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Top 10 Strangest MP3 Players
A reader writes: "TechEBlog lists the top 10 strangest MP3 players ever, with pictures. From the article: "CURE-alpha is an MP3 player that supposedly emits alpha waves which calm and rejuvinate the brain. They are transmitted at very low frequencies while listening to MP3/WMA files."
Lemme guess, are they running their server on an MP3 player? :P
Join the TWIT army now!
welll what do ya know?
please mirror !!
At least their server lasted longer than the battery in my ipod.
To err is human. To forgive is not company policy.
Is Windows Media Player listed?
This little player lets nastiware break into a computer while soothing a user with an mp3...
I don't know if it will help with the images: Article mirror
"the Cure-Alpha mp3 player has been taken off the market due to it causing brain cancer, when interviewed, a spokesperson simply stated, come on who would have thought radiation close to someones brain would cause problems"
The phrase "more better" is acceptable English. suck it grammar Nazis
Come on submitters, be good cyber-citizens! Coral cache the site before submitting the story, since the editurs are to busy doing important editorial stuff!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
http://www.techeblog.com.nyud.net:8090/index.php/t ech-gadget/top-10-strangest-mp3-players
For those of you who want to get the benefits on the brain by the CURE-alpha model, try out some free software for your PC. Look here
-FL
Mirror:t ech-gadget/top-10-strangest-mp3-players/
http://www.techeblog.com.nyud.net:8080/index.php/
Article Text:
MP3 Players come in all shapes and sizes, that's why our editors decided to compile a list of the "Top 10 Strangest MP3 Players" for your enjoyment.
10. Teddy Bear MP3 Player
This makes our list because...well...it's a teddy bear shaped MP3 player! The keys look almost too tiny to press and it only comes with 128MB built-in memory.
9. Clip Type MP3 Player
For the person who easily loses things, this clip type MP3 player is for you. Measuring 25.6 x 53.2 x 22.6mm and weighing just 20g, it can be clipped just about anywhere.
8. $5 Cereal Box MP3 Player
Coming soon to a vending machine near you. These $5 MP3 players are shaped like mini cereal boxes and play all your favorite MP3 and WMA tracks. At this price, don't expect it to hold more than a few songs.
[TechDigest]
7. Magic Mirror MP3 Player
Shenzhen Xindaxin Technology Co. Ltd. claims that the "screen can be used as a mirror". Other perks include, MP3 playback/recording, FM tuner, and synchronized lyrics.
[StrangeNewProducts]
6. Scented MP3 Players
Who wants a rose, lemon, chocolate, blueberry, strawberry, or rasberry scented MP3 player? Check out the iCool by Solid Alliance.
[AkihabaraNews]
5. Brain Wave MP3 Player
CURE-alpha is an MP3 player that supposedly emits alpha waves which calm and rejuvinate the brain. They are transmitted at very low frequencies while listening to MP3/WMA files.
[I4U]
4.Minty MP3
This is actually an MP3 player you can build yourself. Minty claims that half of the parts can be sampled for free, meaning you'll only end up spending around $50 along with countless hours of brain wracking.
[Minty]
3. NES Controller MP3 Player
Martin Kersch of Germany made great use of a boring Saturday afternoon by transforming an ordinary USB Stick and NES Controller into a fully functional battery powered MP3 Player.
[FutureNews]
2. MP3 Toilet
Technically, it's not a stand alone MP3 player, but rather one that works with your toilet. This SD memory based player attaches to the wall above your toilet and includes a special receiver that goes under the toilet seat, how sanitary.
[Akihabara]
1. PEZ MP3 Player
At first glance, it looks like any other PEZ dispenser, but upon furthur inspection, you'll find a 3.5mm stereo mini jack and music keys. It packs an ample 512MB memory and weighs just 0.78 ounces.
"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." ~Plato (427-347 BC)
WooHoo!!! We managed to bomb the server! Atleast Coral Cache got the title part of the page!
46487 466780 252994 376409 96920 39622 205366 244315 622115 512361 668040 63608 259203 955314 811176 652718 166330 23922
My girlfriend got one of these for Christmas, and it lasted through one use. The guy who sold it was really nice about accepting returns and was very helpful, but the player sucks. There's no display and you have to learn to interpret its Flashing Light Language (tm) to understand what's going on.
I found some info with pictures on the cure-alpha http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/portable-media/flas h/curealpha-alsonic-mp3-playercureall-111574.php/
Just watched Kung-Fu Hustle last night so maybe I'm a sucker for weird semi-Eastern cure-all MP3 players that produce magical Alpha waves that will cure you of gout, palsy, the croup, Zanzibar hot-heels, quinine poisoning, and dandruff.
This 128MB flash player plays your favorite tunes--or tune, considering the size--and zaps you with powerful waves of energy that are beneficial to humans. Don't believe me? I don't believe me either. But it's nice to dream.
Check out Website development, maintenance and accesibility cons
would all get filtered out by the headphones anyway, because their frequency response starts way too high.
1. Get a free (and Free) solution for Linux and Windows: SBaGen Binaural Wave Generator
:-p
2. Encode the generated file to an mp3.
3. Upload it to your mp3 player.
4. Voila! You now too can have this feature on your non-CURE-alpha player.
Disclaimer: I'm not sure if these files are scientifically shown to actually do anything good to your mind besides buzzing a lot? The tool speaks of out-of-body experiences, lucid dreaming, "clear thought", and even more, so this would be like a free software solution of some nifty drug if true, but I kind of doubt it works to 100% for everyone.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
I think a Billy Bass Mouth would make a strange MP3 player or any of the dozens of different singing fish, birds, or animals on the market. What about a lava lamp or pet rock mp3 player? Just think of all the sex toy MP3 players you could make. Imagine a dildo playing NIN "Closer". The possibilities are endless.
"You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
I reckon the iPod Shuffle is pretty damn strange. Listen to up to 1 GB of songs, but never know what you're listening to! ... and never be able to skip through songs at a rate of more than 1 per second! ... and skip through them only randomly, or in sequential order, no playlists! ... I've since sold my iPod Shuffle on eBay. (incidentally, for the same price I bought it, with my student discount)
Ok, it isn't real, but I once submitted this as an article and it was rejected. /. could have a blast with this one...like I can't wait to get my hands on one of these!
s ical-breast-implants/
http://www.engadget.com/2005/10/13/medical-and-mu
Usurper_ii
Ron Paul
The clip one, for instance, seems quite useful. Clip it onto your backpack strap, no accessories required. Even the Pez player isn't so strange: the form factor is perfect, it's a great useful novelty, and the "where'd you get that?" effect would be awesome.
120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
wow, the Minty player instructions were so much more than what you normally see for DIY projects on the net. It invovled getting a board custom made (where you get it done is up to you) and soldering chips onto the board by hand. I'd think anybody who is adept enough to do the previous couple of steps probably doesn't need a lot of help in building their own player, other than the helpful list of free components you can get from different companies as samples.
In the end, the guy pretty much admitted that an iPod shuffle would only be marginally more expensive and way easier to get. There is a certain panache with running an MP3 player out of an Altoids tin, but it's definatly a project you do because you find soldering/building fun, not because you want an MP3 player.
I read the internet for the articles.
Just think of all the sex toy MP3 players you could make. Imagine a dildo playing NIN "Closer". Strangely enough, someone has already imagined it: http://www.talkingheadvibrators.com/home.php
"CURE-alpha is an MP3 player that supposedly emits alpha waves which calm and rejuvinate the brain"
If you want to sell a product that does absolutely nothing - like a great many holistic or naturopathic remedies - without worrying about being called on it, just couch the claims in soft language. "Rejuvenate", "revitalize", "recharge". If you can't measure it, you can't say it's false. For bonus points, refer to "aura" or "essence".
Makes me grumpy. Perhaps I need to take something to improves "wellbeing".
This link got posted to both /. and digg within 30 minutes of each other. That server has no chance in hell of surviving.
"Alpha waves" commonly mean electromagnetic brain activity that is produced in a relaxed state. Its frequency in EEG in around 10 Hz. I'm not sure how the player can "emit alpha waves". I don't think a 10 Hz sound produces any relaxation response or alpha waves in humans.
Fark too.
We'll be able to use maps.google.com/infrared to see the server from space.
---
ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
I don't know about the other examples, but in my opinion there's nothing mystical about lucid dreaming. It's simply the kind of dream where you know you're dreaming. I'm sure some people can point out some mystical ideas related to lucid dreaming, but they are not part of the basic definition.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
This is true, but the question is whether these sound waves will induce lucid dreaming, like claimed. :-)
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
A high capacity webserver in an MP3 form factor...
I for one welcome our new musical overlords!
-- Linux: Stays crunchy even in milk! --
You know, more and more I keep catching myself thinking that slashdot could save bandwidth and time by simply having the homepage redirect to the second or third page of Digg.
I'm surprised they didn't mention the Musical Breast Implants. These things should be ... interesting, to say the least if they ever come out on hte market.
Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
The MP3 toilet doesn't actually exist - it was an april fools joke played on employees at TOTO - the Japanese company that makes bidet style washing seats and thrones. I guess the link or pics got out into the wild or somebody decided this was a good idea... There are worse uses for mp3 technology.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." ~The Honorable Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Come on, like a slashdotter could ever get his hands on breasts...even fake ones!
There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of animals Chuck Norris allows to live.
you neighbor has a vibrator that plays "O come all ye faithful", you want one too.
(In ref to thou shall not envy)
> In the end, the guy pretty much admitted that an iPod shuffle would only be marginally more expensive and way easier to get.
Mintymp3 was created by a female engineer, ladyada. There's nothing hotter than a woman who knows her way around a soldering iron or a blowtorch.
I stand corrected.
I read the internet for the articles.
Top 10 Strangest MP3 Players :-)
Just because it can't be explained doesn't mean it isn't true. Science fits into reality... not the other way around.
Since lucid dreaming is just a mental thing, if a person is convinced that the binaural waves will induce a lucid dream, they likely will. Psychologists talking patients through lucid dreaming don't use special diets or chakra stimulating or whatever crap like that, they mostly just reinforce in the patients that they can and will lucid dream (through whatever -- hypnosis, mantras, talking to them...).
"TechEBlog lists the top 10 strangest MP3 players ever, with pictures."
(unless you want to randomly skip through them and hope you get close, but even then, you need to memorise your playlist...)
Only if you care what the next song is.
I typically stick a few songs I think are interesting at the beginning, then fill it up with random good stuff. That way I can play the interesting songs (even if I haven't memorized them, I *can* recognise them), or just let it be random.
The Shuffle is like a good radio station with no chatter, no bad music, and a decent sized playlist.
I saw an episode of BBC's Black Book's where Manny was playing with a shiatsu machine. He held up the machine to his chest and made some comment about being a robotic/android hooker. The shiatsu nobs reminded one of very conical breasts rotating in opposite directions. Make them implantable, add an mp3 player, and a subwoofer. Hmm... I wonder if Spike TV would be interested in a Bionic Singing Breasts show. Pamela Anderson would be perfect for the role. Here's a proposed scene.
BIONIC PAM knocks on door of bad guy
PAUSE
BAD GUY: Who's there?
BIONIC PAM: Mammogram for Mr. Guy Evildude.
BAD GUY opens door.
BIONIC PAM wearing a 1960's sexy white nurses outfit turns on MP3 player, music starts booming out of HER sub-woofer, begins striptease. BAD GUY mesmerized
BIONIC PAM unbuttons top exposing her bionic breasts
BAD GUY: swallows Uh.
BIONIC PAM: sexily Come a little closer.
BAD GUY steps closer BIONIC PAM reaches around and grabs the back of his head and pulls him towards her breasts.
CLOSE UP on breast starting to rotate rapidly in opposite directions. We hear music booming even louder out of HER sub-woofer
BIONIC PAM pulls bad guy into her Bionic Singing Breasts of Death
REVERSE SHOT We see BIONIC PAM from the rear a little distance back. BAD GUY struggles briefly. LOUD CRUNCH THEN POPPING NOISE. BLOOD SPLATTERS OUTWARD. BIONIC PAM lets go and BAD GUY now headless drops to ground.
QUICK CUT CLOSE UP on headless body
CUT TO BIONIC PAM We hear zip. She turns the music off in HER sub-woofer. Turns and walks away. No blood is to be seen on front of white dress as she strolls towards camera, hips swaying.
BIONIC PAM: turns head towards lifeless body Was it good for you too?
"You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
I drove a Porche Boxster for a while, until the tickets, and as a marketing ploy they sent me a Porsche mp3 player. It was okay, only 256MB. Wish that it was in the shape of a car. oh well...
Dr. Retarded Check out what they have done now.
CURE-alpha is an MP3 player that supposedly emits alpha waves which calm and rejuvinate the brain.
Sounds like AutoZen
SIGSEGV caught, terminating
wait... not that kind of sig.
No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.
I'm sure your big piles of cash will help you feel less grumpy.
Yep. It's amazing how un-grumpy one can be when one has a high class, $5000/night escort on ones knee.
All that brain wave stuff is complete crap. It was started by the Monroe Institute and is based on sending sine waves at different frequencies to each ear, with the difference between them forming a "beat pattern" and supposedly inducing EEG at the frequency of the beat pattern.
The problem is, this is all based on measuring EEG (essentially a microvoltmeter) while wearing headphones. What's happening is the electrical signal from the headphones is being picked up by the EEG electrodes.
When you use air-conduction earphones, so that there are no electromagnets vibrating near the microvoltmeter electrodes, there's no effect.
It took me 10 years to get the chance to prove that the crap published in OMNI and elsewhere about the Monroe Institute and similar EEG induction schemes was bogus, but I finally got to do it. We gave it to a couple of Jim Horton's students to do, but it was my idea.
Stone, C., Thomas, P., McClain-Furmanski, D., & Horton, J. (October 2002). EEG Oscillations and Binaural Beat as Compared with Electromagnetic Headphones and Air-conduction Headphones. Presented at Society of Psychophysiological Research, Washington DC.
It takes purposeful ignorance to assume a cause-effect relationship is reversable. Closing your eyes causes alpha waves. Causing alpha waves doesn't make you close your eyes. That extends to all sources of synchronized EEG signals.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
...spelling! Rejuvinate?
I was thinking about buying one, but I couldn't find it on any english-language pages...
The ToiletMP3 would have been #1... because that's precisely where 99.9% of modern music belongs...
A woman who knows her away around a jet engine and a cockpit is sexier to me. Aeronautic and astronautic chick engineers are as sexy as they are rarefied.
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
I think it's a very good idea. Endless fun by arranging your mammory speakers for an optimal sterio experience.
This has gotta be one of the weirdest mp3 players there ever was.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/09/ak_mp3/
Now that's what I call a real iPod killer!!
Lucid dreaming can be taught. There is a very good book The Lucid Dreamer that tells you how to do it. There are plenty of devices that detect REM sleep and start flashing LEDs, making noises, etc, that will let you know that you are dreaming. NONE of them I've seen detect brain waves, nor do any of the valid ones make that claim. The problem with lucid dreaming is that it seems to attract the same hippy "earth sprirt" crowd as the folks who think Sadonia AZ is a spiritual place just becuase of the pretty rocks and high altitude.
I haven't attempted to do it for a few years, but it does work, and if you get good at it, you can force your mind to do many intresting things. Some people claim to solve problems by trying them out in a dream first, but I really doubt it would help much, since your brain is controls the outcome and it becomes easy to gloss over things like the laws of physics and things you don't understand.
"Well, good luck finding a judge that doesn't run a bestiality site."
I did see on and episode of Drake and Josh this weekend that the boys were selling a "Gary Coleman Grill with Built-in MP3 Player"(think George Foreman grill, but smaller). Sounded like a great idea.