SEPTEMBER 2004 MA XIMUMPC 47
designed with fi le size reduction and network streaming in
mind; as such, it shines only at very low bitrates. With the price
of fl ash memory descending and hard drive players becoming
ubiquitous, most people want better quality, not smaller fi le
sizes. Our own listening tests fell far short of an epiphany. As
far as portable audio is concerned, MP3Pro is so dead manufac-
turers don’t even bother listing support for it anymore.
Our take: Moribund.
AAC
Extension: AAC, MP4
The launch of iTunes elevated Apple’s codec from an also-ran to
a major player. The codec’s performance is fi ne (although we’ve
found it emphasizes treble over bass), but limited support ex-
ists for portable players manufactured by companies whose
CEO isn’t surgically grafted to his turtleneck.
Our take: The iTunes music store will keep AAC buoyant, but
iTunes alone isn’t enough to elevate it above MP3—the lingua
franca of digital music.OGG VORBIS
Extension: OGG
OGG is the free, open-source alternative to MP3 compression.
OGG fi les tend to sound better than MP3 at the same bitrate,
but the difference is slight.
If you compress audio tracks with recent OGG releases,
you’ll notice that instead of being given the option of selecting
a recording bitrate, you’ll be asked to choose a quality “level”
between 0 and 10, with 0 being the lowest quality setting and
10 the highest. We recommend 6, which is roughly equivalent
to 192kbps.
OGG is growing in popularity in part because it works well,
costs nothing to implement, and is also a nice alternative to the
lingering threat of market dominance by a single entity. We just
like how it sounds.
Our take: OGG is a star that’s only begun to rise. We hope.AL Tech AnyDriveMSI Mega Player 515ËË2.375“2.375“2“capacity and the requirement of a pro-
prietary application for management is
devastating.
MA XIMUMPC VERDICT: 6
HARP: Oodles of features and great sound.
UKULE LE:^ Extremely limited capacity, and propri
etary software.
$130, http://www.iriver.com
AL Tech AnyDrive
FORMATS: MP3
BATTERY L IFE : N/A
CAPACITY: N/A
The AnyDrive is a combination MP3
decoder and FM transmitter, but it has no
internal memory of its own. Instead, you
plug a USB key—any USB key—loaded
with MP3s into the built-in USB port, and
it will transmit them to your FM radio for
playback. Playback and volume controls
are built into the AnyDrive.
The inclusion of a cigarette lighter
power adapter strongly suggests the
AnyDrive was meant for playing music
through your car’s FM radio. It does do
this, but unfortunately, it also picks up
noise from the car itself! The result was
music that had a squealing backdrop
reminiscent of early Public Enemy, rising
and falling as we sped up and slowed
down. The AnyDrive will transmit on
14 frequencies between 87.7MHz and
107.9MHz, but the unwelcome shrieking
sounds were present no matter which
frequency we tried.
To make matters worse, you have to
fuss with four recessed DIP switches in
order to adjust the transmission frequen-
cy (a safety pin works brilliantly for this
task). We grimly imagined some doofus
trying to manage these hard-to-reach
switches while driving. This leads us to
our final point: While the AnyDrive may
not be a great MP3 player or FM transmit-
ter, it is a fine advocate for the virtues of
defensive driving.MA XIMUMPC VERDICT: 2
TIMPANI: Will play and transmit MP3s from your
USB key.
TRIANGLE:^ Will play screeching from your car’s
engine, too.
$60, http://www.merconnet.comMSI Mega Player 515
FORMATS: MP3
BATTERY LIFE: 15 hours
CAPACITY: 128MB
It’s shaped like a soap dish and its trim is
the color of a hotel mint. Those are pretty
unique attributes in an MP3 player. But
what really sets the Mega 515 apart from
the others is that it’s the only player in
this roundup—in fact, the only device thus
far to be formally reviewed by Maximum
PC —that integrates an OLED display. From
the looks of it, the technology is everything
we hoped for. The display is brilliantly
visible even in direct sunlight and at any
angle—even nearly horizontal. Is this cru-
cial in an MP3 player? No. Is it usefully
cool? You betcha.But back to the main event—music
playback. Although our review unit had a
cramped capacity of 128MB (the Mega 515
is available with up to 512MB), it’s at least
manageable through Windows Explorer
(which also allows data files to be trans-
ported on the player, in the unlikely event
you have any room for them). And for the
price you’ll find a reasonably large number
of features, including an FM tuner, voice
recorder, a lithium-ion rechargeable battery
(nonremovable). The sound is on par with
far more expensive players, although the
volume stops below the pain threshold and
volume adjustments are limited to 10 gra-
dations.
Unfortunately, MSI committed a number
of rookie design transgressions. The Mega
515 is hobbled by a USB 1.1 connection,
supports only MP3 and WAV formats, and
was the only player in the roundup that
didn’t acknowledge ID3 tags. While highly
recommended for curiosity collectors, the
rest of the world will be much happier with
a louder and more capacious player.MA XIMUMPC VERDICT: 6
DIDGERIDOO: Beautiful OLED screen and good
sound.
HARPSICHORD: Small capacity and USB 1.1.
$120, http://www.msicomputer.com4.375“