January 7, 2008 9:03 PM PST

iRiver W7 MP3 player hankers for directions

(Credit: iRiver)

Now here's something you don't see everyday: an MP3 player with GPS capabilities. The new iRiver W7, one of a slew of devices the company has on display at CES 2008, doesn't come with a built-in GPS antenna. Rather, you have the option to buy a car mount cradle that adds the functionality. The fact that the antenna is part of the cradle and not the player is actually quite compelling: it means the player can stay relatively compact and impressively thin for pocketability during "on-the-go" use, while still offering a handy navigational feature for the car. Sure, more than a handful of cell phones offer built-in GPS features, but the W7's 3-inch touch screen puts most phones' screens to shame.

iRiver doesn't skimp out on the multimedia features, either. The W7 supports music, video, photos, text, and Flash games. There's also an FM tuner (not that you'd need that in the car), an E-Dictionary, and a microSD card slot for adding more memory. The player will come in two flash memory options: 4GB and 8GB.

The W7 is due out in the U.S. at the end of Q1 or the beginning of Q2, and pricing has yet to be determined for the States. Let's just hope the European price tag of 175 Euros for the 4GB and 215 Euros for the 8GB isn't something to go by, because that's going to make it one pricey player--current conversions put that at $257 and $315, respectively.

For more than five years, Jasmine France has covered a variety of tech products for CNET--from scanners to keyboards to GPS devices--but she's happiest where she is now: sitting atop a pile of MP3 players, "testing" every music service known to man, and jamming a variety of earbuds in every shape and color into her absurdly small ears. E-mail Jasmine.