 |
Great Grown-up Gadgets
An open letter to Santa lists the best in electronic gifts for adults
Steve Morgenstern
From the Print Edition:
Antonio Banderas, Nov/Dec 2005
(continued from page 4)
Another ingenious feature makes built-in recording even better. The S50 automatically creates an on-screen table of contents listing all your stored songs, so you can pick and choose the tunes you want to hear out of that 50-hour trove. But wait, there's more, as they say on TV. If you want to hang onto a particular tune in memory, press a single button and that song will remain on the device until you choose to erase it. With 50 hours of storage available, you can build up a pretty impressive music collection without paying a nickel beyond the standard $12.95 monthly subscription fee.
And just when you think I've run out of kickers, here's one more breakthrough feature from our friends at Sirius—the S50 also plays digital music files (MP3 and WMA formats) you download from your computer.
It slices, it dices, it makes julienne fries—this is one of the most versatile digital devices I've seen this year. I have only two caveats to offer: the estimated battery life is only around six hours, not quite up to industry standards for portable audio players (though the battery is removable, so you can buy and carry a spare). Also, the beautiful shiny finish is practically begging to be scratched, so you'll want to find an appropriate carrying case. Gym socks will work, but that just doesn't seem like the most elegant solution for this beautifully sculpted player.
$360, www.siriusradio.com or 888-539-7474
Steve Morgenstern covers tech issues when he isn't writing to Santa.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
RSS