If you've been looking to buy a portable media player, you might
want to hold off a bit. According to an article at DigiTimes, the retail price of portable media players is expected to drop by more than
half to $99-199. The price drop is due mostly to the decreased costs of LCD panels and the availability of on-chip MP4
compression.
Retail prices of PMPs (portable multimedia players) are expected to drop from US$299-399 to US$99-199, due to
significantly decreased costs of LCD panels and other key components as well as the availability of on-chip MP4 compression, according to
Taiwan-based makers of MP3 players.
Sales of PMPs have been short of expectations mainly because of high retail prices and the
poor quality of video playback, the sources indicated. With adoption of on-chip MP4 compression, PMPs can play video at 20-24 frames per
second making the resolution comparable with that of DVD video, according to the Taiwan-based MP3/PMP maker Ergotech.
If
you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes.
