good handheld MP3 player..needs to come down in price a bit
Written: May 30 '02 (Updated Jun 25 '02)
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Pros: Very nice sound, pretty good battery life, easy song transfer over to device
Cons: POWER JACK,playback in car little tricky
SMALL buttons...hard to use
The Bottom Line: The good,the bad and the ugly, read the review.If they just added a few extras this thing would rock.For the price you should expect a little more.
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| oneballjaywax's Full Review: Digisette DUO-64 (64 MB) MP3 Player |
After waiting about 2 months, reading what reviews I could find and looking at other music player options decided to pick up the Digisette AR-300 (aka DUO-64).
The Sony NetMD minidisc player was a very close choice when I was looking at music players but, don't like that you have to convert MP3s or other formats over to their ATRAC format.I have over 1200 MP3s that’s is ALOT of extra encoding over to Sony's ATRAC format, took long enough to encode CDs over to MP3 and not to mention their copyright protection scheme...but this review is not about the Sony minidisc player so back to the Digisette player.
UPDATE: Never actually saw the Sony NetMD in person until other day while at a local store.That thing is small as hell and only takes one standard AA battery.Why O Why.If the Sony NetMD players allowed you to copy MP3s (and allowed for MP3 playback) onto their units/minidiscs directly and got rid of the converting over to ATRAC format junk.....this Digisette player would be on eBay faster then you could blink:)
Well to begin with let me tell ya what I received in the box:
1 - Digisette DUO-64/AR-300 player (that's a given)
1 - Wall charger **has slot for charging battery and a cord to attach to the player so you can charge the battery while its in player
1 - Car charger (same ** as above)
1 - USB cable **the end that attaches to the computer is standard. The other end that attaches to the player is really, really small (made for only this).
2 - Ni-MH 1.2v Prismatic Batteries (one Digisette branding, other Yuasa Japan battery both are rated @ 810 mAh- nominal,880 mAh maximum...thought i throw that in had a hell of a time finding that info)
1 - CD-ROM install disc, instruction manuals,
set of earphones (ear buds),
and a carrying case w/ belt clip (cheesy case though)
The player is listed as 64mb but you actually get 62.9mb of available space for music. The install CD comes with Duo-64 Manager Software, Audible Manager, and Real Jukebox. I only installed the Duo-64 Manager Software as the only thing I planned on using this for was listening to MP3s not audio books.
The software installed easily and is pretty simple to use,
find your MP3s drag it over to the player window and hit transfer/F6.It takes about 10 seconds for a 4mb+ MP3 to be copied over to the player, not too bad.
UPDATE: purchased a sandisk 64mb MMC for this player.Upload time to the unit when storing onto the MMC is VERY slow compared to storing it onto the built in flash memory.
Also sometimes have a problem to get itt o initialize/recognize the MMC..have to unplug/plug it turn power on/off to get it to connect.
In order for the player to be recognized you must click the power on the player then insert the USB plug. During one transfer the software locked up my computer pretty good and had to use the old ctrl+alt+del to close out all the programs to exit windows 98, that was the only time out of about 6 times that this happened.
The software could be a little bit better. A play/preview option would be nice or even giving the user a little bit more info as it is very clean cut not that many options. Think it would have been a lot simpler if Digisette treated the player as a removable disk (either cut it down to very simplistic or add some features, one or the other).
There were a few things that I was disappointed in. The power input/charger port (DC IN) on the player itself is very junky. It doesn't seem to make a good contact w/ the dual prongs inside the player so, if you happen to move it (or breath on it too hard) just a little bit the power flashes on and off.
UPDATE: when transferring MP3s just use the battery power.Much easier then hooking up the VERY short cord.So power cord not that big of deal.
They really should of but a charger port similar to the one a Nokia phone, simple but makes a real good connection.
The power cord itself is very short (2 ft) had to hook it up to an extension cord so I could lay the player on my desk while messing around with it. The car charger is a little tricky too. Had to rotate it a bit so it made a good connection and charged the battery.
The power cord (makes the connection between the players charger port and the car charger\wall charger) can be interchanged between the car charger and the wall charger.
Also when you have the battery by itself in the charger the red LED-charging light is on. When you are charging the battery while it is inside the player via the charger port the red LED light does NOT come on. You don't know if it's doing anything or if its fully charged, etc.
Playback in the car via the Digisette player takes some tweaking. The tape head is adjustable and its good it is. Had to adjust after inserting the player and hearing the music distorted. After adjusting that playback sounded good.
Switching between tracks is also tricky. In my car to switch tracks had to push the fast FWRD, let it FWRD for about 1 1/2 seconds, then push FWRD again and it would switch tracks. Pain in the a*s but you get the hang of it quick.
The USB port on the player makes good solid connection but it is so damn tiny I’m afraid I might snap the thing off one day. Transfer once again is pretty fast. It takes about 10 seconds for average size MP3 to be copied over to the player.
UPDATE: as stated above when copying MP3s to the MMC transfer is SLOW...takes roughly about a 45sec-1min per average length song.Plan on buying a digi.cam in a few months and getting a sandisk dual reader(CF or SM and MMC) to read info off the cards and write it to them.
E-mailed digisette to ask if songs could be copied to MMC via sandisk reader/writer and inserted and played in the MP3 player...no problem it can be done.Hopefully that will speed up the transfer.***You STILL must connect to USB port to transfer songs to the onboard flash memory,the above can be used ONLY to copy to the MMC.
Lastly, the buttons. The reviews I read have always complained about the buttons. How small and difficult they are to use. They were right. You have to have nails like a hawk to open up the battery slot, turn it ON/OFF and adjust the tape head. Another pain in the a*s.
No LCD; don't really care about that though
NO battery indicator. How can you tell how much juice you have left?
UPDATE: Still a complaint dealing with the power.A battery guage on the player would be a very good idea.When the battery goes dead...it goes dead...no warning.Also have to wonder about rated playing time sure don't seem like 6 hours....
OK time for some good about it.
UPDATE: didn't notice it when I bought BUT, this thing has a built in Voice Recorder..NICE FEATURE!!Very nice for taping lectures and what not...BUT make sure you put the aplyer close enough to the speakers voicel,I didn't and has to crank the sound and the dbs WAY the hell to hear a very low voice once it was on my computer.
Also had to DL updated Duo Manager software that has utility built in for converting recorded voice on the player over to a WAV file.When voice is recorded on the player saves it as adpcm format or something of the like..need to convert over to WAV format to listen on computer.
It is very small. This thing IS the size of a cassette making it extremely portable.
It seems pretty durable; the case is made from solid metal so it has some good weight, not so much that it will rip your shirt pocket off, but feels well made.
The sound quality is very good considering the earphones being used are the cheap earphones that came with the player.
I was complaining about the software before but overall it is very EASY to use. Drag and drop all the songs you want to listen to, then hit transfer or F6, boom, done, unplug and go.
My initial feelings are mixed.I really liked the fact that it is so small and weighs practically nothing. But the buttons!!! I can't imagine using this thing when I have a set of gloves on later this year. I probably end up leaving it in the car.
There are few things are making me second-guess the purchase. A lot of problems with powering this thing. The car charger has to be messed w/ to get a good connection, the players charger port seems to have a short.
Not to mention when the batteries need to be replaced eventually can't run down to your local store and pick up a pack (very specialized)
UPDATE: did a search and found a few companies that do sell them over the net.Not that bad of a price 3 bucks and change thought they would be higher priced.
The player comes w/ 64mb (you end up w/ 62.9mb) of onboard flash memory. That’s not too shabby but you can fit only around 15 songs (got a little bit more when I was burning CDs) onto it so, right off the bat ya need to pick up a 64mb MMC to add on to it.
Digisette also makes a player that comes with 96mb of onboard flash memory and can be increased to 160mb w/ a MMC.
This one is still kinda pricey selling for around $180.
To make this player really great player Digisette just has to change around a few things:
1. Im not sure if you are familiar w/ Nokia cell phones but, the charger port on them is a good one.Round,simple and makes a good solid connection when plugged in.
Digisette should really use this type.It is small enough that they shouldn't have any problems fitting it into there player and junking the current charger port design.
2. Throw a little bit more plastic on the buttons or mold ridges on them so you can get a better grip.The play,volume,fwrd/rwd are fine where they are.The ON/OFF/RECORD switch is terrible.It is very small and I have had problems using it.Battery compartment is hard to get open too.
3. They advertise that it works wonderful in a car,make sure it does!! It should be backwards compatible w/ any make or model of stereo like a cassette car adapter for a CD player is.Also they should adjust the tape head so you can make finer adjustments.Read that some people were having problems using it in their car so they put a piece of scotch tape over it.....what the hell!!! If your paying this kind of money for a MP3 player you shouldn't have to retrofit/rig it with a piece of scotch tape (to late.
UPDATE: I have used this thing 98% in the car and overall it works pretty good.Sometimes when going to a previous track (Reverse/back)it is a glitchy now and then.
In a mid 90's foreign car i own playback is flawless.
In another LATE model foreign car i own playback was crap..ALOT of distortion.Tried to adjust the playing head to no avail.
Read somewhere to but a piece of scotch tape over the head...that did the trick.Playback is overall good although sometimes little glitchy at LOUD volume.
4. If they only raised the total onboard flash memory to about 128 and increased the size of the MMC that could be used they would sell a TON of these things.
Say they did raise the onboard flash memory to 128mb + 64mb MMC = 192mb...nice.
If they support larger capacity MMC in the future, 128mb (onboard flash) + 128mb MMC (currently have this in SD can't use in this player..UPDATE: actually found one company making standard 128mb MMC...digisette is testing them out) you are talking about 256mb of storage which is excellent.
With that configuration you could fit 70+ MP3s @ 128 bit averaging around 4:00 minutes a clip..VERY NICE.That's wishfull thinking though.
5. Stated before that I don't really care that much about an LCD but they really should have something that at least tells ya how much of a battery charge you have left on the player (still a major gripe..wasn't too nice when battery died out during lecture).
SO Digisette really has to go back to the drawing board on some of these things.
It’s not a bad player but for that price, sure you can find something else that might not be as portable but overall better.Like I said before, if they just changed around a couple of major things this player would be awesome.
I will end up keeping mine because it is very portable and that was what I was most interested in (and the fact that it can play in a cassette deck w/o adapters).
****BTW know this is a pretty lengthy review but wanted to tell you as much as I could about this player. Most reviews I read don't get into the nitty/gritty details:)
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 153.25
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Epinions.com ID:
oneballjaywax
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Reviews written: 30
Trusted by: 2 members
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