Intro & comparisons
Apple might be the
biggest name in MP3 players with its iPod range but it seems to be
up against 101 competing brands or, with the recent addition of
Sapphire - a
company best know for graphics cards - 102. What we're looking at
today, writes Leo
Xenakis,
is Sapphire's
first MP3 offering,
the Ivory Digital Audio Player -
a well-featured 512MB product
that's been bought
in, rather than developed in-house.
At the time of writing, the Sapphire player was only available at a
handful of
retailers. During our initial searches, the best price we found was
£64.33 at Micro Direct but the product is no longer available
there and the current cheapest deal we could find is
£71.02, including VAT and shipping, at
Advanced
Technologies.
Below is a table showing the main specs for the Ivory and the players
from the big-guns that it's up against. The competitors we've shown
have been chosen to give a good spread near the
Ivory’s price point, with data coming from
the manufacturers’ website, where available.
As you can see, Sapphire's late entry to the MP3 sector puts it up
against stiff competition from some well-established brands
but
that doesn't necessarily mean it's not in with a good chance. Read on
to see how it fares. Click link below -
Packaging & bundle
- to go to the next page.
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