Actually, I’m not very familiar with the Hello Kitty franchise. It’s quite possible that this is a legitimate Sanrio product, but I personally have never seen Hello Kitty with furry edges and an actually cat-like body, so I call Bootleg. The fact that it says “Charmmy (sic) Kitty” rather than Hello Kitty also rings alarm bells.

Either way, here is an MP3 player for the Hello Kitty loving masses. It’s screen-less, which might further advertise it’s cheap knock-off-ness, but then again, so is the iPod Shuffle. The technical details, according to Akihabara News:

20 Hz - 20 KHz
L 20 mW + R 20 mW 32Ω
Audio MP3 / WMA
MP3 : 8-320 kbps / WMA : 64-320 kbps
USB 2.0
Dimensions : 14.0×35.0×75.0 mm
Weight : 35g

Akihabara News also provides a link of a possible future stockist, but why you’d be interested is beyond me.

Link:
Akihabara News

A Japanese company called Digital Information Development (DID) have developed a portable virtual piano. A small black box shoots lasers beams of light that shape the keyboard on any surface (except blacks ones, since they absorb the light). A CMOS camera in the box watches your fingers play on the projected keys and a speaker plays the notes you “hit”. The box only weighs 100 grams so it’s much easier to carry around than any electronic keyboard.

This model only displays 25 keys (two octaves) but it could be increased to the size of a grand piano if the box size is increased. The speaker will play organ, pipe organ and harpsichord sounds along with piano sounds.

Links:
Pink Tentacle
Yomiuri Shimbun

Earlier this year Olympus released their new m:robe MP3 player, the MR-F20. This was covered by a few places, including on dapreview. Details were a bit thin though, so I’m going to add a bit here now:

- 512MB Flash
- FM Tuner
- MP3, WMA, OGG formats supported
- Voice Recording supported
- Direct Encoding supported via Line In jack
- JPEG viewing supported
- Charges via USB in 3 hours
- 11 Hour playback time (Lithium Polymer Battery)
- OLED Display, 96×96 pixels, 65,000 colours
- Windows & Mac connectivity supported
- Supports Japanese, English, Korean, & Chinese
- Dimensions: 63mm(H) x 34mm(W) x 14mm(D)
- Weight: 32g.

The most interesting things here are the FM Tuner, OGG support, voice recording, and the direct encoding. Depending on a buyer’s priorities such added features could overcome the mediocre industrial design and the smallish display. Street price at the moment is around 16,000yen.

I know it’s a bit late, but who cares? Brad posted about the opening of the new Apple Store in Shibuya, and since I couldn’t be there, instead of making up stories that make me look cooler than I am, I’d rather just link to his blog instead. Anyway, his post involves free t-shirts, heat, sweating, crowd, DJ Kentaro, Zazen Boys, iTunes Music Store download cards givaway, and upcoming indie bands, so go and read it. (They’re recruiting by the way.)

A couple of weeks ago, we were talking about the iRiver shop in Shibuya. Well, here are some more pictures of the inside, with white walls and lots of wasted space as expected, since they are going after the iPod/Apple shopper experience. Cute.

These pics are a few days old and I am too lazy to go and check it out by myself, so I was wondering if someone out there knew if they opened the shop yet or not. If so, please let us know in the comments below. Anyway, expect a few more pictures here on 3Yen.

In case you’re the kind who don’t care for an iPod, and to whom iriver doesn’t seem like much of an alternative, you may be considering the Sony Network Walkman NW-HD5. Well, I got good news and bad news.

The bad news: Engadget reports that there has been some case of button cracking issues.

it might appear according to the AVForums boards that a sizeable number of Sony HD-NW5 users are experiencing some pretty severe button cracking issues on their purdy new device—sometimes as early as a couple hours out of the box. Is Sony going to do anything about it?

Not that I have any insider’s scoop, but you might want to make sure your warranty is valid before you leave the shop.

The good news: The Register published a review of the cute little device.

You’ve got to hand it to Sony. The iPod may be the portable music boss, but it’s not stopped trying to take Apple’s baby out. It was some time before it seriously plucked up the courage to do so, with the release last year release of the NW-HD1. That was back in late 2004, and it was followed only a few months later by the NW-HD3. Now Sony has produced another hard disk-based unit, the NW-HD5.

So what does this one bring to the table and has it done enough to really put the boot into the iPod? Yes and no.
Read on…

AudioTechnica will release next month their “ATH-RE3″ headphones and many people like me will just go and buy one pair and listen to “Xanadu” again. Welcome back to the 80’s…

The “ATH-RE3″ headset has a retro design that reminds of the original Sony Walkman and will be available for the easy price of 3,150 yen ($31.50). The headphones come in black or white, and include both orange and black “earsponges” so you can choose your level of nostalgia. Rollerskates are not included.

Tech-wise, via TechJapan’s translation:

24mm diameter neosium magnet is used as a drive. It has a maximum output level of 101dB/mW, with a maximum input of100mW. The frequency response is from 14Hz to 24kHz. It has a 32 ohm impedence, and a 23g weight. The earphone cable uses highly elastic elastomer materials, protecting against cable tangling. Its length is 1.2m.

iriver is understandably going after Apple’s iPod market, and now they are doing it in Japan too. Our good friend Smith Frenzy in Tokyo just sent us this:
“On the 2nd of June, I saw an iRiver “welcome to Japan” banner in Narita International Airport. Now they are opening a shop in Shibuya. Looks like they are trying to copy the Apple retail model (can’t beat them, copy them?). Problem is that the Shibuya area is iPod land: the station is routinely covered with mini and Shuffle banners, and Apple is set to open an Apple Store in there soon.”

The shop is located between Shibuya station and Miyashita Park on Meiji Dori. The signage just went up three mornings ago but has been covered since.

(In case you decide to go and see for yourself, he also shot this little quicktime movie of the shop and the area so that you can find it easily.)

A Chinese website has posted pictures of a NW-E400 MP3 Walkman players being dismantled. For those of you that can read Chinese (*) and/or like that kind of pictures, I guess that must be interesting…

Found on dapreview.net:

- chicubs: i never really understoof the lure of seeing a dap’s underbody.
- mudlouse: it’s like a woman taking off their clothes
- chicubs: ….oook….*slowly walks away*

Yeah, well, I guess it might be because I have a girlfriend or because the girls in Shibuya are sexier day after day, but I have to admit I just don’t get it either…

Via Gizmodo

(*) The Google translation is just unreadable…

First there was Jim Younkin’s Shufflephones 1.0 (Old Skool Edition), where basically, a creative and skillfull nerd used the smallness of the iPod shuffle and its lack of screen to put it INSIDE the headphones and create a cool device that keep your ears warm and entertained in winter.

Then, he went on and upgraded it to the Shufflephones 2.0 (New Hotness Edition). Where the thing a) becomes nicer to look at and not so much like a soviet tanker helmet anymore, and b) has now an expansion jack that can be used to share your music with a friend on the go or to plug the shuffle into a stereo.

Still, we didn’t talk about it because there was nothing Japanese in this. But we surely wished there was. And our prayers have been heard by the nice people of Victor (a.k.a JVC), who just released their earphone-type digital audio player called “XA-AL55″. The Player is equipped with a 256 MB built-in memory and is expected to hit Japan’s market at the end of this month, with an expected price of 18,000 yen (US$180).

Should I mention I want those?

Hey! You! Yes, you sweet dear reader: What do you use to listen to music when you are moving? iPod? iRiver? Something else with an “i”? Flash based? Good ol’ walkman? (Comments below please)

Thanks to Mulboyne and (of course!) Taro for this news.