Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

It seems like just yesterday this thing went for $199 and you could easily justify that cost.  But at $49.99, it is a whopper of steal.  Today, at woot.com, they are selling it like hotcakes, or so I imagine.

This player is unique in that it saves Slacker’s Internet radio stations (up to 15 stations on this model) for playback when you are even out of range.  Come back within range and the device updates itself with new music.  The software allows you to customize the experience by banning songs you hate and letting it know the songs you love.

There is no monthly fees unless you don’t want to hear the commercials, which are minimal (two or so an hour).  The premium service is $7.50 per month.

Our resident Slacker expert, Robert Nelson, had this to say about getting some hands on time with this model:

“Slacker was set up at CES and we were able to get a little hands on time, which just made us want one a little more.“

Check it out now before this one disappears : [woot]

• MacSales has some great Cyber Monday specials
• Walmart’s Cyber Monday 2008 video game deals
• Cyber Monday 2008 deals round-up

Sections: Audio, Portable Audio, Web, Websites

Since it became an official standard in 1991, Moving Picture Experts Group -1 Audio Layer 3 (or MP3) has proven popular due to the fact that it is easily transferable, good quality and cheaper than hard copies.  So far it has been unpopular with record companies as a result of the close links it has to piracy, but recently Atlantic Records said that over 50% of their revenue was coming from digital sales.

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If you’ve got a phone that uses micro SD cards or a camera that uses SD cards, SanDisk is having a big Cyber Monday Sale starting today.  There are some good deals here including some USB flash drives in case you’re a fan of sneakernet.  You can pick up a SanDisk 16GB flash drive for under $44 (which is down from $79.99).

SanDisk also makes some MP3 players and they are discounted as well.  Sale ends Monday, December 1st.  Check out the full details after the break.

Read [SanDisk CyberMonday]

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This is one of those concepts/ideas/products that would work great in the perfect world and if people used it right, would be really cool.  However this is the real world, and despite the undoubted merit in the idea behind this concept, I’m not sure it would work in the “real” world.  Nevertheless I may be wrong and we may soon see these adorning streets everywhere: I am willing to be proven wrong.  But what is it?  This is the Boombench and it is pretty much what it sounds like.

Pretend for a second that you haven’t just looked at the picture, and imaging a modern, sleek minimalistic bench combined with a 80s/90s.  Now open your eyes and see the epitome of minimalistic-cum-retro design: the aforementioned Boombench.  Keep reading for more.

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I first wrote about HDtracks originally in October and I thought it was a pretty cool service.  At that time, I wasn’t able to test out their HD music. 

Recently, Gibson partnered up with HDtracks to offer their own special album in HD and I quickly jumped on the opportunity to listen to the music in HD.  Before I start talking about the quality of the music, I want to briefly go over the download and installation process.  This way if you want to purchase something off HDtracks, you will know how it works ahead of time.  Continued after the break.

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Sections: Audio, Computers, Desktops, Reviews, Originals, Web, Downloads, Websites, Online Music/Video, Features

This is where we call out the tech moves that seem odd, out of touch or just plain straight up smokin’ crack.  This week sees posturing, positioning and flat out insanity. 

This close to the holidays, everyone is hoping what is bolted down to the table withstands the storm.  (No, not that Storm). Here is what caught my eye this week:

Crazy texts from AT&T Marketing
Music sold on media
Apple’s lacking 2.2 update
BB Storms underwhelming intro
Touch on HP’s laptop

Follow me into the madness.

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Sprint is all over the place.  They just lost 1.3 million customers, they’ve got their CEO on television yammering about technology, and now they’ve unveiled this thing.  What is it? 

It is Sprint’s promotion of its mobile broadband service featuring over 30 widgets.  At random intervals, a woman’s voice will say things like, “Feel free to touch it.“  You can listen to music, mess around with some of the widgets just by clicking on them like the cuckoo clock and be inundated with all kinds of information that you don’t need.

It’s actually a pretty cool way to waste a lot of time.  Does this make you or I want Sprint mobile broadband?  Not really.  It does remind me of Jarvis in the “Iron Man” movie.  I think I’ll go watch that.

See it at Sprint via UneasySilence.

• Sprint’s Cyber Monday deals: free Centro and 5 others
• Halo Trilogy 5-disc soundtrack set to be released tomorrow
• Slacker 2GB WiFi player just $49 today only

Sections: Communications, Cellular Providers, Web, Websites

I am a Fred fan.  Or I guess I was a Fred fan.  Fred was an alternative rock station on XM that played some deep tracks that exposed where bands like U2, REM, Cure and others got their sounds influenced from.  XM radio has euthanized Fred and other themed genre stations, in efforts to merge their networks.  I am not the only one sad.

The replacement for Fred is First Wave, a Sirius station, which in my opinion and the opinion of these groupies, blows chow.  Bad.  Shallow.  Bad.

Can I make a fiscal justification to keep both stations going along?  No.  Can I say that satellite radio has finally lost the race with Internet radio?  Yes.  My cohorts and I are leaving as we can’t stand your far too repetitious music designed for those behind the wheel for 30 minutes.

It isn’t all tears for satellite radio owners though, according to craveonline, 

“Each sides’ premium channels and talent remains mostly intact, with stations like Howard Stern, the Grateful Dead Channel and Eminem’s Shade 45 all now available to XM users, while Sirius listeners now get Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour, Tom Petty’s Buried Treasure and B.B. King’s blues station.“

Those of us that got attached to these themed genre stations will miss them and the talent at XM studios in DC.

Farewell Fred.  Thanks for the tip, Jeff.

• Slacker 2GB WiFi player just $49 today only
• Halo Trilogy 5-disc soundtrack set to be released tomorrow
• MP3 becomes official king of music

And with SanDisk, the hits just keep on coming.  They have the 1GB, the 2GB, the 4GB Sansa Clips, and now the 8GB flash-based player.  It may be teeny-tiny in size, but it certainly isn’t in the capacity of songs this baby can hold.  Try up to 4,000 on it’s rechargeable battery which will run for 15 hours.  Not bad, eh?

The player obviously gets its name from the clip it sports on the back.  It lets users attach it to their clothing, backbacks, etc., which is great for when you are on the go.  However, if you want to detach the clip, you have that option as well.  Another nice thing about the Sansa Clip is that is has an OLED color screen, which lets you pick which songs you want to listen to; you don’t have to listen at random.  More after the break.

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Company: Able Planet
Product: Clear Harmony NC200 foldable headphones
Price: $99.99
Pros: Portable and neat foldable design.  Easy to take anywhere.  Also comes with in-line adjustable volume to make music even louder.  Soft and comfortable to wear.
Cons: Sound isn’t the best unless you are using the Noise canceling.  Virtually no point in using headphones unless you are going to use the noise canceling. 
Overall: Decent product and good for it’s price.  4/5.

The above was just a quick summary of my findings when I played around with Able Planet’s Clear Harmony NC200 headphones.  Keep reading for an in-depth review of the ease of setup, the audio clarity, the good, the bad, and my final thoughts on the product as a whole.

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