Not the first time they've put out an MP3/WMA playing watch, but at least they're improving it -- Thanko Corporation has announced the "FMP3 Watch" to be available in 512MB and 1GB capacities.

The watch has an integrated MP3/WMA player, voice recorder, line recording, and now, FM transmitter. It's also water resistant. The FM transmitter should be very handy.

The continuous playback time is about 9 hours, and the watch takes about 2 hours to recharge. It recharges via USB, which is also used to load songs.



Inspired by:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20060929/thanko.htm

Press Release:
http://thanko.jp/fmp3watch/

The latest from our buds at Thanko is a USB-powered cushion with heating and cooling functions. I don't know about you, but I'd probably trip o­n a cord running from my chair to my computer.

Thanko's new product allows you to take that old iPod or iPod nano box and turn it into a speaker.

Click. Click. Click. The sound of your mouse is probably o­ne you don't even notice anymore. But what if someone is trying to sleep in the same room? What if you need to click o­n something with your mouse, but need to be clandestine about it?

Then, Thanko's new "Silent Mouse" is for you.

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.

Cold hands? The "USB Hand Warmer" is for you.

Thanko introduces their third version of the Butterfly MP3 playing headphones. We've covered version 1 and version 2, and they left quite a bit to be desired in design department. The company must have realized that, as the third version is something I'd actually consider wearing. The 1GB model is o­nly 13,980 yen, making these quite a bargain. If I had to find something to complain about, I'd say it is how MP3 files with bitrates greater than 192kbps aren't supported.

Thanko will be releasing this CD organizer thingamajig that looks a bit like o­ne of those food washing/massaging machines. I don't think CD organization systems (even o­nes that connect via USB) are too new, but this o­ne does offer a fairly compact size given its 150 disc capacity.

Not the first time we've talked about MP3 watches, but this could be the first time we've talked about one with an integrated voice recorder.

Thanko's Rare Mono Shop has an interesting new item called "Wireless PC Lock TIMER CONTROL MODEL," which is a USB device that will automatically lock your PC when you step away from it. I guess they realized too many Japanese companies have been having personal information leaks recently. Not exactly a new concept, but this is a low-cost solution and it could theoretically take o­n in the consumer market (for students in dorms, and so forth).

We reported o­n Thanko's MP3 playing headphones some time ago, and they're back.

Updates this time around include movement of a couple different buttons, as well as the addition of a 512MB model. And I guess I didn't notice it last time I wrote about these, but they're pretty damn inexpensive.

MP3 headphones have been offered by a number of companies, but I find Thanko's to be the most... inconspicuous. (Or is it "least conspicuous?")

Thanko's Rare Mono Shop offers up the "NOAX CSV HDD PLAYER," which is basically an external hard drive with a bunch of A/V functionality added. It can play video files, audio files, still images, VOB files, and can even copy files directly to/from digital cameras, MP3 players, USB memory devices, and so forth.

One model includes a hard drive, o­ne doesn't -- the o­ne that doesn't can handle hard drives up to 80GB.

In a bind for some nail care, and o­nly have a laptop handy? Thanko's new product is made for you; dubbed as the first "USB nail care" system, the Rare Mono Shop's "USB Connection Nail Care System" costs under 3,000 yen.

The second item today from the Rare Mono Shop is a USB ashtray, which Thanko themselves has called "somewhat practical."

Sometimes you've got to wonder what the hell is going o­n over there. Do these guys just release their products as a joke, or what? Even SolidAlliance is more serious than Thanko.

I've kept a watchful eye o­n these "headphones with integrated MP3 player" deals, and some of them have been pretty cool. o­ne thing they've always been missing, though, is some sort of display to show you what song it is that you're listening to, and so forth.

But that's not the case anymore. Thanko introduced o­n their "Rare Mono Shop" the "MUBIE JOGGER Sport MP3 Player" today, and it's got an LED display.

On second thought, a screen o­n your headphones might be pretty useless

Instead of just having a boring old USB hub, why not get o­ne with little floating plastic animals inside?

It's USB. It's a flowerpot. It's a speaker. Enough said, really.

Interesting idea; it's a tripod for your camera, but also contains a battery.

As an added bonus, it also converts into a grip.

It’s a pen. No, it’s an mp3 player. No, it’s USB memory. It’s all of the above, actually. Not a completely novel idea (Sony MC-P10), but this certainly has the smallest size and largest capacity (128MB) I’ve seen.

No, it's not the MP3 that's analog, it's the watch that's analog.
One of the main drawbacks with MP3 watches is how a lot of them were gigantic and digital. They had next to no fashion value, so their use was restricted to o­nly the die-hard MP3 listeners.
Not anymore. Thanko Limited is introducing an MP3 watch that, at first glance, is a normal analog watch. If you like to be discrete in your listening habits, this just may be the product for you.

Plays DivX and XviD. It also has a 2.5" LCD display, and can be controlled with your mind.
??? You tell me.

UPDATE 4/27: Upon further investigation (see comments in this story), I have found that instead of "being controlled" with your mind, the case is just the reverse - this player can control your mind.

I know Aiwa is planning o­n releasing some headphones similar to this, but these are available up to 256MB (the Aiwa headphones are 128MB) and look *much* more like conventional headphones - meaning they won't look/feel huge o­n your ears.
These headphones come from Thanko's Rare Mono Shop.

This isn't the first time I've seen headphones which supposedly have support for 5.1ch audio, but this IS the first time I've seen the like this. They have these flaps that fold out, and o­n each flap is a speaker. I wonder how well these actually work...

You can either get an empty version and insert your own 2.5" HD (up to 60GB) or get o­ne with a 20GB HD included.Both units play DivX, MPEG, MP3, and JPEG files.