Make a List, Check It Twice It's December, and you know what that means: vacation days, sweaters, and ringing bells. It also means it's the gift-buying season. And nothing represents the new-fashioned spirit of the holidays like the latest in electronics and technology. Here are some gift suggestions for you and your gadget-addicted loved ones. Liens Commerciaux Jingle Bell Rock--Or Rap, Jazz, and Classical The cliche "you can't take it with you" no longer applies to music. It's actually astonishing how much sound you can carry in your pocket these days. Consider the $250 Rio Carbon 5GB Player. This classy looking, palm-size MP3 player holds about 60 hours' worth of 128-kbps MP3 tunes on its 5GB hard drive. You can select music by albums, artists, or genres, or make your own playlists. And the Rio Carbon lets you shuffle (randomize) any of these song lists, something a better-known music player only just started offering. The Carbon can play secured tunes from MusicMatch and Napster (news - web sites), but not from ITunes. Too expensive? Too big? Too much music? The $150 IRiver IFP-790 uses 256MB of flash RAM instead of a hard drive. This makes it smaller, lighter, and able to run longer on a battery charge. It carries much less music, of course, but because this 3.5-by-1.3-by-1-inch music box also contains an FM tuner, you could argue that it carries an infinite amount of music. Should you or your loved one like to dictate notes on the run, it's also a voice recorder. If you want to spend more--or less--money, there are also 128MB, 512MB, and 1GB versions ($120 to $250). No one can enjoy music when the lawn mower or circular saw is going full force. So if there's someone on your list who loves music and power tools--or wants to drown out jet engine noise on cross-country flights--buy them the $50 Maxell Noise Cancellation Headphone. These large, battery-operated headphones don't cut out every sound that may interfere with your listening pleasure (my daughter's flute practice came through), but they reduce steady noises like washing machines and plane engines to almost nothing. They sound great, too. I'm Dreaming of Some Good Movies When I was young, I had to actually go to a theater to see a movie. Can you believe it? But thanks to portable DVD players like Panasonic's $400 DVD-LS50, you can now watch them on the road (just don't try it while driving). The LS50 measures just over an inch thick, weighs less than 2 pounds, and sports a 7-inch LCD screen that is just fine in an intimate situation. Dual headphone jacks let two people watch without disturbing those around them. In addition to standard video DVDs, it also plays DVD-Audio (in two channels, only), DVD-RAM, DVD-R, CDs, WMAs, and MP3s. It also lets you view your JPEG photos. Chestnuts Captured in a Million Pixels For the serious amateur photographer on your list, how about a digital camera that looks and acts like an old-fashioned single-lens reflex? In a sense, Fujifilm's 4-megapixel $500 FinePix S5100 is an SLR--the eyepiece viewfinder shows you what the lens really sees (as does, of course, the 1.5-inch LCD). And the 10X optical zoom lens really lets you come in close while standing far away. Getting all you can out of the S5100 requires a steep learning curve, but the results are worth it. I took two photos at dusk, about a minute apart, of the same outdoor scene. With a bit of knob fiddling, one looked like it was taken in full daylight, the other during the tail end of the sunset, a sign that even an amateur can get a wide range of results. The FinePix S5100 isn't very portable, however. If you know someone who'd prefer 4-megapixel capability in a sleek, stylish container that curves with the palm of their hand, buy them a $350 Olympus Stylus Verve. This all-metal, all-weather camera measures only 3.74 by 2.18 by 1.08 inches, weighs less than 4 ounces, and comes in six colors. While it lacks the FinePix 5100's image control (and has only a 2X optical zoom), it includes 16 selectable scene modes, including Portrait, Landscape, Beach & Snow, and Fireworks (how often will you use that one?). Pick the mode that best describes the scene you're shooting, and the camera adjusts its settings to achieve the best picture. Okay, so that certain someone already has a digital camera? If they also have a collection of photos sitting in boxes, they may appreciate the $150 Visigo Photo Scanner for turning those antique prints into digital files. This is one scanner that you don't have to clear off half a desk to use--it's only about the size of a stapler. You can't lay a book down on it, but the paper path is straight, so it won't warp your photos. The one feature it's really lacking: transparency support for turning slides and negatives into digital images. Twelve Days of Planning Got someone on your list who's always on the go? Lives by their cell phone? Tends to forget appointments? Get them a $200 BlackBerry 7100t. At least, do that if their cell account is with T-Mobile or they're willing to switch. The BlackBerry is the ultimate cell phone for people who are more concerned with keeping organized than with taking low-quality photos. It synchronizes contact and appointment information with Microsoft Outlook, connects to the Internet to check e-mail, IM, and surf the Web, and lets you write and keep notes with its own bizarre way of taking text (which may not be as user-friendly as the Graffiti writing software on PalmOne devices, but is actually pretty good once you get used to it). Oh, yeah--you can also use the BlackBerry 7100t to make and receive phone calls. If that person doesn't use T-Mobile and likes their current cell phone but still wants to be more organized, you can buy them a good, basic PDA like the $150 PalmOne Zire 31. It's small, attractive, and easy to figure out and use. There's a bright, easy-to-read color touch screen, plus hardware buttons to launch common applications like Contacts and the Calendar. And, of course, it too synchs to Microsoft Outlook. Even when it's turned off, the alarms will still warn you of impending appointments (yes, you can shut them up); plus, it plays MP3s, displays photos, and uses all that available Palm Desktop software. Santa Claus Is Looking for Directions Portable music. Movies on the road. Cell phones and PDAs. That's a lot of technology that your loved ones can take on the road. But what if they get lost? That's where a global positioning system comes into play, and why the traveler on your shopping list may want the $500 Navman ICN 510. About the size of a large PDA, it comes with maps of the United States and Canada, clips onto the dashboard with a sturdy, suction-cup mount, and displays its maps on a bright, easy-to-read LCD while telling you verbally where to turn. And when you park, you can easily slip the ICN into your pocket to avoid theft. Just remember to turn it off first. My test unit suddenly told the audience in a crowded movie theater: "In 600 feet, turn left."