*DISCLAIMER: That’s Strapya’s official promotional YouTube video title. I wanted to tell you all about Strapya’s ultra-thin Music Card player, but I’m having an extremely hard time concentrating after watching this spot. Advertising genius or marketing suicide? You decide.

I don’t know if they are going to sell a lot of these 5mm thin, 318g 2GB MP3 players — which come with a built-in speaker and headphones — but after watching the video, my faith in Humanity has dropped from negative to imaginary numbers. [Strapya via Crunchgear]

“And as long as you keep running or dancing you can be sure you won’t run out of battery.” We may yet reach the point where we need to self-power all our gadgets, but until that day arrives, bring on the batteries or socket chargers. [DesignBoom via Ecoterra via Engadget]

The T9 has a 3-inch full colour touchscreen, inbuilt accelerometer and vibrate function, microSD card slot, voice recorder and FM radio functions. It supports a range of file formats and has 4GB of storage inside for just $110.

Part of me wonders why smaller companies try and take on Apple in this market. A Microsoft with a Zune HD – yeah, that makes sense. But something like this will just end up buried under the weight of the billions of dollars Apple will make selling iPods without really doing anything to them…

[Laser]

We’ve told this story plenty of times before, but on the iPod’s eighth birthday, I think it’s time to think about administering the Last Rites. Three years ago, Charlie White wrote a piece about everything that was wrong with the iPod, and nearly everything that could be solved was. From 2006: There’s no FM, Scratches, Battery life, DRM, iTunes is janky, No Bluetooth, Thief magnet, My kid wants a new one every six months, No widescreen, No WiFi.

So many of these problems were fixed, but is that good news? Yes, for us, but not for the iPod.

Because the problems weren’t fixed by the release of the perfect iPod, but a whole new species: the iPhone and its non-phone-y sidekick, the misnamed iPod Touch. (There’s a good reason why many people prefer to call it an iTouch.) Apple themselves expects the iPod’s trajectory to chill out as iPhone sales eat into the big picture. And it’s not because of these small fixes as much as the fact that while the iPhone and iPod Touch apps collections get bigger and more useful, there’s been a quick shift from the regular iPod as a consolation prize in a time where if you don’t have a network connected pocket computer, you’ve got a toy. A toy that is an island. Or something.

So yep, iPod, you’re eight, your sales are in the toilet, your shrinking click-wheel has gone from genius to nuisance, your very existence robbed the Touch of a camera it deserves, and apparently nobody cares about hard drive players anymore, no matter how much they can hold.

You’ll make it to year 10 and 11, and maybe beyond that. But you’ll never be as important as you were. And so if you went away tomorrow we’d swipe a touchscreen in solute but without much remorse. [iPods on Gizmodo]

Of course, even the miniest of mini camcorders cannot be crammed into the shell of an existing shuffle, so Xiangyun Industry Co did the sensible thing and sacrificed the music player to focus on transforming the device into a spy camera. Features include a 1.3MP sensor with VGA resolution and the ability to capture 1280×960 still photos. Not bad for $US15-$US30, but you are going to need to outfit an entire spy ring if you want to get your hands on one. Orders are only taken in bulk with a 100-unit minimum. [Global Sources via Red Ferret]

Now, whether that “something” lasts for the long run—especially with a definitive lack of apps—is another thing, but for now Zune HD lovers can head on over to eBay for what amounts to a ludicrous price for a super rare, unreleased colour and get their bid in before the auction ends in about two days.

The eBay user conveniently lives in Washington, and said they procured this rare kit from a friend. Now they’re selling it for cash and are set to make a small fortune off what amounts to a regular old Zune HD with a nifty little paint job.

Now, will this model eventually be released en masse to the public at the usual Zune HD price? Sure, it probably will. But, if this wacky series of tubes has taught me anything, it’s that there are plenty of people who’d love to win this auction and yell “FIRST!” to the rest of us.

Update: Yeah, this thing is getting all sort of lame and suspicious. Crazy bidding, sketchy seller — everyone with half a brain proceed with caution. Maybe just watch the insanity take place from afar. [eBay via Anything But iPod via Engadget]

Less than an inch at its widest point, the Micro Sports MP3/WMA/WAV player weighs just 8g and comes ready to store 2GB ($US55) and 4GB ($US75) of tracks. Syncing and charging over micro USB, the Micro Sport can run for about four hours before giving in. But honestly, if you’re enjoying outdoor activity for more than four hours at a time, chances are you’re taking part in risky activities that could lead you to fall on your head and have this thing permanently wedged into your ear canal. During the next several years of painful, costly operations, even a 24-hour battery would have proven inadequate in overpowering the cacophonous buzz of saws grinding against your skull, let alone the very sad, very internalised song that is your life. [Geek Stuff 4 U via Akihabara News via UberGizmo]

Apart from being coloured differently, the NW-S640 (top left) and the NW-S740 (top right) are pretty much identical, though the S640 lacks noise cancelling.

The players have an FM radio, usual codec support and an eye-opening stated battery life of 42 hours for music and 10 hours for video. They also come with premium MDR-EX300SL earphones, and a matching speaker bundle will be available when they arrive in Japan in October.

The S740 series will be: 8GB (Y16,000; AU$203), 16GB (Y19,000; AU$241), and 32GB (Y25,000; AU$317). The slightly cheaper S640 series is: 8GB (Y14,000; AU$178), and 16GB (Y17,000; AU$216). [Sony Insider]

Along with standard codec support, there’s also new drag and drop feature that auto-transcodes video from your computer. And in Japan at least, the player comes with premium MDR-EX300SL earphones.

No word on availability yet, but if the recent S and E series Walkmans are any gauge, the wait won’t be long after it hits Japan. Pricing there will be: 16GB (Y24,000; $US226), 32GB (Y30,000; $US332), and (Y40,000; $US443).

Enough to tempt you away from the more powerful $US280 32GB Zune HD or $US400 64GB iPod touch? I just don’t know about those Mickey Mouse like controls myself…[Sony Japan (translated) via Akihabara News]

When I say “trash,” I don’t mean it’s bad; quite the opposite, actually. But at $US40/$50/$70 for 2/4/8GB capacities, the Clip+ is very nearly disposable—you can knock it around or drop it and not feel bad—making it an excellent player for workouts or as a spare in case your main PMP runs out of juice on a long trip.

What’s New

The Clip+, unlike the Clip, packs a microSD slot for cheap expandable memory (up to 16GB at the moment). The microSD slot also supports SanDisk’s own (admittedly stupid) SlotRadio cards. The clip on the back is no longer removable, and the headphone jack has been moved to the right side of the player, away from the miniUSB port. Oh, and the control pad is now square instead of circular. That’s pretty much it for new features.

Why It’s Great

What makes the Clip+ better than competitors like the iPod Shuffle and Creative Zen Stone is surprisingly excellent sound quality. This little guy has some power behind it, sounding as good as my Zune with a pair of decent earbuds. SanDisk clearly knows what they’ve got, since the Clip+, unlike other tiny budget mp3 players, supports audiophile codecs like FLAC and OGG.

It’s got an FM radio, podcast support, and a voice recorder as well. It also auto-detects OS and will choose either MTP (Windows) or MSC (everything) when plugged in, meaning it supports every OS perfectly. The two-colour OLED screen is bright and readable, and the player itself is miniscule and feels very tough—I’ve actually dropped it twice and there’s nary a scratch on it.

Flaws

In terms of controls, it’s not ideal—I’d really like to see a dedicated Back button instead of having to hit Menu and then select “Back to Music List”, but after two minutes of toying around with the player, you’ll have it figured out. The battery life isn’t thrilling, rated at 15 hours, and I would have preferred a dedicated hold switch to the Home button playing double duty. Also, scrolling through long lists of artists or songs is a little pokey—it’s no problem if you’ve only got a few GBs of music, but if you have a filled 8GB player with a microSD card, it’ll be annoying.

Conclusion

It’s the best low-end mp3 player on the market, without question. And did I mention it costs $US50 for 4GB? That’s $US20 less than the iPod shuffle and the Clip+ has the shuffle handily beat on features and sound quality. I recommend the 4GB version—it’s worth the $US10 upgrade from 2GB, and 8GB is really more music than the little guy is built to handle. The UI’s a little dated, but it’s totally serviceable, and the player’s strengths more than make up for its drawbacks. I’ve got absolutely no hesitation about recommending the Sansa Clip+ as a workout or spare mp3 player. [SanDisk]

Tiny and rugged body

Excellent sound quality and surprisingly extensive codec support

Competitively priced

UI hasn’t evolved since previous model