Samsung 256mb mp3 player

Hardware Gifts

Kenwood Home Theater in a Box

Description: This is a gift not so much for hardcore tech-geeks, but for their friends who are looking to dip their feet in the home theater pool. Kenwood's all-in-one solution gives you a 6.1-speaker, 750-watt speaker system as well as a five-disc DVD changer. The system supports both Dolby Digital EX and DTS-ES (the two prevalent 6.1 audio formats) as well as Dolby's ProLogic II for music and TV audio.

Cool because: With the HTB-806DV, all you need is a TV or display and you've got a versatile and well-powered entry-level home theater system. Downside: Given its price, these aren't Ferrari-quality components. Also, the Kenwood receiver doesn't support component video output. (720x480).

Price: $500

Company: Kenwood www.kenwoodusa.com

Description: The 2200MP impressed us with its image quality, versatile controls, and brightness. It delivers a solid performance when running via composite or S-Video inputs and sports an easy-to-use menu system. Though aimed at the business market, it's also is well-suited for home use.

Cool because: It's compact (11x9x3), light (4.7 lbs.), and arrives with all the needed cabling -- including a component-to-VGA adapter cable. The foam-insulated carrying case is also a plus. Downside: Maximum resolution is only 800x600, but you can still display native DVD resolution (720x480).

Price: $900

Company: Dell www.dell.com

Description: Available in 15GB and 20GB models, Dell's Digital Jukebox (DJ) is one of the smallest on the market -- only slightly larger than an iPod -- but what it loses to Apple's famous device in size, it more than makes up for in battery life: (Dell claims 16 hours of continuous play, though we found it was more like 10 to 12, still a lot more than an iPod.) The DJ also one-ups Apple's player with built-in voice recording, WMA support, and a more attractive price tag: The 20GB model retails for $300 (same as a 10GB iPod) while the 15GB Jukebox runs for $249. Besides capacity, the only difference is that the 20GB version includes an in-line remote.

Sound quality is clean and clear and the interface -- while not nearly as elegant as the iPod's -- is very good. We'd like to see Dell add some of Apple's extras (like the ability to store and browse contacts) but, as a music player, it does a fantastic job. We like the big hi-res display, brushed aluminum case design, and light weight (7.6 oz). Plus, the battery will charge from a powered USB port, not just the included AC adaptor.

Dell bundles MusicMatch 8.1 as their software suite, though you could do a whole lot more -- in a much more intuitive fashion -- with Red Chair Software's new Dudebox Explorer. We'd prefer a driverless approach, where the device simply showed up as a new drive letter and you could drag and drop music and data onto it, but none of the hard drive players have this ability yet.

Cool because: It's inexpensive, has built-in voice recording, is extremely small and light, and gets great battery life. Downside: Using MusicMatch to manage the device isn't the best solution.

Price: $249 (15GB), $299 (20GB)

Company: Dell www.dell.com

Description: This is a serious improvement over the original MuVo. It's still the same size and shape; a USB key drive that slides into a little battery unit (it takes a single AAA and will run for about 8 hours). But how's this for improvementsthey've added a little LCD screen that is surprisingly functional, a 5-band graphic equalizer that you can customize, and a built-in mic and recording capability. The sound is pretty clean and the interface is great for such a tiny device.

At only $50 more for the 256MB model, that's the way you'll want to go, because the MuVo NX is also a USB key drive. Just pop it into a USB port, no drivers, and it comes up as a drive letter. Drag MP3, WMA, or WAV files to or from the device, or put other files on there for storage or quick transfer between machines.

Cool because: It's an easy USB drive that requires no drivers but plays MP3 and WMA files well, and records, too. And has a neat little LCD screen. Downside: It's a bit on the pricey side for flash-based MP3 players.

Price: $149 (128MB) $199 (256MB), check prices

Company: Creative Technology Ltd. www.creative.com

Description: Hard-disk MP3 players let you get up close and personal with a whole lot of music, but a player only sounds as good as the headphones you use with it. Shure, a longtime maker of personal monitoring systems for musicians, has now brought that technology into the consumer market.

The e5c in-ear earphones represent the top of Shure's three-model product line and, with their dual-driver design, deliver outstanding audio quality, down to the finest detail.

Cool because: In addition to the excellent sound quality, the e5c's are very comfortable to wear and cause little in the way of listener fatigue (a common problem with lesser headphones). Additionally, they attenuate outside noise by about 10-15dBa -- so it's just you, the night and the music. Downside: All that great sound quality comes with a pretty stiff price tag. Thankfully, Shure offers lower-cost models starting at around $90.

Price: $450 street

Company: Shure www.shure.com/earphones/eseries_e5c.asp

Description: This tiny adapter connects any system with a USB port to an active 802.11g network. While it will work with USB 1.1 ports, the best performance is through USB 2.0. The DWL-G120 supports both Windows (XP or 2000) and MacOS X. The current shipping version supports 54Mbps, but a future firmware update will support 108Mbps speeds.

This ultra-compact device works well with home theater PCs or any PC that can't be connected via wired Ethernet. Throughput is quite good for streaming media, even video at DVD resolutions  provided no additional network traffic interferes. Placement is a bit tricky in some homes, which can limit range, but the adapter has a six-foot USB cord that allows for easier placement. Unfortunately, it doesn't ship with any wall mounting gear.

Cool because: It's small, it works, and it will get faster. Downside: Requires USB 2.0 for best performance.

Price: $90 (ESP), check prices

Company: D-Link www.dlink.com

Description: Samsung's DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive combo is an average performer and comes with either a black or beige faceplate. So why do we include it as a good geek gift?

It's short.

As the picture indicates, it fits easily inside a small form-factor PC. The Samsung drive is shorter by an inch or more than equivalent drives from companies like Toshiba. That size differential is a real advantage when space is at a premium -- say, when you're building a small form-factor PC. These drives are rated as 52x for writing CD-R and 24x for burning CD-RW, so your CD-burning chores take up little time. The Samsung is a bit slow extracting digital audio, but it still gets the job done.

Cool because: You can get it in black, and it's short. Downside: Average performance; slow on digital audio extraction compared to other 52x drives.

Price: $60, check prices

Company: Samsung USA www.samsungusa.com

Description: The MP3 market has heated up this year, and although Apple still has the slickest looking (and most overpriced) player on the market, the king of capacity is Creative's Nomad 60GB.

Cool because: If you have a gigantic CD collection, or want to encode at a higher bit-rate like 192Kbits/sec or even 320Kbits/sec, you can still get most if not all your CD collection onto the Zen's 60GB hard-drive. You can also use it as a USB 2.0 hard-drive to move data files to and from different machines. Downside: Creative's bundled software is clumsy, and you'll probably want to use a third-party app like Notmad Explorer. The unit is still somewhat bigger than Apple's iPod, though the Xtra will almost fit in a shirt pocket.

Price: $395 Street, check prices

Company: Creative Labs www.nomadworld.com