Audio News

The MP3 player market is among the most competitive consumer electronics markets in existence. This is readily apparent with a glance at the sheer amount of different manufacturers out with their own MP3 player models. Not only the typical giants such as Sony, Samsung, or Apple are involved, but also countless unheard of and obscure manufacturers, such as Trekstor, Sumvision, Cowon and Teac, who hope that their players will somehow vie their way to the top.

For many manufacturers the only way to get noticed and become successful is to do something drastic, such as develop an MP3 player that is waterproof for up to 10 metres, or looks like LEGO blocks, or looks like a small stone, or does essentially anything unique to make it stand apart from the competition. Teac, one of the companies we mentioned vying for market share has taken a different path to distinguish itself from the competitors. Instead of relying on some type of attention getting gimmick, they have decided to draw in customers the old-fashioned way, with quality features and first-class performance by introducing three new models: the MP-550, MP-277, and MP-233. This might seem ambitious when considering the model has to go up against the likes of Apple’s iPod touch or Sony’s NWZ-A818, but the price-performance ratio of Teac’s new models definitely make them worth looking into. In addition to being relatively inexpensive, all three models are extremely lightweight and portable.

The MP-550 incorporates one of the iPod touch’s key characteristics; namely, a touch screen, but the features do not end there. The model is also perfectly suited for playing videos on its 2.4 inch display, as well as displaying bitmap, GIF and JPEG pictures. With 4 GB of memory storage, there is also plenty of room for photo albums and large music collections. If the memory size appears slightly small, then consider that the player itself is actually really small with and weighs a mere 50 grams. Other notable features include the integrated FM radio and voice recorder. This model is immediately available for around £80, while the 2 GB variant is purchasable for around £65.

The other models, the MP-277 and MP-233 are equally impressive in their own right. These featherweights weigh even less, with the MP-277 weighing in at 35 grams and the MP-233 at 25 grams. Anyone who is looking for the least amount of burden in an MP3 player, yet would still like some amount of performance, cannot go wrong with these models. Both models play video, albeit with smaller display screens, 1.8 inches and 1.5 inches respectively. The MP-233 also lacks an FM tuner, but otherwise even these smaller models have the same features as their bigger brother, including the touch screen and 4 GB of memory. The MP-277 costs slightly less than its larger twin at around £65 for the 4 GB variant.

With these models Teac is demonstrating exactly how competitive the MP3 player market has actually become. All three players achieve some of the most highly sought after characteristics among MP3 players, such as small size, video playback, touch screen capability and a decent memory size, but manage to do so at a very reasonable price. It looks like the market just got even more heated.