Coolest MP3 Player Ever

It's more than meets the eye...

http://blog.primediary.com/2007/08/hands-on-with-transformers-mp3-player.html
from WinCustomize Forums

If you ever watched the Transformers cartoon in the late 80s/early 90s you'll remember Soundwave, the transformer that turned into a tape recorder.  Well, some enterprising gadget makers have gone the distance and merged an old-school transformer toy with a modern MP3 audio player.  It plays music, looks cool and even transforms!  This little gadget comes in at about $150, and can be purchased in either blue (Frenzy) or white (Rumble).  It uses SD cards for storage.

You can pick up the white model from PrimeDiary while supplies last.

Maybe I'm biased having grown up in the 80s, but this new MP3 player from Takara Tomy just screams "MUST HAVE!"

5,612 views 13 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Your link errors out for me . . but there are images here: http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/21/takara-tomys-transformers-mp3-player-gets-photographed/
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Geez, some of those things had no business being produced in the first place, now we got so many toys and gadgets coming these days that are based on those cruddy old TV shows (I wish they were forgettable Z Grade movies) it's just not funny any more.

Next it'll be blow up dolls based on Wonder Woman....or how about one based on the 6 Million Dollar Man for the really happy-go-lucky guy about town...or maybe the Incredible Hulk to make all their friends green with envy.

Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I had boxes and boxes of transformers...they were stored right next to my GI Joe collection. Man...those guys hated each other. Meat Sack! Tin Head!...it never ended.
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Next it'll be blow up dolls based on Wonder Woman....

Keep a look out for it, there is a movie in the makes so you know 'something' like that will come along   

I'm with messiah1, I loved the transformers as a kid and the movie was wicked. However, if I wanted another MP3 player I don't think I would be rushing out to get this one but the concept was a long time coming... hum, wonder why back in the day they never made a walkman style Soundwave that really played tapes.
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Zoomba, copy/paste is bad for Transformers. Rumble and Frenzy are the cassettes that Soundwave ejects. The MP3 player don't have any name for them other than being called "Spark Blue" or "Sonic White". $150 for him is way overpriced and the early buyers were able to snatch him up for under $100. Mentioning him now won't do much good other than rake in the profits for the online e-tailers who mark up the pricetag to reflect the supply/demand and market value of the piece.

Along with Soundwave, there are also earphones that transforms but they're designed similarly to Sony's clip-on earphones. The ear pieces are the part that transforms and they are appropriately named Rumble and Frenzy there.

There's a 2nd run of these MP3 players now but they still suffer from some design limitations. Obviously it only plays mp3s but Hobby Link Japan's product page indicate that it cannot handle miniSD cards larger than 1GB. Those that have 2GB miniSD cards will be out of luck but 1GB isn't entirely too bad all things considered. A 6-hour battery life on AAA battery is okay at best but I suppose nobody is going to be luggin' around Soundwave for more than 6 hours.

I kinda wish that there were a whole lot more of these Soundwaves to go around but it's very pricey to get a "1GB" mp3 player at US$90 and up. There are better alternatives out there from a practicality standpoint. Despite this, we know that only the most hardcore Transformers fan will be snatching one of these up.
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Decades too late.


Yet eons....er, an eternity too soon.

If this were about quality and superior technological performance/stability, there could perhaps be an argument for this release. However, it's another MP3 player piece of crud that's riding on the coat-tails of an equally ridiculous movie that rides on the coat-tails of a whacked out cartoon for crikes sake.


I mean what is is with all this superhero/villain stuff anyway....a touch of penis envy, or perhaps the wild fantasies of 75lb weaklings who go sand kicked in their faces at the beach?
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
However, it's another MP3 player piece of crud that's riding on the coat-tails of an equally ridiculous movie that rides on the coat-tails of a whacked out cartoon for crikes sake.
And that cartoon was really just an advert for toys in the first place!

Zubaz goes to kick some sand
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Zubaz goes to kick some sand


Yeah, I'll come join ya.....I mean, only a 75lb putz would go get one of these ludicrous (mis)creations, surely.


Nah, wot us really needs be a pirate MP3 player....wot 'aves Jonny Depp as Cap'n Jack Sparrow n' tha skull n' crossbones on it.
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Nah, wot us really needs be a pirate MP3 player

Maybe we could make our own?



Pez MP3 player (sold out)
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Whoops . . been done


Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Nah, them thar MP3 players be too namby pamby fer tha likes o' us, Bosun Zubaz....they be far too damned pritty fer any sea dog wirf 'e's salt.

I can see it now...a novice crewman brings one o' they aboard a'ter shore leave, n' a'ter us 'ave set sail, tha rest o' tha crew keel'auls tha blaggard 'til 'e comes to 'e's senses.