Visual Land, a southern California-based electronics maker, has introduced its new V-Touch VL-875 multimedia player. The device resembling the iPod touch to great extent is slated for an unveiling (and sale) on Boxing day, Friday, at Future Shop - a major Canadian retailer owned by Best Buy.

Needless to point out to the (design) similarities between the V-Touch and Apple's iPod touch, the device boasts between 1GB and 8GB storage capacity, a 2.8-inch, 240x320 resolution resistive touchscreen, movie playback capabilities, including AVI, MP4 and 3GP, audio support for MP3, WMA and WAV audio formats, as well as support for viewing BMP and JPG images. The V-Touch can also read text files, and is capable of capturing still images and videos through its 2.0-megapixel camera.

According to the features list, a digital FM tuner is also incorporated into the iPod touch knockoff, with the possibility to save as many as 20 radio stations. A recorder application is also available. A stylus and the included earphones end the specs list.

“Movies, music, pictures, text files, and more all at the touch of a finger! The V-Touch Personal Media Player is the latest in touch screen media players. It features a beautiful 2.8" color touch screen with an easy-to-use navigation system,” the maker of the V-Touch, Visual Land, says.

One of the only real similarities with the iPod touch (besides the design), is the built-in speaker, which Apple added only with the second generation iPod touch this year. Another benefit of the V-Touch is that owners can plug it in their computers to use it as a storage environment. This, coupled with the miniSD card slot, allowing the user to expand his/her own storage capacity, offers Canadian residents just enough reasons to seriously consider the $80 CAD ($65) device.

For the sake of comparison (although all these features come at a single price), Apple's iPod touch, second generation starts at $229 (8GB).