Revenge of the Portable Audio News

The portable audio news just keeps coming. First, the BBC reported that Sony is still struggling to keep its long-languishing MiniDisc format relevant, this time with its new “Hi-MD” players (pictured right) and media, which store 1GB of music (which they claim equates to 45 hours of music at 48Kbps — does ATRAC really sound decent at 48Kbps? I doubt it) or data (so you can use it as a portable hard drive). Interesting.

Also today, Forbes reported on HP’s announcement that it has licenced Apple’s iPod “technology” as well as iTunes Music Store for their own line of portable music players. It will be interesting to see whether HP actually comes up with compelling features for their iPod-alike or if they’re just starting an idea-recycling recycling operation. Maybe HP will be able to hit the low-end sweet spot that some (this editor included) think Apple completely missed with their recently-unveiled MiniPods.

Thanks to Slashdot for these juicy newsbits.