A portable player

with high-end sound

AK240, www.astellnkern.com

Who needs a $2,000 iPod?

No one, really. But wanting one is another story.

Astell&Kern, the arm of the South Korean device maker iRiver that specializes in high-end audio, has built a handheld music player that may outperform many five-figure home systems. The price has not been determined, but a spokesman said to expect it to be more than $2,000.

Astell&Kern has gone for the no-compromise engineering that audio purists adore. For instance, it has a pair of analog chips to convert data to sound, instead of the usual single chip. The two chips help ensure that none of the sound that should go to one channel pollutes the other.

The device's touch screen is a 3.3-inch AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) mounted in an aircraft-aluminum case with a carbon fiber back. It also has built-in Wi-Fi, so it can be loaded wirelessly.

The sound was good. OK, really, really good. But the device isn't perfect. Larger and weightier than an iPod, the asymmetrical case was a little uncomfortable to hold. A leather case is pretty much the only accessory. Finally, there's the steep price.

your phone could find your next job

Glassdoor Job Search, free,

www.glassdoor.com

Today you only have to look as far as your pocket to find new work. One of the simplest apps for mobile devices is Glassdoor's Job Search, Salaries and Company Reviews — free on iOS and Android. It allows you to hunt through an ever-updating feed of jobs by looking for those that match your search keywords. Tapping on a job in this list takes you to a page of detailed information, and you can also look up data on the company offering the position.

You can filter the job lists by job, company or salary. Filtering by job is likely to be most useful for most people, but for job seekers keen to see if their favorite firm is hiring, the company filter is also useful.

This app isn't a full-featured job finder that can house your résumé and automatically fill in job applications. But it is the kind of app you could spend five minutes browsing through on the off chance you will see some jobs you're interested in. Many of the jobs advertised through the site have an "apply now" button in the job details pages.

NEW YORK TIMES