Toshiba gets their gigabeat on

Toshiba, eager to bring their highly successful gigabeat line of digital audio players to American shores, unveiled details yesterday about their planned launch this spring. The consumer electronics company has lined up a number of musicians, including Blues Traveler and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, to take part in an upcoming ad campaign endorsing the stylish players.

The gigabeat line features a large 2.2-inch color LCD screen with high resolution so users can easily display personal photos, slideshows and album covers. MP3, WMA, WAV files and copy-protected music from online services like Napster To Go will be playable. Music stored on CDs will be directly copyable to a gigabeat via placing the CD into a computer's disc tray and hitting a button on the MP3 player's cradle.

The gigabeats will come in four capacities and seven distinct colors -- 10GB in silver, blue and black acrylic priced at $279 (MEG-F10), 20GB in silver and black brushed aluminum finish at $329 (MEG- F20), 40GB in a brushed aluminum champagne finish (MEG-F40) at $399 with in- line remote control and the 60GB model in a "steel" brushed aluminum finish at $449 (MEG-F60) with in-line remote control. Every gigabeat offers a 16 hour rechargeable battery that can be charged via the supplied docking cradle or via a USB cable from any PC.

"Our heritage in consumer products has shown us that ease of use is crucial to building consumer awareness and adoption. We have leveraged our core display and storage expertise to develop a number of features that promote format flexibility, ease of use, and enhance the user's entertainment experience," said Yoshi Uchiyama, Group Vice President of Toshiba's Digital A/V Group.