mp3

This year, Sony's refresh of its entry-level E-Series Walkman line is much different from previous generations.

The new NW-E060 series--due in Japan on February 11--will only come in 2GB (NW-E062) and 4GB (NW-E063) options, which is far less capacity than its predecessor (which went up to 16GB). What is truly noteworthy is the inclusion of digital noise-cancelling, which is a feature previously only available in its high-end Walkman audio players. Music playback with this option enabled is rather amazing, as it nearly removes disruptive ambient noise in its entirety.

Battery life is a healthy 30 hours for MP3 playback (24 hours with noise cancelling on), but that figure is 20 hours less than the previous model. Similarly, the screen is only a 1.4-inch LCD, once again a downgrade from the 2.0-inch screen used in the past. I am wondering if the cost of integrating digital noise-cancelling contributed to these cuts. On the other hand, maybe the gurus at Sony finally realized they were selling several MP3 players that were too similar and wanted to differentiate.… Read more

One of the quickest ways to make me nostalgic is to talk about the pre-iPhone days--the days when MP3 players still mattered.

While today's biggest forum battles all seem to revolve around Android versus iOS, there was a time when the mere mention of iPod earbuds would send us all into frothy fits of anger. Everyone, it seemed, cared deeply about the audio quality of a preferred MP3 player and would evangelize the merits of the latest iPod-killers from Sony, Cowon, Creative, and SanDisk.

Those were fun days. As a self-described audio geek, I took comfort in the thought that so many people cared so passionately about their music experience.

But then, like two alien mother ships dropping from the sky, the arrival of the iPhone and the iPad dwarfed these audio quarrels and offered dissenting and opinionated geeks a far more worthy subject to rally around. Amid this frenzy of iClouds, Ice Cream Sandwiches, and Kindle Fires, concerns over music playback and audio quality often feel as antiquated as discussions of the VCR.

But for those music lovers who have felt lost in this era of OS-fixation, Sony's Walkman Z ($249) is an Android-based portable media player that elevates the audio experience above all other concerns.… Read more

Anyone who plays a lot of music on their PC knows that convenient controls could be the single most important feature. It's hard to imagine a more convenient arrangement than Max Tray Player's taskbar control suite. This free media player places the most frequently used buttons on the Windows taskbar, right where they should be. With Play, Pause, Stop, and Media buttons always accessible, it's the most convenient setup we've tried. Max Tray Player's compact pop-up controls and display windows let you access its playlists, settings, and displays when you want them, as well as … Read more

LAS VEGAS--The miniscule theKube2 MP3 player has been a runaway hit sold through 7-Eleven stores in Singapore. Now its maker is hoping it goes big in the U.S. after a CES launch.

The main selling point for the wee little music box is its wee little size. Bluetree Electronics calls it the "smallest touch MP3 player in the world."

You could lose it in the depths of a big pocket. It's so small, a pet rat could use it. A very technically advanced pet rat, that is.

Despite its size, theKube2 is pretty sturdy. The body … Read more

LAS VEGAS--As the people's representative at CES, I wander around in search of the real, the understandable, the verifiably human.

It's harder than you think when so many people here still believe--despite all the evidence known as Apple--that specs sell.

So when I saw the name "Speedo" on a booth, I felt naturally excited. Having grown up in that Europe place, I have some small understanding of why European men so enjoy wearing briefs to practice their butterfly.

It's about both sex and confidence. Europeans are generally more comfortable with exhibiting their bodily wares. Their … Read more

Music buyers may be able to sell their used CDs and vinyl albums, but they're not allowed to sell or distribute used digital tracks and albums in the same way, EMI said in a copyright complaint filed today in New York.

EMI, one of the four largest recorded-music companies, is accusing ReDigi, the startup that enables music owners to sell their unwanted and used MP3s, of numerous counts of copyright infringement, CNET has learned. The suit doesn't come as a surprise.

ReDigi calls itself "the world's first online marketplace for used digital music," and the … Read more

Continuing this week's unofficial deals-under-$10 theme, let's talk cheap tunes.

For a limited time, Amazon is offering 129 one-hit wonder MP3s for 69 cents each. (That's the promotion's landing page. If you want to see the choices in list form, click here.)

You've probably heard most, if not all, of these songs on the radio, which is still the place where one-hit wonders are born. And maybe you even bought an entire album just to get one song--only to be disappointed by the rest of the tunes.

Heck, maybe you've long harbored a … Read more

Were you lucky enough to receive a new Mac laptop or desktop this holiday season?

Once you've booted up that shiny new Mac for the first time and have had a chance to look around, check out our Best apps for Mac to get the lowdown on great apps you can download. We feature both free and paid software in our collection and there's something from just about every category.

Whether you want a different browser than Safari, want to discover and listen to new music, or just need a multiservice chat client, this collection has got you … Read more

While iPods and iPhones can have fairly large storage capacities, people's music libraries often are vastly larger, resulting in them having to select a subset of their music to bring with them on the go.

To address this problem, Apple includes an option in iTunes to convert songs from higher qualities to lower ones at around 128Kbps sampling rates when being transferred to an iPod or iPhone. This saves on space, especially in environments where the higher quality in less compressed files is not needed.

While this process should save space, some people are finding that iTunes' size calculation … Read more