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CNN Saturday Morning News

Portable Music Devices Among Hot New Gadgets on the Market

Aired October 12, 2002 - 08:24   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: From a key chain sized MP3 player to a portable mini speaker, we're showing you some of the hottest gadgets that are available on the market right now.
To help us out with this and joining us to look at these portable devices, CNN tech correspondent Daniel Sieberg.

So what have we got here? I mean we've got a whole array of stuff. Where do we start?

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we've got a whole array of stuff here. You know, MP3 players have been on the market for a while now and they seem to get smaller and smaller as they come out. It really depends on the memory and what you want to use it for as far as how much you're going to have to pay for it. MP3 players, we're talking about digital music players or Windows media audio players.

And we've got one here that's from a company called Inogear (ph). And this is one of, definitely one of the smallest ones on the market. We're seeing it here. And it's about, just as you can see, it's the size of like a pack of gum, essentially. But the real key behind this one -- it's called the Duex Unitech (ph). The real key behind this one is if I open up the back of it here, you can see that there is a USB plug in. Now, USB means that you can basically plug this directly into your computer. People are used to seeing MP3 players, the listeners with gadgets, with all these cables and cords...

ROBERTS: With the cable, right.

SIEBERG: Right, that you have to plug into the back of your computer. Well, this one elements that by allowing you to plug it in -- I've got a laptop here that we can demonstrate right here on the back of it. You would just plug it directly into your USB port in the back of your laptop or your computer. Now, if you've only gone one, like this laptop does, you may have to get a USB hub in order to plug all these gadgets in.

But it essentially becomes like another hard drive on the back of your computer.

ROBERTS: Right.

SIEBERG: And, of course, you can store all of your music on it and then take it with you. You just pop the back on it and carry it with you.

ROBERTS: Very good. SIEBERG: And it's got this display on the front of it.

ROBERTS: I know one thing for me, I have an MP3 player, and I always misplace the cord.

SIEBERG: Right.

ROBERTS: You know, and when you want to go and change out your music and you can't find your cord, you can't do it.

SIEBERG: Exactly.

ROBERTS: So this is kind of eliminating that problem, right?

SIEBERG: It does. It does eliminate that problem. The tradeoff is that -- well, it's about 128 megabytes of memory. This is something that everybody wants to know, how much, how many songs will it hold.

ROBERTS: Right, how much music will it hold?

SIEBERG: Right, how much music can it hold? And it does depend on the compression rate of the song, how much, how much you've compressed it. But it averages about 40 songs you can probably store on here.

ROBERTS: OK.

SIEBERG: So that's not bad, 128 megabytes and it's $180, which is comparable to some of the other MP3 players that are out there. And, again, the size of it may be really appealing to people. There's also a very small, if you can see here, a very small screen on here where you can actually get a back lit display. I'll just turn it on. And you can see that there's a display right here. Of course, you'd have your headphones, plug those in and take it with you.

ROBERTS: And the price again on that one?

SIEBERG: The price is $180. And it does come with software that you would, of course, have to install to manage all your music.

ROBERTS: OK. Not bad. OK, what's the next one? What do you have?

SIEBERG: Yes, so if you don't have any headphones with you or you just want to listen to some music somewhere else, we've got an interesting product here from Olympia called the Sound Bug. It looks a little bit like a mouse, so they've decided to call it a bug instead of a mouse.

ROBERTS: Now, this is the thing you were showing us in the tease here?

SIEBERG: Right.

ROBERTS: Because it's got a suction cup on it? SIEBERG: It's got a suction cup on it. If you want to look on the back here, it's not actually a speaker, but it sort of acts as a speaker. And the idea behind it -- and we're going to plug it into the MP3 player here -- the idea behind it is you take any flat surface -- now it works best with, they say, a window, something like that, a glossy flat surface. Press it down and twist it in order to activate the suction on it. And if we start this MP3 player here -- I'm not sure if we can get the sound off it. This maybe, we can use my microphone. You can hear that it's basically using this table now as a speaker.

ROBERTS: As a speaker?

SIEBERG: And, of course, the bigger the surface and...

ROBERTS: There we go now.

SIEBERG: ... this is Red Hot Chili Peppers. So we can all sit here and listen to this.

ROBERTS: Just in case you were wondering at home.

SIEBERG: Right. Just in case you couldn't hear it. Now, of course, the volume here isn't all that great because this table is rather dense and it's not necessarily the best surface for it. But if you were to put it on a sort of, say, a huge window or something like that, it would amplify it even more.

The tradeoff with this, we've found that it can be, it could be a little bit tinny at times. The bass isn't what you would expect. But if you don't want to carry around those portable speakers where you have to plug them in, they're a little bit bulkier than this, then this is certainly an alternative for people for this situation.

ROBERTS: And certainly this is a sign of what's to come, probably, because if you're saying it's not so hot right now, improvements are going to be made.

SIEBERG: Right. That's what they're hoping for and it goes for about $50. So that's, you know, fairly reasonable, if you're...

ROBERTS: That's really doable.

SIEBERG: ... if you're looking at something like that.

ROBERTS: Especially for the holiday season coming up.

SIEBERG: The holiday season. It's hard to believe. Not even Halloween yet but people are already thinking about the holiday season.

ROBERTS: And now last but not least, this is the one that I find the most interesting. This is a solar charging device?

SIEBERG: A solar charger, that's right. It's from ISUN and it's a solar charging device. And it's meant to work with a whole range of different devices, whether it's a cell phone, an MP3 player. And it comes with all these different adapters.

Now, the company says that it's meant to work with almost all of your gadgets. And we're seeing a list here -- MP3 players, cell phones, laptops, PDAs, even handheld games like a Game Boy advance system you'd be able to charge it up.

We tested it out and not every cell phone is going to work with this, because it really depends on the jack on the back when you're going to be charging it. But it does work best. It's also got, we've got some more suction power here. If you were to attach these two suction cups to a window -- and you're seeing the solar panels here -- it works best with direct sunlight. As with any solar product, the more direct sunlight you can get on it, the better it's going to charge something. It does still work in cloudy conditions. It takes a couple of hours or a few hours depending on the product.

ROBERTS: To juice up.

SIEBERG: To juice it up. But it will work with your cell phone if you're in a jam. The key to this, it's, you know, you think well, why would I need a solar charger if I've got my own charger? But if you're out hiking, for example -- that's where they're sort of pitching this product -- if you're going to be outdoors and you need somewhere to plug in your -- you need some charge for your cell phone, that might be the way to go. If you're just on a short hike, you may just want to take an extra battery or something like that rather than carry this around.

But it's, you know, fairly compact and it does fold up. And it goes for $80 if you're interested in that.

ROBERTS: OK, so not bad. So we've got the price range here, you know, from $50 to $180.

SIEBERG: Right. Yes, exactly. So we've got it right across the board.

ROBERTS: So we can (UNINTELLIGIBLE) some price point for everybody in there.

SIEBERG: Exactly.

ROBERTS: All right, Daniel, good stuff.

SIEBERG: All right.

ROBERTS: We've got to go.

SIEBERG: Thanks a lot.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Market>


Aired October 12, 2002 - 08:24   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: From a key chain sized MP3 player to a portable mini speaker, we're showing you some of the hottest gadgets that are available on the market right now.
To help us out with this and joining us to look at these portable devices, CNN tech correspondent Daniel Sieberg.

So what have we got here? I mean we've got a whole array of stuff. Where do we start?

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we've got a whole array of stuff here. You know, MP3 players have been on the market for a while now and they seem to get smaller and smaller as they come out. It really depends on the memory and what you want to use it for as far as how much you're going to have to pay for it. MP3 players, we're talking about digital music players or Windows media audio players.

And we've got one here that's from a company called Inogear (ph). And this is one of, definitely one of the smallest ones on the market. We're seeing it here. And it's about, just as you can see, it's the size of like a pack of gum, essentially. But the real key behind this one -- it's called the Duex Unitech (ph). The real key behind this one is if I open up the back of it here, you can see that there is a USB plug in. Now, USB means that you can basically plug this directly into your computer. People are used to seeing MP3 players, the listeners with gadgets, with all these cables and cords...

ROBERTS: With the cable, right.

SIEBERG: Right, that you have to plug into the back of your computer. Well, this one elements that by allowing you to plug it in -- I've got a laptop here that we can demonstrate right here on the back of it. You would just plug it directly into your USB port in the back of your laptop or your computer. Now, if you've only gone one, like this laptop does, you may have to get a USB hub in order to plug all these gadgets in.

But it essentially becomes like another hard drive on the back of your computer.

ROBERTS: Right.

SIEBERG: And, of course, you can store all of your music on it and then take it with you. You just pop the back on it and carry it with you.

ROBERTS: Very good. SIEBERG: And it's got this display on the front of it.

ROBERTS: I know one thing for me, I have an MP3 player, and I always misplace the cord.

SIEBERG: Right.

ROBERTS: You know, and when you want to go and change out your music and you can't find your cord, you can't do it.

SIEBERG: Exactly.

ROBERTS: So this is kind of eliminating that problem, right?

SIEBERG: It does. It does eliminate that problem. The tradeoff is that -- well, it's about 128 megabytes of memory. This is something that everybody wants to know, how much, how many songs will it hold.

ROBERTS: Right, how much music will it hold?

SIEBERG: Right, how much music can it hold? And it does depend on the compression rate of the song, how much, how much you've compressed it. But it averages about 40 songs you can probably store on here.

ROBERTS: OK.

SIEBERG: So that's not bad, 128 megabytes and it's $180, which is comparable to some of the other MP3 players that are out there. And, again, the size of it may be really appealing to people. There's also a very small, if you can see here, a very small screen on here where you can actually get a back lit display. I'll just turn it on. And you can see that there's a display right here. Of course, you'd have your headphones, plug those in and take it with you.

ROBERTS: And the price again on that one?

SIEBERG: The price is $180. And it does come with software that you would, of course, have to install to manage all your music.

ROBERTS: OK. Not bad. OK, what's the next one? What do you have?

SIEBERG: Yes, so if you don't have any headphones with you or you just want to listen to some music somewhere else, we've got an interesting product here from Olympia called the Sound Bug. It looks a little bit like a mouse, so they've decided to call it a bug instead of a mouse.

ROBERTS: Now, this is the thing you were showing us in the tease here?

SIEBERG: Right.

ROBERTS: Because it's got a suction cup on it? SIEBERG: It's got a suction cup on it. If you want to look on the back here, it's not actually a speaker, but it sort of acts as a speaker. And the idea behind it -- and we're going to plug it into the MP3 player here -- the idea behind it is you take any flat surface -- now it works best with, they say, a window, something like that, a glossy flat surface. Press it down and twist it in order to activate the suction on it. And if we start this MP3 player here -- I'm not sure if we can get the sound off it. This maybe, we can use my microphone. You can hear that it's basically using this table now as a speaker.

ROBERTS: As a speaker?

SIEBERG: And, of course, the bigger the surface and...

ROBERTS: There we go now.

SIEBERG: ... this is Red Hot Chili Peppers. So we can all sit here and listen to this.

ROBERTS: Just in case you were wondering at home.

SIEBERG: Right. Just in case you couldn't hear it. Now, of course, the volume here isn't all that great because this table is rather dense and it's not necessarily the best surface for it. But if you were to put it on a sort of, say, a huge window or something like that, it would amplify it even more.

The tradeoff with this, we've found that it can be, it could be a little bit tinny at times. The bass isn't what you would expect. But if you don't want to carry around those portable speakers where you have to plug them in, they're a little bit bulkier than this, then this is certainly an alternative for people for this situation.

ROBERTS: And certainly this is a sign of what's to come, probably, because if you're saying it's not so hot right now, improvements are going to be made.

SIEBERG: Right. That's what they're hoping for and it goes for about $50. So that's, you know, fairly reasonable, if you're...

ROBERTS: That's really doable.

SIEBERG: ... if you're looking at something like that.

ROBERTS: Especially for the holiday season coming up.

SIEBERG: The holiday season. It's hard to believe. Not even Halloween yet but people are already thinking about the holiday season.

ROBERTS: And now last but not least, this is the one that I find the most interesting. This is a solar charging device?

SIEBERG: A solar charger, that's right. It's from ISUN and it's a solar charging device. And it's meant to work with a whole range of different devices, whether it's a cell phone, an MP3 player. And it comes with all these different adapters.

Now, the company says that it's meant to work with almost all of your gadgets. And we're seeing a list here -- MP3 players, cell phones, laptops, PDAs, even handheld games like a Game Boy advance system you'd be able to charge it up.

We tested it out and not every cell phone is going to work with this, because it really depends on the jack on the back when you're going to be charging it. But it does work best. It's also got, we've got some more suction power here. If you were to attach these two suction cups to a window -- and you're seeing the solar panels here -- it works best with direct sunlight. As with any solar product, the more direct sunlight you can get on it, the better it's going to charge something. It does still work in cloudy conditions. It takes a couple of hours or a few hours depending on the product.

ROBERTS: To juice up.

SIEBERG: To juice it up. But it will work with your cell phone if you're in a jam. The key to this, it's, you know, you think well, why would I need a solar charger if I've got my own charger? But if you're out hiking, for example -- that's where they're sort of pitching this product -- if you're going to be outdoors and you need somewhere to plug in your -- you need some charge for your cell phone, that might be the way to go. If you're just on a short hike, you may just want to take an extra battery or something like that rather than carry this around.

But it's, you know, fairly compact and it does fold up. And it goes for $80 if you're interested in that.

ROBERTS: OK, so not bad. So we've got the price range here, you know, from $50 to $180.

SIEBERG: Right. Yes, exactly. So we've got it right across the board.

ROBERTS: So we can (UNINTELLIGIBLE) some price point for everybody in there.

SIEBERG: Exactly.

ROBERTS: All right, Daniel, good stuff.

SIEBERG: All right.

ROBERTS: We've got to go.

SIEBERG: Thanks a lot.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Market>