Godai-kun's Full Review: Dell DJ (20 GB) MP3 Player
What it is: A hard-drive-based portable MP3 player, available in 15 and 20 GB sizes, and competing directly with the gold standard Apple iPod.
What it costs: $199-259 list (per Dell website, 4/2004). This is $100-$150 less than the comparable iPod, which has made the Dell DJ very atrractive to the "Apples are overpriced" crowd, but as will be discussed later, there are advantages to be had for that extra money.
Availability: Unlike the iPod, the Dell DJ is not available in retail outlets and must be ordered directly from Dell. This makes it difficult if not impossible to try out the Dell DJ ahead of time, and probably has contributed to its slight market penetration to date.
What you get: The base package contains the Dell Dj. a USB cable for transferring data from your computer to the DJ (and to charge from your computer's USB port), a pair of earbud headphones, an inline digital volume control, leather case with belt clip, DC adaptor, and a CD containing the Dell DJ driver and a co-branded version of Musicmatch Jukebox, which is the primary method for interacting with your Dell DJ.
What you DON'T get: Unlike the iPod, the DJ doesn't come with or use a docking station, although a desktop charger and USB connector is available for an additional $50. Personally I find the included USB cable is more portable and cheaper to replace anyway. The included leather cover is poorly made, and actually interferes with the operation of the unit, so you might want to splurge on one of the varieties of optional cases for $30-40. However this protects the unit primarily against cosmetic dings and scratches - I have dropped my DJ several times and haven't even noticed a break in the music, much less and damage to the machine.
Software: As mentioned above, the DJ comes with MusicMatch Jukebox software, and this is the only officially supported means of moving music from your computer to your DJ (there is no officially sanctioned way to move music from your DJ to your computer, but there is a third-party solution to that which I will discuss later). Musicmatch is a decent enough package, and doubles as a computer interface to the contents of your jukebox. The included device driver also allows you to use your DJ as an external USB hard drive, but users should be aware that the portion of the hard drive used for music is separate from that used for data, and that while the two will dynamically resize as needed, files saved to the data portion cannot be accessed by the player. To listen to a music file, it MUST be transferred to the DJ using Musicmatch.
If the limitations of musicmatch (such as the inability to stream music a la iPod, the inability to transfer data from the DJ to your computer, the inability to make bulk modifications to MP3 ID tags, etc.) get to be too much for you, Red Chair Software (www.redchairsoftware.com) offers an inexpensive solution. "Dudebox Explorer" fills in Musicmatch's holes, as well as offering a variety of additional features, and is available for a free trial download.
Firmware: Compared to the bells and whistles of the iPod, the Dell DJ's firmware is fairly plebian. No games to be found here - just basic navigation controls, and the ability to select music by artist, playlist, album, or style. Playlists are not nearly as easy to create as on the iPod, and are better done using either of the above-mentioned computer software packages. The most notably lacking feature is the ability to see both the artist name and the album name in the same view, which means that you can select an artist, then view all tracks by that artist, but not all albums by that artist. If you know the album you wish to listen to, you must navigate through the entire list of albums to find it. Poor design, which I hope will be corrected in future versions of the firmware.
Hardware: The actual unit looks pretty jazzy - the screen and all controls are backlit by bright blue L.E.D.s, and the design of the controls is well-thought-out, if not quite as elegant as the iPod's all-in-one disc. A single wheel/button controls most functions, and the menu flow is very easy to get used to. A trio of small buttons handle forward/back/pause functionalty, while up- and down- buttons on the unit's side take care of volume (the digital in-line remote can also be used,for this purpose). I am not a fan of earbud-type headphones (for comfort reasons), so I didn't use the ones supplied for very long, but they are sturdy and sound quite good.
Performance: I have absolutely NO complaint about the performance of this unit - no skips, no static, no audio artifacts. Just clean, good-sounding music, whatever the environment. High-vibration environments, high-noise-environments, low-noise environments, the DJ comes through with shining colors. While falling short of the 20 hours advertised per charge, battery life is consistantly in the 10-15 hour range on a fully-charged battery, and the ability to charge off of the USB port or the wall wart means that the battery rarely runs low enough to be a problem. Occassionally the unit locks up when it is unplugged from the USB port in the middle of a transfer, but this is easily remedied by a quick punch of the reset button, and happens rarely enough not to bother me.
Bottom line: Overall I am quite satisfied with the Dell DJ. Its performance outdoes MP3 CD players and even some computer-based MP3 players. Some work on the firmware to smooth over a few warts there and slim down the profile a bit, and this unit will be more than ready to go head-to-head with apple. As it is, I would say it poses a solid challenge.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 219 Recommended for: Music Lovers - High Capacity Storage for an Entire Album Collection
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