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Portables Media Music Hardware

Diva Gem Bluetooth MP3 Player Review 130

i4u writes "I4U reviews the first Bluetooth-enabled MP3 Player. The Diva Gem from Daisy Multimedia enables users to use the player as a wireless Head-set or Hands-free device for mobile phones. So users can listen to music and can pick-up incoming calls with the MP3 Player. Pretty neat concept."
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Diva Gem Bluetooth MP3 Player Review

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  • Worried (Score:5, Funny)

    by SIGALRM ( 784769 ) * on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @04:18PM (#9381769) Journal
    The Bluetooth function enables users to use the DIVA GEM as a wireless Head-set or Hands-free device for mobile phones. So users can listen to music and can pick-up incoming calls with the MP3 Player.

    ...oh great, now I have to worry about some ass bluejacking [bluejackq.com] my Led Zepplin.
    • Re:Worried (Score:2, Funny)

      by civman2 ( 773494 )
      Heh, I could see that being a serious problem. Just imagine being in a public place and hearing your 'cell call' indicator, then not having anyone calling you. oh this could be fun *runs off to get bluetooth PCMIA card*
    • Since the bluejacking website is not loading.. Anyone care to explain what it is and how its done?
      • Loaded for me... (Score:4, Informative)

        by Otto ( 17870 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @04:37PM (#9381955) Homepage Journal
        But it should seem pretty self evident.

        Bluejacking is the practice of finding bluetooth enabled devices that are not your own and sending data to them to cause them to do something.

        Example given on the site is to create a contact on a Bluetooth enabled cell phone with some text as the name of the contact as 'Hello, you've been bluejacked'. Then do a discovery for other bluetooth devices, find another bluetooth cell phone, and send that contact to it. Guy's phone beeps, it says "hello you've been bluejacked" to him, and he's all confused by that.

        It's basically just pranking somebody. In this case, the MP3 player can act as a wireless bluetooth headset. If you did a discovery on your bluetooth phone near somebody with one, you'd likely find it. Assuming they haven't changed the pin (assuming it is changeable), you'd be able to link your phone to their headset and possibly simulate a ring to them. They'd answer, get nothing, and wonder wtf was going on...
    • Wouldn't that be "mujacking"?
    • RTFA... j/k The Bluetooth function enables users to use the DIVA GEM as a wireless Head-set or Hands-free device for mobile phones. So users can listen to music and can pick-up incoming calls with the MP3 Player. Pretty neat concept. Lets see if it works. So this means you would be the one bluejacking other peoples calls etc. This is used as a receiver and does not transmit over bluetooth, or at least it doesn't seem to be. It is used as a headset/hand free device for BT enabled phones.
  • Good News! (Score:2, Funny)

    by Mz6 ( 741941 ) *
    Atleast they called it an MP3 player and not an iPod! [slashdot.org]
  • Sounds Good (Score:5, Interesting)

    by luigi22_ ( 733738 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @04:21PM (#9381804)
    Will it be able to work with other bluetooth devices, such as keyboards? I realize I'm stretching it a bit, but it might be possible.
    • Re:Sounds Good (Score:2, Informative)

      by mhocker ( 607466 )
      No, it won't. Bluetooth defines 'profiles' of what devices are capable of, and this one is only capable of being used as a mobile phone headset. That also means that Bluetooth cannot be used to sync this device.
    • Sony Ericsson/Sony brought out a Bluetooth enabled MP3 player HBM-30, but its been available to europe for over a year.

      http://www.sonyericsson.com/hbm30/

      Small portable pla, uses memory stick duo, supports MP3 or ATRAAC and bluetooth function.

      No wires, no missed calls - just great sounds
      Plug in the headphones of the new digital music player HBM-30 and crank up the volume - but never miss a call. Incoming calls pause the music automatically, and transform your stereo into a wireless mobile handsfree with
  • Battery life (Score:3, Interesting)

    by oasis3582 ( 698323 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @04:22PM (#9381819)
    They don't say how battery life will be affected while Bluetooth connectivity is intact. Any ideas anyone?
  • Bong! (Score:5, Informative)

    by electrichamster ( 703053 ) * on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @04:24PM (#9381831) Homepage
    I think you'll find that sony ericsson released the first device like this called the HBM-30 [sonyericsson.com].
  • by jwcorder ( 776512 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @04:25PM (#9381845)
    am not singing my songs loudly and annoying other people. I can have annoying phone conversations. Yippie!
    • In my country (India). People r gonna think am I sane. Fooling around on the streets with wireless headphones. No Bluetooth exist for them. I'm not sure whether they'll trust me for this technology...
  • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @04:25PM (#9381846)
    Diva Gem Bluetooth MP3 Player Review

    I know all those words and that doesn't make any sense.
  • by swb ( 14022 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @04:25PM (#9381848)
    In at least as good a sonic quality as 128kbps MP3?

    The one thing I'd really love with my iPod would be a bluetooth remote AND bluetooth headphones. The iPod could stay in whatever inside pocket I put it in, and I wouldn't have to worry about headphone cords or remote cords.
    • no( without packing ).

      but.. with things like http://www.beecon.de/produkte/BlueMP3/ [beecon.de], it's possible to have good mp3 quality(as the receiver decodes mp3).. There's a chap from irc that I know that's written some software to play mp3's from series60 mobile phones with that thing(basically, the phone just sends the mp3 to the bluemp3 which does the decoding).

      well.. the point of this comment: with little imagination the vendors should be able to overcome the problems.
    • That is an awesome idea, I would definitely buy one of those in a second. Come on Apple lets get to it...
      • The problem being that Bluetooth has nowhere the required bandwidth. Even power-hungry 802.11b is barely able to stream uncompressed CD-quality audio (and compression would kill battery life and make the headset bulky).

        If this was possible with current tech, Apple would have jumped on it a long time ago.

    • Ten technologies, the people who madet the ir remote and receiver for the ipod, said they would be releasing a LCD bluetooth remote and headphones in January. Their website address is http://www.tentechnology.com/

      Look at the link marked 01.06.04
    • Bluetooth bandwidth (Score:5, Informative)

      by Otto ( 17870 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @04:42PM (#9382000) Homepage Journal
      I believe the max bandwidth on bluetooth is 768kbps, or 1 mbps (not sure which).

      So if the bluetooth device on your ears was doing the actual decoding, then sure. Plenty of bandwidth. If the iPod was doing the decoding, then you'd get some pretty fierce quality loss. Not big enough of a pipe to send CD quality stereo audio in real time.

      However, it's entirely possible to build a bluetooth set of headphones with an MP3/AAC/whatever decoder in it, then use the docking port on the iPod to grab the undecoded songs, and send them via bluetooth. More than a bit pointless, but possible.
  • by pappy97 ( 784268 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @04:26PM (#9381856)
    What is the point of these mp3 players with tiny storage?

    Why can't more companies make mp3 players like that one you can get off tiger-direct.com, $120 for a 10GB mp3 player? Surely that technology can be refined, and I am willing to pay $150 for a good quality 10GB portable MP3 player.

    I am not willing to pay $200+ for any MP3 player, nor do I want to buy crap (cheap could easily break 10GB mp3 players or tiny storage mp3 players).
    • You have to pay for quality. Get used to this idea, you'll see it again.
    • by Anonymous Coward
      >I am not willing to pay $200+ for any MP3 player, nor do I want to buy crap (cheap could easily break 10GB mp3 players or tiny storage mp3 players).

      since your attitude is unlikely to yield much profit for any company, no company will make a product to meet your demand.

      if you aren't willing to pay, your demand won't be heard.

      why is this thread "Insightful"? since when is (basically) being cheap "Insightful"? either you pay for quality or you buy cheap. if "quality" goods can be made cheaply, then ther
    • by Kenja ( 541830 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @04:45PM (#9382021)
      Some of us like MP3 players that run for weeks on one AAA battery and have no moving parts. Look at it this way, there are two markets for MP3 players. In one you have people who want gigs of space for more songs then they can ever realy listen to. In the other you have people who want a small device that plays just enough songs and is realy durable. Two markets, two types of products.
    • *built-in memory (up to 256MB) and MMC/SD card slot

      you can pop in a 1gig SD module if you'd like

      www.moviebums.com [moviebums.com]
    • [sarcasm]

      Wow, you're willing to pay a whole extra $30 for a 10gb MP3 player like the one on Tiger Direct except "good quality"??? I'll get right on it!!!

      [/sarcasm]

      Seriously, I didn't see any 10gb MP3 player on Tiger Direct for $129. I did, however, see a 1.5gb MP3 player for $179. I'm guessing that if you didn't misread something somewhere, a 10gb MP3 player that costs $129 is actually a huge pile of crap. $30 won't even come close to making it "good quality".

      I honestly can't find a 10gb MP3 player
      • Like the anonymous coward, I've also had a really good expirience with my Archos (Recorder 20). I have heard that they released some bad models, like the FM Recorder 20. Which model do you have?

        And have you checked out RockBoxx, the open-source OS replacement for many of the older Archos models?
  • Text of article... (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @04:27PM (#9381864)
    Site is pretty slow already... Here's the text of the article.. Posted as AC to prove I'm not karma whoring.

    published: 06/09/04 last updated: 06/09/04
    Daisy Multimedia sent us their highly anticipated DIVA GEM Bluetooth enabled MP3 Player. We reported about this interesting Gadget last November. Now I have the chance to try it first hand.

    The Bluetooth function enables users to use the DIVA GEM as a wireless Head-set or Hands-free device for mobile phones. So users can listen to music and can pick-up incoming calls with the MP3 Player. Pretty neat concept. Lets see if it works.

    large photo
    Overview
    This is now the 6th MP3 Player we review this year. The Jens of Sweden and the Vandisori Players stand out so far with their quality and breath of features. Daisy Multimedia is the first to offer Bluetooth in an MP3 Player. I stumbled across another one on the Computex Award Page from First International Computer Inc.

    The Diva Gem is available in three colors (Fanatic, Stardust and Glamour). I received the red (glamour) one with 128MB storage. The Player has a good small size measuring 86x32x20mm. It weighs 25g without battery. The surface has a metallic feel to it, giving the Diva a high quality appearance. It is bundled with the usual accessories a head-set (necklace style), power-adapter, USB Cable, Audio Cable and a CD. The Audio cable is quite useful. It has on the same end the male 3.5mm plug and the 2 RCA audio inputs.
    The Diva Gem comes with a 450mAh Li-Ion battery that is supposed to power the player for 20 hours. When connected to the Computer via USB the MP3 Player is charging. So the power adaptor is not really necessary if you have a Computer available.

    Diva Gem accessories: Audio Recording Cable, USB Cable, Player, Necklace Head-set, Power Adapter.

    Besides the Bluetooth functionality, which I will explore further down, the Diva has another not yet so common SD/MMC Card slot to extend the storage of the player. The card slot is in the battery compartment. In regards to the more or less standard features the Diva Gem provides MP3 and AAC ( Apple's favorite) playback, a 20 station FM Tuner, a very sensitive Microphone for voice recording and mobile phone head-set operation and a backlit 4 line LCD display.

    In the battery compartment is the slot for the SD/MMC storage card to extend the storage of the Diva Gem.

    Usage
    Right away the Diva Gem is very intuitive to use for me. The Player switches on by clicking the Play button on the side (no waiting). To lock the buttons the Diva has a button that toggles the lock. A small key icon on the screen indicates if the player is locked or not. Many other players have a slider button to lock the buttons.

    The display is very clear and bright. The Menu tree is very easy to navigate with the joystick button on the front. Holding the joystick button for 1-2sec takes me to the main menu. This menu has four icons: Audio Player, FM Radio, Voice Recorder and Settings. In each of this main modes a submenu with further options is available.
    I uploaded some MP3s and the sound is excellent. The 5 built-in Equalizer modes are noticeable changing the sound. The volume control is very fine with 55 steps. It still sounds great on the maximum volume. So definitely the Diva Gem is a solid MP3 Player like the Jens of Sweden or Vandisori. Also the FM Tuner is working very well. With the automatic preset the Player finds me 20 stations right away. The sound of the radio is very good. I am actually inclined to say that the Diva Gem has the best FM Radio sound and reception quality from all the MP3 Players I tested this year.

    The Diva Gem has 6 buttons and a joystick.

    Using Diva Gem as a Bluetooth Head-set
    Now the Bluetooth functionality makes the Diva Gem unique, so I was very excited to try this out. I tested it with the Sony Ericsson T610 (provided by MaterialSpieler), one of the view Bluetooth phones available on the US market.
    Daisy Multimedia provides easy to follow instructions on
  • bluetooth headsets (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    i was thinking of a bluetooth headset, does anyone know of mp3 players with blutooth headsets?
  • What a name (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Bikini Kill ( 678047 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @04:27PM (#9381870)
    The "Diva Gem" from "Daisy"?
    If they're not targetting 12 year old girls, I suspect they've made a mistake there.
  • There's no obvious straightforward way to buy this in the US that I can find. How much does it cost?
  • I wouldn't want to talk into that thing or have to hang it around my neck...I don't suppose they have a version of the headphones with a mic as well?
  • Well featured Player (Score:3, Informative)

    by beatleadam ( 102396 ) <.moc.liamg. .ta. .egrebmalf.> on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @04:36PM (#9381941) Homepage Journal
    (From the Article) Features
    * built-in memory (up to 256MB) and MMC/SD card slot
    * Multiformat support: MP3 and AAC
    * FM tuner integrated, live capture from the radio function directly in AAC
    * Bluetooth Hands-free feature*
    * Backlit graphic LCD and easy navigation through menus and play lists
    * Multilanguage menu
    * Various playback modes
    * 5 equalizer presets & one 10-band custom
    * Sensitive mic, voice operation recording (VOR), file folder system
    * Over 14h continuous play on the Li-Ion battery
    * Embedded charger, charges via USB or DC
    * USB Removable Drive when connected to PC or Mac
    * Driver-free for Windows 2000/Me/XP

    USB Drivers:
    Win 98; Driver free for Win Me / 2000 / XP / Linux 2.4.19 / Mac OS 9.1 and above

    This [i4u.com] seems to be a nice and multi-featured unit. The expansion slot is something that I have been waiting on for a little while now and the fact that AAC is supported is nice but too bad no OGG though. Seeing that the USB Driver for "Linux 2.4.19" was included makes this my personal top choice now as to MP3 Players.
  • huh ? (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @04:37PM (#9381965)

    users can listen to music and can pick-up incoming calls with the MP3 Player.

    i have been able to do this for ages now on my Ericsson p800 [sonyericsson.com] and now on my new p900 [sonyericsson.com]

    i almost feel sorry for you Americans using clunky old phone tech, perhaps i can interest you in one of these [hightech-store.com] ?

    • Mobile phones (Score:2, Informative)

      by NM156 ( 31172 )
      You know, some of us Americans are using P900's as well. I sure love mine. ;-) The mobile phone sophistication gap that used to exist between Europe and the US has largely been removed in the past couple of years, since GSM has become very wide spread standard [esato.com] on this side of the Atlantic. This has been driven largely by the fact that mobile providers who used to be TDMA based have switched over to GSM.
    • MP3 phones have only been out in America for, what, four years? I should know, as I debated between one of those and my current cell phone. (It does everything I need it to do, and quite well at that. Why update?)

      Yeah. Poor Americans and our Clunky old phone tech indeed.
    • I'm an American and I've been using both a P800 and a P900 in New York since each of them came out. You can stuff that FUD where the sun don't shine.
  • Pricing as follows (Score:4, Informative)

    by Kammak ( 222362 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @04:42PM (#9381995)
    $249 128MB
    $339 256MB - Special Order
    $224 64MB - Special Order

    http://www.technipeal.com/product.asp?3=34
  • by wooby ( 786765 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @04:44PM (#9382012) Journal

    Though the Diva Gem use of bluetooth is interesting, I'm intrigued by another possible use of wireless: transfer of music files at the player level.

    Do there exist portable music players that allow either transfer or broadcast of music files to other devices within a certain radius, through Bluetooth, WiFi, or some other means?

    I can recall an earlier Slashdot story which talked about iPod users swapping headphones with eachother. The propensity for people to do this could be enabled by adding a swap or broadcast feature to players themselves.

    Needless to say, this feature is begging for RIAA harassment.

    • Here ya go... http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=7028
    • The RIAA doesn't (or, at least, shouldn't) care about two people transferring 256MB worth of music. They (should) care that I can bring my 40GB MP3 player over to my friend's house, where I can offload 500+ hours worth of music in 15 minutes. At that point, music becomes a commodity and not something that is worth $15/60min (or $1/4min if you're using online services and buying by the track).

      They should care that HDD space is approaching $.50/GB and storage costs for their music (uncompressed, assuming 6
      • I see what you mean, and you're right: mp3 players that don't contain "outrageous" amounts of music are probably not on the RIAA's radar.

        What I had in mind when I posted originally was an 40gb iPod with an 802.11 or Ethernet adapter that allowed comparitively high-speed transfer of files without a computer from device to device. I personally would find such a device enormously useful. I'm also surprised that aside from laptops and PDAs, there are no devices on the market that have this feature.

        This se

  • Limited bluetooth (Score:5, Insightful)

    by steevo.com ( 312621 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @04:46PM (#9382025)

    I read the headline and got excited. I read the article and was disappointed.

    The added bluetooth functionality is ONLY good for using this device with a phone. As cool as this is, this is not what I have been waiting for. I want to hide my MP3 player in my pocket, and listen without wires.

  • by DocTillo ( 615220 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @04:55PM (#9382082) Homepage
    Sounds like its operating as a standard bt headset, which means that the sound quality for the wireless part is telephone quality only. I have published diy instructions in the german computer magazine c't on how to build a device that receives mp3 _over_ bluetooth. See www.bluemp3.de (german page) for details ...
    • Hi Till :)
      And I did write a Symbian OS Server for it - The Series 60 Server will be available from my Homepage in the near future - I still need to fix some ITC Stuff so you actually can see the Name of the Song that is currently playing on the phone...
      But I'm always searching for people to test my Stuff ;)
      • My girlfriend today bought a new cell phone and she finally got a nokia 6600. So i'll now have a chance to test your player.

        Currently there are native sender applications for linux, macos, palmos and now symbian. I wonder when someone will find a way to write a windows client ...

        Of course OBEX or the serial profiles work under windows as well, but a native sender application is way more comfortable and beautiful.

        • Well -- I'll be around in the afternoon and evening in #BlueMp3 on Freenode - I have a version of the Server you can try at once however I have yet to make a UI-Skin for the 6600. Meaning a different background and keymapping than for the 3650. I love to receive some comments. I have a few questions myself especially about some problems with responsiveness to Play/Pause/Seek in low-bitrate MP3s (everything only happens after the buffer is empty - in a 32kbps mp3 tis can be several Seconds).
  • Nice idea but here is my grim outlook on it. This device does not have 2 avancements against ither a cell phone or an iPod. I would refer you to the article titled the 10 biggest tech flops. Or something similar to that. "Products have to have at least 2 benifits and 1 drawback only to be commercialy successfull" A device that does more, or a device that does lots of stuff but not very well. Now, if there was a phone that did the three functions then that would be a good product!
  • iPod and Nokia 6610 (Score:2, Interesting)

    by repvik ( 96666 )
    I'm using a better solution :)
    I'm using the FM-transmitter on my iPod, which my Nokia 6610 picks up. If I get an incoming call, I get a tone in my ear and the phone picks up. If I want to listen to regular radio, I just change the channel on the phone.

    It's not CD-quality, but it's good enough for me.
  • who would dread receiving calls when I'm at "the good part" of my favorites songs... One more example where putting two functions in one device is unnecessary and even detracts from the usefulness of either application.
  • by way2trivial ( 601132 ) on Wednesday June 09, 2004 @06:12PM (#9382632) Homepage Journal
    If you don't have it, and have an MP3 player already, try these headphones from coby [cobyusa.com] they have a headphone plug for your MP3 player, and a headset jack for your cellphone without bluetooth.. the audio quality of the headphones is warbled (at least on my set) when the phone rings through
  • AAC? Cause if not - I'm not buying it. I'm not converting all my music from one format to another. I won't be buying a player until it does. Oh, wait it does support AAC.

    Shit! Now what should I do with my iPod?
  • The obvious one would be the file transfer - if you already have an antenna and a Bluetooth driver, why not utilize the other capabilities? I'd much rather move songs via Bluetooth than plug it in to a USB slot.

    It doesn't mention it in the article, but I hope that if you use the device as a headset it has a 'hold' feature that plays whatever you were listening too....
  • The feature only said: "Bluetooth Hands-free feature" and the "Data exchange: USB 1.1 compatible".
    Does this means that the player can not transfer data using bluetooth in the PC ?
  • I would rather see a MP3 player (hd equipped or not) with bluetooth HEADPHONES! That way I can wear it on my wrist or leave it in my pocket while it's playing and no wires to get in the road.

    The review said SD isn't common....WHAT? It's more common then say, memopory stick!
  • if the device already supports bluetooth, why not transfer the audio over it aswell, and use wireless earpieces for it?
    anyone seen wireless bluetooth headphones for sale anywhere? other than those headsets for gsm phones
  • http://www.huaqi.com/english/products/viewproduct. asp?id=459&classid=52 This product can use bluetooth headphone to listen to music. And the quality is also very good, besides, it is also a cute USB stick.
  • I always thought this would be a good idea, as i'm constantly missing calls when i'm listening to my minidisc player. Also have the advantage over MP3 playing phones where playing mp3's doesn't drain the phone's batteries.
  • Not sure why people keep coming out with the "first" BT enabled MP3 player...These guys have had a BT enabled MP3 player for probably a year...http://www.mptronix.com/... It uses BT for control but also has built in FM transmiter and up to 80GB storage, I would want one with any less ;-D
  • It would be great to have a voicemail built into the bluetooth box, much like the old Sony phones used to have. This way (a) you can leave different messages for different people or groups (b) you don't have to go through phone operator's silly menus, (c) can easily archive or copy to PC messages, eg if someone gives you a number to call later, and (d) if you go abroad you can still get voicemails without paying exhorbitant sums to access your home voicemail box (about $4/minute last time I checked in the U
  • Does anyone actually use blue tooth? People talk about how wonderful it is; yet no one I ever encounter has it. Reminds me a lot of the Zip disk. "It's so great." Do you have one? "No." Maybe I'm just on the wrong end of technology, but I've never found a need for blue tooth (or the Zip disk :p).
    • I do, to connect my PDA to my phone to go online when not near a WIFI point (which is usually the case in the UK!). You can get a half decent remote desktop (terminal services) connection over GPRS like this... Also to pull photos off my phone onto my PC
      • My i730 phone doen't have blue tooth (AFAIK), so I guess that'd be why I'm missing out on it. I've seen a lot of other stuff, keyboards, mice, head phones, etc that are blue tooth, but never really hear about anyone using it. I guess I'll just stick to using USB/USB2 for my PDA, Cell, Keyboard, mouse, etc.
  • Would be neat if it recorded your conversation to mp3 as well. Can you say instant Jerky Boys?
  • Several people here complained that the unit could only act as a bluetooth headset for a cellular telephone but could not transfer files via bluetooth. Mind you that the speed bluetooth runs at would be painful for moving more than a couple songs, but, here is a bluetooth player about the size of the Diva GEM. The Xlive player takes full advantage of bluetooth's capabilities. Xlive XBM-100 512MB Bluetooth MP3 Player [expansys-usa.com] There are three sizes, 128, 256, and 512. Like the Diva it allows recording of FM Radio

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