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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.

Features
The Product
  • 128MB Storage
  • USB Connection
  • Voice Recorder
  • Remote Control
  • Lcd screen
  • Records Stereo/Analog
  • Great Sound Quality


wwww.unitech-na.com
Approx. $100 USD

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 8.5 10
8.5/10

 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


 





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