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Slacker G2 Personal Radio

Michael Brown — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:24:25 -0500

The second-generation Slacker personal radio player is smaller, slimmer, and even better than the first. There may be no better way to listen to free music. Slacker announced a new version of its portable radio today, and we’re happy to say the Slacker G2 kicks just as much ass as the original product we reviewed last April.

Here’s Slacker in a nutshell, if you don’t want to re-read our previous review: Slacker radio is much like Pandora or Last.FM in that you can listen to music on the Internet for free (along with an occasional advertisement) while the service analyzes your expressed taste in music and recommends new artists it thinks you’ll enjoy.

The trade-offs are that you can't always choose which songs you want to hear, and you can skip only a limited number of tracks. Slacker also a subscription plan ($7.50 per month if you pay for a year at a time) that eliminates the ads, enables you to call up saved tracks at will (as long as you maintain your subscription), and allows you skip an unlimited number of tracks.

The second-generation Slacker personal radio player is smaller, slimmer, and even better than the first. There may be no better way to listen to free music. Read on for our full review.

Cowon A3 Portable Multimedia Player

Michael Brown — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:00:00 -0500

If you’re willing to look beyond everyone’s favorite fruit company when you shop for a digital media player, you’ll encounter some wildly underrated alternatives. Cowon manufactures more than a few, including the nearly divine A3.

In fact, there’s just one feature that kills our enthusiasm for this chunky player: The joystick you must use to navigate the device’s user interface (among other things). You’ll find our full review after the jump.

iRiver E100 Digital Media Player

Michael Brown — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:18:14 -0500

iRiver’s new E100 digital media player offers a several terrific
features, including a MicroSD memory slot, FLAC and OGG support, and
the ability to record audio (there’s a built-in mic and a line-level input). Unfortunately, all that goodness is undermined by the device’s many flaws.

Click Read More to continue.

Cambridge SoundWorks SoundWorks i765

Michael Brown — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:46:33 -0500

The tabletop radio made a major comeback a few years ago when Tom DeVesto, cofounder of Cambridge SoundWorks, left that company to form Tivoli Audio. But Tom’s old company hasn’t lost its knack for building great-sounding audio gear either, and the Cambridge SoundWorks’ SoundWorks i765 is a tabletop radio on steroids.

Click Read More for more.

Slacker Portable Radio

Michael Brown — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:22:47 -0500

Just when we’d concluded that there was nothing new under the sun when it comes to digital music players, along comes the Slacker Portable Radio to smash all our preconceived notions. This $200 device takes the music-discovery innovations pioneered by Pandora and Last.fm and puts them in the palm of our hand.

Click Read More for more.

Cowon iAudio 7 Digital Media Player

Michael Brown — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:19:11 -0500

Cowon makes some of the most interesting digital media players we’ve laid hands on. The iAudio 7 is no exception, although it won’t earn a place in our pantheon of favorites.

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Archos 605 WiFi

Michael Brown — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:51:39 -0600

The Archos 604 has been one of our favorite digital media players since its introduction late last year. Our opinion of the new Archos 605 WiFi—which adds a high-resolution touch screen and wireless networking capabilities—isn’t as lofty.

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Microsoft Zune 8GB

Michael Brown — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:50:54 -0600

Microsoft, seeing the futility in polishing turds, went back to the drawing board to design the second rev of the Zune. (If only they’d do the same for Vista!) Fortunately for early adopters, many of the new features and desktop software will be made available for the first-gen Zune via a firmware update.

Click Read More for more.