Over the past couple of years we've seen more and more mobile phones with built-in music players, so it was probably inevitable that music players would start picking up communications abilities. Case in point: MusicGremlin's MG-1000 "Gremlin" MP3 player, the first digital music player with built-in Wi-Fi. Why is this so cool? Many reasons, among them: 1) Transfer music from your PC to your player with no cables. 2) Download music from MusicGremlin Direct, the company's subscription-based downloading service (all the music you want for $15 a month), from any Wi-Fi hotspot, no PC required. 3) Share music with all your Gremlin friends, either through the Net or via a local (ad hoc) Wi-Fi network. 4) Smirk to yourself on the subway knowing your modest little player does tricks those iPosers with their white earbuds can only dream about. As Engadget observes, it's really about time the world saw a wireless music player/downloading service, and it looks like MusicGremlin has really run with the ball here, even if the players were delayed and delayed and delayed. But they're here now, and you can get your 8-GB Gremlin from the company's site for $300. Just don't load it with music after midnight. — Peter Pachal

MusicGremlin, via Engadget