Mega Stick Continued

This photo shows us the actual drive from the front and the top. This is where 99% of the functions are controlled from. On the front you have your LCD display screen. This lets you navigate the menus, access the voice recordings and song files from the unit. Beside this is the play/pause/Power button. This button allows you to turn the unit on and off by holding the button for 3 seconds.

On the top we have the Fn or Function button. This button is used to switch between MP3/WMA to FM radio functions. Beside this is the record button for the Voice Recorder or to record your favourite radio station. Beside this is the skip/Search toggle. This has three functions - First it allows you to skip songs or voice recordings, but when held for 2 seconds puts the unit to either fast forward or reverse, depending which direction you press. If you press down on the button it acts as the enter button for selection options within the menus. Finally you have the digital volume control; this of course needs no explanation.

MSI also packs in some rather useful goodies for your needs. As mentioned earlier, first you get a Driver CD for OS's that don't support USB Mass Storage by default (Windows 98 is one of these), a clear case to place the drive into with a chain to hang the unit from your neck as well as a pair of headphones to listen to the unit with. MSI also supplies 1 AAA battery which is all the unit needs. This is remarkable as the unit lasted 12 hours when playing music on a single AAA Alkaline battery. When we placed a 1200mAH battery into the unit, we managed over 18 hours which includes swapping to FM radio and doing voice recordings. In all this unit is ideal for busy people who don't have a lot of time to think about the battery life.

Overall this product was very good. The sound clarity when playing back MP3/WMA files was better than what we have heard from the Nomad players or the Gecko MP3 players we have tested so far. The only disadvantage was the USB 1.1 transfer rates, but these can be tolerated.

- Pros

Great Sound Clarity

Huge 256MB storage space

Voice Recording option

FM Radio

Last 12hrs on a standard Alkaline AAA battery

- Cons

USB 1.1 limits transfer speeds to 12mbps

Rating - 9 out of 10

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