Thump
Price: $395 to $495
It seems like a cool idea — sunglasses with a built-in digital music player and speakers. And if Oakley’s new breed of eyewear, dubbed Thump, retailed for about $100, it might be a tempting alternative to some of the rudimentary flash memory card music players on the market. But these supershades cost $395 for a pair with 128 megabytes of memory and $495 for the 256-megabyte version, which sports polarized lenses. With typical audio compression rates, that means the larger version holds roughly 64 four-minute songs. By comparison, the smallest of Apple Computer Inc.’s iPod music players has 4 gigabytes of memory and retails for about $249. Still, for music fans looking be rid of tangled earphone cables and arm or waist-riding players, Thump at least delivers a solid playback — as long as you can keep the earbuds in place.
Associated Press