toggle

AAPL Stock: 503 ( + 0.79 )

New 80GB MP3 player landing in U.S.

updated 10:35 am EDT, Mon April 26, 2004

DMC-Xclef 500 80GB player


Digital Mind Corp. today announced that it will be bringing MultiChannel Labs' to the U.S. Currently available in Europe, the DMC-Xclef 500 comes in 40GB and 80GB models and includes features such as an FM tuner, FM recording, line recording, up to 20 hours of battery life, and a USB 2.0 interface. The device measures 129x81x22mm (the 40GB iPod measures 104x61x18.5mm) and weighs 255 grams, about 80 grams more than the iPod. The DMC-Xclef 500 also features an upgradeable hard drive interface that accepts any 2.5" laptop drive. The 40GB model will cost $350, while the 80GB model will sell for $450.


by MacNN Staff

print
email
(13)

TAGS :

 peripherals

Related Articles

Recent Articles

toggle

Comments

  1. RIP

    Registered User

    Joined: Mar 2004

    0
    04/26, 10:47am | report spam | Reply |

    Uh..

    What is DMC, and why should I buy from them?

  1. vickys_box

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jan 2003

    0
    04/26, 11:13am | report spam | Reply |

    Start-up time

    According to a review on their website: "the player needs to scan the harddisk at startup - this took some 6 seconds per 6 GB of data, which may seem like a long time. However, if one doesn't change the HDD's contents for a while, startup time is reduced to about 2 seconds.".

    Hillarious.

  1. OptimusG4

    Mac Elite

    Joined: Feb 2003

    0
    04/26, 11:14am | report spam | Reply |

    re: what is DMC...

    Apparently a company that supports WMA and MP3 only. Still won't beat my iPod though, considering 90% of my music is in AAC format.

  1. trevc

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Mar 2000

    0
    04/26, 11:14am | report spam | Reply |

    Bigger is bigger

    Actually, the comparison chart they have on their site shows the iPod favors well ... but can imagine the "my Player has a bigger hard drive than your player" conversations happening...

  1. z10n

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Oct 2003

    0
    04/26, 11:43am | report spam | Reply |

    iPod killer... except

    that it uses USB 2.0. Though theoretically USB 2.0 is faster then Firewire 400, in practice that's not normally the case. Unlike USB, Firewire was DESIGNED for high-speed storage. USB has extra overhead that makes it unstable at higher speeds. (I found one site that said in practice USB 2.0 is only about 4 to 13 times as fast as 1.1, not the reported 40 times as fast.)

    I will however, reiterate my request that apple quickly add an FM tuner and preferably FM recording to the iPod. It's long overdue.

  1. pdot

    Senior User

    Joined: Aug 2000

    0
    04/26, 11:59am | report spam | Reply |

    8,000 songs

    Their website says it "can store up to 8,000 songs". That can't be a storage limitation. A 4GB iPod stores about 1,000 songs, so a 80GB one should store up to 20,000. What's stranger is that the website also says that it can store up to 2,400 hours of music on the 40GB version at 64kbps. Using this bitrate, you can go way over 8,000 songs. Is there some kind of software limitation?

  1. t_hah

    Mac Elite

    Joined: Dec 2000

    0
    04/26, 12:04pm | report spam | Reply |

    Actually

    This player may not be bad. It has a specific market, mainly geeks who wish to have the largest available storage space. I am pretty sure that this new player will be hackable as well, so all the hardware hackers could add extra features to it later on.

    The upgradeable hard drive is nice too. I love my iPod, and will not switch, but I think this product is not as bad as you guys think. It is not nearly as elegant as the iPod, but definitely has great specs.

  1. pdot

    Senior User

    Joined: Aug 2000

    0
    04/26, 12:07pm | report spam | Reply |

    Re: Bigger is bigger

    I read through the comparison as well. It's strange b/c with so many features where the iPod came out on top, the webpage felt more like a review article than a pro-DMC page. I give them credit for honesty.

  1. HowieDI2

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Aug 2002

    0
    04/26, 01:37pm | report spam | Reply |

    Errors

    The specs sheet has several errors where it compares the iPod to their player. Someone over there didn't do their research. According to them, there is no voice recording available on the iPod and it lists the available sizes as: 15GB,20, and 30. It totally does not mention the mini and constantly refers to Apple's ports as 'proprietary'.

  1. HiFiGuy

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Feb 2000

    0
    04/26, 02:49pm | report spam | Reply |

    Doing the math

    It's almost twice as large and 50 percent heavier as the iPod, based on the MacNN numbers.

Show More Comments

Login Here

Not a member of the MacNN forums? Register now for free.

 
close
Photo
toggle

Network Headlines

toggle

Most Popular

10 Most Read

Recent Reviews

Powerbag Business Class Bag

Many companies currently offer battery packs and various accessories to keep smartphones and other gadgets charged when away from an o ...

Logitech Cube

The world of mice could often be described charitably as stagnant: it's an endless sea of ergonomic shapes that assume you're sitting ...

NewerTech and Targus USB Hubs For Gifts

A useful holiday present to resolve an ongoing frustration is a multi-port hub. Whether as a stocking stuffer, Chanukah present, or an ...

toggle

Most Commented

10 Most Discussed

 

Popular News