The Samsung YM-P1 Portable Media Player
Portable Media Innovation from CES 2006
Henry David Thoreau once said: "The world is but a canvas to the imagination." Samsung heard this message loud and clear. Almost no consumer electronics technology has been left untouched by a Samsung innovation in 2005. The company has been bringing out one awe inspiring breakthrough after another. If an 82" LCD display doesn’t impress you, maybe you’re a cerebral, yet subtle, gadget freak who is more impressed by Samsung revolutionizing DLP technology with LEDs.
Samsung let their imagination flourish with the development of the YM-P1. While not exactly revolutionary, it’s possibly the most powerful portable media player to date. The first thing that jumps out at you when you first get a look at the YM-P1 is the amazing 4" LCD screen. Its 16:9 aspect ratio and 480x272 pixel resolution seems to jump out at you.
Media players that allow you to take your audio and video on the go are nothing new. However, the YM-P1 can record directly from satellite and cable TV through its AV-inputs, allowing you to take your favorite shows anywhere. While not the first device to offer this technology, it might have the best implementation of it. Maybe the next version of Archos will have a cleaner 7" display and top Samsung, but until then we’ll have to give the nod to the YM-P1.
A host of codecs support just about anything you can throw at Samsung’s new portable television: MP3, WMA, OGG, AC3, MPEG4, DivX, Xvid, AVI, WMV, JPG, BMP and text files make this media player a true master of all trades. It’s compatible with Microsoft’s PlaysForSure DRM10 for audio and video content. PlaysForSure compatibility with some of the new online music services like Napster and Yahoo music provide consumers with arguably the best deal in music today. Have a TiVo? No problem. If you’re using a TiVo Series2 unit with TiVo ToGo, simply convert the .tivo files to Mpeg4 format and play away. Neither Samsung nor TiVo will provide you with the information needed to convert file formats, but here's a hint: Google.
The unit features an FM radio. The YM-P1 also has an SDIO slot for added memory. The unit will feature a 20Gig hard drive which is a little lean considering the iPod Video gives you either 30 or 60 gigs. The battery power should be adequate: a charge is rated to last for a full 15 hours of audio and 6 hours for video. The unit should go on sale in North America in February, 2006 and retail for $449 dollars.