Earphones that stay in place are at the top of most exercise enthusiast wish lists—nothing wrecks your zone training worse than earbuds that fall out all the time. Even if you aren’t a jogger, you can still benefit from headphones that won’t loosen at the lightest jostle.

The iLuv i303 In-ear Sports Ear Clips were designed for joggers—lightweight and compact, with an adjustable slider ear-clip design to keep them in place and in-line volume. The speakers themselves are high-performance for extended frequency range, lower distortion, and high-power handling, because what good are earphones if they don’t sound great?

No word yet on pricing or availability.

It’s once again CES time, and companies are out in full force displaying their 2009 gear. iRiver, naturally, is right in the mix of things with a number of multimedia players for your entertainment dollar. And when we say “a number”, we mean no less than a whopping seven media players: The iRiver P7, the iRiver P10, iRiver P20, iRiver E100 Season 2, iRiver E50, Mplayer Eyes, and Mplayer Season II.

iRiver P7 (pictured right)

• 4.3-inch (480 x 272-pixel) touchscreen
• Approximately 50 hours of audio
• SRS WOW HD audio technology, 7 EQ presets
• 4GB/8GB/16GB capacities
• microSD card slot
• Video, music, photo
• FM radio recording, voice recording

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iRiver announced two multimedia communication devices today, the Unit 2-S and the W10.

The Unit 2-S is a simple touchscreen computer that would best serve as a secondary PC in a living room or kitchen. It offers a 7-inch touchscreen display and runs on Linux. You can use it to place VoIP calls using its built-in speakerphone or a home wireless handset, or you can make video calls using its built-in webcam. Its Linux operating system lets you launch widgets for checking the weather, viewing photos, listening to music, watching movies, and surfing the Web.

The device seems fairly limited and you would probably be better served by a netbook running Windows XP, which wouldn’t put limits on what you can do in terms of the operating system functionality. But you may appreciate its futuristic-looking design and the lack of a need for a keyboard or a mouse, thanks to its touchscreen.

The W10 reminds us of a few Skype phones that took off a few years ago from the likes of Linksys and Netgear. Except the W10 is a bit more advanced. It offers a full 3-inch, 480 x 272-pixel resolution touchscreen display, 4GB of storage, a music player, video and photo viewer, E-Dictionary, Flash games, an FM radio, and SMS messages. Those features all support the true purpose of the device: Internet phone calls. The only trouble is, you’ll need to have access to a Wi-Fi connection to place those calls.

We like the white form factor and sleek design of the W10. It reminds us a bit of the Samsung Omnia that launched on Sprint last year, especially considering the simplicity of its face: there’s just a single control button under the display.

It’s a compelling device, but a smart phone can also support all the aforementioned features and place calls anywhere. Still, if you’re looking to cut back on your cell bill, you may appreciate the W10.

Stay tuned for a full hands-on with both of these devices as we tackle the CES show floor.

iLuv’s iSP200 2.1 Channel Speakers up the ante for mobile device sound solutions.  This sleek set is compact but promises to deliver a full audio experience with an integrated woofer and SRS-XT technology for true surround experience.  It’s designed to pair up with more than just MP3 players — if the size and design don’t tempt you to put it on your desk next to the laptop or cozy it up to the monitor, the three integrated USB 2.0 ports might.

The gorgeous design and promised performance have many drooling already.  They’re on display at CES, but you won’t be able to get your hands on a set until June (for $99.99)

If you didn’t bite on the Samsung P2, a sleek and sexy portable media player featuring an innovative use of Bluetooth that lets you make or take cell phone calls, then its successor, the P3, just may get you salivating.  Check the specs:

• 3-inch LCD touchscreen display with haptics feedback
• 16:9 aspect ratio with 30-frames-per-second video playback
• Bluetooth for connecting to wireless headphones, speakers, mobile phones
• MP3, MPEG-4, WMV, WMA, JPEG, and Windows DRM compatibility
• Built-in speaker, FM radio, and voice recorder
• DMSe 3.0 sound enhancement technology for making compressed digital music sound better
• 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB capacities

Pricing is still up in the air, but the Samsung P3 will be available for purchase in May.

Think of it as the cassette player for the 21st century. The SanDisk Sansa slotRadio player is  a small (1.9 x 1.9 x 0.5-inch, 1.3-ounce) die-cast aluminum music player that accepts microSD music cards that come preloaded with MP3 and WMA files  from hundreds of Billboard chart-toppers. For a very reasonable $99.99 you get a player, a slotRadio mix card (with 1,000 songs prearranged into playlists sorted by genre),  a pair of earbuds, a jewel case and media case,  USB cable, and AC adapter (for charging the device). We snagged a unit to see if it’s as appealing in practice as it is in theory.

SanDisk slotMusic vs. SanDisk slotRadio

You’re probably asking yourself how the Sansa slotRadio differs from the somewhat similar SanDisk Sansa slotMusic Player, which also uses microSD Card–loaded albums for music playback. Good question. Sansa slotRadio is  far more pocketable, has a 1.5-inch OLED display for  viewing artist and song info (which scrolls horizontally across the bottom of the screen, and even shows info on the upcoming track), includes an FM radio, and the tunes are locked to the card due to licensing rights (slotMusic was totally DRM free and you could move music around as you saw fit). In short, it feels more like a traditional digital audio player than the slotMusic Player.

Simple Interface

The unit features a simple, easy-to-use interface. Its top has a button that let us power on the player or FM radio, and a slot for the microSD albums; the right side has a forward skip button; the left side has two volume keys; the bottom houses a headphone jack and USB port. The face of slotRadio has arrow keys that you can press to cycle through genres, and the back has  a built-in belt clip for, well, attaching the player to your belt.

Solid Sound, Limited Skips

After inserting our demo album and plugging in the included earbuds (the typical hard plastic variety that every music player comes with), we were soon grooving to a wide variety of tunes (unfortunately, we’re unable to talk about genres or musicians on the microSD Card until they’re finalized closer to the player’s March launch). Still, we enjoyed crisp, loud audio that managed to drown out the din of busy Manhattan streets. Head-nodders be forewarned: the bass is lacking.

In a way, the slotRadio experience mimics that of an online radio station.  You can jump freely between genres, but once  you’ve selected one, you can only skip forward through songs you don’t want to hear; you can’t go back to a previous track. That’s a bummer if you want to replay a favorite song. You can, however, add to the cards your own MP3 and WMA files, which are sorted into their own playlist entitled My Channel. Album art isn’t supported, but in its place are cool-looking black-and-white animated video clips that show instruments in motion, music artists jamming, and other eye-catching shorts.

The Early Verdict

We can certainly see the appeal of the SanDisk Sansa slotRadio; it’s a no-hassle way to listen to music since there’s no need to hook up or sync the device to a Mac or PC, which would be great for the non-techie in your life. However, the most important aspect of the player we’re waiting on is in the music cards. SanDisk won’t yet reveal the artists and genres that will be available when the player hits retail this spring, which could make or break the experience (thousand-song cards will retail for $39.99). Look for a full review of the SanDisk Sansa slotRadio incoming soon.

Shure, manufacturer of premium audio accessories, is pulling out all the stops at CES this week with audio accessories for your cell phone, MP3 player, and notebook.

Its new SE115 earbuds are the most exciting addition, since they bring some much-needed jazz to the company’s SE110 headphones that have been on the market for awhile. The $99 SE115 now comes in four vivid hues: blue, pink, black, and red.  Like the preceding SE110, the new colored buds will bring sound isolation and rich bass to your tunes on the go. We are definitely looking forward to plugging these babies into some of the new portable music players we will be seeing in Vegas this week.

Channeling its rockstar roots, Shure is introducing the consumer-grade PG42USB Wired Microphone. The professional-caliber digital microphone connects to your notebook via USB and is intended for multi-track recording. The PG42USB will retail for $249. In addition to the PG42USB, Shure is also introducing the PG27USB ($199.99)  and though it has a similar design to the PG42, the PG27USB  features a flat frequency response to reproduce a wide variety of instrument and vocal sound sources naturally.

And if you don’t have a Shure Mic, the company’s new X2u XLR-to-USB adapter connects any nondigital XLR microphone to a notebook to create better-than-CD quality recordings. The plug-and-play USB adapter easily allows for recording high quality audio to your notebook’s hard drive. The X2u adapter will begin to be available  in Spring 2009 for $129.

The countdown to CES is in full swing, and iLuv looks to get the word out early on its i1166 portable media player. This unique 9-inch iPod dock features an integrated DVD player to keep you entertained on those long flights. Highlights include:

• MP3, JPEG, MPEG-4, DivX, Kodak playback
• Video-out for TV connectivity
• A 2-in-1 memory card slot that supports the new slotMusic format
• A bundled remote control
• Three-way power source:  AC adapter, DC car adapter, and built-in rechargeable battery

The iLuv i1166 will be available in March (price TBD).

DJ Danger Mouse wannabes can now mix, mash up, and blend like Gnarls Barkley’s waxmaster with the revamped Tonium Pacemaker, a portable dj system that fits conveniently in the pocket.

Featuring a redesigned, noob-friendly interface, the Pacemaker makes it simple to auto beat match with the touch of a button, a vital skill for spinnin’  em virtual wheels. A 60GB hard drive stores your music, vocal samples,  hot loops, and other audio files that you transfer from your Mac or PC via USB.

If you’re eager to flex your DJ skillz, the Tonium Pacemaker will be avilable in the March/April timeframe for under $500.

The collective tech world may have their eyes on CES, but don’t sleep on Macworld, the other big show out west which begins in just a few hours.  Many companies are unveiling new products to coincide with the show,  and Altec Lansing is right in the mix with its BackBeat 906 stereo Bluetooth headset.

The Backbeat 906, which sounds very much like an ’80s-era drum machine, combines the audio and voice technologies that Altec Lansing and Plantronics are known for delivering.  Features include:

• BassBoost, which enhances low-end sound
• OpenMic, which lets users instantly hear their surroundings without removing the earbuds
• AudioIQ, which intelligently analyzes environmental noise and raises or lowers the volume

A stereo Bluetooth adapter is included with purchase, which allows music lovers to partake of their favorite tunes loaded into  iPhones, iPods, and other digital audio players. The Backbeat 906 will be available in late February for $129 (it’ll be sold without the adapter for $99.