Chicago – Digital Innovations, developer of Skip Doctor disc-scratch-repair products, has begun offering its first electronics products: a pair of headphone MP3 player/recorders that transmit music wirelessly to nearby FM radios for playback through home and car audio systems.
The Neuros-branded devices come in a 20GB HDD version and a 128MB flash-memory version, both available at www.neurosaudio.com at $399 and $229, respectively. J&R will begin offering the devices in the fall, a Neuros spokesman said. Both devices incorporate flash memory or HDD in a swappable clip-on module.
The wireless feature, dubbed MyFi, works like this: a built-in FM transmitter in each device scans for and locks onto an unused FM channel. The device then displays the unused frequency on its LCD screen so a user can tune a nearbyhome or car radio to that frequency.
The devices also feature FM radio, built-in microphone, and ability to encode in MP3 format from a line input, built-in radio, or built-in microphone.
Both devices feature MP3 encoder/decoder, but the company will offer downloadable upgrades for the Windows Media Audio (WMA) codec and the Linux-based Ogg Vorbis codec.
An automatic song-identification system, dubbed HiSi (for Hear It, Save It) lets users record a 30-second sample of a song recorded from the internal FM radio, transfer it to PC, and with Neuros-provided software, log onto a web site to identify the song via its waveform. The waveform database currently identifies 200,000 songs, but the company said the number is growing.
Consumers can’t use the device to identify a song recorded through the device’s microphone from a home or car radio.
The 128MB model weighs 5.8 ounces, including rechargeable NiMH batteries providing 10 hours of use. The 9.4-ounce HDD model’s lithium-ion batteries also deliver 10 hours of use.
Wall and car power adapters are included.
