Has Coby dared go down the same route as Apple, by releasing an MP3 player sans controls ? It’s not clear how the Micro player works, but judging by the lack of buttons it’d appear the controls are in the headphones. More

“Did you really need that fourth bourbon? And why did you go with the super burrito? Is the cheese and sour cream really necessary?” it seems to ask. “Maybe you should go for a run.” Well, fuck you, Activa, I don’t need your judgment, and yes, I did need that fourth bourbon. If you must know, the Philips Activa is the next in what’s becoming a trend : The fitness-based PMP. It makes sense—smartphones are replacing PMPs at a rapid rate, and one of the only niches that they can’t (or shouldn’t) cover is workouts

Our Black Friday List is updated with deals from Vizio, WireFly, HP and Amazon, including an entirely new page for Blu-rays and DVDs . That’s in addition to Best Buy, Office Depot , Dell, Target, Walmart, K-mart and more. Start saving here.

Our Black Friday List is updated with deals from Vizio, WireFly, HP and Amazon, including an entirely new page for Blu-rays and DVDs . That’s in addition to Best Buy, Office Depot , Dell, Target, Walmart, K-mart and more. Start saving here.

Massive shortages, a slick UI and an elusive “atomic” flavor that’s currently tearing up eBay with a $2,025 bid (as of 9 a.m. Sunday morning)? Sounds like there may be something to this Microsoft Zune HD thing. Updated.

Yesterday we argued that the old-school PMP might be dead , but Sony sure doesn’t think so. It’s just updated its S-series with two 2-inch LCD Walkmans that include the new 720×480 TV-out and noise-cancelling features built into the upcoming A-Series . Apart from being colored differently, the NW-S640 (top left) and the NW-S740 (top right) are pretty much identical, though the S640 lacks noise canceling. The players have an FM radio, usual codec support, and an eye-opening stated battery life of 42 hours for music, and 10 hours for video. They also come with premium MDR-EX300SL earphones, and a matching speaker bundle will be available when they arrive in Japan in October

Yesterday we argued that the old-school PMP might be dead , but Sony sure doesn’t think so. It’s just updated its S-series with two 2-inch LCD Walkmans that include the new 720×480 TV-out and noise-canceling features built into the upcoming A-Series . Apart from being colored differently, the NW-S640 (top left) and the NW-S740 (top right) are pretty much identical, though the S640 lacks noise canceling. The players have an FM radio, usual codec support, and an eye-opening stated battery life of 42 hours for music, and 10 hours for video. They also come with premium MDR-EX300SL earphones, and a matching speaker bundle will be available when they arrive in Japan in October.

The pretty player has a 2.8-inch OLED screen (240×400), FM radio, TV-out, noise canceling, and is beautifully thin at 7.2mm. Oh, and it only weighs 2.2 ounces. But unlike the failed X-Series , the A has no touch screen or Wi-Fi. Along with standard codec support, there’s also new drag and drop feature that auto-transcodes video from your computer. And in Japan at least, the player comes with premium MDR-EX300SL earphones. Battery life is listed as 29 hours for music, and 9 hours for video

We have asked this question before , but with the possibility of an iPod-related Apple event coming up , it seems like a good time to revisit the issue and dive a little deeper this time around. How Many iPods Have You Owned? ( survey software ) How Many Non-iPod MP3 Players Have You Owned? ( polls ) What Is The Mix Like? ( survey ) What Do You Do With Your Old MP3 Players? ( answers )

An hour with the Zune HD inspired a moment of rapture for CNET reporter Donald Bell, who breathlessly told the world “I am tentatively reaffirming my faith in Microsoft.” Reading his impressions, it’s easy to see why. We got a few minutes with the Zune HD all the way back at its announcement, and everything felt and looked like something to get excited about, but that was just a taste; now we know that the Zune’s relative stagnancy over the last few years hasn’t been for nothing. The hardware feels “expensive, solid, and sexy” and the 3.3-inch OLED screen looks “outstanding,” while the software—particularly the music playback screen and music recommendation features—sounds miles ahead of the Zune’s already decent interface. It’s great to hear that our hopes were warranted, but there’s a bombshell buried in here, a few paragraphs down. Speaking of Wi-Fi, the Zune’s new Web browser smokes. Not since first using the iPhone have I been this impressed with a mobile web browser