The latest creation from Oppo reveals an exceptionally attractive design, as it measures only 0.27 inches thick, and contains a 2.4-inch TFT screen which spans the majority of its face, alongside a level touchpad. Proving to be equally impressive as the appearance of the Blast is its ability to handle a large variety of music (MP3, WMA, APE, and FLAC), image (JPG, BMP, GIF, and animated GIF), and video (MP4, AVI, XviD, and FLV) formats.

It is not common to come across a portable media player with the ability to play flash video on a comfortably sized screen with an expandable microSD slot all in such an easily pocketable form. The finer details have yet to be revealed, such as pricing, storage, and battery life, but when the Oppo Blast becomes available it is unlikely that it will be shipped anywhere outside of Asia.

[Press Release via iMP3]

It’s no surprise that more companies are making the choice to employ touch screen technology, the most recent of these being TEAC. The MP-600 will provide for the low capacity PMP market, as it is offered in 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB capacities, but can also be expanded through SD/MMC memory cards. Only the very basic file formats are covered: MP3, WMA (DRM), AVI (XVID), and JPEG.

Sharing music and video with others can be done easily through a built-in speaker. The MP-600 supplies a decent collection of equalizer settings, FM radio, recording functions, reading of e-books and text documents, and if you get bored of it all: Tetris. Battery life registers at 10 hours for music, and 5.5 for video playback.

[Product Page via Bestofmicro]

Memup will soon become the latest company to enter the PMP market in 2007. With the appearance of many portable video players at the current time, what is it about this debutante that merits recognition? Let’s take a look.

The Orizon will feature a LCD screen which is significantly larger than most, extending 4.3-inches with 480 x 272 pixels and 16 million colors. The hard disk stores 30GB and can be expanded through external SD and MMC cards. Format support is adequate for most: DivX, XviD, WMV, and MJPEG for video, MP3 and WMA for audio, and JPEG, GIF, and BMP for images. The PMP also has an FM Radio, microphone, inputs/outputs for audio and video, but with a limit of four hours of video playback you may want to reconsider the $378 cost.

[Product Sheet (French PDF) | via GenerationMP3]

The picture is probably enough for you to realize that this is the successor of the Cowon iAudio 6, as few changes have been made to the exterior of the player, but what you can't see is that the mini 0.85” hard drive has been replaced by flash memory in 4GB and 8GB sizes. The outstanding support for audio formats (MP3, WMA, ASF, Ogg Vorbis, and FLAC) is still there, as are the 1.3” 260K-color OLED screen, FM radio, voice recorder, and support for XviD, TXT, and JPEG files. The new player's 60-hour battery life is a dramatic increase over its predecessor's 20-hour playback time.

The Cowon iAudio 7 will be released in Korea on the 18th of July, but so far no international release date has been set.

[Bestofmicro | Cowon via Engadget]

I was excited to get this press release in my mailbox today because I am a big fan of Mvix’s older model the MX-5000U. (Check out the review) It is something I use nearly every day for audio during the day but mostly downloaded video at night. The best thing about it is that it lets you take full advantage of your HDTV by rescaling to fit nicely on the screen.

My only complaint with the last version is that I had to keep unhooking it to load more content. The new MX-760HD solves this problem with a wireless connection and USB hosting. The media center has component and DVI output for true 1920 x 1080 progressive scan output. One of my other favorite features is the ability to playback DVD VOB or ISO files, but of course it also plays, DivX, XviD, AVI, MPEG, WMV, and ASF to mention the major ones. The MX-760HD will ship next week and sell for $330.

[Product Page]

RAmos, the company responsible for last year's gaudy gold gadget, is on its way to redemption with its sleek 1GB RM150 portable media player. Available in black or white, the player features an FM radio, text and photo viewer, and of course support for the standard set of audio codecs.

What makes the RM150 stand out from the crowd is not only its 2.2-inch TFT screen, but also its native support of XviD! True, you won't be able to fit much on 1GB, but it's better than that AMV video codec most other Chinese PMPs support. And if you're a cave person who doesn't already have a boatload of XviDs on your computer, included with the player is a video conversion tool that will transcode RM, RMVB, VOB, and other files.

Assuming you're in China, all this can be yours for just 499 yuan ($63). A 512MB version is also available for 399 yuan ($50). Anyone else craving some authentic chow mein?

[RAmos via IMP3]

China's Green Apple company recently released the latest (and some say greatest) addition to its APOD line, the AP3100. Since all the available product information is in Chinese, nailing down solid specs has been a bit tricky. What seems certain, however, is that the device sports a 3.6-inch color LCD, SD card expansion slot, and 1.3MP camera, and natively supports MP3, WMA, and FLAC; JPG, GIF, and BMP; and AVI, DivX, and XviD. To top it off, it looks like the AP3100 doubles as a Super Nintendo (known as Super Famicom in Asia) emulator that allows playback of games gleaned from the Internet!

The 4.72" x 2.56" x 0.67" wonder seems to be packing a measly 512MB under its hood, but that's nothing that can't be overlooked with the addition of a few 4GB SD cards.

No word on price or availability yet, but it shouldn't be too hard to find at an import shop once it hits the shelves.

[Zol | APOD]

Stepping out of the PMP and portable MP3 player realm, I wanted to explore some home based devices. This was mainly for my own need of viewing my media in my living room. There are quite a few ways to get your media to your home theater. I wanted to be able to take full advantage of My HDTV, so PMPs like the Zen Vision:M with VGA output were not going to cut it. I also looked at other media center solutions, but they were either cost prohibitive or lacking in playable formats.

I settled on the Mvix MV-5000U. It has its pros and cons, but overall it took care of everything I needed to view my media on my HDTV. This device covers all of the major video codecs including: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, AVI, DivX XVID, DVD files (IFO,VOB), VCD files, and what really sold me on the device, DVD ISOs. All of these can be up converted to 1920 X 1080i. Additionally, it covers most major audio types and JPEG images.

So continue reading for a full rundown of all the features and see if it matches your home theater media needs.

The Vision:M is Creative’s newest creation poised with an impressive set of features. The most notable feature is the video playback file support which easily handles MPEG, DivX, XviD, WMV9, and Motion-JPEG. The video, as well as photos, play back on the Vision:M’s bright 2.5” 262k color 320 x 240 pixel screen.

Features and style aside, you cannot argue with the massive amount of quality content providers- Napster, Yahoo!, Rhapsody, MSN Music, AOL Music, to name a few, along with the upcoming content deals with MTV, Microsoft, BBC, TiVO, and others. When selecting a new MP3 player, this one should not be overlooked. It is a well built, well designed, easy to use player with lots of useful features. Overall I am very impressed with the Vision:M, despite some of its shortcomings.