Toshiba on Monday announced in Japan that it"s increasing the song capacity of its Gigabeat line of hard drive-based digital audio players. The HDD Audio Player Gigabeat line will top out at 60 gigabytes and will be available before the end of the year in the country, along with 10GB and 20GB versions. The devices will come with a high-resolution 2.2-inch color display and a navigation system based on a plus-sign sensor on the front of the device.
Up to 15,000 audio files, in WMA or MP3 formats recorded at 128 kilobits per second, can be stored on the 60GB version, according to the company. Songs are transferred over a USB (universal serial bus) 2.0 connection. The electronics company is one of the major suppliers for 1.8-inch drives used in many hard drive-based digital audio players, including Apple Computer"s iPod, which tops out at 40GB.