New MP3 Player Bets On Wireless Connectivity For Your Bucks
Posted June 15, 2006 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It’s called the Gremlin and it does what all its counterparts do – store and play back whatever music suits your taste. But there’s a detail in this device that the others don’t have and could give a whole new meaning to the term ‘music swapping’.
The Gremlin is the first MP3 player that uses a WiFi connection to load tunes onto it, which means you don’t have to connect it to a computer and you can get new songs anywhere there’s a hot spot.
“By transforming the MP3 player into a wireless device, we’ve freed consumers from being tied to their PCs,” proclaims Jonathan Axelrod.
The creators believe this one unique feature will help differentiate the device in the marketplace and attract consumers on the hunt for the next big thing.
The WiFi capability means users will be able to download any of up to two million tracks from major record labels for just 99 cents, browse for music anywhere or even swap tunes with another similar Gremlin player if they’re in close enough range and have the proper subscription.
The downloading can be done without interrupting the current song you’re listening to. If there’s no signal, you can still make the request and the song will be added once connectivity is found.
And the company is also providing various genres of tunes in a virtual radio station stream that can be played back around any wireless Internet connection.
The initial device will sell for about $300 U.S. and store around 2,000 tracks.
Company execs, who’ve spent a small fortune on designing, researching and marketing the technology, are betting the player can make inroads in an already crowded field.
For now the service will only be available in the States. But if the initial rollout is as successful as its creators hope, other countries could soon be ‘down to the wire’ with the digital device.
