CES 2008 LEFTOVERS: iRiver SPINN – complete with novelty knob

None of our CES field reporters have done anything on this yet. Odd, seeing how staggering cool it looks. iRiver’s silver Spinn handles MP3 tunes, MP4 movies, has an FM tuner, a 3.2″ LCD, does Bluetooth 2.0 with ease, has a microphone and a 160GB hard drive and so on – all the sort of stuff you’d expect from a modern electric thing that fits inside the pocket of even your tightest trousers.

BUT! iRiver’s newest media matchbox has a clever little gimmick. An analogue knob. That twiddly bit on the right there. This makes it easier for people to find and play stuff, apparently, with iRiver touting this as its “Extremely Intuitive User Interface.”

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Top 10 convergence-busting personal media players

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We’ve come a long way since the days of digital audio jukeboxes. Nowadays, the term personal media players (or PMPs) seems to be the accepted shorthand for devices that can play music and video, display photos, and act as portable hard drives.

Except they can do a helluva lot more than that. The not-so-humble PMP is fast evolving into a true convergence device, stealing features from cameras, GPS satnav devices, gaming handhelds and personal TVs.