Ever since the mid 1990's, the market has been flooded with personal digital media players.  Everything from the original Diamond Rio (I still have mine) to the latest Ipod Nano.  Since the debut of the Ipod, Apple has reigned king over all other media players.  With the easy controls, copious storage and long battery life, the Ipod has been hard to beat.  Even Microsoft's Zen player failed to hit the mark.  But now there is a new competitor entering the market.  One that promises to give Apple the run for its money!  Enter the Wizpy.

        Measuring in ever so slightly larger than the Ipod Nano (6mm thicker, and 20 grams heavier), Turbolinux's new creation packs a punch.  So, what can the Wizpy do?  Since it runs a full fledged Linux operating system, you may be better off asking what can't it do.  Not only can it do all the media functions that the Ipod can do, it also integrates a FM radio and book (text) viewer.  But that's really nothing special compared to what it brings with it.

        Plug the Wizpy into any computer's USB port (notice I said any... No drivers to load), and it will boot your own Linux operating system on that computer.  What does that provide you?  First off, it comes with a web browser (rumors say FireFox), e-mail client, office suite, IP based telephone (VOIP) and media player.  But there's more!  Since it's an actual operating system, it can run anything you want to install on it.  Imagine being able to plug your Wizpy into a machine and having an instant web server? 

        The question that remains is the pricing of the player.  It is already available in Japan, with a global release planned for sometime this year.  If TurboLinux plays its cards right, they may have raised the standards for portable media players.  Only time will tell if the days of the Ipod are over...

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