PMP Today

Bad luck for PMP Today readers. The courier service made a mess of our review unit. It was working fine just after the unboxing a couple days ago, but since late yesterday the device has been acting strange. I suspect something to do with the battery (Haier promised us a replacement unit ASAP, so watch out for our review). However, I’ve tinkered with the device enough to have an opinion as to how the iBiza Rhapsody stacks up against the leading PMPs from Apple and Microsoft and why I think it will survive in a bloated market. I have several reasons.

WiFi. Though not top priority when buying a music player, being able to stream music and download it to your player without using your Mac or PC is definitely a boon. Both the two Zunes have WiFi connectivity, but for some reason these are very limited features to say the least on the Zune. The iPod Touch WiFi is a lot more freeing. You can browse the Web in its unwatered down version. You can even play YouTube videos with its built-in YouTube app. Streaming music and downloading, however, is not supported without going around Apple and go Jailbreak. With the ibiza Rhapsody WiFi, you can stream music from the Rhapsody directly to your PMP and download songs that you like (unlimited) with a monthly fee. The only other player in the market that can do this is the Sansa Connect, which integrates Yahoo! Music Service. Interestingly, both the ibiza Rhapsody and Sansa Connect offer a monthly subscription of $15.

Which brings us to my second reason. Money. Haier’s PMP is pricey: $329 for a 30GB PMP seems a little behind the times, especially when Zunes of the same capacity are selling for one-third the price. For $20 more, you can have an iPod Classic with 160GB of storage. Yet, in the long run, the ibiza Rhapsody will save you money. Why? How much do you think you’re going to spend to load 30GB with songs at $.99 each?

Internet Radio is the future of music. Going around the Net looking for music can be fun, but let’s face it, we still watch TV because we’re basically lazy creatures. Sometimes we like hunting for new things, but most times we just want to sit back and enjoy what the world has to offer us. When my review unit was still working properly, I had it on the entire night playing Rhapsody’s Radiohead Channel. It’s like being a kid again and listening to FM music all night, only better. There is a long 5 second gap between songs but because this is Rhapsody with their famous music DNA, the enjoyment is gapless. There is of course the iRiver Clix Rhapsody and Samsung P2, both of which have Rhapsody integration, but you do need a PC to make these players play Rhapsody music. Haier’s player’s only real rival in this department is Sansa Connect, however with only 4GB of memory to store your “unlimited” downloads, Sansa’s player seems like a rip-off. In our upcoming review we’ll tell you more about Internet radio and why we are rooting for portable players like ibiza Rhapsody.

[photo: einsider]