Toshiba's wafer-thin audio maestro is the slimmest and lightest hard drive MP3 player yet. How does it stack up against the iPod?What's thinner than an anorexic Kate Moss, but has the stomach for 5,000 MP3s? Toshiba's new Gigabeat 20, of course. Due in Japan later this year, this 20GB hard drive digital audio player stands out from the crowd with its compact, wafer-thin design--at just 1.27cm thick, this Toshiba makes even Apple's 1.55cm-svelte iPod look like an overweight metal slab. And at 138g, the Gigabeat 20 is also possibly the lightest hard drive-based player in the market right now.
At first glance, the Gigabeat 20 appears more squarish and angular than Apple's curvaceous uber toy. Internally, both devices do share a common trait: Within the Gigabeat's aluminum shell runs a 1.8-inch 20GB hard disk, similar to the one used by the new iPod. The two models announced by Toshiba--clad in either dark blue (for limited-edition models) or standard aluminum--both come with individual docking stations and feature backlit LCDs for displaying ID3-tagged information such as track titles and artist names.
The Gigabeat 20's MinDisc-style editing features include the ability to delete and arrange tracks on-the-fly, handy for users not near a PC. Support for ubiquitous USB 1.1/2.0, rather than FireWire, also ensures compatibility with just about every PC on the market, as well as making file transfers dead quick and easy.
But while the iPod pampers Mac-heads with both MP3 and Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) playback, Toshiba's media support appears to cater to the Windows crowd. Along with MP3, the Gigabeat 20 also recognizes Windows Media Audio (WMA) 9, Microsoft's new compression format that promises CD-quality sonics at ever-shrinking file sizes.
Gripes? For starters, Mac-users are not invited: The Gigabeat 20 currently works with Windows operating systems only, according to Toshiba's Web site. There's also no FM tuner, although that's only a minor grumble unless you happen to be a hardcore radio listener. The 11-hour battery life with the non-removable Lithium-ion cell is merely average. More disconcerting is the lack of in-line or voice recording facilities. With upcoming players like iRiver's IHP-100 and Philip's HD100 sporting recording abilities, this might prove to be a fatal omission on Toshiba's part.
There's also the question of global availability. Toshiba has been tight-lipped about the Gigabeat 20's appearance beyond Japanese soil. Meanwhile, the device will be debut in-country in late October, for a retail price of 50,000 yen (~AU$666).
