What sort of player do you get when you take an iPod Nano and remove its display? We’re calling it a Nano clone with Shuffle-like qualities. Over the years, we’ve come across numerous clones attempting to cash-in on the iPod fad. Who can forget the most recent iPod Nano 5G clone?

This is dubbed the Fashion Style MP3 Player. Packing a 1GB storage capacity, the bottom-half of the device is a mimic of the iPod Nano. The replica comes in pink, green, blue, and silver and retails for $12.99. As great as it may seem, we recommend you hold on to your cash and invest in the real thing…

[via ChipChick]

The battle between Apple’s iPod Touch and Microsoft’s Zune HD just got more fierce. Microsoft has announced its intentions of selling the Zune HD outside the the U.S. of A.

Released stateside this past September, the Zune HD is set for release in several countries in the new year including Australia, France, Germany and the U.K.  The news comes as Microsoft has announced the launch of its instant on-demand movie streaming service for the Xbox 360, to be branded as Zune.

Christine Heckart, general manager for TV, video and music marketing at Microsoft, told the Financial Times, “This is a very important step for us to introduce Zune to new consumers around the world.”

The Zune HD has some catching-up to do if it is to tackle the behemoth that is the iPod Touch. According to Wikipedia, Apple has sold over 20 million iPod Touch’s alone. In fact, both the first and second generation Zunes have captured an estimated 2% of the MP3 player market, compared to Apple’s 73%.

[via digitalmediawire]

They say that the highest form of flattery is imitation – here is a clone of the iPod Nano 5G. Unfortunately, the Chinese imitation is not nearly as exciting as the real-deal. While appearing like an exact replica on the outside, the differences are considerable.

Anyone say, “Chunky!” – the clone is quite thicker. In addition, the screen size is deceiving with the shroud of black; it occupies less than half the face of the player.  The player is equipped with a 1.3 MP camera, but no word if the player can shoot both videos and static images.

The 4GB player offers support for AVI, MP4, and RMVB file types amongst others.  Included is an FM tuner, sound recorder, and e-book reader. One improvement over the real mccoy is the inclusion of an expansion slot.  All of this is packed into a device retailing for only $55, a far cry from the Nano 5G price tag of around $140.

[via PMPToday]

After recently running the story about the new iPod Shuffle’s lack of popularity, we received numerous emails from people sharing their thoughts and opinions.

A number of you were rather disgruntled with the fact that the figures were based on polls of readers from Which? magazine whose readers are not necessarily the most technologically inclined.

Others of you were gleefully declaring that the iPod fad was potentially ‘done and dusted’. Enough of the speculation. We would like you to share your opinion in the form of a poll.

Yes, how would you rate the new iPod Shuffle? Feel free to post any further thoughts/feelings in the form of a comment…

British based magazine Which?, which is well-respected for its systematic testing of consumer products and financial services, has ranked the new iPod Shuffle last in a new poll, putting it at the bottom of a list of nine players tested. While not a cutting-technology magazine, its strong 520,000 readers do carry a very influential force in the consumer electronics market.

According to the magazine, consumers “found the Apple device difficult to use and very limited in its capabilities.”  Although priced at a low price of £38 (GBP), it fell short due the lack of an FM radio, voice recorder, screen and the inability for the user to selectively choose songs.

Who reigned supreme?  Both the Philips GoGear Spark and the Philips GoGear Raga, which are only available to the European market, found themselves way ahead of the competition. The Philips GoGear Spark impressed readers with its capability of 49 hours of music playback.

[via Telegraph]