rewritable DVD+RW discs.
