As we see a convergence of media formats, everyone is looking for solutions to carry their content on the road with them. One of the drawbacks I see of micro PC’s and MacBook airs is their unsuitability to play dvds to entertain me while I’m traveling. Yeah, I’m selfish that way.

Toast 9 Titanium – Burn. Watch. Listen. Share.

Roxio, the makers of Toast have evolved their product to respond to the needs of Mac and iPhone users who desire access to many different formats of video across various platforms. Read what they have to say below:

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With the approach of the 3-day Memorial Day weekend that unofficially kicks off summer, I figured it would be a good time to take a peek at a tool to encourage some of us pasty-white technophiles out into the actual outdoors. Although my legs have often been described as “cadaverous,” I realize that I probably need to break down and put on some shorts and get some fresh air for a change.

But when I’m in the great outdoors, I don’t want to be totally disconnected from the grid and I want to know where I’m going. Enter the Universal Bike Mount Holder for iPhone / iPod / PDA / GPS from USB Fever.

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Part of the lure of a being on holiday is the ability to get away from all of your tech distractions. But if you’re reading this site, then you’re probably like me and derive an inordinate amount of enjoyment from having all of your toys and gadgets with you wherever you go. There’s a lot to be said for putting your smartphone, MP3 player, digital camera or laptop away in order to be able to fully soak in your surroundings, but when used in moderation, I think gadgets can actually enhance your travel experience.

There are all sorts of considerations to take into account when travelling with your tech toys. Will it have enough storage for all my photos and music? Is it durable enough to handle the rigours of the road? Will the battery last me until the next time I get to a power outlet? And what happens if my bag gets stolen?

Gadget insurance is something I’ll cover in another post, but the rest of the concerns are easily take care of with the right tech and accessories.

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Earlier this week, although we did not write about it in this space, rumors started trickling in about a new Sansa media player from Sandisk.  In fact, it wasn’t long before Amazon confirmed these early reports of a new media player, posting for pre-order sales.

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For SO long I have been looking for a MP3 Player without wires. Sure, everyone wishes Apple did it (I don’t). However, Best Buy, yes you heard me right, Best Buy has come out with a store brand MP3/Video Player that supports Bluetooth A2DP Stereo Headphones!

Also, this MP3 Player is a Open Source fanatics dream MP3 player. It supports Ogg Vorbis. Ogg, for the uninitiated, is a non patent encumbered audio codec that’s vary comparable in quality to MP3. Also, since it’s patent friendly, you can use it with Linux directly out of the box Continue Reading

The main reason I bought the Zune was so that I could watch TV and video on my train trip to university every day. I often have unwatched TV shows on my Media Center, so clearing them out during the trip to uni in the morning sounded like a good idea.

Until this application was released, I wasn’t interested in buying a Zune, or any other PMP device. When ZuneTVWatcher was released I ordered a Zune straight away (thanks Judie!). ZuneTVWatcher fills the baffling gap that Microsoft left in their Zune desktop software: the inability to convert and transfer DVR-MS files from Media Center to the Zune.

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Part of the X-Series offer on Three is Orb, the video streaming application that lets you access your media files from practically anywhere that you have a decent internet connection. I’ve never really tried it before, but this seemed the perfect opportunity. With my daily train commute, what could be better than catching up on my recorded TV or watching some of my stored videos without having to encode or sync anything. While I have my new Zune for watching videos, the Media Centre recorded TV converted ZuneTVWatcher is not working for PAL properly yet, so I don’t yet have TV on my Zune.

Setting up Orb is incredibly easy. Download the desktop program, install it, and login with your Orb username and password (or signup for one and then login).

You can configure Orb to access your media files wherever they are stored. I couldn’t add network drives, so I simply mapped the ones I wanted and added the mapped drives to Orb. Worked great

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Bob Russell from MobileRead Networks just sent an email which I thought would be fun to share…

In it Bob wrote, “I thought you might be interested to know that Rhapsody music service sent me an email ad that highlighted a Nokia N800 Internet Tablet right at the top, front and center. The picture is a link takes you to the Nokia site with a nice ad that claims you get the full Rhapsody experience while connected. I get that with Comcast broadband service, and I have to say it’s really nice.”

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Rounding off my list of the three personal media players (PMPs) that I plan to review–I’ve already done the Cowon A2 and the Creative Zen Vision W–it’s time for the Archos 604 WiFi. (I didn’t do an unboxing on this one, kids; sorry, I’ve just been too durn busy with “real” work.)

The Archos has specs very similar to that of the Zen Vision and the Cowon A2:

• 10.23 oz (290g)
• 4.3″, 480×272 screen
• 133mm (wide) x 78mm (high) x 18mm (thick)
• 30 GB hard disk space
• 5 hours rated of battery time
• built-in mic
• built-in external speaker
• A/V port
• standard 3.5mm stereo headphone jack
• WiFi (802.11g) connection

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pocketnow.com has barely been back up a few hours and they are already back into it!! Brandon has just posted about a video showing the functionality of the iPhone, and the equivalent functionality on Windows Mobile 5. While WM5 may not have the nice big glowing buttons, or have all of these features integrated, it is certainly a much more powerful and expandable platform.

As the video shows the XDA Orbit can perform many of the nice things that the iPhone can, and then some. Head over there to see the original post.