In sport there can only be one winner. The Nike/Philips PSA [128MAX MP3 player is definitely in the game but is it a winner? Read our Australian review.
The PSA [128MAX is a sports oriented MP3 player jointly developed between Nike and Philips. It's designed for those who like to listen to music while enjoying or despising physical activity. To test this MP3 player ZDNet Australia decided it was time to lose that winter coat and do what no other IT reviewer has been asked to do before. Run.
The PSA [128MAX weighs in at 45 grams, and with dimensions of 60mm w x 68mmh x 27dmm it is one of the smallest MP3 players on the market. Looking rather like a flattish smooth egg the player has definitely got some style to it. With the edges and buttons covered by a rubberish coating it also feels durable and should withstand a few falls.
With 128MB of inbuilt memory, we stuffed around 60MB of songs of the “Eye of the Tiger” genre into the player via the USB 1.1 connection in approximately 3 minutes. The PSA [128MAX supports both PC and Mac via the provided MusicMatch Jukebox Software.
The player offers simple navigation with all the regular features along with a hold feature that locks the playback mode and all buttons. You also get four equiliser presets--Hip Hop, Funk, Techno, and Rock--to choose from, as well as a custom setting. The player comes with a nicely sized LCD display that shows volume, music timer and song title and a battery indicator.
The PSA [128MAX comes with an armband and magnetic clips for cord control. The armband may feel a little funny and might not appeal to all athletes but it definitely won us over as there was no discomfort whatsoever during some long runs and gym sessions. Philips claim a 10-hour playback time. ZDNet Australia had the player for a little over a week and the battery still had two bars out of three left after a solid workout.
Our major gripe with the player is that the headphones are awful. The supplied bud headphones tend to fall out whenever a sharp movement of the head to the side is made. Given that it's meant to be a sports unit, where plenty of movement is to be expected, this is especially disappointing. We found the experience annoying to the extent that we opted for our own wrap around headphones instead. This would be irritating not only if you were using the player for sports but also for regular use. However, while sitting the headphones did produce a nice sound.
For the sports minded who like to listen to music this is by far the best player we've seen. It's skip free, sounds great, compact and isn´t an annoyance during physical activity. In saying that, Nike/Philips have really dropped the ball when designing the sports headphones and we would recommend buying your own sports headphones. Running in at AU$549.95 the 128MB version is on the higher end of the market. There's also a smaller capacity 64MB unit that will cost you AU$399.95.
Nike/Philips PSA [128MAX MP3 Player
Company: Nike/Philips
Price: AU$549.95
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 1300 363 391
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The Nike/Phillips PSA is one of biggest waste of money I've ever spent on anything. Not only has it broken down on me twice in the first two months but when I got it fixed it had no cause to why. Both times the PSA just wouldn't work. Battery was fine, songs were loaded on the PSA, everything was working. I didn't drop it. It just didn't work. I got it replaced and then it happened again the next month when I went overseas for 6 months. I couldn't change it nor fix it so I spent my money for nothing. When I got back home and tried to exchange it the place I bought it would have nothing to do with it and the phillips said I had to bring it back to where I bought it. Waste of my time and my money. Don't buy this product. Just save yourself the pain and frustration