Bantam’s iPod clone and more

A couple of interesting new MP3 portables were announced this week. The first one is Bantam’s BA1000 that has near-identical size and weight dimensions to the iPod, but offers a number of features the older Apple doesn’t like the ability to record from an internal FM radio. Choosing to offer the player in only 2GB and 5GB capacities, it looks like it is shooting to be the first sub $200 portable utilizing Toshiba’s petite 1.8″ drives. The other player announced was Samsung’s Yepp YP-55, which claims to be the first Surround Sound MP3 flash portable. Using SRS Labs’ surround sound simulator, the unit comes in 128MB and 256MB units. MP3newswire.net also offers an older, but nicely explained article on how this technology works using only two headphones to replace six speakers.