Waterproof Music - More Water-Ready MP3 Players
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Freestyle Audio Soundwave - around $90
San Diego-based extreme audio equipment manufacturer Freestyle Audio describes its Soundwave as the world's finest submersible MP3 player. It's certainly a fantastic-looking piece of equipment that is shockproof as well as waterproof, and wouldn't look out of place on a building site. The casing is an appealing mixture of rugged rubber and chunky plastic, and a serious-looking membrane has been included to protect the controls.
The player also has a fully-featured color OLED display, FM radio, equalizer presets, and it floats if you drop it. Battery life is estimated at a more than satisfactory 18 hours, and the player is supplied with waterproof ear buds and an arm strap. If we were buying on looks and features alone, the Soundwave would win hands down.
The Freestyle Audio Soundwave shows off its rugged good looks
Freestyle also make a 1GB screenless version of the Soundwave with similar specs and up to 30 hours playing time on a full charge. Both players are rated fully waterproof to three meters, but we have heard reports of suspect waterproofing on some models, so unfortunately we are unable give this our full recommendation.
More information from: Freestyle Audio
Finis Swimp3 - Around $120
The Swimp3 from water sport training equipment specialists Finis is a bit different. For starters, it has no headphones, relying instead on bone conduction technology to get the sounds from the player into your head. This is achieved by the direct transfer of audio vibrations via the cheekbones to the inner ears, which apparently solves many of the difficulties of listening to sound underwater.
The biggest challenge afflicting all waterproof audio systems is overcoming the fact that sound waves in water become muffled and distorted, and the Finis system neatly sidesteps the issue to provide a level of clarity absent from other underwater players. The effect is more like being submerged in music than listening to it in any conventional sense.
However, the technology is not without its own problems. Most significantly, it doesn't work so well at high activity levels or when your head is out of the water, limiting its usefulness for very active swimmers.
As you might expect, this non-standard technology is quite expensive. The capacity of the Swimp3 is relatively small for the price, at just 256MB. It is also quite light on features, supporting just the MP3 and WMA formats, eight hours of playback time, and a short 90-day warranty.
More information from: Finis
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