New Olympus "m:robe" MR-100 & MR-500i -- Mixing Music and Digital Imaging
Starting in early 2005, Olympus will officially enter the digital music market with the launch of two models in its new "m:robe" series of digital music players.
The flagship model of the new Olympus m:robe series is the MR-500i that combines a 20-gigabyte digital music player with a 1.22-megapixel digital camera. The device has a flat touch-screen interface incorporated into a 3.7-inch color VGA LCD display.
There's also a smaller version, the m:robe MR-100 Digital Music Player, a smaller dedicated music player that delivers 5 gigabytes of storage for over 1,200 songs. At 3.5" x 2" x .6" and weighing only 3.5 ounces, the MR-100 is more compact and lightweight than the MR-500i and its minimalist all-black face incorporates a No-Button touch-panel interface with a monochrome 160 x 128 dot-matrix display with striking red LED.
"Unlike traditional digital music players that only allow you to tune out the rest of the world, the m:robe MR-500i actually allows you to tune into the world by taking and experiencing your digital images on their own or together in a remix with your personal selection of music," said Keith Swiderski, Business Development Manager, Olympus Imaging America Inc. 
The design of the MR-500i is elegantly simple both inside and out, with an easy-to-use interface that eliminates all unnecessary buttons and allows you to organize and access images and music in a way that makes sense.
On the surface, the all-black face of the MR-500i is as flat and smooth as glass, and its contoured body is very compact. Weighing only 7.4 ounces, and measuring 4.3" x 2.9 x .8" it's easy to slip into a pocket, purse or backpack.
The MR-500i 20 GB hard drives will store up to 5,000 songs in WMA or MP3 format. On the VGA LCD display, you can view not just song titles and lyrics, but also the CD art of the musician's work should you choose to upload it to the player.
With the built-in search capability, you can search songs by keyword, album, artist, genre, top 10 hits and favorites, and sort all images in albums at the touch of a finger.
The MR-500i also sports a wired remote that features a two-line LCD display connected to the ear-buds, so you can find a song, skip a song, shuffle the songs in random order, add a song to favorites, adjust the volume or change the display without ever removing the player from its hiding place.
The Digital Camera
Touching the PHOTO icon on the MR-500i main menu instantly transforms it into a 1.22-megapixel digital camera. The VGA touch-screen acts as a large 3.7-inch monitor in which to compose and review images taken with the camera located on the back of the MR-500i. There is no shutter button -- just tap anywhere on the touch-screen and instantly take digital images. You can view the pictures all at once, by album, or by date in a calendar view.
Images and Sound Together
On the screen is also a REMIX icon. "Remix Play" combines both your music and your images into animated slideshows to create a soundtrack for your pictures. First, choose the photos you want to include in the remix. Then select from one of the available Remix Templates -- Flash Back, Tiles, Geometric, or Birthday -- and then choose the song you wish to accompany the remix. It's a great way to put together a slide show with related music for a nice multimedia play-back.
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