Philips GoGear Muse PMP [3-in LCD, Noise-Canceling Headphones, 25-hrs Audio Playback, 5-hrs Video]

When it comes to portable music players, there is no question who the leaders in the industry happen top be. Actually, it would seem that there’s a near monopoly when it comes to PMPs and most consumers couldn’t be happier. When Philips announced that they would be replacing the Opus as the flagship model in their GoGear line of PMPs with the new GoGear Muse it didn’t come with nearly as much fanfare and anticipation as, say, the new iPod Touch with integrated camera, but let us not be stayed from our goal of delivering the inside scoop.

Today, Philips Electronics announced that it would be releasing the newly minted GoGear Muse portable music player and that it would be taking the place of their previous category leader, the GoGear Opus. The Muse does have some improvements over its now defunct older sibling. It offers a marginally bigger 3-in LCD full-color LCD screen and for those of you that are keeping track, that’s 0.2-in larger than the screen on the Opus. The file support of the Muse has also gotten a makeover with the inclusion of BMP, GIF, PNG, Ogg Vorbis, APE, Real Video, and Real Audio formats.

The GoGear Muse is just a bit smaller than the Opus and this reduction in size seems to have come at the expense of its battery life. According to the fine folks at Philips (I’m such a sucker for alliteration) the Muse is capable of up to 25-hrs of audio playback or 5-hrs with video. You also get a 20-station preset FM tuner.

The Philips GoGear Muse comes complete with a set of in-ear noise canceling headphones so you can get going right out of the box. Retailing for about $233 and only available in major electronic stores in Singapore, the rest of the world will have to wait for Philips to announce broader availability.