Digital Gadgets

An MP3 Player That Plays and Smells Good

SolidAlliance when this idea was floated. After all, what possible use could there be for an MP3 player with its own smell?

That’s too much talk about interface, ease of use, battery life, and such for all the MP3 players out there that it makes me just love the idea behind iCool. These smelly little digital audio players (DAP) come with 256MB of music playing power as well as an SD slot to go beyond the starter memory size.

Well, following on from devices that look like food is a range of MP3 players that have a food-like aroma. The iCool (inevitably) from Japan has 256MB of internal memory and an SD slot to boost your storage. But that’s not the selling point - the big feature is a choice of smell from chocolate, roses, lemon, strawberry, raspberry or blueberry.

While you’re plugging in that Secure Digital card, you may get a whiff of roses, lemon, strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, or even chocolate. You know, it all depends on which player you sprung for. That’s right, SolidAlliance has created the worlds first DAPs that have sent. Some may not agree that it’s good sent, but hey, at least SolidAlliance didn’t got the Garbage Pail kids way, either.

This is worse smells. and also think of better ways is selling an MP3 player. No news of a UK release as yet.
But, only our beloved friends in Japan get to enjoy this wonder of the rostral senses as there is no availability for US consumption at this time. One can only hope Apple will catch onto this groovy idea.

GlobalSat BTH-820 and Audio Gateway BTA-830

Wireless audio headsets have been around for some time using proprietary analog and digital transmission protocols. These technologies were hampered by the constant tuning required by analog systems and the fact that they could only be used with accessories from the same manufacturer.

Two weeks ago, I’ve received my latest Bluetooth gadget, the Globalsat Bluetooth Entertainment Pack. The Globalsat Bluetooth Entertainment Pack is a combination of Globelsat’s BTA-830 audio gateway which can be connected to virtually any audio device with an audio out option and the BTH-820 Bluetooth headset and during the past days, I had some exciting chances to test it while I was snowboarding, on a business trip, in the hotel, in the office and even at home and I’ve connected it to virtually every gadget I’m carrying abroad (my Smartphones, my Portable Media Center, my Apple iPod, my Notebook and my Pocket PC) or I have at home (my Windows XP Media Center).

The Bluetooth technology standard is finally achieving global acceptance so that any Bluetooth enabled device can connect to any other Bluetooth enabled devices in close proximity. For the newbies, Bluetooth enabled devices connect and communicate wirelessly through short-range, ad hoc networks called piconets. Piconets support up to seven devices simultaneously.

The Bluetooth Entertainment Pack consists a sender/receiver that connects to any audio source, for instance your iPod and a Bluetooth headset. The headset is simple plug-and-go device which supports the standard Bluetooth A2DP for clear stereo sound streaming and the Bluetooth AVRCP profile for remote control as well as the standard Bluetooth headset profile to use it as a headset for mobile phones.
Using the latest Bluetooth technologies the Audio Gateway transmits crystal clear digital sound to compatible Bluetooth audio headsets up to 10m away.

In the box, from left top to right bottom: USB to dual-mini USB cable for charging (the Bluetooth headset and gateway), 110 - 240 V USB charger, Bluetooth headset main unit including microphone, remote control and 3.5 stereo plug, stereo headset to be plugged into the main unit, Bluetooth audio gateway.

Thanks to the used A2DP and AVRCP Bluetooth profiles, it should works with any compatible Bluetooth stereo equipment (like Windows Mobile 5.0 devices with AKU 2 which means you don’t have to use the audio gateway at all but also with Bluetooth equipments from other manufactures like the Motorola Home Entertainment Solution HT820/DC800).

The backbone of the standard and the bane for users are device service descriptions known as profiles. Profiles are standards based definitions of how device types communicate with each other. Without matching profiles, Bluetooth enabled devices are unable to properly communicate with each other. For example the Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) allows a device such as Bluetooth enabled pair of headphones to receive a stereo audio data stream from a Bluetooth enabled PDA or Music Player with the same profile.

The sales box contains everything you need to start: a USB to dual-mini USB cable for charging (the Bluetooth main-unit and gateway simultaneously while carrying one cable and charger only), the 110 - 240 V USB charger which can be used world wide, the Bluetooth headset main-unit which also includes the microphone and which can be used as a headset for your mobile phone and also includes the remote control and 3.5 mm stereo jack, a stereo headset to be plugged into the main-unit and the Bluetooth audio gateway which also has a 3.5 mm stereo plug.

I will give it a test over the next days including an outdoor test next weekend when I’m out for snowboarding; please stay tuned for my review! But at least, it doesn’t looks as geeky as the Motorola Bluetooth headset looks like.

If your PDA or Music Player does not support the A2DP profile you will not be able to use the headphones. GlobalSat has implemented the A2DP profile in their Bluetooth version 1.2 class 2 certified stereo headset receiver/transmitter BTH-820 and audio gateway transmitter BTA-830. Let’s see if they can provide quality Bluetooth stereo sound!

MIDI Playing On A Palm

MIDI is a special music file format. Contrary to WAV or MP3 files, it doesn’t contain audio data but just notes with information on how long to play which instruments and so on.Did you guys see the new item they have: a brand new color Palm with expandable memory for $149. It includes a pretty good sized memory card, too.

I already got mine a week ago, so too late for an upgrade, though I do wish I had a color Palm now that I’m really getting into the PDA functions and games, etc.

The sounds of the instruments are saved in the synthesizer, sound card (hardware synthesizer), or an app like Timidity (software synthesizer). The synthesizer receives the music data and generates sound. Nowadays, MIDI files are used very much on mobile phones (polyphone ringing tones) because of their low size.

ittyMIDI Player converts a Palm Powered handheld into a full-featured MIDI player, capable of controlling any MIDI-enabled musical instrument. Connecting via the communications port, ittyMIDI Player combines the portability and reliability of a hardware MIDI player with the flexibility and ease of use of a software player. It has been designed to function as either a practice tool or an accompaniment tool, suitable for both professional and amateur musicians.

ittyMIDI Player provides complete control of MIDI files and instruments, including on-the-fly, non-destructive editing of volume, mute, tempo and pitch. Tempo can be altered from -99% to +127% of the original, and the pitch can be transposed +/- 24 semitones on any channel. The volume on each channel can be independently controlled or muted with a simple on-screen mixer. ittyMIDI Player’s Non-GM Mapping, Channel Mapping and Suppress GM Enable features support playing GM files on non-GM synths. Instrument mapping can also be done on a per song basis. All changes are stored in playlists, making multiple variations of the same song possible.

I wonder if the Itty MIDI software will translate up to a newer model Palm if I get one. Their MIDI player certainly performs as advertised. I’ve run some pretty complex MIDI files through it as a test, and as
long as you don’t tap anything, it doesn’t miss a beat.

Palms usually don’t have a hardware synthesizer, so the better-known media players for Palm OS don’t support MIDI files. But there are some apps which enable your Palm to play MIDI files.

On the heels of thrilling news that digital sales have increased 148% industry wide from 2004 to 2005, Audio Lunchbox has developed a new subscription program that will allow new and repeat customers to get even more bang for their buck!

Audio Lunchbox’s new subscription program allows customers to purchase points redeemable for downloads throughout the entire Audio Lunchbox catalog. Monthly programs are $9.99 for 40 points and $24.99 for 125 points. Yearly programs are $100 for 30 points per month with 120 anytime points and $250 for 80 points per month and 250 anytime points. With single tracks as low as 1 point and entire albums as low as 10 points, the Audio Lunchbox customer can purchase tracks as low as 20 cents each. Subscription tracks will be offered in open MP3 format which means users can cancel at any time and keep their downloads forever.

“Digital music is exploding and ALB is on the cutting edge of the revolution. We take user feedback very seriously and are proud to say we are the only digital music provider to offer “permanent” a la carte and subscription downloads side by side without DRM restrictions of any kind. ALB will continue to offer our users as many options as possible to download their music legally,” said Morgan Harris, CEO of Audio Lunchbox.

More: primezone.com