That time of year is coming, so here’s some stuff I think is worth buying:

1. The IPOD nano. I’ve never really been that interested in the IPod, but the nano may make a convert yet. My biggest problem with the IPod has always been the hard drive that it uses for storage. You see, one of the major appeals for me, as far as MP3 players go, is that they were originally solid-state with no moving parts. This feature was appealing to me because that meant no skipping songs, and no parts to wear out. The IPod HD was something destined to fail. With up to 4GB of storage, the nano can hold something like 3 days of music. Some people say that IPods are all over-priced. I think that the IPod interface, and the fact it auto-syncs with I-tunes make it worth it. I don’t own one of these myself, but if I did I’d probably buy the Logitech Wireless Music system for it.

2. Now if you think that loved one will want more space, and don’t mind the fact that it’s a HD player, you should check out the iaudio X5. This beauty has a 14 hour battery life, a 20-30GB HD, and a reasonable price. It also has two things that the big IPOD doesn’t:

-An FM tuner,
- And VIDEO!

Pretty cool I think. I’ve read some complaints about the interface, but most agree that if you take the time to learn it you can navigate pretty fast.

3. I got a Sony PSP on my birthday and loved it. Even though it is expensive compared to a Nintendo DS, it is definitely in a different league as well. I’d say that the PSP is targeting an older audience than Nintendo. I fell in love with the PSP when I was in Costco one day and saw them on display. I was very impressed with the screen. Even then, I wasn’t completely taken by the PSP until I found out you can run homebrew. Since the 1.0 firmware got exploited and Wipeout Pure was used to access a web-browser, homebrew for the psp has only gotten stronger. There is a ton of information out there on running dozens of emulators on the PSP. These include emulators for SNES, Gameboy, MAME, Turbo Graphics 16, NES and a slew of others (including SCUMM the lucas-arts engine). On top of that there are dozens of other homebrew aps from e-book readers, to media players, to organizers.

Unfortunately if you want to get a lot of mods, you are going to need to buy a bigger Memory Stick Pro DUO. I have a 256MB card, which is starting to feel small. Even without all of the mods, hacks and homebrew software, the PSP is a very capably video player. I often bring an hour of TV with me on my PSP (I could bring more but my card is pretty small). This is the perfect toy for someone who loves playing with ROMS and tech toys. The best games out there for this puppy are Ridge Racer (racing), Lumines (Puzzle), Metal Gear (Turn based card game), and Burnout Legends (Racing).

This post is mirrored on both my wordpress blog and my livejournal blog. The comments aren’t mirrored though, because I’m not that good yet.