By Ian Chiu

MP3 players are fast becoming a commodity item, if they aren’t already. So, if you don’t have a brand as popular as Apple and a group of loyal users, you may want to come up with some unique designs; the slide-out external stereo speakers found on the Samsung YP-K5 are a good example. Everything USB praised this player for its ingenious engineering, excellent sound quality, heavy bass earbuds and even its integrated speaker output. Being a MTP-compliant PMP, you are stuck with Windows Media Player 10/11, but the YP-K5 won’t play lossless audio and Audible.

Ever felt like sharing that one song’s amazing guitar riff with a friend, only to surrender your earbuds or dangle them between yourselves as you both try to listen in on what has now become a miniscule peep? Short of carrying yet another AA-driven pocket weight at all times, there was never really a better alternative, until Samsung smartened up and did something about it. The end result is the YP-K5, the latest in their Yepp line of MP3 players to have crossed our eardrums and clamor for a review.

Follow the link love for the full review.

[Samsung YP-K5 Review @ Everything USB]

By Andrew Liszewski

If you’re constantly worried about your friends, family, boss, co-workers or even internal affairs setting you up then carrying around this audio recording device blocker 24/7 might be a good idea. It emits a sub-audible tone which cannot be detected by the human ear but will end up drowning out any audio recordings when played back.

The built-in rechargeable batteries will last for about 2.5 hours which is a bit limited for those that are truly paranoid but the unit can also be plugged in. For digital recorders it has an effective range of about 0.5 to 2 meters but for tape recorders that range is increased to about 3 to 8 meters. It also includes a remote control that can be used to switch the blocker on and off since you’re no doubt going to want to be discrete about using it.

The Tape Recorder Blocker is available from Spycatcher for about $3,800 which isn’t cheap but I guess if it helps keep you out of prison it’s probably worth it.

[ Tape Recorder Blocker ]

By David Ponce

You can bet that the iPod Shuffle (2G) is feeling a little left out. Not having the same connector as all the other iPods seriously crimps its ability to use all those nice docks on the market. You know, all the ones with a lowercase “i” that sell ten times faster than the ones without the “i”. Right. But with this Dock Adapter for the iPod Shuffle from Griffin, the little boy can play with the big guys. Its use is pretty self-evident, but we’ll indulge you all the same: you plug the Shuffle on one end, and the other goes into whatever Universal Dock you might have put a regular iPod into.

We don’t know how much it is, nor when exactly it will be released, but it’s nice to know that the iPod HiFi is now compatible with a bunch more player. It’s great, really, because maybe now Apple will be able to sell at least a dozen of them overpriced music boxes.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ Gizmologia ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Like most MP3 accessories these digital drumsticks can easily be used with any player on the market but by slapping the word ‘iPod’ in the name the company who makes them is probably guaranteed a healthy number of sales. Designed for people who really get into their music these motion activated drumsticks allow you to play along with any song on your MP3 player or with six built-in background rhythms.

They can be used on their own, with a pair of headphones or even connected to a stereo if thrashing the sticks around isn’t already annoying enough for everyone around you. They also have buttons that allow you to play combinations of different drum or cymbal effects like a snare drum, bass drum, hi-hat and crash cymbal. A belt clip control module is also included but from what I can tell it doesn’t have any iPod controlling capabilities.

The iPod Digital Drumsticks are currently available from Hammacher Schlemmer for $29.95.

[ iPod Digital Drumsticks ] VIA [ bookofjoe ]

By Evan Ackerman

This is a fine example of one of those USB devices that sounds vaguely cool until you realize that it only uses USB as a more-trendy-sounding power outlet. This USB radio is completely nondescript (picks up radio signals, has headphones, has a small antenna, has a LED, is black and plastic) except that you adjust the tuning by bending the egg-shaped top right and left, and adjust the volume by bending it forward and back. It’s almost, but not quite, 10 euros ($13) worth of interestingness.

[ USB Radio ] VIA [ Uber-Review ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Most companies producing MP3 players these days assume you’re going to be using headphones so they leave out any kind of built-in speakers. Not Maycom though, it seems they’re intent on monopolizing the pocket-sized boombox market with their M-Bird MP3 player. It includes a pair of particularly small speakers sitting on either side of the screen and while the website selling the player claims they’re loud enough given their size, they’re also lacking in the bass department. No surprises there.

Of course for those times when you don’t want to annoy the people around you the M-Bird also has a standard headphone jack and a 5-band custom EQ complete with presets. Besides MP3 it will also play WMA and OGG music files as well as AVI, MPEG, WMV and ASF videos which no doubt look fantastic on its 1-inch LCD screen. The 512MB of included memory isn’t terrible but the lack of a memory slot will probably be a deal killer for most people. (Especially those who intend to use this for watching videos.)

The M-Bird is currently available from Calibryze for $189.

[ Maycom M-Bird MP3 Player ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]

By Evan Ackerman

If you’re the type to work out with a headband on, you’re probably also the type who likes glam rock and power ballads… It’s all about the hair, man. Mercifully, the Thanko Vonia headband uses bone conduction to project Bon Jovi directly into your skull, sparing those around you. The Vonia is sweatproof and has a handy little iPod Shuffle-sized pocket in the front. I’ll admit to having never used bone conduction headphones, but I can’t imagine that it’s much different than the music that I hear inside my head anyway… Weaker bass, I’m sure. And probably less mutterings about how I should sell my roommate’s car on eBay and buy that DSLR I’ve always wanted.

Available now in Japan for about $85.

[ Thanko Vonia (Japanese) ] VIA [ Newlaunches ]

By Evan Ackerman

So, I have a bunch of digital music. Never you mind where most of it came from, but I’ll tell you were it definitely did NOT come from: an online music store. I don’t like the idea of software/music companies restricting where I’m allowed to play music that I’ve paid for, especially since I can always just go out and (legally) buy and rip a CD. Not that I would go out and buy a CD, but still. Turns out that Steve Jobs (you know, the guy behind the iPod and iTunes) agrees with me, and according to his statistics, most of you do too.

In a letter posted today on the Apple website, Jobs talks about why DRM is such a pain in the ass for everybody, including Apple. And since only about 3% of the music on a given iPod is protected by DRM (or in other words, is from the iTunes store), DRM is not really protecting the commercial interests of Apple or the major music companies. The fact is, as Jobs states, “DRMs haven?t worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy. Though the big four music companies require that all their music sold online be protected with DRMs, these same music companies continue to sell billions of CDs a year which contain completely unprotected music.”

So what’s the solution? Here’s Jobs’ take:

Abolish DRMs entirely. Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat. If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store.

Wow. Almost makes me want to go out and buy a Mac. Almost.

[ Your cynical editor would like to point out that it just seems so easy for Steve to wash his hands of it all, placing the blame squarely on the Big 4. As if Apple's wishes can so easily be twisted around. Anyone remember when the Big 4 wanted to increase the price of songs on iTunes? Didn't happen. Cisco wanted to twist Apple's arm on the iPhone name... Didn't happen. -Ed. ]

[Thoughts on Music] VIA [Apple]

By Andrew Liszewski

With Aquapac’s latest set of headphones we’re not just talking splashproof or water resistant, no these things are 100% waterproof and are guaranteed to work even while submersed to a depth of about 33 feet which is pretty impressive.

The company claims that even though it took them a while to get the headphone sound quality up to an acceptable level they feel their waterproof versions now sound better than anything else on the market, even when used out of the water. Now while I don’t question the fact that these are probably the best sounding underwater earbuds on the market, I personally won’t be replacing my current pair with them anytime soon. However I do like the fact that they come with an EVA foam buoy which can be used to store the earbuds and wrap the cord when not in use. Of course it also prevents them from sinking to the bottom of your pool.

I do want to point out that even though the headphones themselves can be used up to a depth of 33 feet the Aquapac website actually includes a warning to not use them deeper than 10 feet since some medical research has shown that the extra pressure combined with strong sound waves can cause hearing damage with prolonged use.

The Aquapac waterproof headphones are available on the their website for $40.

[ Aquapac 100% Waterproof Headphones ] VIA [ Coolest Gadgets ]