Toshiba Gigabeat MEV30K V PMP

The Gigabeat MEV30K V PMP is nearly identical to the 30GB V30T (for the Japanese market, minus the TV tuner.  This model seem to get its features from the popular S series, such as Microsoft's Portable Media Center software, WMV9, WMV10, PlaysForSure video playback, along with support for WMA, WMA lossless, MP3, WAV, and Windows DRM 9/10 audio files.  There are improvements on the MEV30K over the S model.  First of all, Toshiba increased the display to 3.5-inch, compared to the 2.5-inch on the S.  The company promises an increase of playtime up to 8 hours of video or 25 hours of audio playback on a full charge, unlike the 2.5 and 12-hour playtime for video and audio, respectively, on the S.  Crutchfield and Amazon started taking pre-orders yesterday with a retail price of $400.  General sales won't start until October time frame.IFA 2006: Toshiba announce Gigabeat V Series media player [via pocket-lint.co.uk]