Samsung’s two new portable media players on sale now

I know this may be a shock to some of you but there are still companies out there that make portable media players that are not Apple. Granted they won’t win you any coolness awards but they are cheaper and sometimes do something different, Two new options in this category are the Samsung R1 (8GB $149, 16Gb $179) and R0 (8GB $99, 16GB $129). The more expensive R1 is smaller than a credit card and can play much video content without any conversion compared to the R0. Both will be available in April.

For $149, the R1 has a 2.4-inch LCD touch screen with a “drag and drop” interface. It will play 50 hours of audio and four hours of video on a charge. It also has an FM radio and can do voice recording. It even has Bluetooth.

The R0 is a bit bigger with a 2.6-inch LCD display, alas not touch screen, but you get what you pay for, sometimes. While the R1 only comes in black or silver, this one also comes in pink. The battery lasts less time and will give you 6 hours of video or 30 hours of audio. For extra memory you can add a Micro SD card.

So let us compare and contrast with Apple. For $99 you can get a stainless steel 4GB shuffle with no screen, so that leaves video playback pretty much out. The $149 8GB nano will give you a tiny 2 inch screen, and FM radio and a camcorder in lots of cool colors. To get anything with a decent screen you are up to the 8GB $199 iPod Touch ($50 more) with a 3.5 inch touch screen display and Wi-Fi internet access. So let’s shake the Magic Eight Ball and see what we get. $50 less and no internet access, or the same price, bigger screen and no camcorder. Sorry, shopper Eight Ball says, “No.”