Unitech
(DMR-300) 128 Megs Mp3/Wma PLAYER
Since
the incredible success of MP3 technologies on the Internet, people needed
to play their MP3 songs in different circumstances than with what a typical
computer will permit. Therefore, many companies are innovating new products
to satisfy this demand. One of these new products is the Unitech
DMR-300, a product of the latest ingenuity that
I strongly feel will make its mark on market. This
review will explain to you, readers, why I believe so.
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Features
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The
Product
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- 128MB Storage
- USB Connection
- Voice Recorder
- Remote Control
- Lcd screen
- Records Stereo/Analog
- Great Sound
Quality
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Features
The
DMR-300 is a USB based MP3 and
WMA player with 128mg storage capacity that can be upgraded. You can store approximately 20 mp3 songs on
the integrated flash card. It has
a playing frequency range of 20hz – 20Mhz. In the package you will find a 1/8 stereo connectivity
cable, USB cable, remote extension cord, a carry cord, and a pouch.
Two ‘AAA’ batteries can only power this device.
The Controls
The
2U4U unit can be manipulated with
only 9 buttons (all on the side of the player), and these are:
·
The play/stop, forward/skip, and back/last song controls;
·
The (+) and (-) controls which can be used to adjust the volume;
·
The Record button is for analog recording from a microphone
or a stereo source like a CD player output;
·
The (M) and (a-b) buttons set recording bitrate,
equalizer mode, and to delete songs. When
you are using the (M) options, you can choose with the Skip and Back control
and select with the play button.
The
problem with the controls of the DMR-300 is that there is no traditional
power button. From feedback I have
gotten, people like to save their batteries and not waste them in stand
by mode. It has been the case in
that 80% of people tried to press the record button to shut off the DMR-300.
For example, I placed 2 new batteries in the DMR-300 and I did not
use it for two weeks. After this time, the result was that the battery
indicator on the DMR-300 was showing half full.
Installation
The
minimum system requirements for the installation are the following:
·
1 free USB 1.1 port
·
Windows XP/2000/Me/98SE/98
·
200MHz Pentium or Compatible CPU
·
32Mb RAM
The
installation was easy. There is a
guide provided with the unit to assist with the Windows software installation
that was very simple to understand. It was the same for the USB cable connection
because the connector is under a cute flip-off compartment on the flat side
of the DMR-300, that can also hold a extra memory
card.
Sound Quality
The
sound quality is good. The range
of output frequency is fair, but what the difference is that the digital
music does not sound choppy at all, which is very good. I would give the sound output quality a 9/10.
I see that the quality of the capacitors at the output of the Digital
unit do a nice job of rebuilding the original analog of the songs.
Therefore, it doesn’t sound like the first CD players in the 80’s
that sounded like robots singing in a can.
“The real test”
After
realizing that the provided software cannot rename MP3 songs that are more
than 42 characters long, I then decided to have another person test the
product.
“Here
honey, take that to your job…”
“What
is it?”
“A MP3
Player…I put some songs on it.”
“Cool!”
One
thing I like about my wife is that I can always get good feedback from an
“average PC user”. She came back
after work to say the following:
“It
took me 15 minutes to figure out how to turn it on. All I ended up doing is recording my own breathing
by accident when I pressed the big round button. I was actually getting very frustrated with
it because it wouldn’t start. Where
is the on/off button? My co-worker
on the bus tried to help to me play a song.
It finally worked and the sound quality was great.
After we got it to start, it was a lot of fun to use. It is very small, and I like that it fit in
the palm of my hand. I like the gadget
that clips on my handbag and my clothes so that I can control it. The earphones are great but one side of the
wire is much to short. Therefore, it kept popping out of my ear and hurting
me. At the bus terminus, I had to
ask her again to help me turn it off. Now,
this was also frustrating. For another
15 minutes we tried all the buttons. Then we gave up and removed the batteries.”
My
friends redundant comments for the DMR-300:
“2U4U?,
that name really sucks! Isn’t suppose to be Form me to u?” (About 13/15 people said that)
“Cool!
Its so small, I find it’s pretty.”
(About 14/15 said that)
“You
must not be afraid to drop it like the ROQ-IT from D-link, very nice.”
(3 said that)
Summary
The
DMR-300 is a great product that is distinguished for its originality and
portability. Even if a lot of obvious
petty errors were done in manufacturing of the product, I strongly believe
that it is a product of quality made for durability and client satisfaction.
The presentation of the product and its unit interface is very modern,
light and compact. Besides the hard work in the design, the efforts on pleasing
the customer is obvious with the cool accessories.
However, there are just a few tips that need to be made for its improvement. If ever Unitech wants
to make a revision of this product I would strongly recommend these adjustments:
-Change
the nickname of the product (2U4U), at least for North America
clientele! (Trust me!).
-Make sure that the software renames songs when theirs names are longer
than 42 characters or else the client will bring back the product to the
store frustrated.
-Put
an indication on the unit on how to shut it off, or add a power switch.
-Give
a little more length to the short wire side of the earphones.
With
these implementations, I am sure that this product will be able to compete
vigorously against many of its kind. I would have to put a 9 to 9.5 on 10 if it is
updated, and 10/10 if it supported OGG 1.0 format.
Jason
David,
July 2002
