Portable CD players are just so retro, that is, until you slap in some new tricks like an SD card for line-in recording or MP3 playback. Affectionately dubbed the "i.μ's" (Eye Muse), the HMR-1 supports MP3/WMA playback and can record direct from CD or from externally attached sources (192kbps max) direct to SD cards without the use of a PC. No, it won't record to writable CDs and it doesn't support DRM'd WMA files. We'll see if the ol' dog hunts when these hit late November for a steep ¥25,200 in Japan or about $214.

[Via Impress]


Hitachi's HMR-1 CD player and MP3 recorder