Toshiba is refreshing its line-up of Gigabeat music players with new models including one that packs built-in Wi-Fi connectivity.
The Gigabeat T-series are about the same size as a credit card -- 8.6 centimeters by 5.4 centimeters -- and are 1 centimeter thick. Most of the front face of the player is taken up with a 2.4-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) screen that offers QVGA (320 pixels by 240 pixels). Under the screen are some buttons for control of the device and navigation of menus.
The 58-gram player is compatible with Windows Media Audio, WMA 9 Lossless, MP3 and WAV audio files and can also display JPEG. It does not support video.
There are two basic models both of which have 4G bytes of flash memory. The T401 includes 802.11b/g Wi-Fi connectivity for downloading podcasts. It will be available in black while the second model, the T401S, doesn't have Wi-Fi and will be available in black, red and white. With the exception of the Wi-Fi the players are identical.
The Gigabeat T-series will go in sale in Japan on Sept. 7. The T401 will cost about YEN 29,800 (AU$316) and the T401S will be about YEN 24,800. Overseas launch plans have not been announced.
