For those of us that don't have wired or wireless LAN environments available, Nagase is introducing a new player called the "TRANSGEAR HMP-100" that features an integrated version of Gracenote's music information database. Songs that are recorded to the player are recognized, and automatically tagged with necessary information.

Nagase Industrial Corporation (TRANSTECHNOLOGY) will release the "TRANSGEAR HMP-100," a portable digital audio player that contains a database with track/artist information for 3.5 million songs, o­n December 10th o­n their "DVDirect" site. It is Open Price, but the price from Nagase is 24,900 yen. White and black colors will be available, where black will be released o­n December 10th, and white shortly thereafter.

This is a portable audio player that features a 1" hard drive with a 6GB capacity. It supports the playback of MP3, WMA (WMA 9), and WAV, as well as WMA with DRM. It can also encode directly to MP3.

Its primary feature is how Gracenote's "MusicID" song information database is included o­n the hard drive. Song name, artist name, genre, and other such information is available for roughly 3.5 million songs (uses around 630MB), and information can be applied to songs recorded via input through a feature called "FingerPrints," which compares 15 seconds of waveform information of the song with the database. This integrates the database with the songs that are recorded. The song information in the database is current as of October 2005.

Also, the "MagicSync" feature allows users to connect their mobile phones for the purpose of packet transfer, access the Gracenote database which contains information o­n over 40 million songs, in the event that their song information is not found o­n the local database.

Any mobile phone that can use packet transfer is compatible with this feature, and Nagase has said that they have verified operation of this feature with all FOMA, WIN, and Vodafone 3G phones besides the newest models released this winter.

Direct encoding bitrates range from 16kbps to 192kbps. When recording, tracks are automatically divided by detecting the spaces between the songs. MP3 voice recording is also supported. The unit also features a 1.8" monochrome LCD with a backlight.

The internal battery is lithium ion, and offers a continuous playback time of roughly 15 hours. Recharging to 80% capacity takes about 1 hour and 30 minutes, and a full recharge takes about 3 hours and 30 minutes.

"Trans Music Manager," jointly developed with Gracenote, is included for transfer/management with a PC. It includes track information acquisition from CDDB, and with the MusicID function, it can acquire data for songs recorded from analog sources. It also contains the "IntelliMix" feature, which automatically creates playlists based o­n CDDB access information (Translator's note: The product page for Trans Music Manager is vague, but apparently this feature creates playlists based o­n song popularity.) Connection with a PC is done via USB 2.0. Supported operating systems are Windows 98 SE, Me, 2000, and XP.

The dimensions of the unit are 98 x 60 x 14.5mm (H x W x T), and it weighs about 98g. It includes a remote control, earphones, a carrying pouch, and other such items. Although it does not include a cable for connection to a mobile phone, cables supporting handsets from various carriers will be available via Nagase's website for around 1,500 yen.

Inspired by:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20051129/nagase.htm

Press Release:
http://www.transtechnology.co.jp/digitalaudio/PressRelease/05_04/20051129_license.html

Product Information:
http://www.transtechnology.co.jp/digitalaudio/item/hmp100/index.html