Brad Wardell's views about technology, politics, religion, world affairs, and all sorts of politically incorrect topics.
Look Ma, no wires
Published on October 29, 2003 By Draginol In Gadgets & Electronics

Wireless I have quite a few portable MP3 players and each one has its pros and cons.  For those of you who like to listen to music when you work out, the Sports MP3 player available at CoolNewGadgets.Com might be exactly what you're looking for.

This portable MP3 player also plays .WMA files as well (though it doesn't seem to play Digital Rights Managed WMA files -- i.e. ones you buy) and holds 128MB of memory.  The main selling point of this is that it is just a headset.  So when I go out bike riding, I can listen to music the entire way without having to deal with any wires. The whole thing is contained in the headset.

I only have two real beefs with it. First, it has its own proprietary driver. This won't affect most people but I generally expect portable MP3 players to be able to be connected via a USB cable and then show up as a drive where I can drag and drop stuff. But with this, it has its own software I have to use. The problem I have with that is that over time, I'll probably lose the CD as well as not be sure it'll work on a future version of Windows.  In addition to that, its cable seems to be unusual. I.e. I have no other USB cables (and I have a lot of them) that have USB connectors quite like this which means I have to keep track of the cable as well.

The other issue is the price. It lists for $200 though CoolGadgets has it for $159.  The problem is, for $299 I can get an iPod.  That said, the premium cost has to do with the advantage of the whole thing being the headset.

Overall though, for anyone who likes to listen to music when they work out this is something I'd recommend. In fact, anyone who does serious bike riding would be well served by this. Having used this, I can't imagine going back to my Muvo when bike riding. Having cables dangling down is a pain in the butt which the Sports MP3 player eliminates.

 


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