TECHNOLOGY ADVICE YOU CAN TRUST TM N WWW.PCWORLD.COM >>SPECIAL BONUS COLLECTION VOL. 5<< Power Guide to Home Electronics Copyright © 2005 PC World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. The trademark PC World is owned by International Data Group and used under license by PC World Communications, Inc. Printed in the United States. You must have permission before reproducing any material from PC World. Direct inquiries to [email protected]. Entertainment to Go Music, video, or both? We try slick new IPod rivals, the first Portable Media Centers, and other handhelds to see which pack the most fun into a portable package. BY SAM JEMIELITY it certainly feels like we’re living in an IPod world these days. Apple has done a lot to make portable audio players the must-own tech toy of the decade; but while we still admire the IPod, it’s not the only game in town. Competing audio players now display tons of different forms and innova- tive features. And there’s an entire new fron- tier opening: video. Snazzy handhelds based on Microsoft’s new Windows Portable Media Center operating system allow you to enjoy Jon LET’S PLAY: From top, IPod Stewart’s jokes on The Daily Show during your Mini, Creative Zen commute. We rate 20 audio and video play- Touch, and IRiver PMP-120. ers that are likely candidates for amusing yourself while you’re on the move. PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHN KUCZALA POWER GUIDE WWW.PCWORLD.COM 2 MEDIA HANDHELDS I tested a stack of audio players for func- The attractive design of tionality, ease of use, audio quality, porta- most of these little PMC- bility, size, price, and style. Depending on based players is sure to the device, you can record MP3s from make them highly buzz- your favorite CDs, listen to FM radio, save worthy items this holiday your brilliant business ideas via voice season. But their price recording, and keep your vacation photos (about $500) and their un- handy. The Apple IPods even hold your resolved rough edges— APPLE’S personal calendar and address book. which prevent watching 40GB IPod But it isn’t just about music anymore. video on the go from be- (left) and Rio’s Now, with the debut of Microsoft’s Por- ing as easy as listening 20GB Karma. table Media Center operating system, to music—probably will video fans can enjoy ultraportability, too. keep them from emerging as bona fide PLAY THAT FUNKY MUSIC The PMC OS powers a whole array of hits. PC World Senior Associate Editor interesting new handheld devices—from Richard Baguley looked at two PMC play- the music players that I tested fall Creative, IRiver, and other vendors— ers and at four video devices that don’t into three categories. Large-capacity play- sporting 3.5- to 4-inch color screens and use the Portable Media Center OS but ers come with 20 gigabytes or more of 20GB or larger hard drives that enable nevertheless seem able to play back tele- storage and can hold 5000 songs (each you to play your favorite TV shows, per- vision and music just fine. Check out song being a 128-kbps, 4-minute MP3 sonal videos, and selections from your “Focus on TV,” his roundup of these file, the standard throughout this review). music collection—anywhere. products, which begins on page 4. This is the category you should be FEATURES COMPARISON Large and Midcapacity Audio Players IF 20GB OR MORE OF MUSIC MAKES YOU SALIVATE, buy big. Will a unit that holds up to 1250 tunes do? Try a midcapacity player. LARGE-CAPACITY Battery Weight (oz)/ Street Capacity dimensions Features/ Formats supported Comments life 1 PLAYER price (w x d x h) ease of use 6.2/ AAC, AIF, Apple Apple IPod 11112 Outstanding/ Quick Click Wheel navigation; doubles as portable hard drive; Best $399 40GB 12 2.4 x 0.7 x Lossless, Audible, 1 Outstanding BUY find.pcworld.com/44988 4.1 inches MP3, MP3 VBR, WAV intuitive menus; easy playlists; battery life could be better. 7.0/ Creative Zen Touch Outstanding/ User-friendly interface; on-the-go playlists; slightly touchy $250 20GB 24 4.1 x 0.9 x MP3, WMA 2 Very Good 11113 find.pcworld.com/44238 2.7 inches touchpad; unique “find” feature retrieves tracks easily. 5.5/ Rio Karma Outstanding/ MP3, FLAC, WMA, Line-out for home stereo output; unit adapts to lefties; sup- $300 20GB 15 3.0 x 1.1 x 3 Very Good Ogg Vorbis 11113 find.pcworld.com/40943 2.7 inches ports many digital formats; lacks in-line recording capability. 5.9/ Philips HDD120/17 Very Good/ MP3 and voice encoding; “match genre” equalizer; MP3 $350 20GB 10 2.5 x 0.8 x MP3, WMA 4 Good 11123 find.pcworld.com/44990 4.2 inches encoding; slow navigation menu; screen is somewhat dark. 4.8/ JetAudio IAudio M3 Very Good/ MP3, Ogg Vorbis, Ultraslim shape; MP3 and voice recording; FM radio; awkward $349 20GB 14 2.4 x 0.6 x 5 Good WMA 11123 find.pcworld.com/44992 4.1 inches wired remote-control buttons; no LCD screen on the main unit. MIDCAPACITY PLAYER 3.2/ Rio Carbon 11112 Very Good/ Ultracompact; large capacity; user-friendly controls; bright Best $249 5GB 20 2.5 x 0.6 x MP3, WMA, Audible 1 Outstanding BUY find.pcworld.com/43870 3.3 inches LCD display; long battery life; can’t make playlists on the go. 3.6/ AAC, AIF, Apple IPod Mini Very Good/ Easy Click Wheel navigation; simultaneous browsing/playback; $249 4GB 8 2.0 x 0.5 x Lossless, Audible, 2 Outstanding 11113 find.pcworld.com/44994 3.6 inches MP3, MP3 VBR, WAV well-designed ITunes interface; battery life could be better. 2.7/ Rio Nitrus Good/ Easy-to-use menus; ultracompact; bright LCD display; touchy $160 1.5GB 16 2.4 x 0.6 x MP3, WMA 3 Very Good 11123 find.pcworld.com/38456 3.0 inches joystick; can't play back during browsing; great battery life. 12.7/ Sony MZ-NHF800 1GB Good/ Removable minidisc storage; AM/FM tuner; flywheel naviga- $220 25 3.2 x 1.1 x ATRAC3plus2 4 minidisc Good 11133 find.pcworld.com/44996 3.2 inches tion; wired remote; sluggish software and file loading. FOOTNOTES: 1 Maximum battery life promised by manufacturer, in hours. 2 Use Sony software to convert MP3 format to ATRAC3plus. PHOTOGRAPH: JOHN KUCZALA PHOTOGRAPH: POWER GUIDE WWW.PCWORLD.COM 3 MEDIA HANDHELDS PORTABLE VIDEO PLAYERS scrutinizing if you want to have all or But how often do you listen to your most of your music with you at any time. entire music collection? If all you need is For continually updated reviews, go to your 20 favorite CDs, you can save up to FOCUS find.pcworld.com/47762. $200 and tote less weight by using a mid- If you’d be satisfied to carry a skimpier capacity player. Both the Apple IPod Mini collection of several hundred albums with and Rio Carbon can hold 1000 or more ON TV you constantly, investigate the midcapac- songs. You’ll appreciate having a smaller ity players. These have between 1GB and unit, especially if you carry it every day. Want to take video with you? 5GB of hard-drive space and hold up to But large-capacity players aren’t neces- Portable media players let you 1250 songs. Just want access to a few sarily bulky. Even the player I tested that enjoy both video and audio. hours of tunes while you jog or commute? had the largest hard drive—the Neuros II, Grab a gum-pack–size flash-memory with its 80GB “backpack” clip-on hard VIDEO-CENTRIC devices that sport player with 128MB to 512MB of storage drive attached—is physically smaller than large color screens and big hard drives and load up to 120 of your favorite MP3s. the average portable CD player. have arrived; some of the very latest are One thing that every buyer of a new based on Microsoft’s new Windows APPLES AND OTHERS player—whether it be audio or video— Portable Media Center operating sys- should consider is its compatibility with indeed, capacity-to-size ratio is one tem. The PMC OS interface is the same Microsoft’s new Windows Media Digital big reason why I chose the Apple IPod as one that a Windows XP Media Center Rights Management 10 technology. Win- the PC World Best Buy among large- Edition PC uses. This simplifies mat- dows Media DRM 10 is designed to allow capacity players. The $399 IPod that I test- ters—particularly if you already own downloads from subscription-based ser- ed packs a whopping 40GB into a case such a computer—since they’re de- vices to move securely to portable players, smaller than those of several rivals that signed to work in tandem. The players which makes these services much more have half its capacity, like the Philips rely on Microsoft’s Windows Media Play- flexible and attractive than before. Micro- HDD120/17 and the Rio Karma. er 10 software to sync the devices with soft has launched a new “Plays For Sure” No player is more user-friendly. The digital media stored on the Media Cen- campaign designed to make it easy to tell IPod’s menu selections are intuitive, and ter PCs. Here, in descending order of whether the player and service you want its touch-sensitive Click Wheel makes how much we liked them, is PC World’s to use will work well together.