Thomson have just released their F1 MP4 player – just in time to miss the Christmas rush. The mini player features a 2.4 inch QVGA screen, USB 2.0 connection, and scarily – built-in speakers.

It also come with a microSD slot and is preloaded with some classic games. So, if you are looking for a gadget to annoy all around, this will likely fit the bill.

The Thomson F1 supports AVI and MP3/WMA/WAV formats, will display jpeg/bmp photos and allow text file viewing. A 4gigabyte storage capacity for around $100 seems like a good buy though. Surprisingly the price will be $101 rather than the more user-friendly $99.99 allowing them to sell it for “less than a hundred bucks.”

It seems an interesting design, with several rocker switches on the top for controls and the main part of the front of the player is taken up with the screen.

Although Thomson are a reasonably successful company, we doubt they will be stealing much business from the Apple range next year and have yet to see a true iPod killer hit the streets.

At less than $70, the Zen stone MP3 Player, available in blue, black, pink, green, pink, red or white looks like a safe bet for a Christmas stocking filler this year. The 2GB version retails for $69.99 and the 4 GB version, $89.99.

The 2GB version holds about 500 tunes, comes with a built-in radio, has a built-in stopwatch, countdown timer and clock. The 4GB version has all the same features , holding twice as many tunes (sic) but for some reason is only available in black. The casing looks identical to me so I am not sure why that’s the case.

It’s a good looking, solid little player, although, as usual, let down by crappy headphones so first order of business the day after Christmas will be to go out and buy a decent pair. You could do worse than invest in a pair of Bang and Olufsen A8s.

I like it, but find it rather odd that Zen are selling an extended warranty for $19.99 – to me, that kinda says they think there’s a one-in-three chance this player will go pop – not very good odds as far as I’m concerned. Their website is here.

Don’t forget to check these items on Amazon:

• Creative Zen 4 GB (Black)
• Creative ZEN Stone Plus 2 GB Black
• Creative ZEN Stone Plus 2 GB Blue
• Creative ZEN Stone Plus Armband Black

Creative have just announced a new version of their Zen media player – with 32 GB of storage. The new Zen offers all the features of the previous version but now includes a 16GB and 32 GB memory capacity.

This credit card-sized ZEN has a great looking 2.5″ color screen; plays music and videos and displays photos. The 32 GB version holds up to 8,000 MP31, WMA or AAC songs, up to 120 of video and 100s of photos. It is possible to add more capacity by using SD memory cards.

You could argue the Zen now outperforms Apple’s iPod range, supporting audio books and iTunes – and is compatible with both Rhapsody and Napster to go. Built-in FM radio and up to 25 hours complete the package.

Laptop magazine gave the 8GB zen 4.5 stars out of 5 and the only issue they found was a relatively slow start-up time.

Once again, only time will tell if this is a real iPod killer, but Creative have a ways to go if that’s the market they are after. It’s a nice looking player, but the slow boot-up combined with lousy earphones leave it wanting. I’ll be sticking with Apple, but the Creative Zen does have a slightly bigger screen if video is your thing.

Press release is here.

It must suck to have invented the Walkman only to have someone like Apple come along with the ipod and completely destroy your credibility with one product. Hello iPod, bye-bye Sony.

Sony are fighting back this Christmas with the release of a new range of mini MP3 players, aimed squarely at the young, hip female audience, even going as far as to make it look like a lipstick.

The new range will be released in Japan this December and will cross to the US if demand warrants. I want a pink one already and I haven’t even seen one in the flesh, but how sexy are these?

A few pundits have complained about the lack of drag and drop functionality in the NW-E013, but I don’t see that as a major problem. The sound quality is excellent as with most Sony products and you get three hours play time from a three minute USB charge. What more could you want?

I expect them to arrive mid 2008 and if Sony have any sense, they will sell for less than a hundred dollars. A few entrepreneurial types are already selling them on Ebay for about $130 but I would wait until they are an official import. The official site is here.

Check these Sony & MP3 products :

When is an unlocked iPhone worth nearly $1,500 ? When T-Mobile start selling them in their German outlets for 999 Euros.

T-Mobile announced yesterday that they would be selling unlocked iPhones alongside their locked, contracted version. This follows a European court injunction preventing the sale of only locked iPhones.

Who said customer was king? Not in this case it seems. Apple may be making a fortune from their “One carrier, one country ,” policy, but at the end of the day the customer is the loser.

Fifteen hundred dollars for an iPhone is insane. The European injunction made no mention of pricing, so this announcement by T-Mobile basically says, OK, you want an unlocked iPhone, just pay us the amount of money we would have made from a two year contract and you can have one.”

Most interesting is that T-Mobile feel they deserve the profit regardless of whether they provide the service and that they expect to make considerably more money from the contract than the sale of the phone.

I can already see dozens of Eastern European mobsters rubbing their hand with glee, wondering how much they can undercut this price by and still make a fortune. I’ve already ordered my Slovenian iPhone.

Zdravljica !