Among the more interesting gizmos on display at the show, which ends Sunday:
• The Inno, a portable combination XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. receiver/MP3 player with 1 gigabyte of internal memory.
The device, from Pioneer Electronics, allows users to store songs taken from their own CD collection, as well as 50 hours of XM programming. Playlists can combine songs from both sources.
Users can also bookmark songs they hear on XM, then buy the tracks for 99 cents from Napster. The device will be available in March and retails for $399. A boom box and car kit are also available.
• Samsung Electronics Co. also announced a line of portable satellite radio/MP3 players.
The Helix XM2Go player is similar to the Pioneer Inno and will also sell for $399 in March.
But an even smaller Samsung player, called the Nexus, works along with a portable XM antenna/receiver called the Passport. The Nexus receives satellite radio signals when connected to the Passport and can record XM programs along with a listener's own music collection. Removed from the dock, the Nexus plays back the XM tracks recorded earlier.
A player that stores 25 hours of music will sell for $199 in March, while the larger player that holds 50 hours will sell for $249.99.
• Several new handheld video options included the Gigabeat player from Toshiba, one of a series of devices running Microsoft Corp.'s portable media center software.
The device comes with either a 30- or 60-gigabyte hard drive and can store hours of music, videos, and TV shows and other content. The device displays the video on a 2.5-inch color screen. It also has a built-in FM tuner.
Both models will be available in March, with the 30 GB player selling for $299 and a 60 GB model retailing for $399.
• GPS devices were another hot item at the show. The units, designed chiefly to get drivers door-to-door on unfamiliar roads, are expanding to include DVD players and music files.
The AVIC-Z1 from Pioneer has a 30 GB hard drive, using two-thirds of that space to store navigation information and the rest to hold as many as 2,500 songs ripped from CDs.
The system also plays DVDs on its 7-inch screen and, with an adaptor, can be used to control an iPod music player.
The system includes voice recognition, so a command such as "Go to LAX" will produce a detailed map to the Los Angeles airport. A user's entire address book can be transferred to the device from a cell phone or PDA wirelessly using Bluetooth and can be accessed via the touch screen.
The AVIC-Z1 will be available in April at a cost of $2,250.
• New technology is also updating an old habit — reading.
Sony is betting more on a smaller number of key products, including its electronic book reader.
The slim device can store hundreds of books in its internal memory and boasts a long battery life, which the company claims will allow a person to read "War and Peace" without a recharge.
The screen is not backlit so it doesn't flicker. And the size of the text can be changed to accommodate aging eyes.
Sony will be selling books for download on its Connect online service. Users can also display their own documents on the device, making it an efficient place to store files for long business trips.
