What's hot for this year?
Digital cameras and DVD continue to be very popular, as are
wireless phones, and game systems have been revived with the
release of the new Microsoft Xbox 360 (www.xbox.com).
But the big excitement
this year is the yin and yang of digital entertainment
experiences -- both large wide-screen flat-panel
high-definition displays for great group viewing of
movies and sports, and tiny hand-held music and media
players for personal use.
This need for personal
digital devices comes because our lives are now digital --
not only our calendar and address books, and papers and
journals, but even our entertainment media. And these days
we want that digital existence along with us wherever we go
-- digital storage, digital access, digital connections. Our
digital lives are stored in pocket storage devices, players,
and PDAs, and even connected though our mobile phone.
We're digital, and
we're wired (and wireless) -- We're connected everywhere,
and at the same time we're disconnected as we focus into our
headsets and portable devices. With today's portable
devices, we can bring along our digital lives, and enjoy and
share our favorite content wherever we go. And while there
have never been so many options at amazingly low prices, the
choice can seem overwhelming, even when buying something for
yourself, much less as a holiday gift.
Here's how to think
through the issues:
- First, do get a
USB flash memory drive. It's the new floppy disk, easy
to always bring along, so it's always there for transferring
files, whether family photos or business documents. These
are incredibly inexpensive, with a gigabyte of storage down
to around $60.
- For commuting and
short trips, the small MP3 music players like the
iPod Shuffle and Creative Zen Nano make great sense, since
they slip into any pocket or bag. They hold up to several
hundred songs in a gigabyte for under $150, so you'll need
to reload them with different music once you get tired of
the selection. You also can get adaptors to play on your car
radio.
- For music fans who
need a wider selection, the slightly larger flash music
players with multi-line displays like the SanDisk Sansa
m200 series make it easier to browse a bigger catalog for
the kind of music you're in the mood to hear. They're not
much bigger, and still incredibly light, and hold more than
1000 songs in up to 4 GB for under $200. For a premium, you
can step up to a full-color display with the iPod Nano and
add photo viewing with 4 GB under $250.
- For longer trips
and serious music collections, you'll need to step up to a
hard disk-based player like the video iPod. With 30
to 60 GB capacity, these store over 10,000 songs for under
$400, with the bonus of photo viewing and video playback.
The video iPod is still for personal playback with the small
screen, and does slip in a pocket, although you feel the
weight.
- For a more shared
experience, for fun with friends or a portable business
presentations, step up to a full portable media player
with a larger screen and speakers, and A/V out to a larger
display. The Creative Zen Vision adds FM radio and
recording, with 30 GB for $399. And check out the Archos
line for widescreen displays and integrated video recording.
Otherwise, if you
already have a game machine like the Sony PlayStation
Portable, then just add Memory Stick storage for a great
playback experience.
Of course, you may not
need a separate device at all. The new generation of
mobile phones, and especially PDA smart phones, support
flash cards and media playback, so you can use them as your
all-in-one phone, PDA, portable storage, and media player.
Some like this answer, but a full-integrated device also can
get clumsy as you try to simultaneously combine multiple
uses, or drain your phone battery playing fun videos, or
clog up your phone memory trying to store both business data
and music clips -- so it also can make sense to use
dedicated portable storage and player devices.
So what's the right kind
of product to satisfy our need for digital access? There are
so many choices, and trade-offs between cost and
capacity, size and weight, simplicity and features.
The answer is
that nobody knows -- consumers really don't have enough
experience with these kinds of devices to settle on their
preferred configurations, especially since the possibilities
are changing so fast with technology improvements. As a
result, we're still in an exploratory period in which
companies are pouring tremendous varieties of products into
the market to help consumers figure out what they want.
So let's look
at the different categories of portable digital
devices, and the technology trends driving the market, to
see what makes sense for holiday gifts -- for family,
friends, or for ourselves.
The fundamental need for
bringing along our digital lives is to have some kind of
portable digital storage. And the simplest form of storage
is a memory card -- solid-state ("flash") digital memory in
a tiny package, with an interface connector. We're familiar
with these memory cards from their use in devices like
digital cameras and now mobile phones to store images, and
short video clips, and music.
Memory cards are available
in an amazing profusion of shapes and sizes, shrinking from
"mini" to "micro" -- postage stamp size to smaller than a
dime. Sony uses its Memory Stick formats, many other
companies use Secure Digital (SD), and CompactFlash (CF) is
still around. Check the SanDisk website for a
full list of all the major flash card formats (www.sandisk.com).
SanDisk SD & CF Cards
SD and memory cards have
dropped to around $60 for 1 GB of storage and 2 GB for $170,
and Compact Flash cards are available with 4 GB for around
$275, and 8 GB for around $700. (All prices are ballpark
mainstream retail quotes as of this writing. Expect further
discounts and deals throughout the holiday selling season.)
More interestingly, you
can use these cards as general portable digital storage.
They work with "plug and play" ease with computers -- just
connect to your camera with a USB cable, and the memory card
is mounted on your desktop as a removable drive, so you can
transfer any digital files with drag and drop ease.
However, memory cards are
inconvenient for general computer-to-computer storage
transfer, since you need another device or a dedicated
reader to access them. A better solution is to add a
standard computer interface to the memory. The result is the
USB "thumb" drive, also known as flash pocket memory drives,
typically designed as a thumb-sized stick with a USB
interface on the end.
USB flash drives use the
same solid-state storage as memory cards, and are available
in the same range of capacities, although at slightly lower
prices since they are not quite as miniaturized. They come
in a fun profusion of styles and colors, with cool
translucent cases and blinking lights. Drives are available
with 256 and 512 MB for ridiculously low prices ($25 and
$50), and more interestingly up to 1 to 2 GB ($80 and $160),
with 4 GB coming into the market.
Verbatim USB flash
drives
This is the new digital
jewelry, with lanyards to carry around your neck wherever
you go. Or get the Swissbit / Vitorinox Swiss
army knife version (www.swissarmy.com),
with scissors, screwdriver, and USB drive (just don't try to
carry it on an airplane).
Swissbit / Vitorinox Swiss army knife USB
Companies like
Verbatim then offer several lines of flash drives (www.verbatim.com),
moving upscale with added capacity, enhanced transfer speed,
and security features such as encryption (it's bad enough to
lose your digital self on a tiny drive, but it's even worse
when someone else can read all your data). Today's drives
include security manager software to define open and
encrypted partitions, with password access or even built-in
fingerprint readers.
New U3 USB smart
drives add the ability to run applications directly from
the drive, so you can bring you entire desktop along with
you, and be at home running from any computer (www.u3.com).
This does require special versions of the applications, and
works only with Windows.
Solid-state memory is
convenient and rugged, but is currently only cost-effective
for capacities past megabytes up to gigabyte or two. Yet,
while 1 GB provides more storage than a data CD (650-700
MB), we just need more storage to allow us to bring along
our growing archives of digital data and particularly
digital media -- photos, music, and now even videos. The
numbers get more interesting at 4 GB, close to the capacity
of a DVD (4.7 GB), or even better at 8 GB, in the ballpark
of the new double-layer DVDs (8.5 GB).
The answer for these kinds
of capacities is to use tiny 1 inch hard drives. These
devices take over where flash starts getting too expensive,
currently around 4 to 8 GB. They provide this additional
capacity in a more square form factor only slightly larger
than a thumb drive, and still with convenient USB
plug-and-play access.
For example, the
Imation Micro Hard Drive has a cool padlock design (with
the USB cable) and is available with 2 and 4 GB for around
$140 and $170 (www.imation.com).
The rectangular Memorex Mega TravelDrive offers
4 to 8 GB for $140 and $190 (www.memorex.com).
Imation Micro Hard Drive -- Memorex Mega
TravelDrive
The new credit-card
LaCie Carte Orange is aggressively priced with
4 and 8 GB for $99 and $149, squeezed into 2.16 x 3.34 x
0.23 inches (www.lacie.com).
LaCie Carte Orange
This line between flash
memory and tiny hard drives will remain as an ongoing battle
in the consumer electronics industry, as solid-state memory
continues to drop in price and hard disk manufacturers move
up to higher capacities. For example, Apple killed the very
popular hard-disk based iPod Mini (4 GB for
$199, 6 GB for $249), and replaced it with the smaller and
sexier flash-based iPod Nano, offering less
capacity for more money (2 GB for $199, 4 GB for $249).
Solid state memory does have a size and weight advantage,
and is more rugged (USB drives have been known to survive a
trip though a washing machine, though I wouldn't recommend
it) -- and yet there's significant room for technology
improvements in magnetic disk.
The trade-off for the
convenience of these tiny pocketable devices is the limited
capacity to single-digit gigabytes, as well as relatively
slow transfer rates (up to 9 MB/sec.). By stepping up to
larger, but still palm-sized designs, you can still have
quite portable storage, but with more bountiful 40 to 80 GB
capacities.
These devices are more
like carrying a paperback (weighing around 7 - 8 ounces, and
measuring around 5 x 3 x 1 inch). For the trade-off in size
and weight, they offer not only ten times the storage, but
use more robust 2.5" hard drives and support multi-megabyte
caches to offer higher throughput (around 25 MB/sec.).
For example, the
Western Digital Passport Portable is available with 40
GB for $149, 60 GB for $179, and 80 GB for $199 (www.wdc.com).
Similarly, the Buffalo MiniStation HD Portable
offers 40 GB for $136, and 80 GB $183, in a shock-resistant
mounting (www.buffalotech.com).
And the slightly larger LaCie SAFE Mobile Hard
Drive includes fingerprint access security at 40 GB for
$149, and 80 GB for $199 (www.lacie.com).
Western Digital
Passport Portable - Buffalo MiniStation HD Portable - LaCie
SAFE Mobile Hard Drive
So now we can
have our digital files wherever we go, but these
storage-only devices still require a computer to access and
display their contents. And since lots of the content can be
digital media that we'd like to share -- music and photos
--- it would be even better if we could access our stuff
even on the go.
So what's the
minimum you need to add to a simple USB flash drive to make
it into a music player? The answer, in the Apple
iPod Shuffle, is just a headphone jack and basic play
controls (www.apple.com/ipod).
The result is still around the size of just a USB flash
drive (0.78 ounces), and is available with 512 MB for $99,
or 1 GB for $129 (to hold some 240 songs).
Apple iPod Shuffle
The Shuffle is
beautiful in its simplicity. However, you do need to keep
close to a computer to charge it, since the 12-hour battery
is not replaceable (an Apple theme, since a battery cover
would destroy the esthetics of the smooth line of the case).
And there's no display, so you can't really see or choose
what you're playing -- hence the focus on shuffling your
music to play it randomly.
Like all the
iPods, the Shuffle is accessed using the Apple
iTunes software on Macs and PCs (www.apple.com/itunes).
Besides the common MP3 format, Apple prefers the improved
AAC audio format for music files. For purchased downloaded
music, the iPods use Apple's FairPlay Digital Rights
Management (DRM) content protection technology (which Apple
is not licensing to others).
In general,
iPods only work with iTunes, and iTunes only works with
iPods. All the other media player devices are therefore
focused on the Windows platform, and work with a variety of
software.
The next step
up for music players is to add a basic display so you can
choose the music you want to play, especially when the
growing memory capacity allows you to store collections of
hundreds to thousands of songs. For example, the
Creative Zen Nano Plus has a three-line display to show
information including the currently playing song and battery
life (www.creative.com).
With the display, and a removable AAA battery for 18 hour
play time, the Zen Nano is slightly larger than the Shuffle
(at 0.8 ounces and 1.32 x 2.58 x 0.51 inches), and priced
similarly at 512 MB for $109 and 1 GB for $139. For fashion
purposes, it's also available in ten bright colors.
Creative Zen Nano Plus
Once you have
a music chip and display in these devices, it's also
possible to add significant additional capabilities. The Zen
Nanoincludes a FM tuner to listen to radio,
plus works as a audio recorder, for voice from a built-in
microphone, from FM radio, and even using a line input jack.
The display provides a menu interface for selecting playback
and recording options, tuning the radio, and managing
recorded files.
Once your
music collection grows beyond the 250 to 500 songs you can
squeeze into a 1 GB player, however, you'll want more
capacity. With 2 to 4 GB, for example, you're talking up to
1000 songs, so it's also helpful to have a larger display
and more sophisticated navigation -- so you can access your
music by categories including artist, album, song title,
genre, year, and playlist.
For example,
the SanDisk Sansa m200 series sports an indigo
backlit multi-line LCD display, supports FM radio and
recording, and runs up to 19 hours on a removable AAA
battery (www.sandisk.com).
It's larger, but still very pocketable and light (at
1.3 ounces and3.1 x 1.7 inches). The
m200 series is available with 512 MB for $79, 1
GB for $119, 2 GB for $159, and 4 GB for $199.
SanDisk Sansa m200
Most of these
non-Apple products play MP3 audio plus the
Microsoft Windows Media Audio (WMA) audio format, which
offers comparable quality and compressed file sizes similar
to AAC (www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia).
For purchased music, they support Microsoft's Windows Media
DRM copy protection (known by its code name, Janus).
Microsoft uses the "Plays For Sure" logo to identify
products that support Windows Media audio and video formats.
You can play
these Windows Media files under Windows with the built-in
Windows Media Player (of course), as well as a wide range of
other media player and editing software. The Microsoft DRM
is used for purchased downloads from many Internet music
stores (similar to iTunes), including MSN Music, Musicmatch,
MusicNow, Napster, and Wal-Mart. You also can have the
option of access to unlimited selection through music
subscription services that offer all-you-can-eat music for a
monthly fee, including Rhapsody To Go, Yahoo! Music
Unlimited, and Napster to Go.
All these
music players have been based on flash memory, but with
capacities growing up to 4 GB, it's a shame to limit them to
playing music. The next step is to bulk up the display to
full-color, suitable for viewing photos, albeit on a rather
small screen.
Hence the
Apple iPod Nano, an unbelievable sleek and sexy
device available in your choice of white or black (www.apple.com/ipod).
It has a small but clear 1.5” color LCD (176 x 132
resolution), and very thin and light (at 1.5 ounces and 3.5
x 1.6 x 0.27 inches). It's available in two capacities: 2 GB
for $199, or 4 GB for $249, to store up to 1,000 songs or
25,000 photos. The Nano uses the iPod click wheel interface,
and includes PDA-like features including games, calendar,
contacts, and notes. It runs up to 14 hours on the built-in
battery.
So we've
stepped from portable storage to audio playback, and then
bulked up capacity and added photo viewing. With more space
and a full-color screen, the next step is clear: adding
video playback. Video does require lots of space, which
means you really will need a hard disk-based player with
tens of GB of capacity for significant video playback.
But these
video clips are relatively low resolution to fit the tiny
screen sizes, and can be compressed aggressively and even
played at a lower than normal frame rate, so it's possible
to still use solid-state flash memory to store at least a
relatively small amount of video. This helps reduce the size
and cost, but does limit the capacity to only up to a
gigabyte or so.
For example, the ZVUEpersonal
media player minimizes cost (down to $99) by not
including built-in memory at all, and using larger AA
batteries (www.zvue.com).
It has a relatively large screen (2.5", 160 x 240), and is
chunky in your hand (at 5 ounces without batteries, and
4.33 x 2.91 x 1.1 inches). The idea is
that it's an inexpensive playback engine for kids or school
-- just add memory as needed. And parents will appreciate
the absence of a speaker, and the addition of a second
headphone jack so two kids can share the fun, but quietly.
ZVUE
personal media player - iriver U10
In comparison,
the new iriver U10 really compacts the
design of a flash-based player with built-in memory (www.iriveramerica.com).
It has a slightly smaller but higher-resolution screen
(2.22”, 320 x 240) that takes up most of the front of the
unit, all squeezed down (to 2.50 ounces and 2.7 x 1.8 x 0.6
inches). The U10 even dispenses with the controls -- you
navigate just by pressing around the edges of the screen.
And it includes a FM tuner and voice recorder. It includes
512 MB for $199, and 1 GB for $249.
At this point in surveying
the evolution of portable digital devices, it's time to stop
focusing on shrinking down to the smallest possible size,
and give in to the need for much more storage. We'll have to
give up on using flash memory, and accept the additional
size and weight of using hard-disk storage -- still using
tiny drives, but offering tens of gigabytes of capacity. For
example with the new 60 GB video iPod, we're talking about
storing up to 15,000 songs, 25,000 photos, or 150 hours
video (at higher 320 x 240 resolution).
This new
Apple iPodvideo is still a
highly portable personal player that fits in your pocket
(although you can feel the weight more than a flash-based
device). It's a personal device for listening with
headphones (no speakers). It's available with 30 GB disk for
$299, and 60 GB for $399. With a relatively small screen
(2.5”, 320 x 240), it uses a taller design (4.8 or 5.5
ounces for the two capacities, 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.43/0.55
inches). It plays great-quality MPEG-4 / H.264 video, up to
150 hours in 60 GB, and supports the Apple DRM for clips
purchased from the iTunes store.
Apple iPod video
For a larger display to
share with a group, the Creative Zen Vision has
speakers, and offers a significantly larger screen (3.7",
640 x 480), in a larger but still highly portable unit (at
8.4 ounces, 4.9 x 2.9 x 0.8 inches,
www.creative.com). The
Zen Vision includes FM radio, voice recording, speakers, A/V
out for displaying on a TV, and a removable battery. It
plays MPEG-4, DivX, and Windows Media Video (WMV) formats,
including Windows Media DRM for purchased content. It's
available with 30 GB for $399.
Creative Zen Vision
But why stop at just
playback, and why require that TV shows be re-purchased in
portable formats in order to view them on the go? With DVR
(Digital Video Recorder) software on your computer, you can
record TV shows and then download them to your portable
player for time-shifted and place-shifted viewing. Even
better, since many of these devices can record audio, why
not just support directly recording video as well?
For example,
Archos has a broad line of portable video recorders
(PVRs) -- handheld players that also can record video (www.archos.com).
The small Archos
Gmini 402 Camcorder has a small screen (2.2", 220 x
176), and includes a 1.2 Mpixel camera for MPEG-4 capture,
all in 5.64 oz, with 20 GB storage for $399.
Archos Gmini 402
But for a wide-screen
shared experience, the Archos AV700 Widescreen
Mobile DVR sports a big widescreen display (7”, 480 x
234), in a larger design (20.8 ounces, 4.2 x 8.2 x 0.8
inches). Even better, it has A/V input to record directly,
and even can schedule recordings though the included hub.
The AV700 is available with 40 GB for $599, and 100 GB for
$799, for storing up to a million photos, 55,000 songs, or
400 hours of full-screen MPEG-4, AVI, and WMV video.
So now you can
have portable storage, audio playback and recording, photo
viewing, and even video playback and recording, all in one
relatively portable device. You can trade off price and
size, screen size and features, for pocket-sized personal
playback or widescreen shared portable fun.
On the other
hand, why use a separate media player device? If you're
already carrying a mobile phone, why not also use it for
personal entertainment -- as one unified, all-purpose,
converged device? Or if you have some other kind of
entertainment device like a portable game machine, you can
load it up with your media as well.
For example,
you may have thought the Sony PlayStation Portable
(PSP) was a game machine (www.us.playstation.com/psp.aspx).
Yes, but it's also a movie player for watching feature films
released on the new UMD (Universal Media Disc) small optical
disc format. But the PSP also serves as a nice media player
for music and photos and videos, with its bright 4.3 inch
widescreen LCD, at 480 x 272 pixels, and priced around $250.
Just insert a Memory Stick card to download your own content
and data files.
But why carry a separate
player at all, when mobile phones are evolving into
multi-function devices? Today's camera phones also can shoot
and play MPEG-4 video clips, and share them over the
cellular network though multimedia messaging and e-mail.
Multimedia phones also
can play streaming wireless video and audio, including live
TV, using services like Verizon Wireless V CAST
(www.getvcast.com) and
MobiTV (www.mobitv.com).
Plus, the addition of flash memory cards to more phones
means that you can download your own content to bring along,
using your phone as a portable player.
V CAST - NBC Mobile
Then there are
full-fledged PDA phones, including the Palm Treo
650 with optional camera at around $400 (www.palm.com),
and Microsoft Pocket PC and Windows
Mobile smartphone devices with built-in Internet
Explorer and Windows Media Player (www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile),
like the Samsung SCH-i730 at around $600 (www.samsungusa.com/wireless).
palmOne Treo 650 and Samsung i730
These are the best of both
worlds -- an open PDA platform with local storage, connected
to the Internet though wireless cellular service. You then
can run a variety of applications to store and play your
music and videos from storage cards, plus access, download,
and stream content from subscription services, or from any
Web site or Internet host.
Ready to
choose -- Do you need digital storage, or a media player?
Want to pack a tiny device, or step up to a larger display?
Need to listen to music, or view color photos and video? Do
you create playlists, or need your entire collection?
To load up your portable
player, start with some media clips on your computer, and
then copy them to the player so you can view them on the go.
The clips on your computer may be music that you have ripped
from a CD or purchased from an on-line store, or photos that
you have uploaded from your digital
camera, or even video clips that you have edited or
purchased online.
However, each device only
supports certain media formats, and specific purchased and
protected formats. You can play MP3 music almost anywhere,
but Windows Media Audio (and Video) clips do not play on
Apple's iPods, and Apple's favored AAC format is not well
supported on other devices. Microsoft has licensed its
"Plays For Sure" Digital Rights Management protection for
music and video clips into many players, but Apple does not
license its FairPlay DRM format for purchased iTunes clips
to play on any other device than its own iPods.
Software tools
applications including Apple's iTunes and Microsoft's
Windows Media Player help you with this process so you can
assemble and organize your music and media collections. You
can create playlists of clips that you want to carry on your
player, and then sync the clips to the device.
All these devices (both
storage devices and players) connect to your computer
through a USB cable, and then appear on your desktop as a
removable drive. You can then just drag and drop any of your
files back and forth to the device, which downloads them to
the memory on the device, or copies them from the device up
to your computer.
For devices that play
different kinds of clips, however, again onlythe files in recognizable formats can be played --
all the other files will be ignored (i.e., you can drag a
spreadsheet file to your MP3player to
bring along on a trip to give to a friend, but you can't
play it as music).
SanDisk SD & CF Cards
Swissbit / Vitorinox Swiss army knife USB
Verbatim U3 USB smart drive
LaCie Carte Orange
Apple iPod Shuffle 
Creative Zen Nano Plus 
SanDisk Sansa m200 
Apple iPod Nano 
Apple iPod video
Creative Zen Vision
Archos Gmini 402
Archos AV700
Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP)
V CAST - NBC Mobile
palmOne Treo 650 and Samsung i730