Designer electronics firm Bang & Olufsen has officially announced the release of their new MP3 player, the Beosound 6. As is usually the case with B&O gear, it looks good and has exceptional build quality. As is also the case with their products, it’s extremely pricey, with an MSRP of $600.
So what exactly does plunking down six Franklins get you? For starters, this player is encased in a beautiful mirrored stainless steel and scratch-resistant glass body. The controls are accessed using a silicon rubber keypad, and track information is displayed on a bright full-color LCD screen.
B&O also includes a pair of their high-end A8 earphones, which look pretty slick and should sound great too.
So is beauty only skin deep? Certainly, the BeoSound’s uninspiring 4GB of (non-expandable) storage isn’t going to win any awards – nor will the display’s anemic 128×160 resolution. On the other hand, the player’s 40 hour battery life is well above average, so it’s got that going for it. That’s about where the story ends though. At $600, the fact that the BeoSound doesn’t even play video clips is absurd. Sure, it looks pretty, but your average $100 player can handle some video these days.
I guess if you’re incredibly brand-loyal to the Bang and Olufsen name, you might have to own one. But with Apple’s equally purty 16GB iPod Touch costing just $399, it’s hard to imagine why you’d pay $200 more for 1/4 of the storage and far fewer capabilities.
