Review: Azio MP306 128 MB MP3 Player

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This little keychain sized mp3 player packs a lot of punch for its size at 38 grams without the battery. The package includes Earphones, USB cable and a little string to hang it on your keys (how cute).

The AZIO is able to play both MP3 and WMA playback formats as well as voice recording. At up to 12 hours playback time per single AAA battery!

The controls on this device are pretty standard compared to similar devices. The play and menu functions are controlled through the ever so popular toggle switch that we see on a lot of the small players on the market. Very smooth controlling and easy to master while you are pre occupied with other things, like walking while fiddling with the player in your pocket. Other controls on the device include the Hold button, which locks your device so you don’t change songs or settings when your player is in your pocket. Azio meets all the competing players with the ability to use the device as a 128 meg portable Hard Drive. Simply plug this device into your USB slot and it automatically detects under windows XP as a 128 MB removable disk drive (You need drivers for win98, which I hope you are not using anymore!) Down with the floppy disks! Under WinXP/2K/ME no extra software is needed to copy your MP3’s onto the device, just drag and drop them as if it was a removable drive.

It seems these days that quite a few companies are purchasing the same guts for their devices and creating their own outer shell, we have seen this menu setup and feature list on the Vintion MSC. The display is pretty standard fare as far as MP3 devices go. Scrolling ID tag display, format (MP3/WMA), current track number and battery power indicator. There is an EQ built into the device but I usually use normal for everything because it seems to fit everything the best, but the choices are Jazz, Pop, Rock, Classic, and Normal. There is a submenu for recording where you can listen to your recordings, and delete them. Delete File function to delete MP3’s straight off the player. Repeat Modes menu which include the standard: Random, Normal, Repeat all, Repeat one, and Preview. Backlight menu which lets you choose how long you want the backlight to stay on after you use the controls. Memory Info, which displays how much memory the device has, pretty useless function because you can’t add extra memory. One thing I noticed about the menu is transitions between screens seemed to lag, which drove me nuts.

The recoding function is pretty spiffy; you can record up to 8 hours of digital recording in ADPCM format. The quality of the recording is great too; you can pick up a lot of voices from pretty far distances of ~5 feet.

Pros

- Very small, you can use it as a keychain.
- Toggle switch, easy to change tracks
- Backlight, BLUE! Awesome color.
- Ability to use the device as a removable hard drive.
- No extra software needed under WinXP.
- Recording is great, long range and very good quality.
- 1 AAA battery powers this bad boy for ~8 hours
- 128 Megs of storage, pretty standard for these days.

Cons

- Lags between menu’s
- No FM receiver
- No Memory Expansion

Features & Specifications

Memory: 128mb Flash
Expansion: Slot N/A
LCD: Blue, 96x26 Dots Matrix
Voice Recorder: Up to 5 Hrs.
Band Equalizer: 5 Preset EQs
Power: Single AAA 1.5V Alkaline Battery
Interface: Standard USB 1.1
Battery Life: Up to 12 Hours of Playback
Supported Format: MP3 & WMA
Weight: 37g (Without Battery)
Compatible OS: Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP

Via

Fabrizio Pilato