Whenever I work out, I have my iPod ritual. Before I put my shirt on, I strap my Shuffle onto my arm and connect my headphones to it. That way, most of the cord goes under my shirt so it doesn't flop around or catch on anything while I'm running or whatever, but the problem is the cord sometimes feels like its dragging my head down into my shirt. Can't we just go cordless with these MP3 players already?

You betcha, and RCA has done it. The company's JetStream player, announced at CES, is coming in a few weeks (second week of October, the company says), and it uses Kleer wireless technology to do away with that pesky headphone wire. Included in the $139 package is a pair of oversized earbuds that connect to each other but not the 1GB player. The buds will receive music wirelessly from the player from up to 30 feet away, so you can even leave it in your locker while you hit the weights.

Check out my hands-on impressions of the JetStream, along with a couple photos of it in action, by following the link below.

Trying out the JetStream yesterday evening, I found that range estimate to actually be conservative — it only started to crap out at 40 or 50 feet. Controls on the right earbud are decent, but I found the 'buds themselves to be bulky and too loose-fitting on my ears to be useful in the gym. And the sound quality, supposedly Kleer's biggest advantage over Bluetooth, didn't strike me as anything special. And 1GB? Come on.

Unfortunately for me, Dave Arland from RCA told me that different headphone models won't be in the works for a while, but hinted that the company may be building Kleer tech into home theater equipment. We may see something along those lines come January, but for now the JetStream would need a headphone and memory upgrade to win over this iPodder, though I really admire the cord-cutting technology. — Peter Pachal

Via RCA