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Last Updated: Nov 2nd, 2009 - 17:32:57 |
MP3 players vastly better but far from perfect
South China Morning Post was one of first publications to review the Diamond Rio 300, the first widely distributed portable MP3 player on the market.
The first-generation, 32-megabyte Rio looked small and nifty, about the size and weight of a Sony Walkman.
The Rio was a great innovation and, following years of MP3 hype, triggered a flood of MP3 hardware - from more Rio-like players to MP3 players for the home and car to hybrid portable devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and mobile phones with MP3 functions.
Since the first Rio, lots of improvements have been made to the size, weight and design of MP3 players. Most MP3 players are slim, smaller and lighter than pagers.
Thanks to Sony and Samsung, these super-light audio devices have become fashion accessories popular with students and young executives. While there have been great improvements to the design and sound quality, one big complaint about the original Rio remained.
There are still many fundamental flaws with MP3 music - one is that high -quality music is a memory hog, making it difficult to store large amounts of music on a small, portable device.
With just 32 MB of storage space on the original Rio, a user could download only up to an hour of low-fidelity music, which is quite useless.
This comes with a USB interface enabling the conversion of MP3 files directly on to low-cost, durable minidisks. I will not be switching in a hurry though. Even now, 32 MB is the standard storage capacity in many portable MP3 players.
Samsung Yepp - a petite, fawn-colored device - has just 20 MB and can fit about 45 minutes of music. Rio has 120 MB of storage and great sound quality that is clearer and sharper than most MP3 players on the market.
The Nike PSA Play MP3 player (made by SonicBlue) is another attractive player. It has 120 MB of storage which takes up to 200 minutes of audio.
It even comes with a strap to attach the device to a user's arm. While Nike's MP3 might suffice for a two-hour or three-hour workout - or for an MTR ride to and from work - it is not a device to take with you on holiday. I will stick with my MD player for that.
There are two portable MP3 possibilities with expandable storage. Sony's color Clie N710C can play MP3 music and has a Memory Stick slot.
Users can download MP3 songs from a PC to the Memory Stick and play them on the Clie. At the same time, you can manage your schedules and contacts on the Palm OS-based PDA.
There are many other hybrid portable devices. An MP3 module is available for the Springboard expansion slot on Handspring's Visor series of hand-helds.
However, it will take about 15 songs. Some mobile phones from Samsung, Panasonic and Siemens also have incorporated MP3 functions.
The latest MP3 player from Panasonic, the SV-SD80, paves the way for future portable MP3 players. Weighing just 26 grams, the company claims it is the smallest and lightest MP3 player.
The SV-SD80 accepts SD memory cards, which gives it limitless storage capability.
A 64 MB SD card can contain about 120 minutes of MP3 files. This means if you are going on a long holiday, you can archive all your digital music to several SD cards and take them all.
Of course, there is always a problem with losing small things, but I am sure vendors will soon design waist pouches for SD cards. While there is no lack of MP3 hardware, the reality still looks a lot like a tangle of wires, and glitchy USB drivers and connections.
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