If you want a portable MP3 player that has personality, then you might want to consider the HOMADE MP3 i-Player. Just look at the photo on the left, it can definitely be used as a conversation piece as well. After all, it's the Lego that can sing. Learn about the details of this gadget after the jump!

If you live in Europe and are bothered about the tracks you download having DRM, well then here's some good news that's surely to make you guys jump for joy.

7digital.com has just announced that will be offering mp3s from Warner Music International that's DMR-free. more on this after the jump!

This just reminded me about mood rings. The new Toshiba U103 Gigabeat digital audio player comes in 24 different colors to suit your mood, including pink if you're feeling a little "tickled pink" when you buy one. That's more than three times a rainbow's basic colors and four times more than the six different colors the PSP Slim will be available in (in Japan). It's also what you get when you half the number 48 or double 12.

 

In terms of capabilities and features, there isn't much difference with the U102 except for the availability of 24 colors. Supported formats are the staples MP3, WAV and WMA. It's also an FM tuner and comes with 1GB of storage. The screen measures 1.1 x 1.1 inches. It's now out in Japan for JP¥14,000 (US$ 116).

  

With all those MP3 players in different shapes, sizes, and colors available right now in the market, it's impossible for you to NOT find a portable music player you like. If you're incredibly fickle though, and you can't find the stuffed toy worm music player that you've always dreamed of, well, guess what? There's none.

Don't despair! There's a good music player solution for those who would want to create their own portable player. Dubbed the "Music Box", the EverGreen DN-MP3DIY-256 portable music player comes in a small size (28x25x18mm), just perfect for you to slip it inside a doll to let it play MP3, OGG, or WMA files.

With imagination the only limit, this Music Box is a dream come true for those who want to get a better, cuter, custom MP3 player.

   

 

PQI, one of the leaders in portable flash drive technology, revealed it's new portable music player named JoyTone U820.

It has a black glossy finish, which may turn out to be more of a bane since it's thumbprint-prone, as shown in one of the pictures below. The black-and-orange motif is a nice touch, but we can't help but cringe a little at the X layout of the buttons. It's also got a 1.5 inch LCD monitor, which isn't bad, considering the JoyTone's small size.

With MP3, WMA, and SMV formats playback, as well as a photo viewer application for JPEG and BMP pictures, its a sweet deal. Not bad for a company that's mostly known for cranking out impressive Traveling Disks.

  

More pictures of the JoyTone after the jump!

If you own an Xbox 360 HD DVD player, you may want to get ready. we just got word that there's an update scheduled for the device sometime today.

According to a post on the AVS forums by Amir Majidimehr, corporate vice president for Microsoft's Consumer Media Technology Group,

It is my pleasure to let you all know that the HD DVD update for Xbox 360 is slated for release on 5/15 (i.e. tomorrow!). So when you wake up in the morning, you should be able to upgrade your software. And me free from telling you when are going to get it . Hope you all download it and provide feedback on what you think!

We have no word yet on what's going to be in the update, but as soon as we get wind of what's in store for HD DVD player users, we'll be sure to let you know. Until then, check to see if there's an update on your respective boxes, alright?

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Over at the AV Science Forums, we found word from Dr_Know on what will be the updates included for the HD DVD audio come May 15th. Mind you, this list is entirely separate form the Spring Dashboard update that was released last May 7th.

Anyway, why don't you check out the full list so you'd at least have an idea of what we're waiting for:

• Fix DD being stuck in "Night Mode" which is essentially Dynamic Range Compression leading to the sound sounding very flat
• Option to output ALL HD DVD audio as DTS 1.5Mbps (list includes DD+, TrueHD, DTS, and any other audio option offered on HD DVD discs I may have missed)
• Option to output ALL HD DVD audio as DD 640Kbps, (which it currently does, but will be fixed from the Night Mode bug), list includes DD+, TrueHD, DTS, and any other audio option offered on HD DVD discs that I may have missed.
• Option to output ALL HD DVD audio as WMAPro 1.5Mbps, (list includes DD+, TrueHD, DTS, and any other audio option offered on HD DVD discs I may have missed) for those receivers that support WMA.
• Option to enable/disable Night Mode (with the default set to off)
• Fix a number of disc incompatibilities (including DVD Essentials) as well as a number of Lip Sync issues.

If at first you don't succeed, try again. Cliche as that may sound, it seems that Toshiba is taking this saying by heart as they have recently announced the newest members of their Gigabeat line of digital audio players - the Gigabeat U102 and U202. These goodies would come in 1 and 2 GB varieties. Here, check them out:

On the aesthetics department, nothing seems new. But on the inside, Toshiba claims that they have given it the new LSI (TC94A82XBG) which could provide better audio quality than the older Gigabeats. It plays the usual mp3s, WMAs, and even WMA 10DRM types, plus both will sport FM tuners. No word on prices and availability.

Wanna hone your DJ skills while you're on the go? Thanks to Tonium's pocket-sized DJ system Pacemaker, you can do just that even when you're on the bus, at school... heck, even if you're in the bathroom.

The Pacemaker lets you practice on its molded plastic touchpad. It has a 120GB hard drive to store your samples and songs in and supports MP3, WAV, AAC, WMA, and FLAC formats. It also has USB 2.0 support and a host of DJ-ing functions including loop-in, loop-out, re-loop, and cue point search.

This handheld DJ station will be available this fall. No price information yet, though. Check out the design pics below for a look at it. The Pacemaker is set to be announced officially today, so we might get some price info on this baby soon.

 

Korean company Plezo has announced the launch of its new PMG-250 mp3 player. Now, while new mp3 players are always popping up, the PMG-250 does have an ace up its sleeve: it supports video game emulation.

According to the company's product page for the PMG-250, it can emulate NES, Mega Drive, and Game Boy Color games. It's a bit bigger than a Game Boy Micro and features a 2.5-inch LCD screen, dual speakers, and runs on Amtel's ARMCORE 9 CPU. The PMG-250 also has SD Card and USB support.

As for mp3 support, the PMG-250 offers playback of mp3, wma, wav, adpcm and pcm formats. If we got the translation right, it can also play avi videos as well as let users view images. The suggested retail price for the Plezo PGM - 250 is KRW 169,000 (US$ 182).

Don't mistake this gadget for a matchbook, or a lighter. This steely, shiny, little device is actually an MP4 player. Created by Epoq, it boasts of a 2.4" QVGA LCD, built in speaker, FM radio (with 40 presets), sound voice recorder, image viewer, e-book reader, and support for the following formats: mp1, mp2, mp3, wma, avi, jpg, bmp and txt.

Sure promises to do a lot, eh? However, we're guessing that for you to be able to do all that, you'd have to do them one by one as the memory is painfully small for today's standards. At one to two GB onboard, with an additional MiniSD card slot, Gizmodo was pretty apt when it described Epoq's MP4 player as having the memory of a gold fish.

But hey, we're sure there will always be a workaround for that. Like in the joke "How do you get an elephant and a lion to fit in a fridge?" the answer is as simple. Take out the elephant and put in the lion.

Er... yeah. So that joke's free. But Epoq's MP4 isn't. The 1GB model is tagged at US$ 99.95, while the 2GB unit is for US$ 139.95.