CompactFlash MP3 player unveiled

A US company has designed a portable MP3 player aimed at consumers on limited budgets who already own digital cameras and personal digital assistants that use CompactFlash memory cards.

iPlayMP3's Moveman costs about $99.95 and stores tracks on CompactFlash memory cards that can hold from 4Mbytes to 320Mbytes of data. A 320Mbyte memory card can store around five hours of MP3 compressed music, and higher capacity cards are planned.

CompactFlash memory is a small industry standard solid state card which does not have any moving parts. It is currently used in approximately 200 consumer devices.

An iPlayMP3 spokesman said the company chose CompactFlash because "it comes without the capacity limitations of internal flash memory and is replaceable if the player is damaged".

Tracks can be downloaded straight to CompactFlash memory cards using the MP3rocket desktop drive, which has a transfer rate of 800Kb/s and can read and write Type 1 and 2 memory cards.

Moveman incorporates an LCD display which enables consumers to view the track number they are playing, the encoding rate at which the track is being played and a gauge to monitor battery power.

The pocket-size device runs on two AAA batteries, which its makers claim give around 10 hours of playback time. Although the Moveman is not currently available in the UK, the device is available over the internet.