Love it or hate it, Apple’s iPod is THE Portable Media Player (PMP) that all other players are doomed to be compared to. With the launch of the company’s new Nano and Touch models, plus the hugely hyped iPhone, Apple appears to have all its feature bases covered. But that won’t keep other manufacturers from trying to come up with something Apple didn’t think of in their development labs. To see what the competition has going for it we picked up three new players that may make good arguments for picking something other than America’s current favorite tech fruit.
Ibiza Rhapsody (Haier)
30 GB hard drive
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
FM radio
$350
Nearest comparable iPod: Classic
www.haieramerica.com
The new Ibiza player, made by Haier, is also known as the Ibiza Rhapsody player as it’s uniquely designed around Rhapsody’s music service. Of course, a player focused on one music service isn’t new—it’s part of the secret to iPod’s success. The big difference with this one is that the player’s built-in Wi-Fi radio and dedicated Rhapsody store Web browser lets you download music directly to the unit without the need for any PC.
On most fronts, the Ibiza is similar to a lot of portable players. It’s got a 30 GB hard drive, is shaped like an iPod Classic, and plays music, photos, videos and podcasts. Navigation is done via a square click pad that works much like iPod’s click wheel, and the onscreen menu will be familiar and intuitive to anyone who’s touched an iPod in the last couple of years. Aside from the Wi-Fi feature there’s also an FM radio with a strong tuner. It’s also Bluetooth for linking to Bluetooth headphones or speakers.
There are a few more buttons on this player than you see on some others, but that doesn’t make it confusing to use. In fact I rather like the layout, particularly the back arrow button that always goes back one screen page. At the top there’s a connect button to put you onto a Wi-Fi network. The design could use a little bit of a fashion makeover, though it is available in several colors.
While this is mostly a straightforward and decent player, it’s the Wi-Fi that makes it stand out. Microsoft’s Zune’s use of Wi-Fi restricts the feature only to sharing music wirelessly with other nearby Zune players—cool, but rarely useful. On the Ibiza, and with a $14.95/month Rhapsody subscription, you can update your music collection anywhere you can get a signal. Or, after the 30-day Rhapsody free trial expires, listeners can have free access to select Rhapsody channels and 25 free plays per month. Archos and Sandisk also make PMPs that allow music downloading via Wi-Fi. The Ibiza’s Rhapsody store browser make it pretty easy (though not as fast as with a PC) to locate online music via artist or genre categories and offers information about the artist as well. In fact, when you download an album you also get an artist bio that can be read on the Ibiza screen as well as recommendations for other similar artists.
Where the process falls short is in its selection. Rhapsody’s library isn’t nearly as complete as iTune’s. When searching for Led Zeppelin albums I found tribute albums and recorded interviews, but no Houses of the Holy. I did find a ton of REM albums and a good selection of current rock and pop. Rhapsody claims to have 4 million albums available. Much like the music store at the local mall, finding exactly what you want is never a guarantee. You don’t have to download tracks to listen to them. They can be streamed live from Rhapsody or you can listen to free Internet radio, when you’re in a hotspot.
On the video side, the Ibiza is compatible with many popular video formats, but there are no services that offer movies specifically formatted for it such as iTunes or CinemaNow offers. When the unit is connected to a Wi-Fi network you can watch AOL videos for free. There’s also a good selection of podcasts available for free download or subscription.
The Rhapsody software that comes with the player is fine for playing your digital music, but I found it a little clunky for loading tracks onto the Ibiza. For one thing, there’s no sync feature anywhere in the application. You need to highlight and drag your files onto the unit. You can also use Windows Media Player, which is convenient if you’ve already set up WMP to manage your media. Once you’ve got the unit filled up with content, finding what you want is a breeze. Using the click pad and buttons, one-handed navigation is at least as easy as an iPod.
Ibiza, by the way, is a Spanish island known for its party atmosphere. I guess Haier figures this product is like a Spanish party in your pocket. Sounds good to me.
Samsung P2
8GB
3-inch widescreen
Touchscreen control
Bluetooth
FM radio
Nearest comparable iPod: Touch
$250
www.samsung.com
Samsung has dropped the Yepp name for its new PMPs and now simply uses model numbers. Too bad. I like catchy names. The Samsung P2 is a well-featured player for video, music, pictures and audio books. What makes this player stand out, aside from the 3-inch-wide touchscreen display, is the inclusion of Bluetooth and how it’s used.
The P2 supports Bluetooth version 2.0 for stereo speaker systems and stereo headphones. However, by the time your read this, a downloadable upgrade (made available in December) allows the P2 to connect to Bluetooth-enabled cell phones so you can take and receive calls through your P2 without having to touch your phone. Picture it like this: you’re listening to music through the P2. Your phone rings, but because you’ve music blasting through the headphones you can’t hear the phone, but the ring comes through the P2 and into your earphones. You then tap the P2 to answer and can either talk into the microphone in your Bluetooth-enabled headphones (or use the mic built into the P2 itself), all while your phone is tucked away in your laptop bag-—pretty cool. The P2’s touch screen can also be used to dial numbers, though at this time the Bluetooth feature won’t let you access your phone’s address book. Additional downloadable upgrades will be coming out in January (including games) and March.
Aside from the Bluetooth feature, the P2 is a cool little player. It’s small, less than four inches long and .31 inches thick. The touchscreen interface uses something Samsung calls Emoture UI (user interface) and involves dragging and sliding the fingers around the screen similar to the iPhone. A left-to-right slide will produce a different result than a swirl slide. It takes some getting used to, and occasionally I was stuck trying to figure out how to get back to the screen I’d just left, but my 10-year-old daughter caught on just fine and rolled her eyes at my problems. You can select between a few basic screen layouts, including an icon grid similar to the iPod Touch or a cooler (but less functional) style.
Samsung is partnering with Rhaspsody, CinemaNow and Napster on the content side, and the product is compatible with MP3, WMA, and MPEG4. Non-DRM AAC playback will come with a future download. The CinemaNow feature allows you to download movies and TV shows that are preformatted for the P2 so there’s no need to convert the file. Other video files will be converted on-the-fly when you load them using Samsung’s software.
For me, one of the nicest surprises of the P2 is how well designed its Windows software is. Loading pre-ripped music, new CDs, photos and video is completely intuitive—more so even than iTunes. This is a big step from the time when Samsung players relied on Napster or Windows Media Player for managing content.
The P2 also includes an FM radio tuner. A sound processing technology that Samsung calls DNSe is included to enhance bass performance. Battery life is stated at about 35 hours of music and five hours of video. It’s available in 4 GB and 8 GB flash memory versions for $199 and $249. Stereo Bluetooth speakers and headphones are also available for the P2, though standard wired earbuds are included.
Microsoft Zune G2
8GB
1.8-inch screen
Wi-Fi sharing
FM radio
Nearest comparable iPod: Nano
$199
www.zune.net
Microsoft went back to the drawing board with its new Zune PMP after being a bit underwhelmed with the reception of its first players. So far the new Zunes have met with a better reception as they flew off the shelves during the holiday buying frenzy. There’s good reason for the renewed interest. Microsoft mostly got it right with this player by making an uncluttered, easy to use PMP with a few extra bells and whistles.
The Zune looks cool enough for the fashion-conscious buyer. The widescreen display takes up half of the front of the unit with the touch pad taking up most of the rest. The touch pad acts much like the iPod click wheel in that you can just slide your finger up and down to scan selections. To make a selection you can press down on the button. To go back a screen you press the dedicated back arrow button. It all works very well and is the most intuitive navigation system of all the players here, and dare I say, of all players I’ve used.
The only item on the Zune main menu that will be unfamiliar to people is the new Social option. Being social is what the new Zune is all about. Like the previous Zune, this model uses its Wi-Fi feature to search for other nearby Zunes so you can see what those users are listening to and share tracks, or pictures with others. You can get tracks of other Zunes and listen to them up to three times (and even pass them on to other users, kind of like herpes) before you need to pay for them yourself. It’s a decent way to test out new music or supplement your playlists, but it’s mostly a ploy to get you to buy more music from the Zune Marketplace. The feature also depends on there being other Zune users nearby who share your tastes.
The other use of the Wi-Fi feature is the most attractive for me. You can set the player up on your home wireless network so it automatically syncs with your PC without having to be connected. How many times have you not bothered to update your player, change the playlists or add podcasts because you forgot to hook it up to your computer? With the Zune as soon as you come within range of your network it will automatically sync.
The Zune software is also updated from the earlier model, and is an improvement, but is a bit limited in its functionality and not nearly as intuitive as Samsung’s Media Manager or iTunes. The software offers the standard PC library view and device view plus the Zune Marketplace for purchasing tracks. If your Zune is not connected you can still drag media to the device icon and it will sync those files the next time the device is connected or within Wi-Fi range.
Videos look great on the 1.8-inch screen, and when you turn the unit onto its side the image orientation automatically shifts to take advantage of the whole screen. If you record TV shows with a Windows Media Center PC you can even load those recordings onto the Zune. This alone may be a good reason for people to finally try out that Media Center option they’ve never used on their PCs. And if you have an Xbox 360 you can import your Zune tracks into some games or transfer Zune content to the Xbox 360 via your wireless network.
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