One of most well-known products from Sony - PlayStation 3 system – now has a new software update version 2.20. It introduces BD-Live - a feature, which will let users download new content - for compatible Blu-ray Disc movies.

This latest system software update will result in adding Blu-ray Disc (BD) Profile 2.0 to the system’s functionality along with the ability to benefit from interactive features like downloadable video content, games, ringtones and more. It provides PS3 users the ultimate, exciting interactive film experience. The system software update will also enable photo & music playlists on a PS3 to be copied to PSP.

To access this Blu-ray Profile 2.0, users need an Internet connection plus 1GB of local storage. Some of the features, which would be possible with BD-LIVE, include, varied downloadable content, comprising bonus scenes, shorts, subtitles, trailers, which can be sent to cell phones, images, etc. Interactive movie-based games can also be played.

BD-LIVE, system software update version 2.20 sure enhances PS3 system’s synergy with PSP, enabling users to copy their chosen music & photo playlists to their PSP. Thus, it becomes easier to share content between the two systems.

Iriver has always been known to come up with new products and surprise its customers by constantly innovating and experimenting by staying tuned to the users’ tastes and market trends. They have brought on markets popular devices, such as the versatile D20/D25 dictionaries. In keeping with their reputation, they have just announced a new, highly innovative navigation device - The NV Life - that of course, doubles as a PMP.

Let’s check some of the features of The NV Life
•    The NV Life comes with a 800×480 screen. It also comes with FM transmitter and DMB TV tuner.
•    It offers player identification and password protection facility so that stolen players can easily be identified.

However, iriver has perhaps failed to take into account the needs of people who want more than half a movie on their player. To put it simply, the NV Life only comes in 2 and 4GB. A SD slot is there, but an apparent lack of SDHC support means the player can have maximum storage capability of up to 8GB. No mention regarding pricing or availability has been made as yet.

Wolfson Microelectronics, according to media reports, has lost out in its bid to supply Apple’s next-generation iPods - with audio chips. Wolfson currently produces chips for Apple’s iPod music player. Its other customers include Hewlett Packard, LG, Canon, Microsoft, TomTom and Samsung.

On its part, the firm merely stated it had been notified about one of its product offerings not being accepted by a major Tier 1 customer for inclusion in the next-generation of its portable media players. The high growth product, as mentioned above, is assumed to be the iPhone. Wolfson has not officially confirmed this news bit. However, it will continue to share a strong relationship with the ‘customer’ as a vital supplier for its many other high-growth product areas, it informed.

In spite of this blow, the firm remains confident of achieving good growth in the current financial year, and is anticipating full-year revenue in line with market expectations. It also expects revenues to be in the range of $44-$48million for the first quarter, and anticipates strong growth for its mixed signal devices from other application areas, comprising handsets & GPS systems that would mostly even out the loss of revenues from MP3 players.

A spiffy new 16GB Samsung YP-P2 is now available in Canada. It’s a whole 8GB bigger than the model that’s currently available in the US.

Let’s look at some of the prominent features of 16GB Samsung YP-P2:
•    The player boasts 3-inch touchscreen, which displays high resolution images.
•    It features Bluetooth 2.0 support with the help of which transferring and sharing files becomes faster and easier.
•    It also supports H.264, OGG, and WMV playback as before.
•    It’s 8GB bigger than the model currently available in the US, as mentioned above.

The 16GB Samsung YP-P2, made available by Best Buy Canada, will come at $330 Canadian - a $40 discount off the $370 list price - on the retailer’s web site, which one may assume is the first to offer this beefed-up, Bluetooth-packin’ PMP.

Here’s a cool, cute program, which automatically processes, converts Windows Outlook & Mac Mail e-mail, PDFs, Microsoft Word documents, and other texts into MP3 files – nearly 4 to 5 times smaller than the average song! Created by MagneticTime, iAudioize makes use of more natural -sounding voice technology (called Heather) for people who don’t want to be bothered with reading. Instead, they are read to via iAudioize.

The software lets you listen to your Word, emails, PDF, Pages documents, etc. in MP3 format on your iPod. You can thus bring everyday info from the desktop to your portable audio device, in MP3 format. You can also tune in to your files during travel, in the car, subway, train or plane. It’s a great facility for busy business people and Students alike. You can well use it while working, excercising, commuting studying and during more such activities. You can select & import Word documents, RTF and more - drag & drop through the user interface window Databank allows you to listen to your emails/docs at your desk plus manually select-sort, view, process & download to your MP3.

Files, which have been ‘iAudioized’ can be played back on your computer and/or even exported to several portable devices, including MP3 players, cell phones and PDAs.

The Panasonic team seems to have pulled off the unthinkable- a player that gives you an unbelievable 100 hours of playback on a single charge! Sounds unimaginable, but the firm claims to have achieved the feat with its new Panasonic SV-SD870N player.

Although it has battery life of gargantuan proportions, the player itself will be pretty sleek and mobile, one can be assured. It comes with a storage device of 2GB capacity, and supports the.aac, wma and mp3 formats.

Panasonic SV-SD870N player has noise cancellation device purported to drive out nearly 83% of background noise. It also comes loaded with voice recording facilities if it is plugged into a D-Dock.

This player is available in red, black, silver and blue colours. It will first make a splash in the Japanese markets this April. The price is estimated to be in the range of $125.

There has been a lot of noise about Polaroids’ maverick digital media ecosystem. So we decided to shake the tree for some information on the much-awaited PMP player.

Named as the Freespace MPU-43315 the player seems to have a decent bundling of features. Let’s check a few of them for your information:

•    The player comes with a 4.3 inch LCD screen, FM radio receiver, touch controls (not a touch screen)
•    It will have Wi-Fi streaming capabilities.
•    The player lets you play WMV and MPEG4 video files, as well as MP3, WMA and WAV audio files.
•    With 4 hours for video playback and 16 hours of audio, the lithium ion battery.

Polaroid is so far tight-lipped on the pricing part of the player. Powered with 60GB memory, Freespace MPU-43315 is supposed to be a refreshing change from regular PMP devices. The company plans to introduce DivX plug-ins as well, in the near future.

The makers of some of the sleekest looking MP3 Players, ZVUE has officially announced an addition to their fabulous looking MP3 players. This one is called ZVUE Spirit, to allude to the whole patriotic spirit that this MP3 player is going to specialise in.

ZVUE Spirit is going to be pre-loaded with some of the best known, classic and contemporary patriotic-themed songs. According to media reports, this player, slated to be the first in a series of value-based handheld portables to hit US markets, will have a memory capacity of 1 GB and will playback songs with the formats MP3, WMA and WAV.

The size of this player (2 inches by 1.5 inches) will make it popular, especially among the mobile and athletic types. The added features including equalizer presets, voice recording facilities through an in-built microphone and multiple language support will also go a long way in boosting its appeal. The player is scheduled to hit American markets by Memorial Day.

MPIO isn’t really among the most popular mp3 player brands out there on the market. However, they’ve been around for some time, and this time they might have just done the trick with the MPIO V10 Personal Media Player. It seems to be equipped with pretty much anything a die-hard music fan could desire. To start with, it draws your attention with its metallic design.

The 3″ 480×272 pixel touch screen puts it close to the Samsung P2 screen wise. There are not many players in that class right now. The codec support is rather impressive. It supports AVI, WMV, MP4, ASF, DivX, VOB, TS, DAT, XviD, MP3, WMA, AAC, MPG / MPEG, OGG, PCM (WAV), GIF, PNG, JPEG, BMP, SMI, TXT. Such extensive Video support is generally only found on bigger PMPs.

Along with the elaborate codes support, it has a FM tuner, TV out and a dictionary. The downside perhaps is 8GB of internal memory. A SD slot will help though. Battery life is rated at about 5 hours for video.

Telecast has plans to come up with its new PMP dubbed Teclast’s M26, which features a touchscreen. This PMP is perfect for people who enjoy watching videos while they listen to their favourite music.

Teclast’s M26 touchscreen PMP boasts a 2.6-inch screen that displays videos and pictures at 400 x 240 resolutions. It supports various file formats including, RMVB, RM, FLV and AVI file formats, TV out and Microsoft’s PlayFX abilities, too.

Thanks to its built-in FM radio, users can listen to their favourite shows and news and stay updated. However, nothing has been revealed about its release dates or prices, but it would be available in black or white colours.