LG's impressive MP3 collection
We first saw an MP3 player from LG in Korea back in late 2003 and let’s just say we were mightily unimpressed. It just goes to highlight quite how far the company has travelled in the last fourteen months that at CES it delivered a range of players that might even have a certain Mr Steve Jobs checking over his shoulder.
Like a few of its rivals LG claims to have the world’s smallest flash based player. Only its contender, the MF-FE500, not only looks the part it is also available in a 512MB version and features an integrated FM tuner. You can also use it as a voice recorder. It is slated for a February release in the US with a price tag of around $200.
Interestingly the Koreans also have a pair of fairly tasty looking four Gig players. Due to arrive first in February is the standard audio (MP3, WMA, Ogg) $249 MF-HE600.
It’ll be followed a month later by the deluxe version (MF-HE650) which adds a 1.8inch colour screen and JPEG compatibility. The only downer is that both payers have a fairly frugal battery life of just ten hours.
No news yet on a UK launch, but we suspect that LG will come out all guns blazing in Europe in the MP3 market, if only to keep up with Samsung.
