A tale of 2 tiny MP3 players

Summary

This is a review of the iAudio U2 MP3 player and a couple of other players that I have tried but ended up in disaster

In a nutshell its about the iAudio U2  and a sorry story about the  mobiBLU DAH-1500.

I am not going to review anything here that I have not actually experienced and played with.  In my humble opinion players frequently look good but can suffer from usability problems not apparent when reading the glossy web brochure!

Why this review?  Well choosing a decent MP3 player is becoming an increasingly difficult decision these days what with the ridiculous amount of choice that you might think you have.  Here are some of the factors that I consider to be important

Availability

If you follow dapreview you will see new MP3 players being announced daily.  But I find only 2 principle international sources to get them  a) Advanced MP3 Players  or b) EBAY.  I would recommend the first.

Capacity

I have more music that can fit on any one player.  I need something that is big enough to last me a few days, or perhaps a week before flushing.  So I reckon at least 1GB

Battery and Battery Life

It has to last at least a working day, although these days one is so often in front of a computer perhaps this is not a mandatory requirement.  I really must have inbuilt rechargeable batteries, as having a user insertable battery is a real pain.  You have to keep changing it plus the player has a big sliding hatch that can fall off or allow dirt to enter.  I expect to simply plug the player into USB and have it automatically charge

Tough

It has to be able to withstand continued abuse including that of extreme sports.  Waterproof would be nice but certainly as few open holes as possible to let in the dust and dirt

Battery Charging

Must be able to charge through a USB socket on my computer.  I will always be able to find a USB socket and don't want to carry a mains adapter

USB socket

Should have a USB plug on it, or in the absolute worst case some dongle that can attach to my keyring  (which I always carry)  so I can always recharge it.  With a USB plug ideally would also like to use it as a USB memory key.

Backlit Display

Should have a display I can read in daytime and a light to help read in the night time

One handed Operation in a pocket

A difficult one to describe.  I mean operation inside a pocket from outside the pocket.  That is to say to be able to play tracks, pause, change volume even when not seeing the player.  For extreme sports if the player is under your shirt or in your skintight shorts you need to be able to manipulate it without getting it out all the time.  [my old iPod 1st generation was fine therefore with a physical wheel but those touch sensitive stationary wheels don't work on newer style iPods]

Directory Support

Must be able to put files into directories  (e.g. by album name) for player to play

FileName support

Should be able to choose to play files in filename order (and /or ID3 tag order).  None too keen on only ID3 tag support order  a la iPod

Radio

Another essential.  If you get bored of your music or just fancy listening to the radio I would rather not carry a separate unit

Weight

As light as possible

Size

As small as possible but a sensible shape  i.e. cubes are not that sensible

Reliable

All the features in the world mean nothing if the player keeps breaking down or behaving erratically

USB2 or Firewire

Needs to have a fast interface so that whole player can be refreshed quickly.  In actual speed terms I mean real life rates of greater than 2GB per hour

 

 

Not Important

The following features are NOT important to me

Remote

Don't need a remote as it adds to the cabling and my player needs to be as small as some remotes!

Headphones

Don't need them with the player as they are bound to be worse quality than I'd want

Straps and Cases

Don't need them so the less or ideally none supplied would be great

Playlists

Never really make use of them.  Can just select a directory of songs to play

 

Based on the above requirements here are 2 really great players. 

iAudio U2

The first thing you will notice about the U2 is that it is really small as the above photo shows. In fact it meets just about all of my requirements! The only feature I did not like is that it has a mini USB2 socket  (i.e. female) and you need a cable or gadget to plug it to a standard full-size USB2 socket.

Here is how my U2 shapes up with my ideal criterion for an MP3 player

Capacity

1 GB capacity,  which is enough for a full days continuous days listening  (at 128K ripping) without any repeats

Battery Life

It lasts a full working day  (at least 10 hours)

 

Tough

It is fantastically touch, solid state although the plastic veneer that covers the black surface has started to peel.  This is a result from spending a lot of time in my cycling shorts which I classify as a very hostile environment.

 

Battery Charging

When i get home I just plug it into my lounge PC via the supplied  gaddget that is attached to my key ring and pick it up the next morning.

 

Backlit Diisplay

it has a backlit display which can be programmed to stay on from 5 seconds to always on

 

One handed Operation in a pocket

Mostly good news.  The joystick controls track forward, backward and volume up/down and as such can be manipulated from outside a pocket.  The only criticism would be that locating the play button (and not the other mark button) is practically impossible, so to pause the player you need to take it out of the pocket, visually locate the play button and press it once.  This will pause the player and pressing the button again will continue playing.  There is an option to resume play i.e. if you switch on the player from an off state it starts at the point of power down.

 

Directory Support

Full directory support

 

Filename support

You can play files based on file name sort order or ID3 tags, your choice

 

Radio

There is a radio and you can set presets. You can make a recording from the radio directly onto the player.  How cool is that!

 

Weight

About 35 grams but the full specs are here

 

Size

Great shape, as you can see from the above graphic

 

Reliable

My first U2 had an intermittent fault from new so was sent back almost immediately and since then the replacement player has had no problems.  But 1 week ago all music started sounding like it was played "underwater", i.e. with some distortion.  iAudio support in the UK had not heard of the problem and reflashing the firmware (at level 1.35) seemed to cure this.  Actually I understand this is the only way to actually reboot the player since even the reset button does not fully restart it.

 

USB2 or Firewire

Takes about 6 minutes to completely transfer 1GB music to the player

And before I forget

• You can download an animated graphic (e.g. a snowboarder) that will display when the U2 is powered on
• The firmware files are here
• Has support for Lyrics though don't know how
• Plays MP3 and WMV
• The colour of the player depends on the RAM size 256, 512 or 1GB

In a nutshell, mobiBLU is a nice player, but iAudio U2 beats it

mobiBLU DAH-1500

I bought this as a backup player since my other backup MP3 players (namely   RIO's PMP300, PMP500, PMP800 are so slow to load music and charge by today's standards as to make them unusable).  So again how does this player shape up?

I was not expecting it to come up to the standard of the U2 and currently I think I am being proved right. My unit has developed a fault and so is being returned, but a fault free player would be a pretty close competitor to the iAudio U2.

Capacity

1 GB capacity,  just as good as the U2.

 

Battery Life

Somewhat questionable compared to the U2.  Tests so far:

 

 

Tough

Pretty tough although the cube shape I feel is not so good for longevity against accidents.

 

Battery Charging

A long white cable is supplied and it charges via a USB computer socket into the same socket as the headphone.  Obviously therefore you cannot listen to the player whilst charging it (not actually a problem)

 

Backlit Display

It has an OLED display which is said to be very clear when compared to a traditional LCD.  The only problem is that it turns off after a few seconds leaving the front of the player a perfect mirror (which you can use as small mirror  BTW). You can set the player to have display always on but then the battery life tumbles.  Therefore I would prefer a traditional LCD.  The main disadvantage of the cube shape however is the very small display which makes it difficult to view the names of tracks or in particular to navigate the directory structure.  This is another weak point of the player.

 

One handed Operation in a pocket

Pretty good actually and arguably as good or better than the U2.  The 4 way track back / forward, volume up down ring has the play button in the middle allowing you to pause the player or restart it.  All these controls can be navigated from outside a pocket when the player is inside since the headphone lead coming out of the top of the unit allows you to orient the player without looking at it. ironically when the player is NOT in your pocket you will need both hands to manipulate it as the menu and hold buttons are on the opposite face of the play controls and very small and fiddly.  I am not convinced this is going to be a very suitable button configuration for say snowboarding, so again the U2 is superior

 

Directory Support

Full directory support but the scrolling display is so small as to make it difficult to see anything clearly

 

FileName support

You can play files based on file name sort order or ID3 tags, your choice

Radio

There is a radio and you can set presets. 

Weight

A super lightweight 20 grams and the full specs are here

Size

Overall the cube is a poor shape for function though it initially looks good.  A thinner longer U2 style shape would be superior i am afraid.

Reliable

Initial unit was faulty on arrival, not a good sign!

USB2 or Firewire

It only has a USB1.1 interface and took more than 30 minutes to transfer 1GB of music to the player.

Headphones

Player comes with a combined headphone and neckstrap contraption.  The idea is wear the headphones and attach the player wearing it around your neck below your chin. Unusually the cord is made from white braided cord and will probably get dirty with age.  My initial comments stand, throw it away and buy some decent headphones

In Real Life

U2 still rules and rocks

Older Player: Nexia and 4GB Microdrive: cheapo construction but if you like microdrives read on

Just a short posting on an old backup player the NEX ia Plus.   I bought the player from Advanced MP3 players.  In the end the player turned out not to be suitable.  Here are my comments that should be read in conjunction with this review.

+ Good price from amp3,  well incredible in fact.  The cost of a 4GB microdrive is more than the player so if you just need the drive then the purchase is a no brainer

- Cheap construction of player especially the latch covering the microdrive which could break off easily

- I like simplicity but the software was too basic for even my ultra simplistic brain

+ Ergonomics were good

+ Simple Drag and drop from PC to player since it shows up as a drive

- Limitation on size of filenames and directories so some files would not transfer without renaming

- Truely awful headphones, but you'd buy your own wouldn't you

iPod Shuffle 1GB

I recently bought this to give to a friend as a birthday present. Well I really really did not want to give them this device as an introduction to MP3 player land but they realyl wanted a Shuffle so I caved. Also I was just a little curious about the design so was able to play with it before giftwrapping it.

Capacity

1 GB capacity, just fine for me

 

Battery Life

It lasts a full working day  (at least 10 hours)

 

Tough

Small and no moving parts,  very tough.

Shape

Pretty good shape although I complain at the sqaure, flat and not rounded edges.  In many respects this is similar to the 1st generation iPod, which later was given rounded sides.  I can imagine therefore a round edged shuttle II

 

Battery Charging

Fantastic - Has a USB key that means I can charge it wherever I am.  Why can't all manufacturers stick with this only slightly larger fullsize USB plug?

 

Backlit Display

There is no friggin display.  The main reason for buying this device then is to have a pre selected set of music tracks that you can play sequentially or in random, because lets face it finding a particular track from a selection of a few hundred is just not feasible.

 

One handed Operation in a pocket

Very good.  The orientation of the headphone jack lets you orient the player whilst it is in your pocket

 

Directory Support

No directory support

 

Filename support

A la MAC standard it relies on ID3 tags and not filenames.  This is fine in principle but not 100% of my MP3 music collection has its ID3 tags perfectly formed.  My first few hundred albums that I converted from vinyl to CDROM then to MP3  (it took about 4 years!!) had incomplete ID3 tagging, because at the time it was not important.

 

Radio

There is no radio

 

Weight

About 22 grams but the full specs are here

 

Size

Great shape, as you can see from the above graphic

 

Reliable

Not in my possession long enough to comment but the device was not faulty

 

USB2 or Firewire

Has a USB2 interface and took less than 15 minutes to transfer 1GB of files

 

In Real Life

I tested the unit with my Macintosh  (not my PC) and was pretty horrified to find that the layout of the filenames on the unit was similar if not identical to my old (now expired) iPod.  What do I mean? Well principally that the music files for the Shuffle are stored in a dedicated space managed by ITunes.  Most flash players have a disk area that can be used for general storage and the same area can have music files dragged and dropped to form the list of tunes that you need to play.  Not with the Shuffle.  There are a proprietary set of directories into which your original files will be places.  The names of the files will be stripped out and the player (and iTunes) uses pure ID3 tags to associate with the music.  i find this quite intolerable since not all my music has perfect ID3 tagging.  For example some audio programs I record from the radio and not at all tagged.  Practically speaking then i cant move music to the Shuffle unless iTunes is installed on the PC to which it is connected.  This is terrible! On my IAudio U2 for example if somebody at work emails me a tech audio lecture to listen to, I receive the email and just drag and drop it onto my player.  Since they would not allow me to install non work software  (e.g. iTunes) I could not use the Shuffle in such a situation

Overall for the Shuffle:

• Lightweight MP3 player with USB Plug and good battery life
• No display limits functionality
• Shape good but flat/sharp edges not to my liking
• No Radio
• Needs iTunes installed on your PC to transfer tracks, i.e. can't just drag and drop
• Good price point making this Apple MP3 player affordable to anybody
• There is more style than function