MP3 Player Top Choice!
Written: Nov 23 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Features, Clik! disks, price of media!
Cons: Doesn't support folders for playlists
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| funkdaddysmack's Full Review: Rio Rave MP2300 (40 MB) MP3 Player |
I've been investigating portable MP3 players for quite some time, and even though they are great, innovative products, they all lack in one category, possibly the most important one: Price of storage media. Smart media cards are probably the most popular for of expansion on portable MP3 players today, and is very expensive.
The Sensory Science 2300 is a great player that uses Iomega Clik! Disks, which are small 40 meg cartridges, that can hold 80 minutes of music (lower quality). The general rule of thumb for memory vs. minutes is about 1 meg to a minute of good quality audio. These Clik! Disks are much cheaper than Smart Media cards. You can buy a 10-pack of Clik! Disks (400 megs) for approximately $100. Not to shabby, if you consider Smart Media is MUCH more expensive, running about $50 for a 16 meg module. Wow! That's a lot to swallow.
Enough about the storage medium, let's just say I'm very excited! The player itself is nice, sleek, and large. If you don't mind the size (roughly twice the size of a Nomad or Rio), you should get along quite well with this player.
The Sensory Science 2300 is packed full of features. It boasts a built PDA-like qualities. With the encluded software, you can transfer information from Microsoft Outlook via the USB connection. You can store phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and the like. The LCD screen is nice to look at, not too small like some other players. There is a voice-recording function in the player, allowing you to well... Record voice, with it's internal microphone. I didn't try this feature, but I'm sure it works just fine.
The USB connection is slowly becoming the standard for portable mp3 devices. I wouldn't suggest buying anything player without a USB interface. It's simple to use, and quite fast. Transfering files to your Clik! is a snap, just put the Clik! in it's docking station. The device shows up as another drive letter on your computer, and you can just drag and drop the music you want.
The sound from the player is quite nice, there aren't any volume-related problems like some other players have. While listening to the 2300, you cannnot have folders on your Clik!, all your music must be in one directory, which might be a both to some. I didn't really mind too much. There are 5 preset EQs on the player, and they seem to work rather well.
The use of the Clik! disks brings another problem, if you consider it to be one. The drive emits a little humming noise. Obviously, it's just spinning like a regular disk or cd would, it just may arise some suspitions. It's supposed to do that.
All in all this is a great player. It has a lot of bells and whistles that the Nomads and the Rios have, and it also boasts the innovative Clik! disks. I like this player a lot, just for the fact that the media is so cheap, not to mention that it's actually a great bundle of vesatility and performace.
The Sensory Sciene will set you back about $300 with two included Clik! disks, which is a mighty fair price, if you ask me.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
funkdaddysmack
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Member: Dan Dreese
Location: Williamsport, PA
Reviews written: 49
Trusted by: 10 members
About Me:
24 years old, Database administration
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