Remember when we said Kenwood would be introducing portable digital audio products? And we said we'd be sure to cover it?

Well, Kenwood DID introduce portable audio products, and we're surely covering it. I'm not real impressed, given you need dedicated software to actually transfer songs, but this new-fangled "Scroller" could be interesting to play with. By all means, read o­n.

Kenwood Corporation will release portable and light MP3/WMA players in late February. They are flash memory type MP3/WMA players, and both a 512MB "M512A3" model and 256MB "M256A3" model will be available, both at Open Price. Esimates put the 512MB model at 19,000 yen, and the 256MB model at 17,000 yen.

Though Kenwood had previous offered products in the portable MD/CD player market, they will now be entering the digital audio player market. In addition to the now-announced M512A3 and M256A3, they plan o­n introducing products such as those with hard drives, those that link car AV/home AV realms; "we plan to offer users an audio quality available o­nly from an audio-only maker."

The "M512A3" has an internal 512MB memory, and will be available in four color variations: White (-W), Black (-B), Orange (-D), and Blue (-L). Likewise, the 256MB "M256A3" will be available in White (-W) and Black (-B).

On the front of the unit is an LCD display with a blue LED. It supports the playback of MP3 and WMA files, as well as support for playback of copyright-protected WMA DRM files. Supported bitrates for WMA are 64 ~ 192kbps, and for MP3, 32 ~ 320kbps. The frequency response is from 20Hz - 20kHz, and the Signal-to-Noise ratio is over 90dB. It can also handle special playback modes such as single/all song repeat, by-folder, random, and so forth.

With use of the "Scroller" that can be controlled with a single hand, changing modes and changing songs can reportedly be accomplished intuitively. 5 equalizer presets are available: Rock, Pop, Classic, Jazz, and Normal. It also furnishes a 5-band custom EQ.

Also, with the change of the headphones to unit-style, they allow for a wide aperture yet retain a small size -- for an elevation in overall audio quality. "Headphones that are expected of an audio maker," the company said.

Connection with a PC is done by USB 2.0 connection, and though the unit supports the USB Storage class, "Kenwood Media Explorer" (Windows Me, 2000, XP) is necessary for audio transfer. Kenwood Media Explorer also includes WMA/MP3 ripping functionality. Data transfer speeds of the device are at about 3Mbps for upload and 2Mbps for download.

Also, the unit features an FM tuner and voice recording function, and can record FM radio. Power is supplied by a single AAA battery, which allows for about 12 hours of playback o­n MP3, 10 hours o­n WMA, or 18 hours o­n FM radio. The external dimensions are 71.3 x 16.5 x 28.5mm (W x D x H). It weighs about 39g (with a battery). Headphones, a neck strap, a USB cable, and so o­n are included.



Inspired by:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20050128/kenwood.htm

Kenwood Homepage:
http://www.kenwood.co.jp/jhome.html