Now that LG has done the hard work of getting US consumers to accept buying their refrigerators and MP3 players from the some company, appliance-maker Haier shouldn’t really run up against too much resistance with its new ibiza Rhapsody MP3 player. The MP3 player made its US debut through Amazon on Monday, bringing with it a set of unusual features.
For one thing, the Rhapsody is Wi-Fi enabled. Pressing a wireless “hot button” connects the Rhapsody to the Web, sans computer, where its 2.5-inch LCD can be used to browse, watch videos on demand from AOL, read e-mail and other Internet tomfoolery. The “Rhapsody” in the name is no coincidence, since Haier has partnered with RealNetworks to give users access to the Rhapsody music network, which is currently 4 million songs strong. Of course, they’ll only get a 30-day free trial, then the usual $12.99 per-month fee will kick in.
Currently, the player comes in 4GB, 8GB and 30GB variants, priced at $229, $249 and $329, respectively. While not every capacity player is available in every color, choices include black, blue, purple, pink, aqua, silver, and white.
