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More Challengers to Apple's iPods

Techstination feature for Tuesday, July 26, 2005

More challengers to Apple's iPod. Bloomberg Boot Camp, a report on today's technology. By far and away….Apple has the most popular digital music players on the planet and Apple's iTunes music store now boasts more than half a billion songs sold. But challengers keep on coming….adding new features and designs. Cowon America is out with the iAudio X5. It has a slim, curvy design…a 20 or 30 gigabyte hard drive….an FM radio…line in and voice recording…..and it not only can display JPEG photos, it can play video as well. The company's Young Lee…

"It's MPG 4 format and there's bundled software that can actually convert any type of movie format into the format that will fit the X5."

The X5 also has a function that allows it to connect directly to some digital cameras . That will let owners transfer photos onto the player…and then make room on the camera's memory card. Cowon knows it isn't easy trying to take business away from Apple…

"Apple already has the market share and the brand name. But we are actually the manufacturer with the better quality, in terms of sound and form factor and construction."

While the player has more functions than an iPod….it isn't as easy to use. The standard model of the X5 sells for about 300 dollars. An L version…which costs a little more…more than doubles the battery life to as much as 35 hours of playing time. Bloomberg Boot Camp, I'm Fred Fishkin.