A 1GB MP3 Player the Size of an Acorn

Indeed, the question in the subtitle isn't at all a joke. So far we've seen all sorts of daily gear getting smaller and smaller, in an endless challenge for miniaturization, heading for the ultimate portability; if some tens of years ago bigger was better, we could say that today "smaller AND better is better". It's the case of a DIY digital audio player that has been made using small-size digital components from the Japanese company Evergreen, loaded in an... acorn!

That's how the Acorn DAP came into being and even more, becoming one of the smallest portable music players around.

Now, for those who don't know yet, the acorn is the fruit of the oak tree, an oval object looking like small nut and having a cup-like attachment to it. If still you can't exactly figure what acorn is, buy the Ice Age movie and watch that compulsive squirrel...you'll learn for sure.

Back to our nuts, the Acorn DAP from Evergreen can play MP3, OGG and WMA files you have stored in its internal 1GB flash memory. All that's inside the Acorn from Evergreen and is actually the kit for a diminutive DIY DAP which will soon start shipping in Japan, customizable inside pretty much any object, household or natural, as your creativity dictates. The command joystick is pretty small (we're talking acorns, remember?) and by no means will it endure too much abuse, so you must be careful.

The 3.5mm headphones out jack will let you connect your player to your headset or to an external amplifier and thus seriously expand the use of this funny gadget. Still, there are no official specs on powering up the Acorn DAP, running time, data connection and the like; maybe as the launch date closes in such info will be made available.

Besides the proper player, Acorn series also comprises an acorn loudspeaker (can we still say "loudspeaker" in this case?). Expected prices are $31 for the speaker and $63 for the player; basically you get a pair of nuts for less than $100... so much for the price...

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