Although the market of PMPs is extremely crowded, that's not stopping manufacturers from pumping more and more such products onto it, regardless of their actual chances of success. And that's pretty much the case with the new MG-F500 family of PMPs from Kenwood, which has just been unleashed onto the Japanese market, and that provides only a basic set of playback features, targeting mostly people who are looking for audio quality rather than those who want to get an all-purpose device.

The new family, which is a part of Kenwood's larger MediaKeg series, includes three different models, namely the MG-F516, MG-F508 and MG-F504. As you might have guessed already, each of these devices' names is directly related to the amount of storage they're able to provide, ranging between 4GB for the entry-level model and going as high as 16GB for the top model. Moreover, each of these things is available in several color versions, in order to better match users' tastes.

Moving to the features section, we'll have to point out that the MF-F500 series of players is only able to play music (audio files – MP3, WAV, AAC, WMA – DRM9) and view photos (BMP, JPEG) on the 2-inch TFT color display, which offers a 320 x 240 resolution. No video support, sorry.

Moreover, the device incorporates a microSD card slot, which means that users will be able to easily increase the amount of available storage space, and connects to a computer via a USB 2.0 interface, for data transfer or battery-recharge purposes. And since we've mentioned the battery, we'll also have to say that the device delivers an absolutely impressive functioning life, which is rated at around 50 hours.

Other things worth mentioning about the new Kenwood players are related to their high level of portability (46.5 x 98 x 13 mm, 62 grams), as well as the fact that they provide sleep and alarm timers.

Kenwood's MediaKeg MG-F500 series of portable players is scheduled to arrive in stores in Japan over the course of December, pricing varying between 13,000 Yen (US$146) and 18,000 Yen (US$202), respectively.

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