Fantastic Machine!
Written: Jul 12 '01
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Pros: Great Sound, Inexpensive, Flexible storage
Cons: Jog control tricky to use, USB interface a little quirky, no FM or voice recorder
The Bottom Line: Why pay more money for less storage when you can have a NEX II for little more than a $100 and buy your own CF cards at bargain prices
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| davidhu's Full Review: Frontier NEX II MP3 Player |
I have been very impressed with my new NEX II. The machine is attractive, well-built and the perfect machine for the user who has a digital camera and already owns compact flash cards. No other machine comes close to matching the storage ability of the NEX II which can use a 1GIG IBM microdrive. It's best to buy the machine with no memory and buy your own CF card as a 128 MB card can be bought for less than a $100 from some vendors. No other MP3 player comes close to giving you 2 hours of music for less than $200. The NEX II has fine sound; the earphones are surprisingly good for such an inexpensive machine and fold up when not in use.
The NEX is relatively easy to use although you have to press the jog shuttle control just right to get a song to start playing; too short a press and nothing happens, too long and you select a song for your playlist. Otherwise the controls are easy to use and the instructions pretty clear. The machine has the usual equalizer, a good stepped volume control, program mode, shuffle mode and single song repeat. The display is highly legible and backlit.
The NEX II does not have an FM tuner or voice recorder but for the low price I don't miss these features. It is so light and small that you could carry a small AM-FM radio alongside clipped to your waist and switch earphones if you really needed one.
I experienced a couple of problems with the USB interface and it is possible that they may have been peculiar to my computer or USB hub. My computer crashed after installation of the NEX software but then functioned ok until I downloaded some songs to the machine and then disconnected it. I immediately got a blue screen of death that the computer couldn't read Drive H and it became unstable and crashed. At that point the NEX II still showed it was connected to the USB port and I had to yank a battery to shut it off. On another occasion the NEX would not boot up after I added a file to a nearly full card and again I had to yank a battery to shut it off. I finally figured out that the card was probably corrupted and I had to format it and reload songs, then the NEX worked fine. Apparently the firmware in the NEX can deal with an absent CF card (it will search for it then shut off) but not a corrupted one. I have decided that it is easier to load songs to the CF card through a card reader than directly to the NEX as I have had no problems with my Imagemate reader. Other than the USB glitch I have no complaints about the machine
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 109.00
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Epinions.com ID:
davidhu
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Location: Calabasas, California
Reviews written: 4
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
60 y/o physician, interested in computing, digital photography, fly fishing and digital music
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