I managed to create an impromptu shuffle feature simply by holding down “rewind” and releasing it randomly - effective, if a little laboured. I told my dad about my clever idea. His words of warning brought home the difference between the portable music players of today, which don’t have moving parts, and the mechanical playback of old. In his words, “Walkmans eat tapes”.

Scott has a number of cons going against the old cassette player. Sound quality wasn’t as good as the digital music nowadays. I totally agree with the hissing, and battery life, those AAs, just didn’t last long enough. Of course, Sony Walkmans have gone more hi-tech since then.

[read: bbc, via engadget]

We’ve seen some cute MP3 players, but this one from mobiBLU tops even the likes of the Mashimaro Msplayer. The Miffi MP3 player does not quite belong to the mini MP3 player category because it comes with the cradle, which houses the speakers. Mobiblu is also the maker of the UFO A10 MP3 player, so it’s obvious the Korean company is experienced in making these titillating DAP-music players.

Miffy is a stop-motion bunny designed by Dick Bruna in the Netherlands. Miffy’s clothes are replaceable and other colors are available. No pricing yet but it’s coming this June.

[sources: akihabaranews, imp3]

The Miffy MP3 Player should be a great gift for toddlers.

The phone may not seem too usable for the likes of me and you, but little fashionistas would get a kick out of this. If they’re still too obsessed with their SideKicks (I think they still are), you might convince them by pronouncing the cheap price of the C90+, just $129.99 and the fact that it’s an unlocked GSM phone. It’s also an MP3 and MP4 player. Other features include Bluetooth, 1.3MP camera and FM tuner.

Note: Not sure this is an official Hello Kitty phone. We’re currently in the process of verifying this, so stay tuned.

[source]

Alternatively dubbed the G88i, the $120 Imobile phoneV588 unfortunately does not actually contain makeup and even more unfortunate, the mirror does not double as an LCD display. What you have instead is a compct mirror with a 2.6-inch display where the makeup should be. But, then again, you might be tempted by the inlaid diamonds and the fact that it plays MP3 and MP4 files and has a video-recording camera, besides taking phone calls of course. Also features multiple speakers and Bluetooth.

[store]

MashiMaro is the rabbit version of Hello Kitty and it is catching fire in Korea. Known as the “Weird Rabbit,” the character puts a humorous light to toilet habits, perhaps a way to teach children how to have fun during toilet training.

Anyway, it’s a merchandizing gold, this MashiMaro so it comes as no surprise someone made an MP3 player based on it. The MsPlayer is cute, cheap and features a number of adorable features like those ears that light up for one reason or another and a rear end entry for the audio jack, how about that! All told, it will cost you about $44 (59,000 won in Korea) for the 2GB MP3 player.

• Plays MP3, WMA, ASF, OGG, APE, WAV, ACT
• 54 × 38 × 38mm at 19 grams
• Battery plays 9 hours of music
• microphone

[via imp3, journaldugeek]

This goes to our cheap MP3 player category. Brando’s cow-shaped MP3 player is only $30 USD and they look as cute as hamburgers. The Moo-Cow comes in blue, pink and white. Hope there is yellow and green, but if you like to buy one of the three, you’ll get 4GB of storage, an LED indicator (possibly on the patched eye) and cute buttons located on the ears and nose. The Moo-Cow model of MP3 players looks to be a future hot seller, and if Brando is serious about selling these, they should find a spot on the cow face to slap it on. Moo-Cow 2G, 3G should be even cuter.

Thanks to our commenter thallium for the heads up. Check out Creative’s Zen Moo. Which looks cuter?

[brando via gizmodo]

Looking for a boombox than can play videos too? The sexy-sounding HJ69 is a real sexy beast that’ll impress the hardest core mobile music fan. It’s also relatively light for a boombox at only 340 grams, well within portability range. Specs include a 3.5-inch TFT screen, RMVB and WMV support (among other codecs), Line-in recording, and an alarm clock with options for music and FM alarms. Being powered by AAA batteries really ups the nostalgia factor on this one.

The HJ-69 is currently on OEM status and waiting to be branded. And here’s to hoping the woofer is upgradable.

[source]

Found first on Pocket-Lint. This site literally moves. It’s so well-thought-out, it’s almost as tempting as the Palm Pre It would be an exaggerration to say that the site is interactive. It reacts to your clicks but only figuratively. Links and buttons don’t lead you anywhere, except the image of the Palm Pre on the far left… but do you really want to click?

You might also want to check out Sprint Instinct as iPhone Killer and compare Palm Pre with the former iPhone Killer (pay special attention to  the 43rd to 45th seconds.

[nownetwork]

Most everyone who owns an Apple product loves ‘em, and the iPod Shuffle is no exception. But sometimes gadget love for the MacBook, the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPod Nano doesn’t translate very well to the new iPod Shuffle. What I mean is cases, specifically leather cases for the iPod Shuffle. Seriously, you actually expect a tech user in his right mind to slip a gadget as tiny as the iPod Shuffle 3G inside a leather case? And one even uses a loop fastener.

Honestly, the only Shuffle case that makes sense is the keychain pouch, which can be found here.

[alibaba showroom]

Yanko Design has contributed many great designs for the portable player market, and I’ve been itching to see at least one of them making it to mass production. The Shrek MP3 player designed by Sang-hoon Lee might just come close. It’s really simple, green with Shrek ears out of which come out the earplugs. It’s a 4GB player, too, and is a potential hit whether or not they make a fourth sequel.

[yanko via crunchgear]