Pocket-sized music player / mixer to make North American debut

LAS VEGAS - This week's CES show will mark the North American rollout of a handheld device billed as the world's first pocket-sized DJ system.

Tonium's Pacemaker is not just a portable music player but a portable mixer, said Anders Friman, Tonium's CEO, speaking with BetaNews at Tuesday night's CES Unveiled press event in Las Vegas.

Already available in Europe and Asia, Pacemaker will be seen (and heard) publicly in North America for the first time at CES 2009. The handheld device contains buttons for sophisticated control of playback, cue, equalizer, volume, and audio effects.

Professional and amateur DJs can reverse the playback direction, increase or decrease music speed by 100 percent, and implement audio effects such as reverb, echo, delay, and roll, for instance.