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October 05, 2004
Toshiba Gigabeat
Toshiba is using its hard-disk technology as the basis for a new Gigabeat music player.
The F-series Gigabeat will feature a 60GB capacity courtesy of the company's relatively new 1.8in hard disk drive. Capacities of 10G and 20GB will also be available, but Toshiba is trumpeting a world's first for a 60GB player based on a 1.8in drive - a thinly disguised reference to Apple and its 40GB iPod.
Note that the iPod uses Toshiba's 1.8in drives (see Computex 2004: Apple eyes 60GB iPod courtesy of Toshiba), while the iPod minis use a 1in Hitachi drive.
Navigation on the new player is managed by a plus-sign shaped touch sensor together with a 2.2in QVGA colour LCD panel (240 x 320). Its dimensions are 63mm (width) x 19mm (height) x 106mm (length). Supported file formats comprise: MP3, WMA and WAV.
Windows-only software includes the 'gigabeat Room?' application. Proprietary to Toshiba, it can play back CD or music files on a PC, rip from a CD, display album information and transfer files to and from other Gigabeat players.
Alongside stylish looks, Toshiba is emphasising a long battery life - a built-in lithium-ion battery that is claimed to provide up to 11 hours of continuous play.
The models are being released in November in Japan. Toshiba has told us that it plans to launch the Gigabeat F series in Europe in the first half of 2005. Pricing for Europe, however, has not yet been decided.
Posted by robeva at October 5, 2004 09:14 AM
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