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-------------------------------------------------------------- This story was printed from ZDNet Australia. --------------------------------------------------------------
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It's All About MP3 September 07, 2001 URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/reviews/coolgear/audio/soa/It-s-All-About-MP3/0,139023372,120254158,00.htm
With the rise and fall of Napster, just about everyone knows what an MP3 is. But in case you have been hiding under a pile of vinyl records for the last 18 months, here are the basics.
MP3 is short for MPEG-1 Layer 3, a format for digital audio storage. The audio is compressed to reduce the file size with only slight reduction in sound quality. The MP3 format can be used for music distribution over the Internet, but can be also used in portable players.
Compressing an uncompressed audio file (for example, a WAV file created from a track on an audio CD) to MP3 can decrease the file-size to less than a tenth of the original file with minimal loss in quality. This means that an original 50MB WAV file (about five minutes of CD quality audio) will end up as an MP3 file using only about five megabytes of space with little or no audible loss in quality. The size depends on the length of the song and the bitrate (quality). The data is automatically decompressed while the MP3 is being played. This month we have a collection of assorted devices with one thing in common--they all play MP3s. They may also be mobile phones, take photos, fit in a tape deck, play the radio, or capture movies, but they will all pump out your favourite tunes. We have storage ranges from 16MB to 10GB. Size ranges from that of an egg to a ream of paper, and speaker sizes from tiny earphones to multiple 50 and 70mm drivers. Prices range from AU$299 right up to a sizeable AU$999.
Editors' Choice There were so many different types of devices in this roundup that it was a bit confusing at first to work out which was going to take out the honours. In the end we decided that there would be three different categories: Pocket MP3, Portable MP3, and High Density MP3. The winner in the Pocket MP3 category is the Creative Nomad IIc. It provides great value, is easy to use and has a good overall mix of features. A Merit Award in this category goes to the Iomega HipZip, with its great looks, ease of use and low priced removable media. In the Portable MP3 category, it was a simple decision. The Exonion from MPZOO is a clear winner. The combination of ease to use, good earphones and FIF make it the winner all the way. If you want some big, online storage,(High Density MP3), you can't go past the Creative Nomad Jukebox, especially combined with the PlayDock. We have had this little gem sitting around in the Testlab pumping out our favourite tunes all week. It combines a good user interface, great features and 6GB of MP3 Storage. One anomaly in the whole equation was the Kodak MC3, which deserves a Merit Award simply for its broad range of features and excellent price. Creative Nomad IIc
When we tested MP3 players a little over a year ago, the Nomad II was brand new. The new IIc looks the same as the II, and has pretty much the same features.
While not the smallest or lightest of the units tested, the IIc still has the same lovely clean look about it. This is a solid, robust unit, but not too big to put in your pocket while you go for a jog. Total weight without battery is 86.4 grams. In the latest incarnation, Creative added 32MB of internal memory, and the Smart Media slot is available for 32 or 64MB cards. The display is a crisp high-resolution backlit LCD and, while last year it was "easily the best of the displays", many of the competitors have started to catch up. It is still a very good display, however. When you are playing a track the following is displayed on the screen: battery indicator, volume indicator, play indicator, track time, track title, artist, file type (MP3/WMF), bitrate, sound quality, sample rate, track number, and total tracks. This is really very good--there is not much more that you could ask for it to display. The main controls are still the same, accessed through a four-way disc with play/pause, fast forward, rewind, and stop functions. There are also menu, repeat and A-B (loop) controls on the front panel, and DSP (Digital Signal Processor, the EQ), erase, record and volume controls on the right side. The left side has a lock switch and the USB connector, and the back features an eject button for the SmartMedia Card. Another new addition is a docking station connecter on the bottom of the unit. The basic controls are easy to use, though the sheer number of menus means it takes some time to learn to use all the options. The Creative PlayCenter software comes with a built-in LavaPlayer MP3 player for the PC. It also has a CD ripper--the Creative Digital Audio Centre--made by Music Match. The Nomad IIc, however, does not include the FM tuner that was in the Nomad II. A microphone is still provided, as is 32MB of memory for recording. The link to the computer is a standard square USB port. This is important as it means you can easily replace the cable if it is lost. The download speed has improved since last year and the transfer of our 28MB of test files took just over a minute. Windows 98/Me/2000 and MacOS 8.6 and above are all supported, although we only tested with Windows Me. The software was a little confusing at first as the initial screen displayed the info for the IIc. We had to switch to the screen that displayed the internal memory before it would allow us to upload the test files. There were some problems with uploading files as the system would occasionally stop because it could not find the player in the middle of a transfer (to any of the systems). It turned out that the test machine was suffering a little from having too much software installed on it. The IIc ships without headphones. While this makes it an incomplete package, it also gives you the opportunity to use your existing head/earphones, or it gives you the opportunity to buy headphones that you really like. Battery life is rated between eight and 10 hours on a single AA battery. Rechargeable (NiMH) batteries and a docking station are available. This is quite a basic unit, so there are no accessories included, but you can complement your Nomad IIc with the Nomad II Accessory Kit. This includes a wired remote, carrying pouch, headphones, and cassette adaptor. The Nomad IIc is excellent value for money in the Pocket MP3 player category. It is very fast to upload to, easy to use, and has a good overall mix of features. Creative Nomad IIc
Creative Nomad IIMG
The IIMG is very similar in size and shape to the original Nomad. The case is very solid with a slightly curved front and base, and raised control strips down the sides of the unit. The small circular screen has remained, which is a pity, as the screen on the Nomad IIc is much larger and clearer. The IIMG is lighter than the IIc at only 77.1 grams without the batteries. Memory is twice that of the IIc, which is probably responsible for much of the price difference. The Smart Media slot is still available, though the manual says it will take up to 128MB cards. The display now has a cool blue backlight but is the same small circle (23mm diameter) with a three-line display at the bottom and a group of indicators arranged around the top half. When a track is playing the battery meter is visible as well as the EQ setting, the track title and time, and the number and total tracks. When a track starts the track name, artist name and album name scroll past once very slowly. Down the left side of the case are the following controls: volume, mode, repeat (EAX), and A-B and lock. On the right side we have play/pause/on, stop/off, fast forward, rewind, and erase/REC. The remote/headphone jack is located on the top of the unit, along with the Smartmedia slot. The Nomad is still a little difficult to navigate, with menus sometimes disappearing before you can use them. The software support for the IIMG is the same as the IIc, as were the file transfer times. The cable is a USB cable, but the connector into the Nomad is a proprietary one so you will have to go back to Creative if you lose it. The unit itself has quite a range of extra features. The first is an FM tuner for those that want to keep up to date with the latest news and music. The second is the free LCD remote that has most of the controls as well as a two-line scrolling LCD that almost manages to hold more information than the main screen. With a track playing, it displays track number, track time, battery, play status, track name, artist name, and album name as a scrolling display. A microphone is located on the front near the top corner, making it much more directional than the mic on the IIc. Creative ships a earphones as well as the headphones with the unit. Both of these are quite good quality, though the lead on the headphones is short. A small, tough vinyl case is supplied that covers the entire unit except for the display and the headphone/control connector. A pair of AAA alkaline batteries powers the IIMG, though there is an option for rechargeable batteries and a docking station. There are few other options available, as the whole system is pretty much complete. The IIMG is probably a little too expensive for the added features it has over the IIc. The addition of the FM tuner is excellent, but the older style casing is more difficult to use and the screen is less friendly. Having said that, the Creative headphones and Earphones are excellent quality, and would be an asset to any audio device. Creative Nomad IIMG
Creative Nomad Jukebox
The Jukebox is the big daddy of the Nomad family, weighing in at 336 grams without batteries. This really takes it out of the realm of the sort of thing you would wear going out for a jog, but it is great for pretty much anything else. The unit is basically the size of a portable CD player, with an organic, curvy shape and striking silver/blue colouring. The Jukebox is extremely sturdy and strong.
If you need plenty of space to hold all your MP3 files, the Nomad Jukebox is the unit for you. Inside it has a 2.5in 6GB hard disk that holds approximately 100 hours of CD quality music. The display is fairly small considering the total size of the unit, but it is large enough to display all the necessary information. When a track is playing, the display usually displays the current playlist. However, if you select the details button you get a full listing of the track, album, and artist, as well as the track number and total playlist, time, and battery indicator. The controls consist of the standard play, stop, forward, and rewind buttons. there are also three context sensitive buttons along the bottom of the display: up and down scroll buttons and a pair of buttons marked EAX and LIB. We understand the LIB button for the library, but EAX should probably have really been called "settings". On the left side is a lock button, and on the right side is the headphone socket and volume control. The rear of the unit has power, USB, line in and two line out sockets. The software for the Jukebox is the same Creative PlayCentre, and the connection cable is standard USB. One important extra feature of the Jukebox is its ability to record. We ran the line out from the mixing desk of a local group "Cornerstone" into the line in of the Jukebox and got a decent recording of the live set they played. The connection to the PC was nearly as fast as the solid state Nomad's, taking only about 10 seconds longer to transfer the 28MB of test files. The Nomad runs on four AA rechargeable batteries (Creative supplies two sets). Battery life is rated at approximately four hours. Included with the unit are a vinyl carry case, headphones, power adaptor, USB cable, and over 200 hours of music and audio book content. One optional extra for the Jukebox is the PlayDock. This is a large speaker with rubber mounts to hold the Jukebox in the top. Then we realised it contained a rechargeable battery pack! This is fantastic--you can charge it up and then just wander off to the park with all your music with you. The PlayDock has an RRP of $499. The JukeBox and PlayDock are an excellent combination. The JukeBox has just about all the features you could possibly want except a radio, and 6GB of storage should be enough for all but the most diehard music listeners. The addition of the PlayDock make the whole thing really portable with good sound so that you can share all your music with your friends. Creative Nomad Jukebox
Ericsson MP3 Handsfree (HPM-10)
The Ericsson MP3 Handsfree gives Ericsson mobile phone users the ability to clip an MP3 attachment to their phone and listen to their MP3s on the run. Many of the features of the MP3 player are dependent on which Ericsson phone they are used with. We tested the unit with an Ericsson T20s. The MP3 attachment itself weighs in at 17 grams, but combined with the T20s and battery the total weight is 140 grams. The attachment is robust and clips to the phone solidly, so you should have no problems with it falling off. The 32MB memory card that is supplied slots into the bottom of the attachment with an earphone jack on the right side. The display on the T20s is quite small, so there is a limit to what will fit on it. When a track is playing you can only see the track number, total time, and track title. Support for the Ericsson is Windows only. The MultiMediaCard reader/writer plugs into the parallel port (with passthrough for your printer) and draws its power via a passthrough PS2 connector. The software installed without a problem, but there seemed to be a problem with the operation even thought we tried it on two different machines. It took over 10 minutes to copy the test files to the card and the machine was completely unusable during this time. The Ericsson has a few nice features that add to its usefulness. It provides a handsfree solution for your phone, so you can use the phone while you are driving or carrying things. The phone will also mute the music when a call comes in, so you will not miss that important call. The battery life is dependent on the phone it is connected to, and how many calls you make, so the eight hours quoted is quite subjective. The MP3 handsfree is a great thing if you already have an Ericsson phone and just want to do a little music listening while you are out on the streets. Earphone quality was quite reasonable and handy. Ericsson MP3 Handsfree (HPM-10)
Iomega HipZip
The Iomega HipZip is arguably the best looking of the units we tested. It has a silver front and back with purple rubber sides and a purple plastic top, and most of the trim is black. It is a little larger and heavier than the other compact units, but it is certainly light enough to carry in your pocket. The playback media is a 40MB removable disk called the Iomega Pocket Zip (it used to be known as the Click). This is enough room to fit most of an album (without those couple of songs you never liked anyway). You get two disks with the unit and more are available in pairs for AU$50. This makes them a similar price to a retail CD, but recordable. We thought that the moving parts might make the HipZip prone to shock but we found it had no problem with either jogging or even fairly solid knocks. The display is a lovely backlit LCD, larger than the Nomad IIc. When a track is playing the display shows battery strength, volume, song title and band name (scrolling), play indicator, track number and time, EQ setting, and sequence setting. This is quite awesome for a small screen. The front of the unit has play/pause/on controls, plus forward, rewind, and stop/off. The left side houses the headphone socket, power in, lock, and USB. The right side has rubber buttons for menu/select, up and down. The top cover flips back to allow insertion/removal of the Pocket Zip disk. The PocketZip supports both MacOS and Windows, with the Windows software mounting the PocketZip through the player as the E: drive on the test machine. This means you can also use the PocketZip as a standard removable disk to backup your work. The HipZip was the fastest to transfer files, which is interesting as most of the others were solid state memory rather than a disk which has to spin up. The battery is an internal, non-replaceable type with 12 hours between charges. The HipZip ships with two Pocket Zip disks, headphones, carry case, charger, USB cable, and software. The headphones were the real letdown in this unit. They were uncomfortable to wear and had poor sound quality. If you're looking for a unit to take for a jog, but also want to have changeable media for variety in a long car trip, this is a good unit. Media price is excellent, but leave the supplied headphones behind. Iomega HipZip
Kodak MC3
The Kodak MC3 is so much more than an MP3 player. It is a Digital Still Camera, a Digital Video Camera and an MP3 Player all in one. It is still quite a small unit--about the size of a cigarette packet--with charcoal and purple colouring and a silver lens. The unit is fairly light and very strong, with the possible exception of the media card door, which seems a little flimsy. The unit ships with a 16MB Compact Flash card (we were hoping for a bit more, considering all the different features the MC3 has). There is only room for about a quarter of an album of MP3s, one minute of "quality" video, or 160 still images. Larger Compact Flash Cards are available, however, in 32, 64 and 128MB sizes. The display is a small, but high-resolution, colour LCD display, which is excellent for taking pictures or movie clips, and is complete overkill for playing MP3s. When you are playing MP3s the display shows a large volume bar up the left side, with EQ settings, track number, and total tracks at the top, then track name, artist name and album under that. play/pause, forward and rewind indicators are provided at the bottom. All of this is displayed across a cute and subtle background of concentric circles (the display actually turns off after about 10 seconds to conserve battery life). The control panel starts with a purple slider to select Still Camera, Video Camera, Playback Mode or MP3 Player. Beside these controls is a series of four arrow buttons in a circle around a central play/pause button. Two further buttons, menu and select, give access to all the menu settings. The top of the unit has the volume controls, headphone socket and the shutter button, while the bottom has composite video out, USB, and a tripod mount. Both MacOS and Windows software is provided. Though the supplied pre-production Beta CD did not support Windows Me properly, we were able to download a free update from the Kodak Web site that worked without a hitch. The software was very easy to use and files can be simply dragged into a folder on the camera for MP3s or opened directly for still images and video. We did note, however, that the MC3 did not support long file names, and had to truncate them to 8.3 characters. Transfer times were a little slow, and we also had to split the songs into groups in order to test the transfer speed (the test files were 28MB and only 16MB of storage were provided). First one group was copied over, then deleted and the remainder copied. Total transfer time was just over two minutes. It is, of course, in the realm of "Other Functionality" where the MC3 really shines, with the ability to capture Digital Video clips at four seconds per MB at 320 x 240, 20fps (best quality) or 20 seconds per MB at 320 x 240, 10fps (e-mail quality), and 640 x 480 still pictures. We did not do any elaborate testing of the camera capabilities, but we did find them useful at a consumer level. The MC3 runs on three AAA batteries (included) but no estimate is given on the battery life, as it depends so much on what you use it for. This is a device that does almost everything for you. As an MP3 player it is quite good and its other features can only go to make it a better buy. Kodak MC3
TrackZ! Player
The TrackZ! MP3 player is a little larger than a CD-ROM Drive, in a black plastic case with an LCD screen in the front and a control panel on the top. It is basically designed as a car-based unit. Most of the contents of the unit is the 10GB 3.5in hard disk that holds all the MP3s. You can, in fact, put any hard disk you like in the unit, so it is theoretically possible to have 80GB of space. The only thing is that the manufacturer suggests you use 5400RPM drives to keep the heat to a reasonable level. The unit itself has no fan, just a small strip of aluminium inside to help dissipate the heat. The display is a simple LCD with two rows of 16 characters. When a track starts to play the display zips through the artist, song name, and album title almost too fast to see, then settles on the track name, time remaining, and bitrate. The control panel takes a bit of getting used to, but with a little fiddling we were able to get it to do what we wanted even without the manual. The manual itself is clear and helpful. The only controls are on the top front of the unit and are labelled "|<", "||>", "|>", "<<", ">>" and "!". This is fairly unhelpful, but they stand for: back one track, play current track, forward one track, back one folder (album), forward one folder and "special" menu. The TrackZ! has support for Windows only and uses a parallel cable for transfer of tracks to the unit. It is also worth noting that transfers are one way only. Once you have downloaded a track to the TrackZ! you cannot upload it back to your PC (though you can delete it, of course). The parallel transfer is very slow, and the 28MB test files took more than eight minutes to transfer. If you were to attempt to transfer 10GB worth of files, to fill the unit up, it would take more than two days to copy the files across. The unit is powered by either an AC adaptor or a DC cigarette adaptor, both of which are supplied. There is a single headphone adaptor on the rear which will plug into a line-out to RCA cable or a tape adaptor (both supplied) so that you can hook it up to your car stereo. The TrackZ! may well suit the car audio market--storage is certainly excellent and upgradeable--but ease of use and the transfer times kept the scores well down. TrackZ! Player
Exonion MPZoo
The Exonion is an sudio CD player that will also play CD-R/RWs of MP3, giving the benefits of removable media with the extra room provided by 650MB of space on a CD. The whole unit is the same size as a standard portable CD player, though it has a few more buttons and a larger screen than most. It is fairly light at 275 grams without batteries and feels quite tough. You may think the fact that it has a CD spinning inside it would make it susceptible to shocks but it does not. The unit has an eight-minute Electronic Skip Protection (ESP) buffer when playing MP3s and a 48-second buffer for normal audio CDs. In fact we noticed that when playing MP3s the unit reads the whole file and then the CD spins down and the track is played from memory.
The unit has a smallish backlit blue LCD display, but it is jam-packed with information. When you are playing MP3s you see: mode icon, repeat, equaliser, bass, ESP, battery, title, artist, display mode, track number and total, sampling frequency and bit rate, play animation, and track time. The unit has controls on the front for play/pause/on and stop/off, up, down, forward and reverse, and select, erase, and mode buttons under the LCD. The right side features the headphone, line out and power jacks, and there is a lock control on the left side. The remote control has almost all the same controls except select and mode. The FIF (Fields in Filename) file format is one of the best features of this unit. Instead of reading the last few bytes of an MP3 file to find the embedded ID3 tag which contains the artist, title and genre, the information is all stored in the track's file name. If your files are not in FIF format, do not panic, there is software included in the package to help you change your filenames. Most files we used transferred automatically, though there some problems with files that already contained hyphens. Changing files into FIF can be a little time consuming but it's well worth it when you can search for any MP3 you want on the fly via any of the FIF fields. In addition to this, the player can play MP3s contained in Directories and Subdirectories, so you can organise a few albums into directories and just play that album if you wish. The only other software supplied with the Exonion is the MusicMatch Jukebox for ripping and playing CDs. A pair of AA rechargeable batteries supply power to the unit, giving it a rated life of 10 hours. If you are looking in the larger side of the portable market, the Exonion is the way to go. With blank CD media costs down to about 50 cents each, the Exonion is portable, easy to use, has good earphones and is relatively inexpensive. The FIF feature is a real bonus. Exonion MPZoo
Philips eXpanium EXP101
The Philips eXpanium is about the same size as a CD case and about two and a half times as thick. There is very little wasted space in the whole unit. All the colouring on the top is silver with a darker grey underside. The case is very tough and the flip-up lid has a strong metal hinge. The eXpanium supports Audio CDs, CD-R and CD-RW Media. It takes a long time to recognise a disk when one is inserted, as it has to go through and sort out all the MP3 files into Albums (folders). The display is a small, segmented LCD with no support for track names. When a track is playing, the display shows media type, ESP, track number, track time, battery strength and mode (shuffle, repeat, intro). The controls are quite simple to use, with buttons for stop, play, forward, back, mode, and program. The left side had headphone and line outs, and the power input, while the right side has switches for off/resume/hold, ESP on/off, and DBB on/off. The Program feature allows you to play only the tracks you want to play (up to a limit of 30). The resume/hold switch allows you to set the system to remember where you were up to when the stop button was pressed. ESP is the Electronic Skip Protection which allows the system to buffer part of the track to prevent skipping under light shock, at the expense of some battery life. ESP is always on when playing MP3s. DBB is the Dynamic Bass Boost for enhancement of low frequency sounds. The eXpanium runs from either an AC adaptor (supplied) or 2 AA batteries. Battery life is approximately 10 hours. The eXpanium is a good unit, but it does not compare to the cheaper Exonion. Philips eXpanium EXP101
Rome II (UP-322)
The Rome II is packaged as a silver Cassette, and runs both as a standalone MP3 player with headphones, or you can put it into a tape deck and use the tape deck to play it. The Rome II is also extremely light, weighing only 43 grams without the battery. The case itself has a bit of flex to it, but still manages to feel fairly robust. The clip that holds the battery in seems to be a little flimsy though. The Rome ships with 64MB of built-in storage and has room for a MultiMediaCard to take extra tracks with you on the move. There is no display on the Rome itself, other than a pair of LEDs to indicate Power/Play and Low Battery/Hold. The unit ships with an LCD remote that you can use with the earphones to give you limited information about what is happening. When a track is playing the LCD remote shows volume level, lock, repeat display, track repeat display, battery level, EQ setting, an animated character waving flags, track time, and track number. This, like the Juli, is a little limited, and we would prefer something that at least provided the name of the track you were playing. The controls are fairly basic on the unit itself with buttons for back, forward, play/pause and stop as well as volume up and down. The remote has an A-B button for repeating a section of a track, as well as a scroll wheel to control the EQ settings and allow you actually move forward and backward throughout a track. The Rome II uses almost the exact same software as the Juli, and transfer times were also almost identical. The interesting feature of the Rome II is the ability to be able to plug it in to your existing tape deck, especially in the car, and have the convenience to then be able to eject it, put it in your pocket and go for a walk with your headphones on. When the unit is in a tape deck, you can control the Forward/Back between the tracks using the Fast Forward/Rewind of your cassette deck. Due to space restrictions, the battery had to be a small, flat custom battery, which has a separate charger. This can make it a bit of a pain, as you would need a second battery for continual listening. Battery life is rated at about six to seven hours. There is an optional cigarette lighter adaptor, which plugs into the end of the unit to keep it powered while you are in the car. The Rome II is certainly an innovative little unit. Headphone quality was fairly good. If you want something that can be both portable and still work through a tape player, the Rome II is an excellent choice. Rome II (UP-322)
Rome Juli
The Juli and the Rome II were also late arrivals to the Lab. The Juli is a tiny pendant in the shape of a ghost and, although the box showed a translucent purple unit, the one we tested was a sedate opaque white. The case is quite strong, mainly due to its curved shape. The Juli is very light at 53 grams, even with the battery, so it is quite comfortable to wear around your neck with the strap provided. The Juli has 64MB built in and two MultiMediaCard slots, making it one of the largest capacity of the portable units tested. It would in fact be possible to have 2 x 128MB MMCs in the unit, plus the base 64MB for a total of 320MB of storage, or over five hours of MP3s. The display on the Juli is small--a segmented LCD. There are no track names, only numbers displayed, which can be a little frustrating if you do not remember which track is which. When a track is being played the display shows the battery status, track time, track number, repeat status, EQ, and volume. The controls on the Juli are very simple to use--a directional disc provides play/loop, stop/pause, forward and back, while a row of buttons along the bottom control repeat 1, repeat all, mute, EQ, and a display light. The software for Juli is a simple Explorer-type interface. Selection of the built-in memory or the two MultiMediaCards is as simple as the push of a button. Transfer times were quite fast at 93 seconds. The Juli will run for approximately four hours on a single AAA battery. Excellent expandability and fairly easy to use, but the Juli really misses out by not having a full display. It does provide good value for money, however. Rome Juli
Samsung Baby Yepp
The Samsung Baby Yepp looks rather like an egg with an LCD screen. It is very light (30 grams without the battery) but seems to be quite robust, probably due to its shape. A small strap is attached to the top of the unit. The earphone cable is actually a loop that goes over your head and clips into the carry strap so that the weight of the unit (as it hangs around your neck) is not on the earphone cable. The Yepp has 32MB of RAM built in and there is no expansion. The display is a small circle, that looks very similar to the Nomad IImg, though in this case the icons are in the lower semicircle and the scrolling text is in the top half. When you are playing a track the unit displays the song title and artist name, track time, and bitrate slowly scrolling across the top half of the display, which later changes to the track time. The bottom half shows the track number, a play indicator, battery strength, and shuffle mode. There are only four buttons on the Yepp: play/pause, two arrows and a button marked "M" for Mode. Unfortunately, the Yepp shipped without manuals so we had to blunder a bit in the dark until we were able to download them from the Web site (www.samsungyepp.com). MacOS and Windows operating systems are both supported, and the Windows software is Explorer-like and simple to install and use. We simply dragged the test files and dropped then them in the correct windows and they copied across. The Yepp was a little slow in the file copy, taking just over two minutes to copy the test files, compared to some units that did it in just over one minute. The Yepp runs on a single AAA battery, which lasts for just four hours. We also found it unusual that there was no way to switch the Yepp off. When you stopped playing, after a while the unit would switch to date/time mode, which is effectively off, but will still be draining the battery. The Yepp has no case, as it is designed to be worn around your neck, pendant style. This unit is quite cute, but the small memory and lack of expandability really make it a toy. Samsung Baby Yepp
Samsung MP3 Phone (SCHM105)
The Samsung MP3 Phone is a neat compact phone. The MP3 Phone is a CDMA mobile phone, which means it uses the CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) network, rather than the more common GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) network. The phone itself is a little smaller than a Nokia 3310, except the Samsung has an extra 20mm of aerial sticking out of the top, which the Nokia does not. Having said that, the Nokia 3310 does not play MP3s and the MP3 phone does! It is quite light and seems fairly robust. The flip cover does pop off if you happen to catch it on something, but pops back on just as easily. For MP3 storage, the phone has 32MB of internal storage. This is not expandable. The display is a small but clear backlit LCD. When a track is played, the display shows the full name of the track, the size in MB and the length, and this stays on screen for about three seconds, before it reverts to normal mode. Normal mode displays the signal strength of the network, roam, messages, digital mode, manner mode, and battery level across the top. Under that is the track number and name, the play mode, play indicator, and EQ setting. Controlling the MP3 player from the phone is a little difficult, but the clip-on remote makes it much easier with Play/Stop, Forward, Rewind, Record, and Hold, as well as a button to answer calls. The MP3 Phone has a parallel connection cable and therefore supports Windows only. The software has a simple Windows explorer interface to move the MP3 files to the phone. The parallel connection makes this a little slow, with the test files taking just over seven minutes to transfer. The phone has a voice recording function that allows you to save a number of messages or record a small interview or meeting. The battery life is obviously dependent on the amount of time you spend on the phone, but the manufacturer states that the standard battery (Li-ion) will play MP3s for 11 hours. Samsung MP3 Phone (SCHM105)
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Creative Nomad IIc
