It’s been a frugal summer for most, but luckily swimming is still on the agenda. Especially with Michael Phelps’ recent race for Olympic gold, swimming is a hot sport. But in between those races you may have noticed Phelps’ seeming addiction to his iPod, with those token white earbobs popping up every time the camera pans to him.
With the recent jump into the pool, Speedo is just one of many companies that has taken the iPod a bit further.
The Aquabeat is just one of many MP3 player designed for the pool. Instead of purchasing a bulky waterproof case for your iPod, the Aquabeat lets swimmer’s hear their favorite tunes without the worry of destroying an expensive piece of equipment. With a 9-hour battery and a 1GB memory, the Aquabeat hardly reaches the iPod’s memory capacity, but is accommodated to a swimmer’s needs. With features like buoyancy for easy retrieval in the pool, additional waterproof headphones, and a shorter headphone wire, the Aquabeat is tailored for its target audience.
The Aquabeat is a Speedo-designed MP3 player, quite a stretch for a company more known for its swimwear and athletic clothing than its electronics. The player costs $150 and comes with headphones and a carrier case, but no apparatus for attaching the player during a swim.
Other rival players include the Freestyle, a 1GB player with up to 30 hours of battery power and both PC and Mac compatible. But the Freestyle is not just for swimming, but is an all-around athletic player, being shockproof with anti-skip technology. It also comes in two styles, on lanyard-based and another with an armband, giving it a bonus in comparison to Aquabeat. 
But perhaps the most serious MP3 player is the NuTech Dolphin 1GB player. 
At roughly $100, the Dolphin is designed specifically for athletic swimming with a small cylindrical design and head-mounted feature. It only weighs 25g and provides up to 8 hours of playtime. The headphones are also designed to stay firmly in the ear during rigorous exercises.
Of course, actually wearing an MP3 player during competition is extreme, many athletes find music helps them get energized and psyched both during practice and before a race. Who knows what we’ll throw into the pool next?
Full comparisons of these models and others can be found at NextTag.com.
