MSI Mega Stick 1 - The Mini Wonder
by Andrew Ku on November 12, 2003 10:50 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
The Interface (continued)
Switching to FM mode is as simple as holding down the function button briefly. There are 10 available slots for preset stations, and pressing the menu button forward/backwards allows for 0.1MHz increment increases/decreases in frequency. The problem we have is that tuning stations becomes really tedious because the rate of increase is slow and even after releasing the button for tuning, the Mega Station continues to increase/decrease the frequency. This leaves us to resort to toggling the switch briefly to get that exact frequency down.
One of the most interesting features of the Mega Stick 1 is the ability to record FM. It does so in the same way it does voice recordings. The only difference is that FM recordings use the “F” suffix for naming, while voice recordings use “V” instead. Because the audio decoder only supports the MP3 and WMA formats, the unit is unable to playback recordings.
Within the internal settings, the user is able to specify the recording quality for voice and FM. Though, there are several settings (8,000Hz, 11,025Hz, 16,000Hz, 22,050Hz, 32,000Hz, 44,100Hz, and 48,000Hz), the quality between the high and low setting is noticeable depending on the quality of the audio source. The FM tuner source seems to be of a higher quality than the microphone implemented, which is why we heard little difference in different quality voice recordings as opposed to FM recordings.
Powering off the unit is done the same method as powering on. The only difference is that the play/pause button needs to be held down for a few seconds to confirm power off. This prevents unintentional powering off and the need for a separate power on/off button.
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Aaapold - Tuesday, November 18, 2003 - link
Outwardsound carries the Jens of Sweden, but it lists for $219.95.geckojohn - Monday, November 17, 2003 - link
So, has anyone tried out this MSI mp3 player?I'm really thinking about getting it... Do you know what Newegg's return policy is? Could i return it if it suckS?
Thanks
Zoomer - Monday, November 17, 2003 - link
It has been around so long, practically all the taiwan/china odm/oems have jumped onto it and produced tons of them.If it gets imported to America en masse, I wouldn't be suprised if the price falls to around $70. In fact, I just saw the Hyundai HY-208 MP3 Player + 128Mb Mini Usb Flash Drive for S$139 - that's about USD$77. I would imagine that it would be even cheaper in HK, S.Korea or Taiwan.
The reason for such popularity? Well, if you are going to get a 128MB usb flash disk for $50, why not toss in another $20 to have it be able to act as a FM tuner/recorder/MP3 player?
Besides, they are small, stylish, "in" (the current trend).
This gets me thinking - how much profit would we be able to get if we get them and sell them on ebay? :)
geckojohn - Sunday, November 16, 2003 - link
Hey, So what one would you recommend besides the Sweeden one?OCedHrt - Saturday, November 15, 2003 - link
http://www.wewa.com.hk/products.asp?mode=second&am...Here's some more.
FRiC - Friday, November 14, 2003 - link
Not to mention, Acer has been selling this exact same MP3 player for a few months already, and for a lower price, before MSI released their version...Andrew Ku - Thursday, November 13, 2003 - link
Well, one more point I need to emphasize, and then back to the other reviews we got on the burner.The MSI Mega Stick 1 can't be seen just for its feature set, as size, weight, and price are just as important. If you compare it to the Nomad Muvo, there is a distinct differential in those three specific groups. This is also the case with iRiver.
Ultraportable notebooks are the "all the rage" overseas, but are not necessarily in the same situation domestically. And in the context of motherboard makers diversifying their portfolio, we do see this to be the first type of product to market. We can eyeball the foreign markets all we want, but the American demographic (I am getting a bit political here... :p ) is very very different from the rest of the world. Not being able to be successful in the American/North American demographic has been a big roadblock to the success of many products.
And to answer your hint of more MP3 player reviews: yes, we will have more down the road. The reason there are 4 and not more is because we took a hiatus from this section for a while. Our lack of reviews in that time is not an indication that we don't see the MP3 player market proliferating.
araczynski - Thursday, November 13, 2003 - link
america is usually behind in technology, europe/japan always has the newest/smallest gadgets at least a year before america decides to copy them... i remember my brother brining home a cell phone from japan many years ago, while everyone was carryign those bricks around here, they had things a third of the size.america doesn't innovate as much as people think, america's good at copying and mass producing at lower prices, which is good too :)
boran - Thursday, November 13, 2003 - link
ehm, may I point you to this site here:http://www.dansdata.com/usbmp3.htm
it's just a "george" or "fred" with the buttons swapped around a bit, even the transfer speeds etc are the same, which makes me believe msi isnt really as innovative as the article is, since the review bout the george dates 11 feb 2003 and you cant claim different weight, specs for function, I believe they R 99% alike (besides logo, firmware and button arrangement)
you can find around a million clones of the george or fred players on the market, imho my first misinformed review on anandtech cous if the reviewer just would have looked at the available players on the market for just a second he would have seen that there is nothing new or innovative at all with this MSI mp3 player.
Boran
Oxonium - Thursday, November 13, 2003 - link
I agree that Anandtech is extremely behind the times with this review. I just hope they make it up to us by having this be the first of many such reviews. Looking at the audio reviews menu, I see only four mp3 player reviews in 2.5 years. The mp3 player market is exploding and evolving as fast as SFF and it is barely being covered.