Panasonic has introduced a fleet of new audio devices today. Two are portable, and o­ne is not.

• The "SV-SD100V" and "SV-SD90" portable players with SD memory card slot
• The "SC-PM910DVD" and "SC-PM710SD" with mini-component system SD writing capabilities
• The "SV-MP730V" and "SV-MP720V" portable players with flash memory

Matsushita Electric Industrial Corporation will release a number of portable audio players and micro-component systems o­n April 8th. They are listed as Open Price, but Matsushita puts the SV-SD100V at 18,000 yen, the SV-SD90 at 14,000 yen, the SC-PM910DVD at 60,000 yen, and the SC-PM710SD at 45,000 yen.

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-27g portable audio player with SD card slot

The SV-SD100V and SV-SD90 are portable audio players with SD card slots. They feature the "D.SOUND Engine" consisting of a single-chip LSI with digital amplifier, equalizer, and "Re. Master Function" to restore high frequency sections of tracks lost during the compression process, and feature a four line mirror-finished organic EL display capable of displaying Kanji characters. The SV-SD100V also features an FM stereo tuner and voice recording functionality. Programs from the FM tuner can be saved to the SD card, and the voice recorder function is operated by a built-in mic.

The included "SD Jukebox Ver.5.0LE" audio transfer software allows transfer of audio files from the PC to the SD card, and files recorded o­n the SV-SD100V itself are transferred back to the PC as AAC files. It also features the "Music Sommelier" function allowing for searching by album name, artist name and playlist, and can classify songs based o­n their genre. Support for Windows Media DRM is also planned. Writing to the SD card can be done by either an SD card drive in the PC itself (not included), or using through a USB connection with the SV-SD series. When connected in this fashion, the player can also be used as an SD reader/writer through Windows.

Supported audio formats are MP3, WMA and AAC, though AAC support is limited to files created with "SD Jukebox." The internal battery offers a maximum playback time of 14 hours and 30 minutes, where it can be recharged either via AC adapter or USB. The SD100V can also take use of a battery-based charger, and when using this, it can play audio for a total of about 50 hours.

The size of both units is 42 x 17.5 x 42mm (W x D x H), and the weight of the SV-SD100V is 27.4g; the weight of the SV-SD90 is 26.5g. The SV-SD100V will be available in silver and blue body colors, and the SV-SD90 will be available in white, blue and red body colors. Each package also contains headphones, a USB cable, lithium ion batteries -- but they do not contain an SD card.

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-Two mini-compos with SD card slots

The SC-PM910DVD and SC-PM710SD are mini-component systems with SD card slots, and support the playback of audio files saved o­n SD cards. Furthermore, they can save files to SD cards from either CD, MD, radio or cassette audio sources. The possible playback formats are MP3, WMA and AAC, and the possible recording format is AAC. 64kbps (LP), 96kbps (SP) and 128kbps (XP) recording bitrates can be selected, and audio recording can be done at a maximum of 4x from CDs. Voice files that were recorded using the unit can be saved to the PC through an SD Jukebox connection.

On the hardware side of things, you will find a 5 disc changer, MD deck, cassette deck, and the CD player supports the playback of MP3 and WMA files. The SC-PM910DVD also adds support for DVD-RAM (DVD-VR support), DVD-Audio, DVD-Video, DVD-R (DVD-Video), DVD-RW (DVD-VR/DVD-Video, Super Video CD, and Video CD. It can also read JPEG files and supports the "HighMAT Level 2" unification standard for compatibility with AV equipment.

On the audio quality side, the SC-PM910DVD features a "hybrid digital amp" as an amplifier, with three 3-way speakers. The SC-PM710SD, o­n the other hand, uses the same amplifier but offers two 2-way speakers. Also, the SC-PM910DVD features the "Advance Disc Review" function providing resume and confirmation of disc contents. The 910 will be available in silver and black body colors, and the 710 in silver, white and black body colors.

SC-PM910DVD
Size of Center Unit: 175 x 352 x 250mm (W x D x H)
Size of Speaker: 145 x 229 x 250mm
Weight: 5.8kg center unit, 2.4kg speaker

SC-PM710SD
Size of Center Unit: 175 x 345 x 250mm (W x D x H)
Size of Speaker: 145 x 205 x 251mm
Weight: 5.7kg center unit, 2.2kg speaker

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-Flash memory portable audio player

Also, Matsushita Electric Industrial will be releasing the "SV-MP730V" and "SV-MP710V" flash memory portable audio players. The release date of the SV-MP730V is April 25th, and the 710 April 8th. Both are Open Price, but the estimate o­n the 730V is 25,000 yen, and the 720V 20,000 yen.

These two players are portable audio players with flash memory, FM tuners, and voice recorder functions. The 730V has a 1GB capacity, and the 720V a 512MB capacity. They support MP3 and WMA. Like the SV-SD series, they contain the "D.SOUND Engine."

The battery can be charged by AC adapter and USB, and allow for a playback time of about 10 hours. The size of both units is 70 x 14 x 22.2mm (W x D x H), and the weight of the 730V is 36.2g; the weight of the 720V is 23.5g. Both models will be available in silver, blue, orange, white and black color variations.

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-Ayumi Hamasaki, "they're small and light, I want to use them at the gym."

Matsushita will be releasing all of the above products under the "D-snap Audio" brand name. The image character, like their "D-snap" line of digital cameras, is idol Ayumi Hamasaki. Not o­nly did she appear in person for the announcement event o­n the 17th, but she is also appearing in all of the D-snap Audio series commercials.

Holding a SV-SD100V in her hand, Ayumi Hamasaki said "something this small and light, I was surprised to see we've come this far." Regarding how to use it, she said "you can put it in your pocket or anywhere else, so I think I want to use it at the gym." And regarding the usage of SD cards, she said "it would be good to seperate them by genre, wouldn't it?"

Inspired by:
http://bb.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/news/8920.html

Press Release:
http://panasonic.co.jp/corp/news/official.data/data.dir/jn050317-4/jn050317-4.html