SanDisk may have exited the Indian music player market but is very much alive in United States. The American company has announced their affordable audio player called Sansa Clip Zip. The new workout-friendly music player features a color screen, support for variety of music formats, FM Radio and even stopwatch and voice recording.

SanDisk has also included a microSD card slot supporting up to 32GB in case, the integrated 4GB or 8GB is less for you.

Sansa Clip Zip will sell for $49.99 and $69.99 in United States and Canada and will be released in Europe next month.

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Sony has introduced a new set of Walkman players for the European region. First up is the NWZ-W260 aimed at consumers with active lifestyle. The wire-free music player is water resistant and employs fast charging feature that allows to play up to 60 minutes of music on just 3 minutes of charging. Additionally it has ZAPPIN search technology that plays a chorus of a song to identify the song quickly. It will launch by end of next month.

Moving up the ladder is NWZ-E460, which is similar to previous generation but is more colorful in design. E460 is ideal for first time PMP users that comes with video support and Clear Audio technology for excellent Walkman sound.

The NWZ-S760 cranks up a notch by offering wireless music with the help of an integrated Bluetooth. It bundles with EX series headphones but you can pair it and play with any other Bluetooth headset.

Finally the top end of the lot — NWZ-A860. It bears a more premium look and comes with a 2.8-inch touchscreen display. On the music front, the A860 is loaded with five Clear Audio technologies, S-Master MX Digital Amplifier to reduce noise levels and distortions.

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Sony has pushed out yet another entry-level music player in the Indian market. The E363 Walkman may not offer you a choice of apps or allow you to surf the web like the high-end music players but is created to allow you to enjoy high-quality music. The compact music player comes with Sony’s clear audio technology along with Sony’s SensMe and Karaoke function.

Additionally, the E363 features an improved UI, a 2-inch display, drag and drop interface to copy content, FM Tuner, Voice recording and support for codecs like MP3, AAC, WMA, L-PCM and WMV.

The player will have 4GB of storage and is priced at Rs.4,990.

Over the years, iPod nano has undergone a lot of changes. What started as a sleek, tall audio player for the first two generations was revamped as short and fat video player in the third generation and the fourth generation adopting the ol’ tall sleek look while the previous gen adding a camera to the mix. The latest generation however, is totally different from what we’ve seen in the past.

The sixth gen iPod nano is the smallest nano till date and gives away the click-wheel and the camera to integrate a touchscreen display. It’s a multi-touch display akin to the iPod touch and iPhone but only smaller.

The new nano adopts a similar ‘square’ design to the iPod shuffle and even boasts a clip at the back. Additionally, the top side features buttons like +/- volume and sleep/wake whereas the bottom side has a 3.5mm headphone slot along with the data cable connector.

The iPod nano has a 1.54-inch TFT display supporting up to 240×240 pixels or 220ppi, making the interface and the icons look sharp. Apple has created a UI which is similar to the iOS but the fact is that the nano isn’t running the app-friendly iOS, which means installing apps on the nano is not a possibility. But just in case, even if it were possible, running any kind of app wouldn’t be any fun on such a miniscule screen.

Anyways, the nano’s UI works similarly to the iOS like swiping the home screen, holding an icon to jiggle and rearrange its position or using the multi-touch display to change the screen’s orientation. Since the only buttons present are used for volume and standby, all the important functions are expectedly, controlled via the screen.

Tapping the icon will let you play songs or view images or swiping to the left will allow to dig deep into the menu. However a user can hold down a finger to return back to the home screen. Overall, the UI is pretty much a breeze to use.

Moving onto its audio quality, Apple bundles the nano with a normal earphones. The audio quality good and seems to be an improvement from the previous generation nano.

The new iPod nano comes with additional features like Shake to Shuffle, built-in FM Radio, Fitness supporting Nike + and VoiceOver. Just like the previous generation, the FM Radio supports Live Pause, which is a really nifty feature. What Live Pause does is that it records up to 15 minutes of FM broadcast that can be played back. But one thing to note here is that this recording is not allowed to be stored. Another helpful feature present in the FM Radio is tagging. Tagging a particular song will save the details of the song and the next time you sync the device with the iTunes, the software will allow to preview and buy the song from the iTunes Store.

On the fitness front, iPod nano is equipped with a built-in pedometer. The player can keep a record of your steps and even supports syncing with Nike+iPod Sport Kit.

VoiceOver has somewhat become a standard in Apple’s iPod line and the feature finds the place in nano’s new generation as well. The VoiceOver tells the name of the song and artist in over 29 languages.

To sum this up, for a player so small, a touchscreen display seems to be overkill. But considering touchscreen as the one of the most sought feature in today’s mobile devices, we can’t really complain if Apple is trying to cash in on the demand. The player promises a full day audio playback and is targeted at users who are looking for a touch-enabled music player.

It comes in multitude of colors in two storage capacities – 8GB and 16GB and is priced at Rs. 10,700 and Rs. 12,700 respectively.

Rating:
Pros: Multi-touch screen, UI
Cons: No video support

One thing I like about Apple is that they’re not afraid to experiment with their product designs. Take the third generation iPod Shuffle, for instance. They took a bold step to take away the physical player controls in lieu of in-line music controls, which to be frank, was not accepted by all. Thankfully, Apple has realized it and brought back the clickwheel design we’re used to see in an iPod in its fourth-generation iPod Shuffle.

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Read the rest of iPod Shuffle 4th Generation Review (304 words)

The iPods that were unveiled yesterday in the US will soon be available in the Indian market. All the iPods will be available from next week from Apple’s authorized retailers and will cost as follows:

2GB iPod shuffle: Rs. 3,200
8GB iPod nano: Rs. 10,700
16GB iPod nano: Rs. 12,700
8GB iPod touch: Rs. 15,400
32GB iPod touch: Rs. 19,900
64GB iPod touch: Rs. 25,900

To know more about the new iPods, click here.

Apple has refreshed its iPod family with an all new iPod shuffle, iPod nano and iPod touch. All the iPods, particularly iPod nano is way different from the previous generations and sport a new design.

Starting with the shuffle, Apple brings back the ring buttons and clubs it with previous generation’s VoiceOver technology, Genius Mixes and Playlists. The shuffle comes in 2GB capacity and can play up to 15 hours of non-stop music.

It will sell in variety of colors for $49.

iPod nano is one player that has got a major revamp. The nano now lacks the ubiquitous click wheel but has a multi-touch touchscreen-enabled display. The nano does not have a camera but features FM Radio, Nike+, Shake to Shuffle, pedometer and built-in clip.

The new iPod nano supports multi-touch gestures like swipe and the display functions similar to that of iPod touch.

It will also come in many colors in 8 and 16GB capacities that will cost $149 and $179 respectively.

The final upgrade comes to the iPod touch, which now possesses a powerful hardware akin to iPhone 4. The new iPod touch now starts from $229 (8GB) but brings the same Retina display, A4 CPU, FaceTime video calling and features dual cameras with rear HD video recording, 3-axis gyro and Game Center.

A 32GB and 64GB model will also be available for $299 and $399 respectively.

Apple’s iPod Shuffle range has never had a display but now some pictures of a small 2.2-inch display have surfaced that will supposedly be the display of next-gen iPod Shuffle. The pictures are posted on a Taiwanese site, Apple.pro who claims this screen belongs to “iPod touch nano” or “iPod touch shuffle” (we prefer the latter one). More interestingly, they say the product is called as iWatch that will apparently double up as a wrist watch and a music player.

Needless to say, this whole piece of info will be a rumor unless we see more substantial proof in the form of a complete product or Apple announces it officially.

[Via AppleInsider]

TicToc (YP-S1) music player that was unveiled at the CES this year has been officially introduced in South Korea. The 12 gram TicToc player comes in trendy blue or pink colors and relies on the acceleration sensor to execute commands.

User needs to press a button on the top and shake vertically to increase the volume shake horizontally to change the song. The supported audio formats are MP3, WMA, FLAC, Ogg and has an estimated battery life of 12 hours.

The player will come in 2 or 4GB capacities priced at 59,000 won ($50) and 69,000 ($59) won respectively.

Check out our hands-on pictures from CES here.

Sony India has announced two new additions to its W and B Series Walkman players. The W250 audio players are similar to the previous W Series wire-free Walkman player but this time it protects from water and is washable. Other than that, NWZ-W250 features ZAPPIN search function, 11 hours of continuous playback and quick charge function that gives 90 minutes of playback in just 3 minutes. The NWZ-W250 will come in Black, White, Pink and goes for Rs. 4,990.

The B150 is an entry-level Walkman player who wants to enjoy Walkman music quality on the cheap. Starting at just Rs. 2,890, the player features a one-touch Bass Enhancer, FM Radio, voice and FM recording, ZAPPIN search and quick charge support. On a full charge, it promises to give up to 19 hours of playback. It will be available in Black, Pink, Gold, Red color options.