MusicGremlin was a portable
digital music player
A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored o ...
, as well as a subscription based
online music service
A digital music store is a business that sells digital audio files of music recordings over the Internet. Customers gain ownership of a license to use the files, in contrast to a music streaming service, where they listen to recordings without ...
that could be accessed wirelessly directly from the device without the use of an intermediate computer. Both the player and the service were provided by a small
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
based company, MusicGremlin Inc. The company was founded by Jonathan Axelrod and Robert Khedouri. The company was bought in 2008 by
SanDisk.
Device specifications
The MusicGremlin, also known as the Gremlin mg-1000, measures 4 x 3.4 x .76 inches, and is currently only available in black. It has a 2-inch
QQVGA LCD
A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly but in ...
color screen. It features a standard five-way navigation pad, as well as dedicated volume control buttons. It has an 8GB
hard drive, and a battery that lasts 10 hours of playtime.
A fairly unusual feature to the Gremlin is its ability to share licensed music directly with other MusicGremlin players on the same
Wi-Fi network, as well as access music directly from the MusicGremlin online service without the use of an intermediate computer. It can also transfer music directly from a personal computer, but only one running
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
.
The music player can also play files uploaded from a computer in
MP3 or
WMA format, but these files cannot be shared with other users.
The retail price of the unit was currently US$249.99.
Service details
The MusicGremlin online service is offered in two forms:
* Subscription service- For $14.99/month USD a MusicGremlin user can download and have access to all the music that they like, and freely share this music with other subscribers. As with previous subscription-based music services, these files expire when you cancel your subscription.
* A la carte - Users can also purchase tracks individually for $.99 USD.
* Gremlists - A unique value-add feature for all subscribers to MusicGremlin's unlimited downloads service. Available in a wide variety of genres and themes, Gremlists are preprogrammed playlists that are automatically, and wirelessly, downloaded to the user's device. Current titles include "Punk Rock Royalty", "Non-Stop 70s", and "Hot Brown's Love Lounge." Users can subscribe (for free) to as many Gremlists as they want, as well as stream them on MusicGremlin.com.
Reviews
* In a ''
Wall Street Journal'' review,
Walter Mossberg
Walter S. Mossberg (born March 27, 1947) is an American technology journalist and moderator.
From 1991 through 2013, he was the principal technology columnist for ''The Wall Street Journal''. He also co-founded '' AllThingsD'', ''Recode'' a ...
and
Katherine Boehret said that they liked the player and were impressed by its "fresh approach", but found that it had some "annoying rough edges" that would impede the device's market penetration if unfixed.
* In 2010,
''Time'' named the Gremlin MG-1000 one of their "All-TIME 100 Gadgets"
MusicGremlin Wi-Fi MP3 Player
' from ''Time'' on October 25, 2010.
References
{{reflist
Online music stores of the United States