PMP Today

Like to listen to music while you surf? Does playing Yanni help you concentrate while free climbing? Accidents happen and you don’t want to lose hundreds of dollars worth of online music if you drop your iPod. PMP Today makes it a point to focus on portable media players and the relevant news that affects the industry. But once in a while we do cave in to the desire of showing our readers something totally interesting, whether they had anything to do with PMPs or not.

Well, as it happens someone from Freestyle Audio sent us an email yesterday about their indestructible product, the Freestyle Audio Sport MP3 Player. The specs are pretty standard for an MP3 of the same size: 1GB or 512MB flash memory (320 and 160 songs), plays MP3 files, USB, thirty hours of play time. The difference lies in how this player is built. It’s both shock proof and water-proof. To see just how shock proof, read on for the video demonstration (you don’t see many MP3 players survive a five-story drop)…

Freestyle Audio MP3 player is water proof up to ten feet and buoyant so you won’t have to dive down when you drop it surfing a wave. Maybe it helps that it only weights 35g. It’s currently available in North America through distributors as well as some countries in Europe and Asia (Japan and Korea).

Pricing is $199.95 for the 1GB and $169.95 for the 512MB, including shipping. [You could also get it cheaper if you buy it from stores like Target, which sells the 1GB Freestyle Audio for $89.99.] Also included in the purchase is a pair of special waterproof earbuds, neoprene armband or lanyard, USB cable and a Playlist software.

[product page]