The contenders

In pole position, we have the ipod - where all MP3 players are compared to. Ooozes with cool, intuitive to use, and because it's so popular, it's got a lot of support from accessories to hacks. Down side is the one-format only player, where all other formats have to be converted to ipod-friendly format before being able to use. Plus, no radio or recorder (of course, with 30GB of music, why do u still need the radio?!!)

Next, we have the contender from Singapore. Sleek, smooth and with a better video quality than ipod, it's coming in strong from all sides. It's got the same brain power (30GB hard disk), and does not discriminate among audio and video formats, well, except against ipod's and sony's format. Plus, it's got radio and voice recorder functionality! The controls are less intuitive compared to an ipod, and it's just not as cool as an ipod. It's also slightly more expensive.

And finally, we have the contender from Japan. No colour screen, no identity crisis, no fuss. Just shows basic information about the music, and does what it's suppose to be - an MP3 player and nothing else. Have a whopping 50 hours battery life, making this the clear marathon winner. It's got the same discriminatory treatment against other formats, and apparently the software is not quite up to scratch compared to iTunes - the ipod's format.

So, who do you think will be the winner in this line up?

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• tech
• rant