New gigabeat S30 from Toshiba   (MES30) for Windows
	Shop price: Open price   Toshiba online: 36,000 yen

Another Ipod challenger makes its debut on the audio player market.

The digital audio player market is dominated by the iPod. It seems that even the "Walkman A" series supplied by Sony, as prestigious as it is, wasn't able to break down the iPod citadel either, and now the iPod name is even commonly used as a generic term to designate "digital audio players".

In 2002, Toshiba released the GIGABEAT (MEG50JS) and has been developing the 'gigabeat' range ever since. In November 2004, the gigabeat F series was released and featured a large-sized color LCD.

Package

The latest product in the series, "gigabeat S", has seen huge platform changes. First, Windows Mobile software for Portable Media Center from Microsoft has been chosen as the new Operating System, and the "Windows Media Center" interface design has been adopted. Furthermore, even if the principal new feature is video playback, the product has been totally reworked.

2 new models, a 30GB "gigabeat S30 (MES30)" and a 60GB "gigabeat S60V (MES60V)" are due out on the market on April 28th. Price for the S30 is 36,000 yen and S60 is 46,000 yen. For the 30GB model, available colors are "Piano Black K" / "Pure White W" and "Crimson red (R)", while for the 60GB model only a "Piano Black (K)" version will be available.

For this review, the features of the new gigabeat were checked using a mass-production experimental model updated with the firmware that will ship with the retail product.

High-class feeling of the new hardware

Enclosed items

Items enclosed are a USB conversion cable, a pair of earphones, and software CD-ROM, etc. The S30 size is 59.9x99.9x13.2mm (width x depth x height) for 127g. It can be compated with the 30GB iPod (61.8x103.5x11mm / 136g). Although the gigabeat S is a bit thicker, when comparing both, the feeling in hand is almost exactly the same.

There's a high-class impression given by the alloy employed for the main part and quality of manufacturing. The "Crimson Red S30" model is used for this review. This newly, unseen before high-class design, is likely to serve as a differentiation element against competitor's products.

A 2.4" Color (240x320 resolution) LCD screen is built-in the front of the product. At the bottom of the LCD are a "Back" button and a Windows logoed "Start" button, and the bottom of the player is equipped with a PLUS (cross-type) button. The right-hand side is equipped with "skip/back", and "play/pause" button as well as a DC input, a main power button and a volume up/down set of button.

The upper surface of the main part is equipped with a headphone plug and a HOLD switch. Moreover, the bottom of the product is equipped with a USB 2.0 plug and an extension connector. The USB2 plug can be used to charge the gigabeat while linked to the PC. In addition, on the "gigabeat S60V (MES60V)" 60GB model, the headphone output plug can also be used to output a video signal. The S60V also has a buil-in radio FM tuner.

2.4" color LCD (240x320) is built-in the front of the product. The lower part is equiped with a plus button.	Plus button	Behind, a strap hole is available.
Right hand side of the main part. It has a power button, volume, previous, play/stop, skip, DC input, etc.	Upper view: a headphone plug and HOLD switch.	Bottom view with USB plug and an extension terminal.

gigabeat S30 and iPod 30GB

Transmission via Windows Media Player 10.

Windows Media Player 10 is used for music and video transmission to the gigabeat. Compatible OS are Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Although previous gigabeat models could be used with either "gigabeat room" or "Windows Media Player", the newer model can only be used with WMP10 since Windows Mobile software for Portable Media Center was adopted as OS this time.

When the gigabeat is connected, 2 transmission modes are available: manual transmission and automatic synchronization. While it is also possible to update manually, if automatic synchronization is used, videos and music files registered in WMP will be updated automatically.

When 9.2GB of MP3s were selected for transfer, transmission took about 45 minutes (Pentium M 1.2GHz/memory 768MB).

Transmission is done with Windows Media Player10.	An automatic synchronization / manual update operation is chosen during the first connection. Change is also possible within MP10.

Media selection is done from the start menu.

Because a new OS is used, the operativity was greatly changed compared with former gigabeat products. Similar to the touch sensor interface available on the gigabeat F and X series, the gigabeat S is also equiped with a cross key. However, it is a set of buttons this time instead of a touch sensor type.

Moreover, the graphic interface displayed on the LCD is changed sharply. The interface is similar to the one found on "Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE)", starting is done by pressing the [start button]. A selection screen with [television], [music], [picture], [video], and [settings] appears.

Selecting one of these entries lead to a media selection screen. In addition, the [television] entry can be used to watch shows that have been recorded exclusively on Windows Media Center Edition (MCE). Since MCE is seldomly used in Japan, it is regretful to have the top option set as [television]. (<~ not sure at all about the translation here ^_^;)

MCE user-friendly feeling of operation.

Compatible music formats are WMA 9 Lossless, WMA/MP3/WAV. Compatible bitrate for MP3/WMA is 4-320k bps. WMA lossless is newly supported for the first time on the gigabeat S.

Furthermore, when the sound quality is considered, a new quality improvement technology called "H2C technology", jointly developed by Toshiba with the Kyushu Institute of Technology human life IT Development Center is adopted. The upper frequency of 16kHz and above is complemented by an original algorithm, and the purpose is to make the music sound more natural.

If [music] is chosen from the start menu and the button of the center of the cross key is pushed, the player will go in search mode. A search menu can be chosen within the following modes :artist / album / genre / music / playlist.

Artist search screen	Album search screen	Playlist search screen

When a musical track is selected, an [additional] selection screen will appear with an Add to quicklist feature.

Each search menu is switched using the right and left buttons, and using the up and down buttons changes from random musical track / album / play lists modes. The back button is used to return to the upper menu. If an album or a musical track are searched and the central button is pushed, the [additional] selection screen will appear with and add to quick playlist feature. From then on, if Play is pushed, in addition the current musical tracks already on the quick list, selection is added to the playlist, and it is possible to create a playlist without using a PC.

For the selection operation itself, it is simple and intelligible. Each mode, such as an artist / album / genre, is independent and the search menu of gigabeat S can be toggled by the right/left button to switch the search mode. For example, while doing an album search, if right button is pushed, it will change to artist search.

Although it's easy to get used to it, most players on the market use right button to select a track, so it can be confusing when using the gigabeat S for the first time.

If a music track is being played and the Start menu is used, the music continues to play even while using the start menu, browsing the other music files, video files, going into options, etc.. Music stops playing as soon as the play button is used when a video file or music track is selected.

Fast forward/rewind is possible with the skip/back buttons on the Play screen. A delightful feature is the possibility to transfer the jacket photograph with WMP10, and the main part is able to display it. In the album play screen, the jacket photograph, music name, artist name, album name, play time, etc. are displayed. Furthermore, displaying only the jacket image is possible and the large-sized color LCD of the gigabeat S is fully used.

Play screen	Jacket image can be displayed fullscreen

Tone quality is good. The "H2C" sound effect.

Attached earphones

Another substantial feature is the H2C sound processing technology, jointly developed by Toshiba and the Kyushu Institute of Technology. A natural and free from defects impression was felt regarding the sound quality. Although it almost doesn't change compared to the sound quality of previous products in the gigabeat series, it is satisfactory.

Attached earphone's texture of the plastic feels cheap and don't seem to grace the sound quality the product is able to output, in appearance. They're the level which can use the tone quality itself very well although "the admiration which deleted cost" has come out vividly even if compared with gigabeat X. (<~ WTF indeed ^^;) Although high frequency was lacking just a little, low-pitched sound feels "loose". If possible, upgrading the earphones would be great since a feeling is quite unsatisfactory.

Harmonics setting screen

"H2C" sound enhancement feature can be turned ON/OFF in the [Harmonics] menu under [setting]. In addition, if H2C is enabled, the battery discharges quickly. When trying the "H2C" feature and listening to several music tracks, the difference when H2C was enabled or disabled was far from obvious...

Comparison audio tests were done using Kenwood "KH-C701", Sennheiser"PX200" and Roland "RH-300." However, maybe since it is an experimental model, a difference in the tone quality was hardly detected. When doing blind tests with "H2C" ON and OFF, it was impossible to determine which position it was set to by just hearing.. But the tone quality even without H2C is good regardless and 8 kinds of equalizer settings are available such as jazz / pop / rock / etc.. (the difference of tone between each equalizer settings was clearly felt compared to "H2C" ON or OFF)

Video quality is good. DivX cannot be transfered as-is.

My video screen

If [my video] is selected on the main menu, the gigabeat S can be used as a video player. In "my video", the recorded video files are sorted by name / date / in order of transmission, and can be easily managed.

Compatible Video format is WMV with a maximum bitrate of 800kbps and a file size of 4GB or less. However, although Divx DRM isn't supported by the gigabeat S, playback of DivX seem to have been displayed at International CES.

Therefore, when trying to transfer MPEG-4 and H.264 files for DivX and PSP, Windows Media Player will convert those files to WMV. H.264 for PSP (.m4v file) however wasn't recognized by WMPlayer and transfer was not completed, either.

In Windows Explorer, the folder where videos are stored on the gigabeat S can be seen in [My Computer \ TOSHIBA gigabeat S \ media \ Video].When trying to drag and drop a video file encoded with Divx directly onto the video folder, transmission cannot be done as-is and a conversion to WMV window is displayed. In addition, although MPEG-4 file for PSP can be transfered as-is, they're not recognized by the gigabeat S. It is therefore a player which can be said to be "only for WMV" exclusively.

When a Divx file is drag & droped directly, a dialog which forces re-encoding to WMV will be displayed and transmission of Divx cannot be performed.

Video playback screen

The direction of the screen can be chosen, in the [setting] menu, between vertical or horizontal mode. Usually, it's more convenient to make selections in vertical mode and then make it rotate at the time of playback to watch. Furthermore, since the start menu isn't displayed in horizontal mode, common use is impossible in this direction.

The quality of the video display is good. Even when comparing with product equiped with a larger LCD screen, since pixel density is high, it is not only equal, but enjoying a detailed image is possible. Response speed is also enough (no ghosting). Although the viewing angle is not very large, 2 persons can enjoy the video together with not much loss of luminosity or contrast caused by the angle. In addition, there are no setting to toggle the aspect ratio, etc..

Fast forward/rewind operations are performed on the player (on the upper part in Horizontal screen mode). Although response time such as "skip" is good, it is possible to make a mistake by pushing the Plus button occasionally.

A feature to display images is also available. If [My Pictures] is chosen, selection of image albums is possible and a slideshow can be performed. A zoom feature (up to 4X) is available and viewing slideshows while listening to music is possible. In addition, while performing music playback, all the "My Pictures" functions are operational.

My Pictures. Slideshow function available.	Watching picture or slideshow can be performed while listening to music.

The battery is built-in, Lithium-Ion type. When playing music or watching pictures, battery life is about 12 hours. While watching videos, battery life falls to 2,5 hours (when watching 500Kbps WMV). Although battery life is rather short when movie playback is performed, since charging via USB is possible, if moving around with a laptop, it is easy to charge the player.

Will 'gigabeat' become the new generic term to designate digital audio players?

The hardware quality is high and operativity improves. Moreover, the performance of the large-sized color LCD screen, introduced by the gigabeat F, is enhanced with sharper jacket display and playback of WMV animation.

Although video playback tends to attract attention primarily, the most important feature is that the operations as an audio player are much more user-friendly. With the adoption of a Windows OS, since it is likely that products from other manufacturers will also use the same OS, differentation may become difficult, although the beneficial side of this is that the gigabeat S is a highly complete product.

Although the direct competitor is the almighty iPod, the gigabeat S is a real contendant both in terms of specification and functionally. Regarding the price, although the iPod 30GB costs 31,800 yen and the gigabeat S 30GB costs 36,000 yen, considering the distribution channel of the iPod (Apple products have a low reduction rate), the difference is likely to become small very fast.

Moreover, a distribution channel compared to "iTunes Music Store" with subscription type services (downloading a certain number of musical tracks by paying a monthly fee) is expected for the gigabeat S. When such service is started, it is possible that the market, currently led by iPod/iTunes, will be shaken.

The digital audio player market is a market in which many manufacturers have been unsuccesful so far, including Sony. "gigabeat" which is now a long-established company brand, could be the product likely to achieve a full-scale leap forward in the audio player market.