Macvision MA834-5BL Black 512MB MP3 Player with FM Tuner

After a month's use, I'm still enjoying this product. There are a few caveats that users need to be aware of, however. First of all, you cannot play DRM protected music files on this player - that means no mp3s from iTunes or other legitimate online music store. Also, the user interface can be a little arcane and takes some getting used to. The included manual is sparse, to say the least. If you can get past these limitations, though, this is a great player for the money. The FM radio works fine (weaker stations are a little staticky), and if you have an OS later than Windows 98, you can transfer files to the player without using any proprietary synching software. Plus, the player is a fully functional thumbdrive, so you can just plug it right into an open USB port and drag and drop files to and from it. You can also run portable programs like portable Firefox, winamp, Open Office, etc. right off of the drive. Very handy and great for the price.

For this price, one can't expect to get an iPod, but this is an acceptable alternative for those who want something simple and cheap. It's strong points include an FM reciever, the ability to record through a microphone or off of the radio, and a relatively easy to use user interface.

But of course there are a few shortcomings--as one might expect for a cheap, foreign-made electronic device. The track skipping is a little slow, making it annoying to try to find a specific song (if you know the track number, however, there is a function to skip directly to it). Also, while there is a shuffle feature, it does not keep track of which songs have already been played.

The most dissapointing failure was that of the earbuds, which developed a short in less than a week--dispite what seemed to be a very good design that kept pressure off of all the wire connections.

Aside from these few annoyances, though, it has served me well.

I love it. It's small, and easy to use.

Loading: Just plug it in to a USB port. Then 'drag-n-drop' mp3's onto it. It supports folders (but that makes it more complicated to listen).

Navigation: Kind of clunky, not intuitive at all. I had to refer to the manual several times. But, once you get it down, it's not too hard. The display, although small, is easy to read. It becomes backlit when you press a button.

Listening: The included 'necklace' style earbuds are cool, but you can use any standard headphones. The device fits in your pocket (and you can 'lock' the controls). The audio quality is fine for low or normal headphone volume, but I wouldn't use it with a stereo system.

Occasionally, a few (very few) of my MP3 files will produce an error message - and won't play. But, that could be due to poor encoding. I'm not sure what the cause is.

Features:
FM- Reception is always 'hit and miss' with this...Read more