Engadget is reporting that a new iriver player named the e50 will be hitting stores soon. What makes this player stand out from the traditional iriver line is the amazing aluminum finish. Hopefully, we’ll get a chance to see this mp3 player in the states soon.

The slim, brushed aluminum encased PMP — which will come in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB models — boasts a 1.8-inch color LCD, an FM tuner, and gets a rumored 52-hours of audio life. We don’t have full specs yet, but the players will apparently appear in January with the 4GB costing about €69 (or about $90).

link – iriver e50

Digital audio company Haier has released a new version of their marginally successful ibiza Rhapsody mp3 player. The new model is the ibiza Rhapsody Sport. The player features the same interface and technology of the previous model but with a more rugged, weatherproof exterior.

It had a nice interface, built-in WiFi with access to Rhapsody (as well
as a web browser), and a nice set of codecs to choose from. … The Sport edition will come
in 4 and 8GB sizes and retail for $179 and $199 respectively.

link – ibiza Rhapsody Sport

The 4040 Touch is a new MP3 and personal media player from Energy Sistem. Building on the recent touch-mania inspired by the iPhone, Energy Sistem’s offering looks promising.

That includes a 2.8-inch QVGA touchscreen, 16GB of storage, a microSD
card slot for further expansion, a built-in microphone, an FM tuner,
support for most of the usual audio and video formats, and even support
for Microsoft’s PlayFX,
all for a fairly reasonable €120, or about $150. If that’s more than
you need, the company apparently also recently rolled out its 5020 and
5021 models, which drop the touchscreen and cut the storage down to
4GB, and the price down to €85, or just over $100.

link – 4040 Touch

AnythingButiPod.com has posted a quite thorough review of Sony’s new MP3 player, the S630. The review goes in detail of the device’s accessories, design, interface, and audio quality. A must read for anyone considering purchasing the player.

• Capacities: 8GB, 16GB
• Screen: 2” QVGA 240×320 TFT LCD
• Size: 42.9 x 89.5 x 7.5 mm
• Weight: 46g
• Supported Audio: MP3, WMA, AAC-LC, Linear PCM
• Supported Video: MPEG 4 SP, h.264 @ 320×240
• Transfer Modes: MTP
• User Interface: Tactile
• Sound enhancements: Clear bass, Clear Stereo, VPT Sourround, DSEE Sound Enhencement and Dynamic Normalizer
• Other Features: FM Radio, Themes, SensMe, Podcasts

link – Sony S630 Review

The newest versions of iRiver’s MP3 player, the E100, is whimsically coined “Season 2″. Was the success of Season 1 enough to demand an entirely line of only slightly different players? That is yet to be seen.

Nothing new here, since these new E100 are technically the same as the
very first ones, however, they are now available in 3 different colors
with Orange, Silver and white as well as being offered in 2, 4 and 8GB.

As you can expect with an iRiver product, most audio codecs are supported. MP3, WMA, OGG, ASF, FLAC, all with excellent audio quality no matter which you use (headset or built in speakers). Part of this success comes from the use of the SRS WOW HD technology.

The E100 can play MPEG4/WMV9/XVID and, despite a rather small screen
(2.4″), the experience is pretty good in both visual quality and
smoothness. iRiverPlus3 software can be used to encode videos.

link – iRiver E100 Season 2

The latest player to come to the US from Cowon is the sleek S9 Curve. This device is rumored to be released stateside in mid-December. In the meantime, here are the specs:

The 57.08 x 105.75 x 12.7-mm player (a bit shorter and narrower than
the 8-mm thick iPod touch with 4.3-inch display) will initially ship
with 8GB / 16GB of storage before getting bumped to 32GB sometime down
the road. A 3.5-hour charge off the mains (5.5-hours off USB) will
deliver up to 8-hours of video (MPEG-4 SP, WMV9 SP, H.264 BP codecs) or
40 hours of audio (MP3, WMA, OGG, FLAC, WAV formats). Integrated
Bluetooth is of the more power hungry 2.0 (not 2.1) variety with
support for A2DP stereo and AVRCP remote control profiles. The S9 for
Europe supports FM recording and dictation buts lacks the integrated
DMB television tuner of its Korean cousin.

link – Cowon S9 Curve

It seems like we have been posting a lot of news on strange MP3 players lately. Hey, it’s OK with us. As long as people are buying weirdo audio devices, companies will continue to make them and we’ll continue to post them. This strange one however comes from one of the most respected hardware companies in the world. Allow me to introduce the cow shaped Creative Zen Moo.

Apparently the Moo is China only which honestly is just as well. There
are two versions, Moo and Moo Plus, where the Plus has a screen (same
concept as with the Stone). Apparently the Plus will also have a
Tamagotchi like game where you can train the cow. Both players will
have a speaker and come in 2GB capacity and the Moo Plus will also have
an FM radio and voice recorder. Basically the Moo is the exact same
player as the Stone and Stone plus except for deign and the game.

link – Creative Zen Moo

What an awesome concept for expecting parents. A baby stethoscope which monitors, records, and plays back an unborn baby’s heartbeat. Not only that but listen to your favorite Kenny G song in between baby monitoring sessions. Is there any better way to feel connected to an unborn baby than to listen to its heartbeat. Not only that but with this device you can record the heart beats and keep them forever, in digital format of course. there is not much released about this player than was is listed in the site below. The product has been created but is not yet on the market yet. We will keep you updated on the mp3 player known as “Beforme.”

„Beforme” gives the possibility of recording sounds in order to consolidate functionality. It is very easy to change listening to the music for listening to baby’s heartbeat. On her own, mother can record that sound and later compare with model values, send to the doctor or create the diary of listening. Having this type of archive is the priceless and sentimental worth in that time of happiness given by the miracle of being. Additionally, in the future mom, together with her child, has a possibility to listen the young heart’s rhythm, recorded when they were the unity.

Stethoscope MP3 Player