Toshiba Gigabeat T401 points to flash Zune

Toshiba this morning added a new mid-size flash player to its Gigabeat line. The T401 balances the differences between the small Gigabeat U and the company's hard disk players, sporting a 2.4-inch tall LCD and 4GB of flash storage that cuts the thickness to under 0.4 inches. Unlike most of Toshiba's players or even the Microsoft Zune, however, the T401 supports not just 802.11g Wi-Fi but also an Internet connection; listeners can download podcasts directly from websites without first synchronizing with a PC.

The Japanese firm also promises higher audio quality through H2C technology that can restore some of the audio data lost in the compression process, and Windows Media Lossless support that reproduces CD-quality audio at half the size. Playback is estimated at 16 hours for typical MP3/WAV/WMA audio and five hours for WMV movie clips.

In Toshiba's incarnation, the T401 will sell in a standard version with Wi-Fi and a single black color for an estimated $257; a stripped-down version, the T401S, omits Wi-Fi but adds red and white color options in addition to a price drop to $214. The more economic version ships first to Japan on September 7th, followed by the wireless model on October 5th. No US releases were announced, though the addition of Wi-Fi and Toshiba's influence on the Zune suggests that the flash-based "Draco" Zune may bring the core T401 to the US at a lower price. [via Impress]