MP3 Players & Accessories

You all have one – a person in your immediate or extended family (or perhaps very extended group of friends) that is next-to-impossible to shop for because he has everything he wants. That’s where SanDisk, and we at beststuff.com, come into play. Take the hassle and stress out of finding that perfect gift and give your materially blessed colleague extra storage space for his phone or MP3 player.

SanDisk's 16GB mobile memory card fits with phones and mp3 players with a microSD slot and is sure to give your loved one all the room he needs to store songs and pictures. Smaller than a fingernail and less than 100 dollars, the SanDisk microSD 16GB memory card is sure to make life just a little simpler for your friend without lightening your wallet too much.

With everything going wireless, Monster Cable’s founder Noel Lee has to do something to keep the Monster Cable brand alive. In recent years the company has entered into the consumer electronics field with products for your iPod and other electronic devices. I particularly like Beats by Dr. Dre headphones that feature Powered Isolation technology for reduced external noise and deep bass and have extra large 40mm drivers. The Beats by Dr. Dre headphones have an MSRP of $349.99.

Lee recently said, “Hearing is believing.” If you have not invested in good headphones before, you might want to research this purchase and compare it with others in the market and make the plunge. After all, Dr. Dre knows his music, and his co-development with Monster only guarantees that you will hear Dr. Dre’s music the way he intends for it to be heard. My only suggestion is to trust your ears.

I mean, do you listen to Slacker.com where there are custom radio stations of your favorite music? Seriously, check ‘em out: www.slacker.com. The Slacker G2 Personal Radio Player plays digital music in all its glory, and you can customize your play lists, and more. The Slacker G2 records, and fills up with your favorite radio stations by refreshing those favorites over Wi-Fi or USB. There is a 2.4’ color screen that displays artist profiles, album reviews and cover art. This is one sleek, modern looking consumer electronics device.

You can choose “Favorite” or “Ban” with one button for each to customize your device with your likes and dislikes. A custom Equalizer (EQ) and Volume normalization options provide flexibility in your listening preferences. The Slacker G2 comes in 25 and 40 station capacities. Oh yeah, your MP3’s and WMA files will also play on this device that has 15 hours of battery life.

The 4GB that holds 25 stations has an MSRP of $199, and the 8GB that holds 40 stations has an MSRP of $249. Digital music freedom comes to mind when explaining this product, enjoy…www.slacker.com

Talk about the gift that keeps on giving … the speaker is actually built right into the gift card and is super thin and functional enough to actually enjoy what you are hearing. You can plug an iPod, MP3 player, or any device that plays sound and has a plug similar to headphones into this speaker-card. It amazes me that the technology is still getting smaller! Now it is small enough, and cheap enough to be built into a pass along item like a gift card. This will surely be one card that won’t see the inside of a trashcan anytime soon.

If you are giving Best Buy gift certificates this Holiday Season, you might as well give away speakers: www.bestbuy.com

The innovators at SanDisk are at it again with the recent roll out of the Sansa Clip MP3 player. 4,000 songs on a clip sounds like endless entertainment to me. Combine this capacity with 15 hours of rechargeable battery life, and you will be glad you bought this player ($99 MSRP). One of my favorite features on this tiny MP3 player is the built-in FM tuner. Another great feature is the OLED color screen. This little-bitsy MP3 player seems too small to have a screen, and yet, there it is in full color.

The Sansa Clip, which is the size of most ear buds, can pack 8GB of data and impress the person in your life that is the hardest to please. I recommend the Amazon music store as a great place to pack this player full of music (for all of those iPod people who don’t know that music is sold outside of iTunes). Check Sandisk’s Sansa Web site out for more information: www.sansa.com The 8GB Sansa Clip is in stores now.

Etymotic Research recently announced the invention of the fifth generation of its noise-isolating earphones, the hf5. Following the lines of its multiple award winning predecessor, the hf2, the hf5 is designed to offer exceptional sound quality with a design made to fit the ear canal of whomever tries them on. Compatible with iPods, as well as most other devices, the hf5 retails at a hefty 149 dollars. However, given the design and research that went into them, they won’t fail to disappoint.

For more information visit www.etymotic.com or read the press release.

The design of the Eos Wireless from IntelliTouch is brilliant, as there is a removable wall mount on the speaker that plugs directly into an electrical outlet. The speakers have a 150-foot range from the iPod dock and produce quality digital audio for multi-room sound throughout your home. Most digital speaker products have interference created by Wi-Fi products that can ruin those favorite songs. This interference is not an issue with IntelliTouch’s GigaWave error correction technology.

The whole system includes a docking station/transmitter, with one wireless remote speaker for $299 MSRP. Additional speakers (four total can be added to the base station) as well as the weatherproof wireless outdoor amplifier and stand-alone transmitter/receiver bundle are available separately. So, if you are looking for a wireless home speaker solution this is a great product to provide you with what you want. www.eoswireless.com

iriver SPINN is one device that can play video, MP3 music, FM radio, flash games, view pictures, record voice and FM radio, view texts, and uses bluetooth! Yep, one device that does it all. The compact design conveys a sense of quality that will have you amazed at the price, $189 (4GB) MSRP, and $229 (8GB) MSRP. The 3.3” QVGA AMOLED screen is very crisp in the detail as most OLED screens are. There is even a reactive vibration feature that brings the flash games to life. As expected, this device has a touch screen for easy navigation. There is also a lock button that can shut off the navigation so you don’t accidentally stop your movie on the airplane while squirming in that small seat.

Keep in mind there are many other products from iriver this year, and the Lplayer has a 2.0” screen for $69.99 (4GB) MSRP, and $99.99 (8GB) MSRP with many of the same feature as the SPINN. The E100 Multimedia Player from iriver is also an option in this class for $69.99 (4GB) MSRP. Go spend some time on their new Web site to learn about the many more products they have available, they are all impressive, www.iriver.com.

Please note that pricing reflects iriver’s special Holiday pricing valid November 1st – December 31st, 2008.

Have you ever wished you could rewind the radio like a DVR? What about record simultaneously your three favorite radio stations? How about recording five Sirius XM programs! This new XMp3 wearable satellite radio is small with many features that make personalizing your music fun. You can auto record your favorite sports talk show that is always on when you are working. The micro-SD card slot will let you take your personal music with you and use this XMp3 like an MP3 player. Whatever you choose to do with this device, I assure you the Sirius XM partnership, and Pioneer technology will deliver on your expectations.

For more information about the XMp3, please visit www.xmradio.com/xmp3, www.pioneerelectronics.com or read the press release.