Sony Reader

This digital device from Sony lets you read eBooks from anywhere on its high-resolution, paper-like display. About the size of a paperback, the lightweight Sony Reader ($TBA; available this spring) holds up to 80 average-size books in digital format and also has Memory Stick and Secure Digital (SD) flash memory card slots. It sports a 6-inch screen, battery life equivalent to roughly 7,500 page turns, and can also store and display personal documents in Adobe PDF format, web content like blogs or news feeds, and JPEG photos. Sony's Connect store plans to offer thousands of downloadable eBooks — fiction and non-fiction, bestsellers, well-known authors, classics and more — along with software to manage purchased eBooks and easily transfer them to the device.

TrekStor i.Beat Organix Gold

The bling is in your pocket with the TrekStor i.Beat Organix Gold MP3 Player ($20,000). This ode to outrageously expensive justifies its price tag by being cast in 18-karat gold with 63 diamonds totaling one-karat. Oh, it also holds 1GB of music and has dual headphone jacks as well. Shipping from Amazon (hopefully) in a plain cardboard box to keep Mr. UPS
from getting any ideas.

Video Watch

We're pretty sure someone once promised us as kids that we'd soon be watching TV on our wristwatch. We're not sure about you, but our watch still just tells the time. ThinkGeek's Video Watch with OLED Screen ($130) is ready to change that in an affordable way. It's got a 1.5-inch (128 x 128 resolution) full color screen that displays video and images, and also offers MP3/WMA playback (earphones included) and 6 equalizer modes. A built-in microphone allows recording of notes to self or conversations.

Creative Zen Vision

While everyone waits for Apple to drop a video iPod bomb, Creative Technology's new Zen Vision digital media player ($400) struts down the aisle and loudly proclaims that it will fight such a video iPod in a cage match just as soon as Steve Jobs unleashes it onto the world. The Zen Vision has a high-resolution 3.7-inch (640x480) color screen for photo viewing and video playback, and supports several formats including MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX and Xvid, WMV, MJPEG, and TiVoToGo. It offers 30GB of storage (15,000 songs, tens of thousands of photos, or up to 120 hours of video), a Compact Flash card slot, voice recorder, FM radio, and works with subscription music services from Yahoo and Napster.

New iPod shuffle

Completely redesigned, the New iPod shuffle ($80) features an all-new aluminum enclosure that is so small, it takes the title of "smallest MP3 player in the world." The New shuffle includes a new, diminutive dock and a built-in clip to attach the player to jeans, a shirt, or a bag. Also included is 1GB of storage space, twice that of the previous entry-level shuffle, and the ubiquitous white headphones. While not for everyone, if you're looking to upgrade an older 512MB shuffle or just looking for a second iPod to
use at the gym, you won't be disappointed.