The folks over at Pocket-lint.co.uk announced on their site that they have received an invitation to an Archos press event. According to them the invite states that there will be an "exciting announcement" at the event. Could this mean there are new Archos units on the way, possible ones touting 3G connectivity? It is certainly a possibility as it was roughly this time last year that we got wind of the Gen 5 Archos PMPs.



The event will be held on the 10th of July at an undisclosed “London location”, the announcement will be made by Tony Limrick, the UK's managing director of Archos. DAPreview have not been invited, I feel like the last guy picked for the football team. We’ll keep you posted guys.

Thanks rockinamigo14

Remember Creative? I don't blame you if you don't. The Singapore-based company has been pretty quiet on the DAP front for a few months now. A few days ago I had the privilege of breaking that silence by revealing their upcoming player at our Creative webring, epiZENter.net. It's called the "ZEN X-Fi", and as the name implies it's main feature is the implementation of Creative's popular (yet controversial) X-Fi technology.



Additionally, the player will have WiFi built-in. Want to take a guess at what it's used for? Music subscriptions? Nope. Zen to Zen Sharing? Sorry. Web Browsing? Hah, you wish. It's going to be used for instant messaging. A feature that's clearly at the top of everyone's wish list. The ZEN X-Fi will allow you to chat with your friends from Yahoo! and Windows Live! (aka MSN) messenger. You'll be doing so using a 9 button control scheme, which will allow you to input text the same way you would using most cell phones. WiFi will also be used to stream content from your home server directly to the player.

The rest of the features haven't changed much from the original ZEN. There appears to be a 2.5" screen, support for MP3, WMA, and AAC, and video support for WMV, Xvid, and Divx (at QVGA resolutions). Here's the features we have so far:

Features

• Capacity: 8, 16, and 32GB and SD-Card expansion (rumored capacities)
• Display: 2.5" (unconfirmed)
• Audio: MP3, WMA, AAC (unprotected), WAV, and Audible
• Video: WMV, MPEG4-SP, Divx 4/5, Xvid, and MJPEG
• Built-in X-Fi technology with two effects (Crystallizer and Expand)
• Built-in Wi-Fi for instant messaging (Yahoo! and Windows Live!) and wireless streaming
• FM Tuner and Voice Recorder
• Built-in Speaker
• Premium quality earphones included (ep-830)
• Battery Life: 36 hours for Audio, 5 hours for Video

I've read a few sites comparing this player to the iPod touch. I'd say that's definitely a stretch, considering the only thing the two have in common is the built-in WiFi. So what does this new player tell us? It proves that Creative still has a pulse, but it also shows that they simply don't have what it takes to compete with other DAP companies. Many consumers want larger displays, with a touchscreen interface, and web browsing capabilities (or basically the iTouch). Whether it's due to the lack of financial resources, poor R&D, or sub-par engineering (or all three), Creative just can't seem to get back on track and make something reflective of their company name.

via epiZENter

Click the link below for another pic

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Hey DAPreview readers! I'm sure there are quite a few of you who have been wondering what the heck is going on with the site. Well Dominic and myself have been kept quite busy in our personal lives and the site has unfortunately taken a backseat to that as of late. Combine that with a lack of what we deem "quality news" and you'll see why we haven't written much for the past month. But enough with the excuses, the readers of this site deserve better and I hope that we can deliver on that going forward.

While I continue to believe this industry is shrinking, I do believe this site has room to improve. I've been hesitant to write about gadgets other than MP3 players, despite there being plenty of other products that would fall under the "digital audio player" category. I am open to expanding my view of that all encompassing term (but not too much!).

More than anything, I want this site to be the ultimate resource for DAP's. Whether you're a long-time fan of MP3 players and come here to find out about the latest and greatest, or if you're a newcomer and want to know what's the best player to buy. These have been our strengths in the past, but over the last two years nearly all of our staff have moved on to other ventures and our content (our reviews specifically) has suffered because of it. I was originally recruited to be an editor at our Creative fansite, epiZENter.net, but after so many of the editors here stopped writing I had to pick up the slack. I never expected to do that long-term, but here I am. Thankfully I have Dominic to assist me now, and hopefully we can recruit more writers who will be devoted to this site in the future.

So, on behalf of DAPreview I want to apologize for our lack of content lately. Recently I've been flirting with the idea of having guest editors here. Either from this site or people from the industry who are open to writing an article for us. If you happen to be a passionate DAP fan and would like an opportunity to write for us, then feel free to contact me (through email or PM).


Thanks,

Michael
DAPreview.net

Iriver announced more new players at CES than some companies release in years. The best part is they're actually getting released in a timely manner! The latest to reach the market is the iriver T7, aka the "Volcano". It's a USB stick DAP that probably got overlooked by most people here (including myself). From the looks of it, iriver has definitely taken inspiration from the Samsung YP-U3. The Volcano has similar touch sensitive controls, the same retractable USB plug, and even comes in similar colors to the U3.

Features:

• Capacity; 2 or 4GB
• Display: 1.0" OLED
• Audio: MP3, WMA, OGG, and WAV
• FM tuner and Voice Recorder
• Colors: Black, White, Blue, Pink and Chocolate (same colors as the iriver E100)

The 2GB model will sell for 35 Euros, and the 4GB for 50 Euros. No official word on a N. American release, but I'm positive it'll show up here.

via Akihabara News

Anyone else digging Amazon's MP3 service? It's not only cheaper than iTunes, it has a great and growing collection, and best of all, everything is DRM-free. A few deals were recently posted at Slickdeals, and I thought I'd share them with all of you (plus a snippet from their AllMusic reviews).

Weezer - Pinkerton - $1.99 From the pounding, primal assault of the opening track, "Tired of Sex," it's clear from the outset that Pinkerton is a different record than the sunny, heavy guitar pop of Weezer's eponymous debut. The first noticeable difference is the darker, messier sound -- the guitars rage and squeal, the beats are brutal and visceral, the vocals are mixed to the front, filled with overlapping, off-the-cuff backing vocals. In short, it sounds like the work of a live band, which makes it all the more ironic that Pinkerton, at its core, is a singer/songwriter record, representing Rivers Cuomo's bid for respectability....Full Review]

Led Zeppelin - Mothership- $4.99 ...Weighing in at two discs and 24 tracks, Mothership has a sense of scale that the previous round of compilations -- the two-part Early Days & Latter Days, delivered in 1999 and 2000 respectively -- lacked, not just because it pushes these two phases together but because it is heavy on the heavy epics, emphasizing Zeppelin's sheer sonic ballast over either their lighter or more idiosyncratic moments....[Full Review]

Nirvana - In Utero - $4.98 Nirvana probably hired Steve Albini to produce In Utero with the hopes of creating their own Surfer Rosa, or at least shoring up their indie cred after becoming a pop phenomenon with a glossy punk record. In Utero, of course, turned out to be their last record, and it's hard not to hear it as Kurt Cobain's suicide note, since Albini's stark, uncompromising sound provides the perfect setting for Cobain's bleak, even nihilistic, lyrics. Even if the album wasn't a literal suicide note, it was certainly a conscious attempt to shed their audience -- an attempt that worked, by the way, since the record had lost its momentum when Cobain died in the spring of 1994....[Full Review]

Feel free to take this opportunity to tell us what you've been listening to lately on your DAP!

Back in January at this year's CES, Microsoft revealed their plans to bring the Zune to Canada. They stated that it would arrive sometime this Spring and what do you know, they've kept their word. It happens to be the last week of Spring, but no biggie! It's officially arriving on June 13th. That's Friday the 13th for all you paraskavedekatriaphobics out there. The prices are roughly the same as the US, with the 80GB models retailing for $249, the 4GB for $139, and the 8GB for $189CAD. The original Zune (aka Zune 30) does not appear to have made the trip north.

So let's see a show of hands Canadians, who's getting a Zune? Anyone?

The Source and Zune.ca

Thanks Connect

Looking for a great sounding flash player for cheap? Look no further than the Sony A810 series. I reviewed the similar S610 series, which was one of the best sounding players that I've owned. Sony is clearing their inventory of them, since they've upgraded their Walkman line. The 8GB A818 is on sale for $119.99, plus free shipping. Just enter the coupon code WALKMAN50 and FREESHIP during checkout . This deal is valid till June 4th.

Features

• Capacity: 2, 4, and 8GB's
• Display: 2.0" QVGA LCD (240x320). Can be used horizontally & vertically
• Audio: MP3, WMA (non-DRM), AAC (non-DRM)
• Video: MPEG-4 and AVC Baseline (aka H.264) at 30fps
• Battery Life: 30 hours for audio, 8 hours for video
• Dimensions (L x W x D: 88.0mm x 43.8.0mm x 9.1mm)

LINK

Just a few days after our unofficial report of the A3's capacity upgrade, I received official word from Cowon about the new models. Both the A3, and their top of the line PMP, the Q5 will be upgraded to 80GB's. While it's nice to see Cowon catching up with the times, they still have some ways to go as far as pricing is concerned. On May 26th, the A3 will go on sale for $439.99US, and the Q5 for $599.99US. My wallet just released an unsettling sigh when typing up those figures. This clearly isn't in my budget, but if you're filthy rich, or have a Stimulus check from the IRS burning a hole in your pocket, then by all means

Click the link below for the full Press Release




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Samsung fans please don't beat me, I have a tiny confession to make... I really really struggled to remember what the Samsung S5 was, and when I did remember I had actually confused it with the Samsung K5, luckily a search of our site set me straight.

That's my confession, I forgot the S5 existed but now I have a reason to remember it! According to our French compatriots over at GenerationMP3 the, now noted, Samsung S5 will soon be receiving a firmware update (1.50) which will all it to play FLAC encoded files!



This is like deja vu friends, just two days ago we brought you news that the Sandisk Sansa Clip had been updated to support Ogg Vorbis tracks and now Samsung is following suit with another open source codec! I think the DAP market is beginning to get a little bit exciting again!

I'm going to cross my fingers and hope this update will apply to more than just the S5, Samsung have a lot of models and a lot of fans who would greatly appreciate this extra format.

via GenerationMP3

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Looks like the update is out, in South Korea at least. Grab it from the Samsung site if you want FLAC goodness on your S5. Download Firmware

Sandisk really and truly are the black sheep of the DAP industry, in a nutshell they make "cheap" DAP's, but not in the traditional sense as their current line up consists of some class acts. There's the video orientated "View", the nano beating "Fuze" and the tiny, rough and tumble "Clip".

The latter of that group is quite the popular audio player, and it just got even better! Because, you see, Sandisk have added Ogg Vorbis support to the Clip, Whoa! where did that come from?

Quite a shocker to add a whole extra format in a firmware update, clearly Sandisk are taking their little audiophile-centric DAP very seriously.

Other Updates:

• Content placed in Audiobook or Podcast Folders are now accessed separately from Music.
• Podcast content is sorted with newest episode first.
• Device highlights “Play Previous” after returning to Music from FM playback.
• Much better shuffle algorithm to maintain the sequence of up to 2000 songs.

Very seldom do we see more formats supported after an initial product release, sure some DAP's have supported Vorbis as standard but i'm still going to applaud Sandisk's excellent Firmware update, good work Sandisk!

Those of you with Clips should be able to download the 01.01.29 update via Sansa Autoupdater if you're a windows user, otherwise you can download it from here directly. With any luck we'll see this neat update shared amongst Sandisk's other DAPs too.