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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."
http://www.techeblog.com.nyud.net:8090/index.php/t ech-gadget/top-10-strangest-mp3-players
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)
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
"Alpha waves" not "alpha particles". Presumably, they mean 10 Hz sound intent on stimulating neural alpha waves.
http://skepdic.com/alphawaves.html
Dear God, not alpha radiation, alpha waves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_waves
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_particle
(An offtopic summary of the damage potential of alpha particles, as presented by the article: they're stopped very quickly by skin so aren't too dangerous unless you inhale or swallow the source, then you're screwed)
"Quoting yourself is stupid." -Me
Alpha is the most dangerous but the most easily stopped, gamma is the least dangerous and the least easily stopped and beta is in between. The article was about alpha WAVES though ;)
The player is not emitting alpha radiation; alpha radiation is never called "alpha waves". This is in reference to the brain waves called "alpha waves". An MP3 player could not generate alpha radiation unless it incorporated some radioactive isotope (as smoke detectors do).
I have seen the future, and it is inconvenient.
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!
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
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
Never owned one have you.
Ipod shuffle = normal unless you flip the "shuffle switch"
and I can whack through songs at 10 per second.
Maybe if you touched one you would know this.
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
> 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.
Electrical activity. Alpha waves are circa 10 Hz patterns recorded by EEGs. Technically there should be some EM at about the same frequency, but if you talk about EM brain activity nuts come out of the woodwork (I don't know WHY they like EM so much... much better to make things up about things we CAN'T measure).
In some cases if you stimulate sensory neurons with certain frequencies they sometimes synch up with that frequency. Strobe lights CAN cause seizures for example. I have doubts 10 Hz pulses played underneath music will do much.
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...).
You have to keep in mind though that when it comes to calculating the dose equivalent, alpha radiation has a much higher quality factor (Q=20) than beta or gamma radiation (which have Q=1). This means that a radiation dose of one joule per kilogram is 20 times more dangerous when absorbed as alpha radiation than the same dose when absorbed as beta or gamma radiation. Alpha radiation doesn't penetrate very well but it's more dangerous to organisms... Skin cancer anyone?