Gigabeat
Encyclopedia
The Gigabeat is a line of digital audio players by Toshiba
.
and WAV
sound files, USB 2.0, and integration with Windows Media Player
. The device has a 160x86-pixel monochromic
screen with blue backlighting. Battery life is specified at 11 hours. It is only available in Japan.
The Gigabeat G was updated and branded as the G21. This version offered some new features such as LAN addressing.
screen with a QVGA resolution. Battery life lasts up to 16 hours, and reportedly 19 hours if the backlight is set to 5 seconds. The Gigabeat F introduced a new controller called "Plustouch" which is a touch sensitive control system on a plus-shaped pad. Like the Gigabeat G, the player supports MP3, WMA (as well as protected WMA format), and WAV, but encrypts all uploaded files to a special SAT format.
In November 2005, Toshiba released simultaneous upgrades to the Gigabeat F's firmware and the Gigabeat Room software. An English version was released in March 2006. Problems with image transferring and distortion were solved, and an equalizer
was added to the player.
The Gigabeat F is a popular candidate for alternative firmware with its rich screen, strong processor, ample storage capacities and simple hardware customisation capabilities. It shares hardware with the first generation of the Zune, is compatible with all Toshiba 1.8" hard drives (up to 80gb with the original firmware, more with third party firmware) and can take iPod replacement batteries with little or no modification.
display, which enables it to display images. It also has a smaller body (similar to the future Gigabeat S) and raised Plustouch pad. It was sold primarily in Australia and various Asian countries.
The player features a 1.1-inch, 16-bit OLED
screen of a resolution of 96 by 96 pixels and comes in two different capacities. The P5 is available in two different colour variations and is the 512 MB model, whereas the P10 is only available in 1 GB in black. Both types support MP3, WMA, and WAV, and includes a built-in FM tuner.
characters.
in January 2006 in Las Vegas by Bill Gates
in his keynote speech. It uses version 2 of the Portable Media Center
interface by Microsoft
and the device closely integrates with Windows Media Player
11 and the Xbox 360
. The player has a 12-hour battery life for audio and plays video for up to 2.5 hours. The Gigabeat S is the first of subsequent Toshiba players that does not include Gigabeat Room to transfer and sync content, the players are now compatible with Windows Media Player
.
The player offers a 2.4-inch, 16-bit TFT LCD display with a QVGA resolution and storage capacities of 30 GB or 60 GB. It also has a built-in FM tuner and audio support for MP3, WAV, WMA (both lossy and lossless), while the player natively supports WMV
. Other video formats such as MPEG-4
, AVI
and QuickTime
are only supported through transcoding
. The device is also PlaysForSure-certified, which means that it is compatible with online stores like Napster To Go.
The Gigabeat S also has a USB Host
for downloading images directly off digital cameras without the need of a computer, while connecting the player to a TV needs an optional composite TV-out cable.
On March 3, 2009, Toshiba released a firmware update which upgrades the Platform to 1.3 (from 1.1). There are no release notes and the changes are unknown.
is based on the hardware of this player, it is not affected due to a different firmware. This problem has been left unresolved; it is not known whether the March 2009 update resolves this issue.
. Although the device is larger, with a 3.5-inch TFT LCD screen, the Gigabeat V shares the same interface, media formats, and internal hardware design as the Gigabeat S. It is bundled with a USB cable, an A/V output jack, and a custom splitter cable. The player has a 30-hour battery life for audio and 8 hours for video. Unlike many other portable media players, the Gigabeat V lacks the ability to charge through USB.
The Japanese version includes recording audio and 1seg
TV programming.
with a resolution of 480 x 272 pixels, and is available in capacities of 40 GB and 80 GB. The player's battery life is rated at about 28 hours for audio, and 10 hours for video. There is no word on when this version is coming to the US.
display and is the first Gigabeat to have an FM tuner, recorder and transmitter, and the first DAP to include a 1-bit digital-analog converter
. A charge of ten minutes will enable the Gigabeat U to play music for three hours, and battery life lasts up to 20 hours. The player supports WMA (lossy and protected), MP3, and uncompressed WAV. It is currently available in Japan and the United States.
The new Gigabeat, currently named MET401, includes Wi-Fi (b+g) capabilities and runs Windows Embedded. The model MET401s has no WiFi capabilities. Its hardware is largely based on the same Freescale i.MX31 CPU as the Gigabeat S and V.
This model comes with a 2.4" QVGA screen, 4 GB of flash memory, and Toshiba's H2C Technology (High order Harmonic Compensation Technology) for lossy audio compensation as first featured in the second generation V series.
Toshiba
is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
.
Gigabeat
The Gigabeat was first called the MobilPhile and later renamed to Gigabeat. It contained a monochrome LCD with blue backlighting, and a 5 GB removable PCMCIA hard drive. Its case was made of aluminum, and battery life is specified at 18 hours. It required music to be converted using the Toshiba Audio Application to an encrypted format. It has a circular dpad surrounding a smaller circular play/pause button, 2 menu buttons, side-mounted volume up/down buttons and a lock switch.Gigabeat G
The Gigabeat G was first introduced during the Japanese WPC Expo in September 2003. The hard drive player features capacities from 5 GB to 40 GB, support for MP3, WMAWindows Media Audio
Windows Media Audio is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio codecs. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs...
and WAV
WAV
Waveform Audio File Format , is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs...
sound files, USB 2.0, and integration with Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
. The device has a 160x86-pixel monochromic
Monochrome
Monochrome describes paintings, drawings, design, or photographs in one color or shades of one color. A monochromatic object or image has colors in shades of limited colors or hues. Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale or black-and-white...
screen with blue backlighting. Battery life is specified at 11 hours. It is only available in Japan.
The Gigabeat G was updated and branded as the G21. This version offered some new features such as LAN addressing.
Gigabeat F
The Gigabeat F was released in September 2004. The hard drive player is available in capacities from 10 to 60 GB, and has a 2.2" 16-bit TFT LCDTFT LCD
Thin film transistor liquid crystal display is a variant of liquid crystal display which uses thin-film transistor technology to improve image quality . TFT LCD is one type of Active matrix LCD, though all LCD-screens are based on TFT active matrix addressing...
screen with a QVGA resolution. Battery life lasts up to 16 hours, and reportedly 19 hours if the backlight is set to 5 seconds. The Gigabeat F introduced a new controller called "Plustouch" which is a touch sensitive control system on a plus-shaped pad. Like the Gigabeat G, the player supports MP3, WMA (as well as protected WMA format), and WAV, but encrypts all uploaded files to a special SAT format.
In November 2005, Toshiba released simultaneous upgrades to the Gigabeat F's firmware and the Gigabeat Room software. An English version was released in March 2006. Problems with image transferring and distortion were solved, and an equalizer
Equalization
Equalization, is the process of adjusting the balance between frequency components within an electronic signal. The most well known use of equalization is in sound recording and reproduction but there are many other applications in electronics and telecommunications. The circuit or equipment used...
was added to the player.
The Gigabeat F is a popular candidate for alternative firmware with its rich screen, strong processor, ample storage capacities and simple hardware customisation capabilities. It shares hardware with the first generation of the Zune, is compatible with all Toshiba 1.8" hard drives (up to 80gb with the original firmware, more with third party firmware) and can take iPod replacement batteries with little or no modification.
Gigabeat X
The Gigabeat X was an update to the F series; changes included the dropping of the 40 GB version for a 30 GB version, and a 16-hour battery life. The X-series has a larger 2.4" 16-bit TFT LCDTFT LCD
Thin film transistor liquid crystal display is a variant of liquid crystal display which uses thin-film transistor technology to improve image quality . TFT LCD is one type of Active matrix LCD, though all LCD-screens are based on TFT active matrix addressing...
display, which enables it to display images. It also has a smaller body (similar to the future Gigabeat S) and raised Plustouch pad. It was sold primarily in Australia and various Asian countries.
Gigabeat P
The Gigabeat P series players are Toshiba's first attempt at entering the flash-based Digital audio player (DAP) market.The player features a 1.1-inch, 16-bit OLED
Organic light-emitting diode
An OLED is a light-emitting diode in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compounds which emit light in response to an electric current. This layer of organic semiconductor material is situated between two electrodes...
screen of a resolution of 96 by 96 pixels and comes in two different capacities. The P5 is available in two different colour variations and is the 512 MB model, whereas the P10 is only available in 1 GB in black. Both types support MP3, WMA, and WAV, and includes a built-in FM tuner.
Special editions
The Gigabeat P5S is a Japanese-only, 512 MB model of the Gigabeat P that was released in July 2006 (Trapnest models) and August 2006 (Blast models), which featured custom plates of NanaNana (manga)
is a Japanese shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Ai Yazawa, serialized in Cookie published by Shueisha. The manga derives its title from the name of the two main characters, both of whom are called Nana. Nana Komatsu is a small town girl who goes to Tokyo to follow her boyfriend and...
characters.
Gigabeat S
The Gigabeat S was released in Japan in April 2006 and in the United States on the last day of May 2006. The player was first presented at the Consumer Electronics ShowConsumer Electronics Show
The International Consumer Electronics Show is a major technology-related trade show held each January in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not open to the public, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored show typically hosts previews of products and new...
in January 2006 in Las Vegas by Bill Gates
Bill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
in his keynote speech. It uses version 2 of the Portable Media Center
Portable Media Center
Portable Media Center is a defunct hard drive-based portable media player platform developed by Microsoft. Announced at the 2003 Consumer Electronics Show , and released in early 2004, it was originally positioned as a competitor to Apple's iPod.The platform was conceived in line with Microsoft's...
interface by Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
and the device closely integrates with Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
11 and the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
. The player has a 12-hour battery life for audio and plays video for up to 2.5 hours. The Gigabeat S is the first of subsequent Toshiba players that does not include Gigabeat Room to transfer and sync content, the players are now compatible with Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...
.
The player offers a 2.4-inch, 16-bit TFT LCD display with a QVGA resolution and storage capacities of 30 GB or 60 GB. It also has a built-in FM tuner and audio support for MP3, WAV, WMA (both lossy and lossless), while the player natively supports WMV
Windows Media Video
'Windows Media Video is a video compression format for several proprietary codecs developed by Microsoft. The original video format, known as WMV, was originally designed for Internet streaming applications, as a competitor to RealVideo. The other formats, such as WMV Screen and WMV Image, cater...
. Other video formats such as MPEG-4
MPEG-4
MPEG-4 is a method of defining compression of audio and visual digital data. It was introduced in late 1998 and designated a standard for a group of audio and video coding formats and related technology agreed upon by the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group under the formal standard ISO/IEC...
, AVI
Audio Video Interleave
Audio Video Interleave , known by its acronym AVI, is a multimedia container format introduced by Microsoft in November 1992 as part of its Video for Windows technology. AVI files can contain both audio and video data in a file container that allows synchronous audio-with-video playback...
and QuickTime
QuickTime
QuickTime is an extensible proprietary multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. The classic version of QuickTime is available for Windows XP and later, as well as Mac OS X Leopard and...
are only supported through transcoding
Transcode
Transcoding is the direct digital-to-digital data conversion of one encoding to another, such as for movie data files or audio files. This is usually done in cases where a target device does not support the format or has limited storage capacity that mandates a reduced file size, or to convert...
. The device is also PlaysForSure-certified, which means that it is compatible with online stores like Napster To Go.
The Gigabeat S also has a USB Host
USB On-The-Go
USB On-The-Go, often abbreviated USB OTG, is a specification that allows USB devices such as digital audio players or mobile phones to act as a host allowing a USB Flash Drive, mouse, or keyboard to be attached.- Architecture :...
for downloading images directly off digital cameras without the need of a computer, while connecting the player to a TV needs an optional composite TV-out cable.
On March 3, 2009, Toshiba released a firmware update which upgrades the Platform to 1.3 (from 1.1). There are no release notes and the changes are unknown.
Criticism
Some users have encountered a problem when the player deletes all media on its hard drive after being disconnected from USB sync with a computer. Although Microsoft's ZuneZune
Zune is a digital media brand owned by Microsoft which includes a line of portable media players, a digital media player software for Windows machines, a music subscription service known as a 'Zune Music Pass', music and video streaming for the Xbox 360 via the Zune Software, music, TV and movie...
is based on the hardware of this player, it is not affected due to a different firmware. This problem has been left unresolved; it is not known whether the March 2009 update resolves this issue.
Gigabeat V
The Gigabeat V, released in October 2006 in a capacity of 30 GB, is Toshiba's first attempt at a portable media playerPortable media player
A portable media player or digital audio player, is a consumer electronics device that is capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, video, documents, etc. the data is typically stored on a hard drive, microdrive, or flash memory. In contrast, analog portable audio...
. Although the device is larger, with a 3.5-inch TFT LCD screen, the Gigabeat V shares the same interface, media formats, and internal hardware design as the Gigabeat S. It is bundled with a USB cable, an A/V output jack, and a custom splitter cable. The player has a 30-hour battery life for audio and 8 hours for video. Unlike many other portable media players, the Gigabeat V lacks the ability to charge through USB.
The Japanese version includes recording audio and 1seg
1seg
is a mobile terrestrial digital audio/video and data broadcasting service in Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru. Service began experimentally during 2005 and commercially on April 1, 2006. In Brazil, the broadcast started in late 2007 in just a few cities, with a slight difference from...
TV programming.
Second-generation
A new version of the Gigabeat V was released on June 1, 2007 in Japan. It supports a 4-inch widescreenWidescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
with a resolution of 480 x 272 pixels, and is available in capacities of 40 GB and 80 GB. The player's battery life is rated at about 28 hours for audio, and 10 hours for video. There is no word on when this version is coming to the US.
Gigabeat U
On March 19, 2007, Toshiba announced a new line of players called the Gigabeat U, available in capacities of 1 GB and 2 GB. The flash-based player has a 1.1-inch OLEDOrganic light-emitting diode
An OLED is a light-emitting diode in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compounds which emit light in response to an electric current. This layer of organic semiconductor material is situated between two electrodes...
display and is the first Gigabeat to have an FM tuner, recorder and transmitter, and the first DAP to include a 1-bit digital-analog converter
1-bit DAC
A Bitstream or 1-bit DAC is a consumer electronics marketing term describing an oversampling digital-to-analog converter with an actual 1-bit DAC in a delta-sigma loop operating at multiples of the sampling frequency...
. A charge of ten minutes will enable the Gigabeat U to play music for three hours, and battery life lasts up to 20 hours. The player supports WMA (lossy and protected), MP3, and uncompressed WAV. It is currently available in Japan and the United States.
Gigabeat T
This model comes with a 2.4" QVGA screen, 4 GB of flash memory, and Toshiba's H2C Technology (High order Harmonic Compensation Technology) for lossy audio compensation as first featured in the second generation V series.
See also
- Comparison of portable media playersComparison of portable media playersThe following comparison of portable media players compares general and technical information for notable digital playback devices.- General :- Technical specifications :- Syncing and transfer :- Wifi Connectivity :- Audio formats :...
- Digital audio player
- Portable Media CenterPortable Media CenterPortable Media Center is a defunct hard drive-based portable media player platform developed by Microsoft. Announced at the 2003 Consumer Electronics Show , and released in early 2004, it was originally positioned as a competitor to Apple's iPod.The platform was conceived in line with Microsoft's...
- Portable media playerPortable media playerA portable media player or digital audio player, is a consumer electronics device that is capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, video, documents, etc. the data is typically stored on a hard drive, microdrive, or flash memory. In contrast, analog portable audio...
- ToshibaToshibais a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
- RockboxRockboxRockbox is a replacement for the standard firmware in various forms of digital audio players . It offers an alternative to the player's operating system, in many cases without removing the original firmware, which provides a plug-in architecture for adding various enhancements and functions...
(alternative, open source firmware for the Gigabeat F,X and S series)