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Storage Options Scroll Excel Android 2.3 ‘Gingerbread’ Internet Tablet with 3D Output and 7″ Screen

Was £99 ~ Now £89

SAVE £10!

Gadget Show Rating: 4/5

‘Considering the price, the 7-inch screen on the Scroll Excel is a cracker. It’s bright, vibrant and clear, and we particularly enjoyed watching movies on it. Coupled with decent sound reproduction, it’s a great little media player.’ The Gadget Show

The Scroll Excel is the perfect tablet for someone who wants a high performing tablet but without paying an extortionate price for it.

Watch videos, play music and browse the internet all from one location.

Read more about the Scroll Excel here.

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Sennheiser PMX 680i

The Sennheiser PMX 680i Sports headphones have been rated in Stuff.tv’s Top 25 essential sports gadgets to have this summer. At £40.99 these headphones deliver far more than their price point would indicate; they sit snugly in your ear while delivering crystal clear audio to keep you entertained!With an in-line remote and mic the sweat-proof headphones are not only ideal for exercising, they are multifunctional as well.

Another product to feature on the list was the GoPro HD Hero. This action camera is designed to survive all the bangs and crashes of filming in extreme conditions. Wear it, mount it, attach it to almost anything and film in super high quality.

Get it today for £243.99 by clicking here.

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Speedo Aquabeat Troubleshooting

The Speedo Aquabeat is a fantastic compact waterproof MP3 player, perfect for listening to your favourite music while swimming. Available in both 1GB and 2GB sizes this allows an average of 250 or 500 music tracks to be stored.

Music Files

This article is a quick guide to troubleshooting any problems that may be encountered when using the Aquabeat.

By far the most common problem that we have had reported with the Speedo Aquabeat is that it fails to turn on properly and play any music. In the vast majority of cases it has been due to unsupported types of music being copied to the player.

The Speedo Aquabeat has limited file type support and can only play back music in MP3 or WMA (DRM free) files. The most common culprit for the player not functioning are iTunes music files. As iTunes music files are in Apple’s ‘.m4a’ or ‘.aac’ they are incompatible with the Speedo.

If the player fails to play music check the contents of the Aquabeat to ensure only MP3 and WMA files are on the player.

In the above example, even one .m4a or other unsupported file will prevent the Speedo Aquabeat from starting correctly as it will not be able to understand the file.

With regards to Windows Media Audio (WMA) files, the Speedo Aquabeat will only be able to play back files which are not copyright protected. If protected WMA files are copied across to the Aquabeat it may result in the player being able to play any music.

To check the protection status of a WMA file right-click the file in Windows Explorer then select ‘Properties’ from the drop down menu. On the pop up window select the ‘Summary’ tab and press the ‘Advanced’ button. The full properties of the file will be shown and the option to check is ‘Origin – Protected’. If this shows No, then the file is not copyright protected and can be played back by the Aquabeat.

Free Memory

It’s also important not to fill the entire memory of the Speedo Aquabeat with music. The player will require a very small amount of free memory left for it to be able to process and play back music. At least 20MB should be left free on the player.

You can check the free memory left on the player by right-clicking on the Aquabeat in Windows Explorer and selecting ‘Properties’

Turning On

To turn on the player, insert the headphones and press and hold the Play button for several seconds until the light on the front of the player turns green.

After turning on the player it starts to check through the music which is stored in the memory. The light will flash orange while the files are being checked. Depending on the amount of music stored on the player this can take up to one minute. If any problems are encountered by the player; such as music being in the wrong file format or there is not enough free then the light will stay on as orange or red to denote a problem and the player will freeze at this point.

If everything is fine and all the files have been checked successfully you will hear a double beep through the earphones then the first music track will start to play, with the light on the player flashing green.

If the player is still not functioning correctly, as a final troubleshooting step please format the player’s memory to wipe all files from the player and copy across a single MP3 file to test.

With the correct type of music on the Speedo Aquabeat and a small amount of memory left free the player should give trouble free operation, ready for your next time at the pool!

Speedo Aquabeat 2.0 – £89

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For more information on the Popcorn Hour A-300, click here.

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Popcorn Hour A-300

‘There’s no doubting the A-300’s credentials as a serious, future-proof streamer. It’s able to handle an absolute stack of file formats, is toting what’s easily the most comprehensive socket set of any of the machines on test, and even has room for a hard drive which will turn it into a NAS device.’ Stuff Magazine

King’s of media streaming, Popcorn Hour have been awarded 4 stars for their A-300 model by Stuff Magazine.

Put all of your entertainment on one device and enjoy playback in super high quality. The A-300 provides a quick and efficient browsing experience that is easy to navigate.

Enjoy access to the huge Apps Market too and have instant email and social media access at your fingertips. There’s something for everyone with over 80 free and premium apps to choose from.

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~ £99 ~

‘Like the E7, the E17 is housed in a confidence-inspiring milled aluminum case. With its dual-color OLED display and numerous controls, it resembles nothing so much as a high-end media player, which probably makes sense since it aims to transform your pedestrian device into something better suited to your spendy headphones. And it does so pretty admirably […]’ Read the full Sound + Vision Magazine review here.

Sound + Vision magazine compared the FiiO E17 alongside the much more expensive Alpha Design Labs Stride and sung the merits of the portable and affordable DAC from FiiO.

For anyone in possession of a lacklustre set if headphones or less than punchy mp3 player, the E17 is your ticket to turning one dimensional music into supreme sounding audio.

Not only is it an amplifier it is also a digital audio converter (DAC) which extracts the very best of your music file brightening the audio to levels previously thought impossible. Despite the metallic finish and FiiO packing the machine with sophisticated technology, the E17 is highly portable not exceeding the average size of an mp3 player. Thinking of everything, FiiO even provide rubberized straps so the E17 attaches snugly to you mp3 player so you’re never without high quality sound.

Get yours today.

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i.Fuzen

~ £69.99 ~

‘With an array of useful features, the i.Fuzen is not only a charging case, as it also boosts your music library in the form of a headphone amp with dual audio ports for another listener.’ Read full Apps Magazine review here.

The case fits snugly around your iPhone without adding too much bulk yet still providing a satisfactory level of protection. Though truth be told, this really isn’t an iPhone case. The i.Fuzen’s true strengths are the headphone amp and extra battery.

The amp extracts audio through the base of your phone where it is best heard. Sound is then channelled through the amp, where two headphone jacks are located, and reproduced into something that is audiophile quality.The battery almost doubles the life of your phone battery making it an absolute essential accessory for travel.

Turn your iPhone into a high end mp3 player with an i.Fuzen and don’t worry about running down the battery!

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Our team are often asked about software that’s available for use with their MP3 and media players, so here’s some of the best software we’ve found and use ourselves.

Please note though we can’t offer support for third party software, but you should find all the help and assistance you need from the authors via their websites.

MP3TAG

Supporting a wide range of audio formats, MP3TAG is an easy to use utility to edit the ‘tag’ information on your music files. It can rename files based on the tag information, replace characters or words in tags and filenames, import/export tag information, create playlists and much more.

MP3TAG also supports online database lookups from, e.g., Amazon, discogs, or freedb, allowing you to automatically gather proper tags and cover art for your music library.

Winamp

It was one of the first MP3 players for the PC, and I’ve been using it since the mid 1990s, way back from version 1!

Currently on version 5.623, Winamp offers the playback of a huge range of audio and video file types, as well as managing files for syncing onto MP3 players. Fully customisable with a range of skins, plug-ins and visual effects Winamp offers a wealth of features and options – check their webpage out for a full list of features and downloadable extras.

Audacity

Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for a range of operating systems including Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, and Linux.

You can use Audacity to: Record live audio, Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs, Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files, Cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together, Change the speed or pitch of a recording and much more.

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Popcorn Hour C-300

~ £341 ~

The highly anticipated Popcorn Hour C-300 has been tested, trialled and scrutinised under the sharp-eyed experts at Pocket-lint. Described by Pocket-lint as ‘The king of media players’ and coming out with a 4/5 star review it’s safe to say that Pocket-lint loved the Popcorn Hour C-300.

‘When it comes to codec and file support, the Popcorn Hour is hard to beat. Out of the box, it will play pretty much anything. There are no issues with 1080p playback and every kind of MPEG-4 is supported, including files that are contained in MKV wrappers. This is big news […]’ Read full Pocket-lint review here.

The upgraded C-300 has taken note of the successes of the earlier C-200 model and made them ever better resulting in an all-powerful, all-encompassing machine. These include, all new Sigma Designs 8647 800MHz CPU with L2 Cache; new and improved Networked Media Jukebox V2; new 2.5″ TFT full color display and Gigabit Ethernet for flawless streaming and fast file transfer speeds.

Using the Networked Media Jukebox v2 interface browsing could not be easier. The Networked Media Jukebox automatically scans your media source and downloads information such as cover art, movie synopsis, etc.  Effortlessly and efficiently browse through your media library and the Apps Market using the Adobe Flash based user interface. Download a multitude of apps from the Apps Market such as Twitter, Facebook and global news sources.

The Popcorn Hour C-300 is a machine that will store, source and playback all your media content beautifully where files are easily  navigated and accessed all on the fast user interface.

‘There’s no denying it, the picture quality on the C-300 is fantastic. Other media players do a good job, but the Popcorn Hour has a sharpness and detail that is incredibly pleasing to us.’ Pocket-Lint

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SoundScience Qb-Mito 25W Wireless Bluetooth Portable Speaker

~ £59 ~

Debuted at Gadget Show Live, the Qb-mito made an explosive entrance into the portable speaker market. The wireless speaker blasted 25W of pristine sound making a big splash with press, trade and consumer visitors to the show.

Frequency Cast – the technology online radio show – interviewed SoundScience pioneer, David Archer, who explained the merits of the wireless Qb-mito. The interview can be heard here.

From the makers of the QSB desktop speakers, the Qb-mito advances on the portability factor of its predecessor and moves into the realm of Bluetooth. Using a simple connection to your Bluetooth enabled phone, mp3 player, laptop, tablet, etc. the Qb-mito will play pristine audio using 360 degree sound dispersion for room-filling sound.

From a single charge the Qb-mito will blast up to 30 hours of sound with deep bass and crystal clear highs. Take it on holiday, to the park or have it on your desk and not worry about needing to charge it after every use.

The technology and features of the Qb-mito are further explained on the product page. Read more about the sophisticated workings of the Qb-mito from the masters of sound engineering, SoundScience, or here it straight from SoundScience themselves in this podcast here.

The Qb-mito is available for pre-order today for an incredible price of only £59.