XM-Sirius Merger: What it might mean for you

Last week, the Department of Justice granted rivals Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio permission to merge. If the Federal Communications Commission also grants permission in the coming months, as many expect, there could be a single, integrated satellite-radio company by 2009.

Consumers Union, our parent organization, and other industry stakeholders are continuing, however, to fight the merger. Such critics reject the companies' assertions that the merger would be in the consumer interest and say it violates anti-monopoly safeguards the FCC put in place about a decade ago as conditions for the satellite-radio operating licenses.

To help bolster support for the merger, both XM and Sirius have posted the fees and channel lineups they say would be in place after the merger is approved.

The new plans aim to deliver on the consumer benefits the companies promise will result from a merger. But our look at the proposals suggests the pluses generally come with tradeoffs or depend on some as-yet-unanswered questions.

Apple doubles the capacity of iPhone, Touch

Expanded capabilities, expanded capacity. New versions of Apple iPhone and Touch (the iPhone-without-the-phone), available today, have doubled the maximum storage capacity of these big-screen multimedia devices. They provide 16 and 32 gigabytes (GB) of storage, respectively; both cost $500.  Still available are the 8GB iPhone, $400, and 8GB and 16GB Touches, $300 and $400, respectively.

The storage boost comes just weeks after the software upgrades announced at the MacWorld trade show in San Francisco, which added GPS-like tracking on Google Maps, rented-movie playback, and customizable menus to these Wi-Fi-enabled products. In September, when the Touch debuted, another software update enabled both products to download iTunes content directly over their Wi-Fi connections.

These content options further challenge the capacities of these flash-memory digital media players. For example, just one movie rental alone can eat up 1.5GB to 2GB of storage. Add to this the ever-growing library of TV shows and free video podcasts and an iOwner could face a content overflow. That may explain why Apple discontinued the 4GB iPhone just two months after its June 30th debut.

Just ordered a less-than-maximum-capacity iPhone or iPod you don’t want? Call and cancel the order. If it's already shipped, Apple says, you can refuse the delivery and call the company to order one of the new, large-capacity models.

—Mike Gikas

Macworld 2008: Add to your iPhone; handsfree talk

Besides printers, scanners, and networked storage solutions, which you always expect to find at Macworld, the focus this year seemed to have shifted towards new 3rd-party peripherals revolving around iPhone. Dozens of new headset, headphones, and docking options have recently become available to support Apple's new flagship product.

Macally, a long time provider of Mac peripherals, offered Tune Pro and FlexTune. Designed for the iPod, TunePro is an audio minisystem with a flat-panel appearance and includes an alarm clock—perfect for the nightstand; FlexTune is a small but very versatile charger and speaker set for both iPod and iPhone. What was interesting about the latter was the way the speakers could slide laterally so the iPhone could be rotated to landscape mode for video viewing, to minimize the device's footprint on an office desk.

Skullcandy offers creative designs that appeal most to a younger crowd. They recently introduced the iPhone FMJ headset. They also offer full-featured wireless headphones. Most of their prices are under $100, except for the high-end phones, which retail for $169.95.

Ultimate Ears offered four models of high-quality headsets for iPods and iPhones: the Custom, the Triple.fi, the Super.fi, and the Metro.fi for the style conscious.

I briefly stopped by Xtreme Mac as well, and saw a wide variety of good-sounding, aesthetically-pleasing docking stations, speakers, and clock radios, most notably the Luna X2 and the Tango X2. They also offered nearly a dozen varieties of cases, pouches and protective covers for iPods and iPhones.

One of the more interesting presentations I attended was from Altec Lansing, who said their new T612 iPhone dock and speaker system (Click on the image at left for a closer look.) is the first to be "Apple certified", meaning Apple agrees to sell them in Apple stores. Apparently such certification is difficult to attain, as Apple has very tight engineering standards regarding specific emissions and GSM shielding. Capable of both desk and wall mount, the sound is very rich and clean. It is also backward compatible with dockable iPods.

Macworld 2008: Some software and audio odds and ends

Some MacWorld miscellany, beginning with four operating-system/software entries:

Improvements to MS Office. I said earlier in the week I'd say something about the new MS Office 2008. The features are more or less in parity with the Office 2007 product that's been out for a year, now. Entourage plays better with Exchange Server, to address concerns about corporate distribution, and I was assured by the lead developer for Word08 that the "Normal" file, a file that holds all of your custom stylesheets translates fully from older versions. The only other thing to note here is that with Office08, virtually every major Mac application suite has made the transition to Universal Binary code base and is Intel-native. That means there's no longer any need for Rosetta, the built-in code translator between G5 Mac processors and Intel Windows processors.

A new Windows on Mac option. Another interesting entry in the "virtualization" competition comes from Codeweavers, who were demoing their "Crossover" product. Crossover allows someone who wants to switch to Mac and still protect their Windows software investment to actually install and run their legacy Windows programs natively in OS X; no virtual disk image or Windows OS is required. The downside is that this capability has to be customized by Codeweavers for each legacy Windows application. Consequently, the company has concentrated on a limited list of only the most used Windows apps to date, like MS Office, Access, Visio, etc. (You'll find the list of supported apps at http://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/.) The result is very fast and responsive. If you use those apps, this could be of real value.

Free Internet Radio in Your Pocket

The Internet offers a growing range of free music services, from Napster, which allows you to stream albums at no cost, tailored to your taste, to sites like Pandora, Slacker, Finetune, AOL Radio, and others that let you create your channels that select music based on your preferences, and even adjust their programming on the fly as you tell the service what you like and don't like among the selections they've delivered.

Until now, listening to streamed music away from your computer has often meant paying a subscription, typically $15 a month, to online services like Napster and Rhapsody or the satellite radio services, XM and Sirius. You can then stuff a compatible portable player—sometimes a regular MP3 player but often a proprietary player you need to buy—with the service's music.

But Slacker is now one of the first online music services to offer portability without a subscription. You do need to buy a proprietary player, one of three new Slacker portable players launching later this month for $200 to $300. But you can then store free music from the site's 2-million-song library, either capturing it from their 100 channels or from the customized channels you've created at Slacker.com.

CES 2008: Puzzling Products

I've been at this longer than most product evaluators—and WAY longer than most bloggers—so when I see a new product, I look past the flashy demos and colorful brochures, and ask some fundamental questions: Does this product improve upon, or at least match, what has gone before? Does it fill a need—real or perceived—in its intended market? Does it have the potential to enhance one's quality of life? Is it good value for the money? Does it fulfill its claims? Is it environmentally friendly?

As we browse the tumult of hundreds of small companies' booths at CES, we have to quickly filter out those of interest, which I do by categorizing the featured products in about a second or two. If the process takes longer, it's often because my eye falls on something puzzling, usually because one of my fundamental questions pops out. Here are a few of the products and ideas I saw here at CES, that I struggle with trying to figure out "what were they thinking?" I don't mention brands, because in most cases, there is more than one manufacturer producing something similar. Go figure…

Mirrored TV screens. I first saw this in a superstore in London, where traditional home décor and electronics clash. Now it's in the U.S. Put your flat-screen TV behind a one-way (half-silvered) mirror, and it disappears when it's shut off. But when the TV is on, that mirror still reflects light-colored objects—walls, clothing, furniture—negating efforts by the TV maker to design a nice, high-contrast image with deep blacks. More, the silvered glass blocks much of the light, making the image dim. (Click on the image at right for a closer look at what I saw on while walking the CES exhibit floors.) You could watch in the dark, but if you're willing to do that, you might as well use a front-projection TV, which would also solve the problem of the screen being visible.

Wide-screen digital photo frames. Nearly all digital cameras take pictures with a "standard" aspect ratio, usually 4:3 or 3:2, nearly matching traditional film and photo shapes, as well as picture frames. So, why are so many of the new digital photo frames we're seeing have screens shaped more like HDTV's 16:9 aspect ratio? Set to use the whole screen, they chop off bit of the top and bottom of each photo. Set to show the whole photo, they have black bars on the sides. (If you have Flash software installed, you can view our recent online video review of new digital picture frames for good examples of this, as well as the "mirror effect" described above.) Vertical photos have even larger black bars and are smaller than they would be on a 4:3 screen of the same area.

Inch-diameter speaker cables made of exotic materials. If your speakers were hundreds of feet away from your sound system, heavy cables (click on image at right for a closer look) would make sense, as the resistance of thin wire causes power loss and can affect the sound. But, for home use, anything short of a 50-foot cable run needs only the thinner 14- to 16-gauge cable that sells for about 50 cents a foot at your local Radio Shack.

Proprietary protocols instead of standards. Standards for wireless connectivity—such as Wi-Fi and WiMax for mobile networking, HomePlug for power-line networks, and Insteon and Z-Wave for home controls—are developed for two main reasons. First, standards ensure that products from different manufacturers can be made to work with each other. Second, they help ensure that a standards-based device doesn't interfere with another standards-based device that may be operating nearby. Some manufacturers violate standards to gain a small edge in performance over competitors, but that edge usually only applies when working with other products from the same manufacturer, and often disappears in real world situations anyway.

10,000-watt subwoofer amplifiers for cars. Sorry, but I just had to include this one. Call me a curmudgeon, but a product that violates every one of my fundamental issues just begs mentioning.

—Dean Gallea, Senior Program Leader

CES 2008: Wireless innovations for portable devices

Most of the buzz about wirelessness at the Consumer Electronics Show has been generated by products and technologies that seek to liberate HDTVs and other components that are usually connected by cables. But there have also been interesting announcements in traditionally unwired product categories. Here are three examples, from cameras, music players, and cellphones respectively:

Eye-Fi SD memory card. Some newer cameras have built-in Wi-Fi connections that enable them to wirelessly upload their photos to PCs, Macs and online photo and social networking sites over a home network. Now, any camera that accepts an SD memory card can have that convenience with the $100 Eye-Fi, a 2gigabyte SD memory card with a built-in Wi-Fi radio. (Click on image at right for a closer look.)

To receive photos in this mode, your computer must be turned on and running the Eye-Fi Manager software, a simple download from www.eye-fi.com. The card and software also allow any Eye-Fi-enabled camera to upload photos directly to 17 online sites, including KODAK Gallery, Shutterfly, Wal-Mart, Snapfish, Photobucket, Facebook, Webshots, Picasa Web Albums, SmugMug, Flickr, Fotki, TypePad, VOX, dotPhoto, Phanfare and Sharpcast. Eye-Fi is available now at Amazon.com, Buy.com, Walmart.com and other retailers.

Sennheiser MX W1 wireless stereo headphones. Even wireless stereo Bluetooth headphones have wires—the ones that connect the left and right speakers. Not the MX W1. (Click on image at left for a closer look.) The two-piece MX W1 uses a new wireless technology called Kleer, which, unlike Bluetooth, permits left and right speakers to link wirelessly. The headphones' twist-to-fit design keeps them securely and comfortably in the ear. Another advantage Kleer has over Bluetooth is that it transmits lossless 16-bit, 44KHz-sampled digital audio, the same quality that is recorded on a CD. Bluetooth, on the other hand, compresses audio prior to transmission, which degrades sound quality.

The MX W1 includes a small Kleer transmitter, about the size of a matchbox, which plugs into the headphone jack of your music source. The transmitter also allows you to link a second set of MXW1 headphones to share your tunes with a friend. The MX W1 also comes with a carrying case that doubles as a charger for the earphones and transmitter, allowing you to recharge the headphones up to three times without plugging it into a wall outlet. Sennheiser says playback time on a single charge is about three to four hours. The MX W1 will be available in May 2008 for a whopping $599.

Iqua Sun bluetooth headset. In what may be a first in mobile electronics, there's now a portable device that draws on the sun for power. The Iqua Sun BHS-603 (Click on image at right for a closer look) is a solar-powered Bluetooth wireless headset that will be available later in January for $100. About two inches in length and weighing under an ounce, the headset incorporates a photovoltaic cell that Iqua claims will use any available light, indoors or out, to charge its battery. The company claims the Sun delivers up to 12 hours of talk time, depending on available light; standby time, it says, can be infinite. In case your life isn't sunny enough, the device does come with a wall charger and the option to recharge via your computer's USB port.

—Mike Gikas and Paul Reynolds

CES 2008: iPod accessories abound

The big venue for all things Apple, including the company's iPod portable players, is MacWorld, which doesn't open until next week in San Francisco. But you wouldn't know it here in the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, which is overflowing with audio accessories and other gizmos that sport docks for iPod. CES officially opens on Monday, but here’s an early peek at a few of the more interesting iPod perches you’ll see on store shelves this year:

Wireless wonder: iLuv i399. One shortcoming of wireless Bluetooth technology is that its range is limited to 30 feet or less. So if you're listening to a Bluetooth music player with Bluetooth headsets, you'll have to stay fairly close to the player. i399 BluePina 2.1 Channel Hi-Fi Audio System (Click on image at right for a closer look.) claims to boost that range to 300 ft. using a technology called BluepinII. With the detachable BluePin II, you can listen to music on Bluetooth headphones or send music from another stereo Bluetooth device to the i399. It includes speaker phone capabilities for incoming and outgoing calls, an FM radio, digital clock display and an auxiliary line input for older iPods and other portable players. Available later this year for an undisclosed price.

Cute as a bug. The VestaLife Ladybug ($110) portable docking station doesn’t claim any special technologies, but it has one characteristic that’s bound to captivate any kid—and at least one adult—who plays with it: Its speakers fold out like the wings of an insect (Click on image at left for a closer look), cleverly revealing the dock for inserting your iPod. It also has input jacks for other portable players. A rear-firing subwoofer claims to add oomph. The simple controls have a soft-touch rubbery finish. Powered by two AA batteries, or an adapter, which may or may not be included). Available during the first quarter of 2008 in red and silver. There will also be a $125.00 Element Skateboards edition.

—Mike Gikas

Headphones for the Holidays: More good choices

Headphones are a popular holiday buy, but most advertised models seem to cost $100 or more. If you're shopping for a set, but are resistant to spending so much on a purchase that's likely to be used on the go, and liable to be lost or damaged, our updated tests offer sweet music.

We found new choices in good-sounding headphones of practically all types for under $100. Those supplement the recommended models in our last full Ratings (available to ConsumerReports.org subscribers). Many of those older models, including those we recommend, remain available.

For more help in buying headphones, check our free buying advice, which includes a rundown of two hot headphone types: Noise-canceling models that use sound processing to reduce, though not to cancel entirely, ambient noise to the ear; and wireless headphones, which you can use with a Bluetooth-enabled music phone, laptop, or other device.

Here's some of the best values from our new tests:

Black Friday HDTV Deals from CompUSA, Staples

Black Friday ads leaked for computer chains CompUSA and Staples show that both stores will have a select number of TV deals available during special limited-hour in-store sales events.

CompUSA is running a two-day pre-Thanksgiving sale this Friday and Saturday (Nov. 16 and 17), during which you can get a 50-inch Zenith plasma HDTV (Z50PX2D) for $1,000 and a 19-inch Envision LCD monitor for $140.

The store will open on Thanksgiving for just three hours, from 9:00 p.m. until midnight, then reopen at 5 a.m. on Friday morning. Specials include the 37-inch Olevia 537H LCD TV for $600; this model did very well in our tests. Other electronics deals include a $500 Athlon-based HP notebook PC with 2GB of RAM, a 22-inch Envision widescreen LCD PC monitor for $150, a $45 7-inch digital photo frame, a $60 7-inch portable DVD player, and a $148 Magellan Maestro 3100 GPS.

On Black Friday, TV deals from CompUSA include a 47-inch 1080p LCD TV from LG Electronics for $1,500 after a $500 instant savings. While we haven’t tested this model, the LG 47LC7DF, another 47-inch LG 1080p TV did very well. A 26-inch LG LCD TV will cost $600 after $150 instant savings, and Sharp’s 46-inch 1080p LC-46D64U LCD set will cost $1,700 after $800 instant savings. Samsung TV deals include the 50-inch HP-T5044 plasma for $1,300—$100 less than at Best Buy's or Circuit City's Black Friday sales. We haven’t tested this particular model, but Samsung plasma TVs have consistently done very well in our tests. Samsung’s 46-inch LN-T4661F, CR’s top-rated 1080p LCD TV, will be $2,000.

You’ll have to be an early bird to get a deal at Staples’ sale, which runs from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. on Friday. If supplies last, you could walk away with an unspecified 42-inch LCD TV for $800, while a 32-inch model is $450. Both sets appear to be Envision models.

Other Staples deals include a $350 Intel-powered Compaq notebook computer with 1GB of RAM and a 17-inch Acer LCD monitor for $90.

—James K. Willcox

Digital photo frames, portable GPS join TVs as Black Friday doorbusters

TV deals on Black Friday generally garner the most attention, but the latest Black Friday ads on sites such as www.gottadeal.com and www.theblackfriday.com show that digital photo frames and handheld GPS devices are also being singled out for star treatment.

The best deals we’ve seen—so-called “doorbuster specials”—generally occur in the early-morning hours (typically starting at 5:00 or 6:00 a.m.) and last for several hours. The sale items are generally offered in limited quantities, which could be as few as 10 per store. Make sure you read the fine print in the ads to see if there’s a chance you can actually get one of these deals, especially if you’re not one of the apparently large number of people willing to camp out overnight to ensure a good place in line.

That said, here are some of the latest Black Friday leaks we’ve seen. It’s quite possible that these and other stores will add more late-breaking deals and web-only specials as we get closer to the Black Friday period.

Target
Target is closed on Thanksgiving, but it’s holding a two-day sale starting bright and early Friday morning and continuing on Saturday. Among the deals being offered: a 37-inch Olevia LCD TV (237T) for $549, a 22-inch Westinghouse flat-panel LCD computer monitor (LCM22W3) for $167, and a 19-inch TruTech widescreen LCD TV (PLV31199S1) with a built-in DVD player and PC inputs for $199.

Other deals include an Audiovox kitchen LCD TV with integrated DVD player for $199, an Audiovox portable DVD player with a 10-inch flip-down screen for $84, Magellan’s Maestro 3100 auto GPS system for $149, and a Magnavox 5-disc DVD home theater system with USB for $79. Also on sale is a TruTech 7-inch digital photo frame for $49, a Polaroid video camcorder for $69, and Kodak’s 8-megapixel MD853 digital camera for $89.

The store opens at 6:00 a.m. on Friday, and 8:00 a.m. on Saturday.

Kmart
Kmart’s Black Friday deals actually kick off on Thanksgiving Day. The store will be offering a 32-inch Olevia LCD TV (no model number specified) for $420, a 20-inch Sylvania LCD TV for $135, and a 20-inch Sylvania combination LCD TV/DVD/VCR for $250. Kmart is also advertising a 27-inch RCA TV model for $230, which appears to be a standard-def CRT model. Another blast from the past is a JVC VHS-C camcorder for $120.

Other items of note: Magellan’s Maestro 3100 GPS for $130 ($19 less than at Target), a $40 Nextar digital photo frame, an 8-megapixel Polaroid digital camera (A801) for $80, and Microsoft’s Zune MP3 players for $150 (4GB model and $200 (8GB model). The Zune players come with a $20 Kmart gift card.

The store’s hours on Thanksgiving are 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Some specials are available only on Thursday.

H.H. Gregg
Befitting its status as a consumer electronics dealer, H.H. Gregg’s Black Friday circular is chock-full of CE specials. We counted 14 TV deals, including some on major brands such as Hitachi, JVC, Mitsubishi, Samsung, Sony and Toshiba. Most ads don’t specify model numbers. Among the Friday-only specials: a Hitachi 50-inch plasma for $1,000 and a $600 37-inch 720p LCD set from an unspecified brand. There will be a total of 500 company-wide of each sale item, and prices are good only while supplies last (no rain checks).

The chain is closed on Thanksgiving but kicks off Friday morning with a 5:00 a.m. opening. Advertised doorbuster specials include a 19-inch LCD TV for $189, a $45 7-inch digital photo frame, a Jensen portable GPS for $100, a $10 progressive-scan DVD player from GPX, and a $150 DVD camcorder from Samsung. There will be limited quantities of each per store.

Less dramatic savings will be offered on major-brand TVs. For example, a 37-inch Sony Bravia will be priced at $800, while different 46-inch Sony Bravia 1080p LCDs will carry price tags of $1,040 and $1,600. Toshiba is well represented in the circular, with a 52-inch 1080p Regza LCD priced at $2,200, a 42-inch 1080p Regza for $1,250, and a pair of 32-inch Regza models, with different features, for $700 and $800. A 50-inch 720p Toshiba DLP rear-projection HDTV will sell for $900.

Other notable TV deals include:
• 42-inch JVC 720p LCD for $900
• 47-inch 1080p JVC for $1,500
• 52-inch 1080p Mitsubishi LCD TV for $2,400
• 65-inch 1080p Mitsubishi rear-projection DLP for $1,700
• 73-inch 1080p Mitsubishi rear-projection DLP for $2,500
• 50-inch 720p Panasonic plasma for $1,400
• 50-inch 1080p Samsung plasma for $2,400
• 58-inch 1080p Samsung plasma for $3,360
• and a 52-inch Sharp Aquos with 120Hz technology for $2,800.

Several other retailers have announced Black Friday specials. Costco, for example, will have a 26-inch Magnavox LCD/DVD HDTV combo for $500 and a 42-inch Magnavox 1080p LCD HDTV for $1,000. The store is also lopping $300 off the price of Sharp’s 46-inch 1080p Aquos LCD HDTV. OfficeMax will have a dual-core Acer Aspire PC—with 2GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive, and a 20-inch widescreen LCD monitor—for $600. Also on tap are an $80 8.5-inch digital photo frame from Mustek, an $80 6.2-megapixel Kodak digital camera (C613), a $100 7.2-megapixel Sony Cyber-Shot digital camera with a free printer, and a $100 Mio DigiWalker C220 GPS. The chain will have a 24-inch Soyo widescreen LCD monitor for $250. Even auto supply chain Pep Boys is getting into the act, with a $40 7-inch digital photo frame, Mio’s DigiWalker portable GPS for $80, and the TomTom One GPS for $140.

We’ll keep you updated on more Black Friday deals as they’re announced.

—James K. Willcox

The iPod Touch: Our first impressions

An iPhone minus the phone, and plus some welcome extras

Our tests of Apple’s new iPod Touch confirm that it is indeed essentially an iPhone without the phone. You get the same generous, 3-in.-wide multi-touch screen, the same superb interface that seamlessly links a multifaceted media player with a powerful Web browser, and the same Internet access via Wi-Fi.

Shedding the phone allows the Touch to be few millimeters shorter and thinner than the iPhone and about a half-ounce lighter--just 4.2 ounces. (Click on the photo on the right, for a close up view of the iPod Touch, left, and the iPhone.) Of course, it also deprives of you of being able to make calls, easily send-e-mails, or surf the Web on the cell network. But phone performance on the iPhone is only so-so anyway, and the phone is married to AT&T, whose middling performance we document in our most recent survey on cellular service providers.

The Touch costs $300 for our 8-gigabyte (GB) test model, which holds about 2,000 songs, or $400 for the 16 GB version--the largest capacity of any flash player on the market.

Related stories:

• Our first impressions of the new iPod Nano
• Inside the iPhone
• How to choose a digital music player

Next: The iPod Touch's Highs and Lows, as well as more images.

The New iPod Nano: First Impressions

The Screen Succeeds

So far, so good in our tests of Apple’s new Nano. This new version of the company’s flagship flash player, launched last week, replaces the wafer-thin profile of its predecessor with a squarer, thicker shape (2.5 in x 2.06 in. x 0.26 in.) that includes a bigger, 2-inch screen--the player’s most attention-grabbing new feature.

The screen pulls the Nano into the video era, allowing it to play catch-up with flash players from other makers that have been video-capable for several years. The display is noticeably sharper and brighter than the one on its predecessor, which was limited to slide shows of album art and personal photos. It’s also pretty effective at resisting glare, as was the screen on the old Nano.

That said, there are limits to a 2-inch screen, which is still dwarfed by the screens on larger, hard-drive-based players such as the new iPod Classic. Though fine for viewing music videos and half-hour TV shows, some users may find watching longer shows and movies a bit of a strain on this new Nano.

The wider dimensions do allow a nice extra capability: You can split the screen to display the main menu on the left side and an album cover or title screen on the right. (Clicking on the image above will bring up a larger view where this is clearer.) This allows you to peruse the content in your folders without leaving the main menu, a real time saver.

The new Nano actually improves navigation of the new Cover Flow feature, which lets you find songs by flipping though a virtual Rolodex of album covers. We liked this feature when we used it on the iPhone’s touch screen, but the Nano’s click wheel makes it easier still to use. With the iPhone--and presumably also with the upcoming Touch, an iPhone-like iPod--the feature all but requires both hands. With the Nano, you can whir through your collection singlehandedly, using your thumb.

The image above (click to enlarge) shows the entire new iPod family (from left to right): the upcoming Touch, the Classic, the Nano, and the Shuffle.

The new click wheel has other pluses. It’s slightly less sensitive than earlier versions, which makes it easier to click on items without overshooting. It’s also a little easier to reach with your thumb than the old one, thanks to the new Nano’s wider shape.

There’s no longer a 2-GB Nano. The new 4-GB version costs $150 and is available in silver. The 8-GB model costs $200 and is available in silver, blue, red, green, and black. (See image on right. Click to enlarge.) Our tests continue, but based on our early looks, this is a very good player at an excellent price.

--Mike Gikas

Thanks for your memory-saving tips

Back in February, we asked you to weigh in with your tips for converting analog keepsakes, from obscure LPs to dusty photos to old camcorder tapes, to digital format.  And weigh in you did, with a lot of responses and a host of great tips and experiences.

We've combined your tips with our own tests and expertise to create "Go Digital," a report now available online and in the June issue of Consumer Reports. The report and associated content covers both devices, including image scanners and USB turntables, and services that can help you digitize your analog content.

Feel free to comment on or critique our coverage, either by commenting on this blog entry or participating in the discussion that continues on our forum. Thanks!

-- Paul Eng

Unprotected downloads at a premium price: Hear, hear?

EMI and Apple recently dropped a musical bombshell. Beginning in May, iTunes customers will be able to download recordings by Norah Jones, the Rolling Stones, and most of the other artists in EMI catalog without any copy protection. At present, iTunes (the leading online music retailer by far) sells songs only with such protection, which the record industry refers to as digital rights management (DRM); the measures restrict songs to players and computers registered to one user.

That means for the first time, iTunes consumers will be able to share downloaded songs with anyone they like, including those with any MP3 players that aren't iPods (as long as those other players support the AAC format used by iTunes, which many do). What's more, EMI and Apple claim these new EMI tracks will sound much better than what you can currently download from iTunes. Their sound quality will be "indistinguishable" from CDs, they say. EMI will soon be announcing similar deals with other online music stores.

Hallelujah, right? Well, not entirely.

Eclipse puts a TomTom IN your dash

Portable GPS navigation systems have become an attractive alternative to built-in factory systems. They offer most of the functionality, along with lower prices and the ability to take the unit with you.

At a CES preview event, Eclipse introduced its new AVN2210p in-dash head unit, which combines the advantages of portable and built-in nav systems. The AVN2210p is a double-DIN unit that provides all the usual functionality of a modern car-audio system — AM and FM, CD player with WMA/MP3 capability, and Sirius satellite radio reception (with optional tuner) — along with a detachable TomTom GPS nav unit.

When you're driving, you snap the TomTom into the front of the unit and it provides all the normal navigation functions plus serves as the display for all audio functions. When you leave the car, the TomTom can be popped out and taken with you, and still be used for navigation while walking.  (I've had that exact need a few times while trying to locate an address in a city when I can't park close to the destination.)  This setup gives you the advantages of a portable nav system without having it mounted above your dash.

As with other TomTom units, this one can be used to access optional services such as real-time traffic reports and weather reports. And the Eclipse unit has a built-in microphone for hands-free operation with Bluetooth phones, a USB connector in the front, and an optional iPod connection cable.

One downside is that the TomTom unit is specially designed to fit into the AVN2210p, so it doesn't appear that it can be used in another vehicle (such as a rental car), which is one of the attractions of a portable GPS unit.

TomTom systems, by the way, have done well in our portable GPS testing. Four models have all earned Very Good ratings, and are rated below only a couple models each from Garmin and Magellan.

The AVN2210p will be available this spring and will be priced at under $1,000.

— Rik Paul, Automotive Editor

HD Radio being embraced by automakers

At a preview event prior to the official opening of CES, a representative from iBiquity Digital — the company that developed the technology for digital HD Radio — said that we'll be seeing many more car models coming out in the next few years offering HD Radios. 

BMW, which is already offering HD tuners on select models, will have them available across its entire lineup by March 1. Although no specifics were offered, iBiquity also said that nine other car manufacturers are planning to offer them on more than 50 models over the next two to three years. This puts HD Radio at about the same place that satellite digital radio was at about five or six years ago.

A big difference between HD Radio and satellite services such as XM and Sirius is that HD is free once you've got the hardware. According to iBiquity, about 1,200 radio stations across the country are now broadcasting digital signals, with another 800 expected to be doing so by the end of 2007. By then, according to iBiquity, HD Radio will be available to about 90 percent of U.S. listeners.

Currently, about 500 stations are also broadcasting multicast channels, which are essentially additional channels that use excess digital bandwidth. Each HD station can now broadcast up to two multicast channels, which allows terrestrial stations to offer some of the more diverse or esoteric content that satellite radio now provides.

At the preview, iBiquity was also highlighting the HD Dice (pictured, above), which is a receiver that can be connected to the factory radio of an existing car. With automakers increasingly designing their radios as an integral part of the dash or as part of a multifunction control system, the HD Dice looks like a good way of getting HD Radio reception without messing with the original setup. It also displays text information on the station, artist, song, etc. in the factory display, and has an iPod connection. The price for the Dice is about $200.

— Rik Paul, Automotive Editor