don't pay more than $40 for this
Written: Feb 20 '03 (Updated May 08 '03)
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Pros: Inexpensive, small, expandable to 96 MB total memory
Cons: cheaply made, user interface, software, proprietary formating of smart media
The Bottom Line: The player itself is a good deal (for $30) and the software can be tolerated. I would not pay much more for it though, or you will be disappointed.
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| z4pp's Full Review: D-link DMP-110 (32 MB) MP3 Player |
*update*
I have upgraded to a 64 MB smartmedia card (Samsung generic) and it works fine, for a total of 96 MB memory. It will also reformat in my digital camera.
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I've had this for a few days, and have found some solutions to the problems noted in earlier reviews (skipping, buzzing, memory card not reformatting in other devices, not powering off..) I have also found that most of these problems are not related to the player directly. The skipping was at first a big concern, until I found that the skipping only occurred when I was running other applications during file transfer. Much like the early CD burners, you can't do anything else while songs are transferred unless you don't care about breaks in the music.
The earbuds that come w/ this are not even worth using- they have a constant low buzz, as others have noted. however, trying several different earphones and ear buds showed the problem to be with the ear buds, not the player. Sounds great if I use some good earphones.
I'm not sure what other devices people have tried to format their smartmedia cards in after they were formatted in the DMP-110, but my Fuji 2600 digital camera has no trouble formatting memory cards previously formatted w/ the DMP-110 (a 16 MB fujifilm smartmedia card). One thing I find annoying is that I cannot use my standard memory card writer to put mp3s on the memory card like I can w/ other players/cameras, but have to connect the mp3 player directly w/ the card inserted. The player powers off normally using the stop button, but will NOT power off if is connected to the USB port.
The biggest gripe I have is the windows software- it does not have any memory of the last session, so you have to navigate to your mp3 directory, resize the window, etc... *every single time* you open the program. These features are standard to ANY other windows program, and makes this one feel like an *alpha* or *early beta* release. It is also ugly, and has a useless window showing animated D-Link mp3 players you can't get rid of... there is no user customization anywhere. The only way to find out how much space you have available on the player is through the top menu- this info would be much better displayed in place of the useless mp3 player animations. The file display also does not show the size of the mp3 files on your computer, so you have to guess if they will actually fit on the player.
One bright spot is they have included a function to convert the proprietary voice recording to .wav in the latest version.
Overall I have been pleased w/ the battery life- it seems to be about the 10 hours listed. The display is functional, but sparse- would be nice if the song titles were displayed, and if it had a back light for those night time jogs. The equalizers are fair, but I only use two of them b/c the others sound too "tinny"...
I use it mostly for jogging and around work, and it does better than the tape player I was using- more portable, batteries last longer and the sound is about the same.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): $30
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Epinions.com ID:
z4pp
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Reviews written: 1
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