Panasonic’s DMP-B15 looks set to be the first portable Blu-ray player available when it goes on sale this May. But it already faces some stiff competition: Its 8.9-inch WSVGA (1024 by 600 pixel) LCD screen is about the same as a good, inexpensive Netbook. But if you’re not one to rip or download movies for the road, the DMP-B15 could still be worth a closer look.

It packs a three hour rechargeable battery (better hit play fast if you’re a Lord of the Rings fan), plus support for BD Live (Internet-connected activities) and BonusView (picture-in-picture content on supported titles). An HDMI port allows the B15 to connect to your home theater setup as a stand-alone player, and an SD card reader makes it easy to view stored photos or HD video. Finally, an ethernet connection enables VieraCast functionality (limited access to the Internet): Amazon Video On-Demand, YouTube, Google Picasa Web photo albums, Bloomberg news, and a weather channel. No word yet on pricing.

Rockbox is an open source firmware replacement for a growing number of digital audio players. It has been in development since 2001 and receives new features, tweaks and fixes every day to provide you with the best possible music listening experience. Rockbox aims to be considerably more functional and efficient than your device’s stock firmware while remaining easy to use and customizable. We believe that you should never need to go through a series of menus for an action you perform frequently. We also believe that you should be able to configure almost anything about Rockbox you could want, pertaining to functionality. It is written by users, for users.

Another top priority of Rockbox is audio playback quality. Rockbox, for most models, includes a wider range of sound settings than that device’s original firmware. A lot of work has been put into making Rockbox sound the best it can, and improvements are constantly being made. All models have access to a large number of plugins, including many games, applications, and graphical demos.

You can load different configurations quickly for different purposes (e.g. a large font for in your car, different sound settings for at home). You can even customize your While Playing Screen to display only and exactly what you want to see when your music is playing. In addition, Rockbox features a wide range of languages, and all supported models also have the ability to talk to you – menus can be voiced and filenames spelled out or spoken.

It works on following DAP’s (Digital Audio Players)

• Apple: 1st through 5.5th generation iPod, iPod Mini and 1st generation iPod Nano
  (not the Shuffle, 2nd/3rd/4th gen Nano, Classic or Touch)
• Archos: Jukebox 5000, 6000, Studio, Recorder, FM Recorder, Recorder V2 and Ondio
• Cowon: iAudio X5, X5V, X5L, M5, M5L, M3 and M3L
• iriver: H100, H300 and H10 series
• Olympus: M:Robe 100
• SanDisk: Sansa c200, e200 and e200R series (not the v2 models)
• Toshiba: Gigabeat X and F series (not the S series) 

 
Latest version can be got here. 

Sony is set to debut a new 16 and 32GB drag and drop Walkman during CES 2009. This will be the most advanced music, video and photo Walkman music player ever released by Sony to date. While it was revealed before to Wired that Sony’s new Walkman would have Wi-Fi capabilities, we have now learned that Sony’s new Walkman will also be touchscreen and WQVGA. The touchscreen will not be the usual LCD, but a brilliant three inch OLED with a contrast ratio around 10k. OLED display capabilities in terms of color reproduction are far beyond the average LCD, which means 100% color reproduction across a wider viewing angle.

more here

Aino V3000 is a cute PMP which comes with 4GB of storage. Lets look at the features and specification

Features and Specification:

• LTPS (Low Temperature Poly Silicon) LCD – An active matrix LCD screen that is faster and more integrated than screens made with amorphous
• 4.3 inch Screen
• 16,000,000 colors
• 800 × 480 resolution
• MP3, WMA, OGG, AAC, WAV plus FLAC, APE lossless audio format support
• Microsoft’s built-in audio PLAYFX
• FM Radio
• Video file formats supported includes RMVB, AVI, WMV, FLV, 3GP, MP4, MPG, DAT
• Processing Unit: DSP + ARM dual-core chips
• TV-OUT
• Infrared remote control
• High-fidelity stereo speakers
• Digital photo frame
• Price 699 yuans (around $102)

more here

Sandisk’s Sanza Fuze has got a new firmware (version 1.01.15) which add new file format support to sanza, bug fixes and enhancements

New features:

• FLAC codec for audio is now supported

• OGG codec for audio is now supported

• New Audible AAX format is now supported

  • Note: Per Audible request, type 2 and 3 are no longer supported. Users are recommended to connect to Audible Manager to update old contents to type 4.

• Include embedded album art support for MP3 playback

Enhancements:

• New Sansa startup/goodbye screen and PC connection screen

• Improved scrolling through long lists with wrap around enabled

• Backlight setting is extended up to 1 hour

• Improved FAT32 support for external uSD cards

• Improved large playlist loading time

• Improved voice recording quality responding to high sound level

• Faster volume control for video playback

• Enhancements made for Podcast playlist sorting and playback skipping

Bugs Fixed:

Music playback

• "Play Previous" option is missing after returning from Video, Photo, Podcasts and Audiobooks playback

• Buttons have to be pressed twice while navigating in Album submenu

Rhapsody enabled devices

• Videos converted using Rhapsody show incorrect aspect ratio

• “Add to Library” using press and hold causes device to hang

Localized firmware

• Russian language: Format confirmation message is mistranslated

Miscellaneous

• Turning volume causes charging animation to jump while docked in 30-pin connection

• Recording Option menu doesn’t exist in Voice and FM Recording list view

more here

EGOMAN is going to unveil its ultra thin PMP. MP810RSTX is a 4.3 inch cute, slim looking beauty and will be available during IFA 2008.

Specifications

• 4.3 inch TFT display
• Touchscreen
• MicroSD card slot
• Optional FM receiver
• Optional FM transmitter
• TV-OUT
• G-Sensor
• USB conncetivity
• built-in mic
• AVI, RMVB, APE, FLAC, MP3 and WMA file formats support

price and release dates are yet to be announced

more here