Topic: Thanko: Rare Mono Shop
Category: Portable AV
Tags: iPod, TPod
Technorati: Linking Blogs

Thanko's new "TPod neo 1GB" is pretty clearly a knock-off of Apple's iPod nano, but it does offer o­ne particularly nice feature: the ability to play videos.

The Thanko Corporation will release a 1GB flash memory player called the "TPod neo 1G," which supports the playback of video, o­n January 27th via their "Rare Mono Shop." Its price is 16,800 yen. Supported operating systems are Windows 2000 and XP.

The TPod neo 1G features a 1.5" display, and supports the playback of MTV/AMX format (384kbps) video files. Using the included software, AVI, MPEG, or WMV formatted videos can be converted, and multiple files can be converted in batches to the MTV format.

MP3 (3~320kbps) and WMA (5~384kbps) are supported for audio formats, and the display of Japanese language lyrics is also supported. Also available are playback features such as folder playback, folder repeat, and shuffle. Connection with a computer is done via the USB 2.0 interface, and since the TPod is recognized as a removable disk, it requires no drivers and thus supports drag-and-drop file transfer.

The display of JPEG images is also supported, and slideshows  as well. The unit is also equipped with a voice recorder function that records in the WAV format. Recording can be done in a simple two-step process: turn o­n the power, and begin recording.

The dimensions of the player are 90 x 40 x 8mm (H x W x T), and it weighs 50g. A USB cable, AC adapter (USB conversion), headphones, and Japanese manual are included. The company stated that they will release the device's display resolution and battery life at a later date.

Inspired by:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20060126/thanko.htm

Product Information:
http://www.thanko.jp/t-pod/