September 4, 2006 There’s been some interesting developments in the evolution of the portable audio player at IFA, with both the Miuro and now the K5 MP3 Player from Samsung - a flash-memory based MP3 player with built-in slide-out speakers, 1.7" Touchpad OLED LCD display, and a sleek one-button design. Using the same slider form factor that has become accepted so quickly with the mobile phone to increase surface area (and hence give more room for display, keyboard or in this case a speaker facia), the aim of the innovation is to be able to play music in two modes instead of one – public and personal. The K5 has a built-in FM radio tuner and supports MP3, WMA, WMA DRM10 and JPEG formats. It will be available September 10 in black and will ship later in the year in pink at US$210 MSRP (2GB) and $260 MSRP (4GB).
Most MP3 players are a solitary experience. Either you plug in earbuds or you have to lug around bulky, external speakers in order for anyone else to hear. Consumers never had a better alternative - until now. The Samsung K5 offers two small clear speakers built right into the sleek, compact devise. This groundbreaking technology delivers better sound than anything you would expect could fit in your pocket.
Now consumers can entertain guests with a big sound out of a small package. For those users on-the-go the player still offers consumers the option of listening to their music privately with a set of base thumping ear buds.
“Samsung is continuously looking for unique opportunities to broaden the scope of consumer benefits in our portable digital audio category,” said Matt Durgin, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Digital Media Products, Samsung Electronics America. “In addition to offering consumers the freedom to choose their music service, Samsung added a built-in speaker to eliminate the bulky add-ons or extra wires once needed to share the listening experience with their families and friends."
The K5's slide-out speakers deliver rich, smooth audio and its sliding out speakers upholds the K5's slick look. The K5 is able to sit perfectly on any flat surface providing the ultimate portable shareable scenario.
Breaking new ground in both form and functionality, the K5 is the first Samsung digital audio player to use OLED technology. The display and navigational array are smooth to the touch with sparkly ice blue adaptive graphics. The menu and navigation system is simple to use and add to the product’s appeal. Another most requested travel function is an alarm clock which the K5 sports, allowing consumers to wake up to their favourite songs rather than a jolting alarm clock buzz.
It’s comfortable two-part ear buds and its top digital quality sound raises the bar for enhanced, on-the-go listening. The K5 also displays JPEGs with a 1.7-inch full-colour screen for bright, clear images. Now users can create a personalized slideshow by setting their pictures to a variety of tunes.
Once the party is started, it may as well keep going, so the K5 was designed with a hearty battery life of up to 30 hours using earphones, or 6 hours in speaker mode. The K5 supports consumer’s existing MP3 collection or popular subscription services such as Napster, Rhapsody, Yahoo, and Urge so they can easily play their content transferred from a PC.
To coincide with the launch of the K5, Samsung developed the MPFreedom campaign which demonstrates the freedom of choice music subscription services offer consumers. This campaign represents the benefit of not being held down to one particular outlet, but to living wirelessly, and express individuality.
