THE INTEL ECHO PERSONAL AUDIO PLAYER 3000
Written: Jan 14 '03
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Pros: Great sound. Small. Sturdy.
Cons: Small display. Display not back-lighted.
The Bottom Line: This is a great MP3, WMA audio player. The sound is fantastic. Intel built this unit with quality. I highly reccomend this player.
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| pvr8's Full Review: Intel 3000 (64 MB) MP3 Player |
The INTEL ECHO PERSONAL AUDIO PLAYER 3000 is truly amazing. I received my unit 3 days ago and last night was the first time I actually loaded music into it. It’s been a long time since I’ve put on a some headphones and starting dancing and sing all around my condo like I was really on stage (minus an audience). Loading songs into the player is a pretty simple operation, once you get the hang of it. All of the music that’s loaded into the player must first be copied onto your computer and converted into MP3 or WMA files. This is a pretty simple procedure that’s accomplished by using one of the two software programs that comes with the player (Music Match or Intel Audio).
Here’s how this whole process works. First you have to load the two (or one) software programs onto your computer. Then you have to simply connect the INTEL ECHO PERSONAL AUDIO PLAYER 3000 to the computer via a USB cable that’s included with the player. Then you can launch either of the software programs begin downloading MP3 files from the internet or copying files from your own CD’S and converting them to MP3 or WMA files. All of the files that are converted or downloaded go into your music library. Once you’ve put as many songs as you want into the music library, you can select any or all of the songs to be loaded into the player in the order of your own preference. I was totally amazed at how simple the procedure actually is. It takes approximately 15 – 30 seconds to download each file (song), depending on the type of file format and the sound quality that you’ve selected. Yes, you can even select FM, near CD, or CD quality recordings. It’s so cool to watch an entire 4-minute song being transferred into a tiny device so quickly. I really like this device.
The actual player is pretty small and lightweight. It’s about 2 inches wide, 3 inches long, ˝ inch thick. It has a hard clear plastic faceplate that’s trimmed in black. The faceplate is removable so that any one of the five included inserts can be installed to change the appearance of the player. INTEL also included a software program that allows you to create your own individualized inserts, so you can make the player look the way you want it to. The INTEL ECHO PERSONAL AUDIO PLAYER 3000 is a very well constructed compact unit. The operations buttons are rubberized and require a firm pressure to push. This prevents accidental operations. The unit operates on one AA alkaline battery that will give approximately 10 hours of continuous music playback. The player comes with 64MB of internal memory. I was able to get exactly 2 hours of CD quality music (WMA files) on the internal memory. The INTEL ECHO PERSONAL AUDIO PLAYER 3000 is also upgradeable; it accepts multimedia cards (MMC) that can add up to an additional 128MB’S of memory. That would allow you to load up to six hours of CD quality music into this amazing player.
Now here’s the thing that impressed me the most. The sound is fantastic! Crystal clear treble, life-like voice, and deep rich bass. I did not get the standard headphones that are shipped with this player, but I have heard that they are very uncomfortable for many people. I bought a pair of Aiwa ear-bud headphones that sound good but they don’t fit in my ear very well. I tried a pair of old Aiwa headphones, and WELLA! I was dancing and singing for nearly an hour. Oh boy, that felt good. Anyway, the player has pause, fast forward, reverse, and random play modes of playback. There are also bass, treble, and loudness controls that are easily accessed.
The MSRP on these units is $169.00. They can be found for less than $150.00, and that’s a real bargain for an excellent MP3 player.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 120.00
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Epinions.com ID:
pvr8
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Member: Preston Rhem
Reviews written: 22
Trusted by: 0 members
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