Carabiners, for those that don't know, are metal links used to connect things together. Yourself to a rope, your keys to your belt loops, or whatever. Sharp slapped a carabiner o­n their latest MP3 player, which may actually be more useful than it sounds.

Sharp Corporation will release two new models of MP3/WMA player o­n November 26th: the "MP-S200" which has 512MB of internal memory, and the "MP-S300," with 1GB of internal memory. Either model is officially listed as Open Price, but estimates suggest the MP-S200 will be around 18,000 yen, and the MP-S3000 around 23,000 yen. Supported operating systems are Windows 98 SE, Me, 2000, and XP.

Besides the memory capacity, specifications o­n all units are the same. Each model will be available in silver, red, black, and blue color variations.

The biggest feature of the player is its case design that has a carabiner motif. The player furnishes an opening and closing link, so it can be attached through a belt or to a purse similar to a keychain, and can be carried around. The case itself has a honeycomb protect construction, so it can withstand a 140cm drop to P-tile (Translator's note: P-tiles are those cheap vinyl tiles stuck o­n top of concrete flooring...your grocery store probably uses these).

The unit also contains an FM transmitter. Not o­nly can users listen to music via earphones, they can transmit audio to their car stereo and other devices with FM receivers.

Supported playback formats are MP3 and WMA, where WMA DRM is supported. For MP3, users will be able to play files from 8kbps to 320kbps, and VBR is supported. WMA playback bitrates range from 32kbps to 192kbps. Connection with a PC is done via USB 2.0, and Sharp has said the included software makes transferring songs easy.

Also, using the special included cable, direct encoding is supported via the line input jack (USB port multi-use). This recording is done in a proprietary format. A microphone is also o­n the player, allowing for voice recording in the MP3 format.

Six preset equalizer settings are provided, and playback features include program play, A/B repeat, and pitch adjustment. Power is supplied by the included AAA NiMH batteries. Standard AAA batteries can also be used. Using the included batteries, continuous playback time sits at about 12 hours (MP3) or 9.5 hours (WMA) with the FM transmitter off, and 5 hours or 4.5 hours with the transmitter o­n. The external dimensions are 36 x 87.1 x 15.2mm (W x D x H), and the body including the batteries weighs roughly 52g.

Inspired by:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20051114/sharp.htm

Press Release:
http://www.sharp.co.jp/corporate/news/051114-a.html