LOOK, MA! NO HANDS
For those not yet enslaved by the white earbud, there are plenty of alluring MP3 players out there. Take the Xtatix Freefone, a self-contained player with an FM radio tuner that offers hands-free playback.
The Freefone, which weighs about 113g, is essentially a pair of headphones studded with buttons. A USB cable transfers music from a Mac or PC and charges the built-in battery, which lasts about seven hours between charges. Like the iPod Shuffle, the device plays songs at random or in the order in which they were uploaded.
The 1-gigabyte version costs US$159 and can hold up to 300 songs; a version with half as much storage costs US$119.
A switch on one side of the headphones flips from FM to MP3 mode, and buttons control power, audio playback and equalizer settings. The other side has controls for FM tuning or to fast-forward and rewind.
In addition to music, the Freefone can store computer files, should you want to wear your important data around your ears.
ONE-BUTTON DATA BACKUP
At the rate things are going, we'll soon be able to store 25,000 MP3's on a disk the size of a fingernail. A step in that direction is the Maxtor OneTouch III Mini Edition. This shock-resistant hard drive is about as big as an iPod and can back up your PC or laptop drive with the click of a button.
The OneTouch III is less than a 1.5cm thick and 13cm long. A 60-gigabyte and 100-gigabyte version are available.
The drive comes with an instruction booklet and a USB cable. For PC users, setup is simple: Maxtor has included a full user's manual and backup software on the disk itself, which is preformatted using the Windows NT file system. Once you plug it in, the installation system asks for a few basic facts about your computer. When you're ready to back up, simply press the glowing white button on the front. (Mac users will have to reformat the drive.)
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