Product Requirements:
Device:
Pentium 133MHz or faster
Windows 98/SE/ME/2000/XP/Mac OS
USB port
CDrom

My search to find the coolest MP3 player continues with the MPIO-DMK Digital Music Player from digita@lway which is available in a 128MB internal memory version with 3 colors choices of Silver, Blue and Gold.

Hardware Spec:

Digital Audio Format: MP3
Internal Built Memory: 128 MB Flash Memory
Host Interface: USB 1.1 (5.5 - 6Mbps file transmission speed)
LCD with blue back-light
Power: 1 AAA (~ 10 - 15 Hours Playing Time)
Size : (W x H x D): 3.5 x 1.14 x 0.91 inches
Weight: 1.4 oz with battery

Looking like something that is a cross between a Star Trek medical device and a cigarette lighter, the DMK is an unusual shaped player that is small enough to fit in any pocket or gear bag. Made of plastic and aluminum, the player feels solid but a bit toy-like. The casing also flexes and creaks very slightly when squeezed.

The face of the player has a one line LCD in the middle which isn't the easiest to read due to the size and the reverse blue backlight. This backlight will shine for 5 seconds or so before turning off due to no activity. Pressing any button will cause it to turn on again. When the backlight is off, the display is similar to the black on green LCD of a mono Palm PDA, but it is hard to view due to the fact that the display sits quite a bit lower than the lens. When you're trying to view it, you have to tip the player back and forth till you can get the best viewing angle due to glare and shadows. For the most part, you'll be using the display to scroll thru the songs stored in memory. Since the display is so small, you can either view the songs by time left to play, or by title (which scrolls across the screen) while the song plays.

Above the LCD is a round bead type button that serves as the power on/off, play and stop control. Pressing the button once turns the player on. Pressing it again will play the first song in memory. Pressing the button a third time will stop the playback of the current song. While pressing and holding the button will cause the player to power off.

The left side of the DMK has the USB connector which has a soft rubber cover to keep dust and dirt out. Below it is the ear phone jack, hold switch and volume control buttons. The earphone jack is a typical stereo jack. The hold switch when slid to the On position, disregards all button presses so that you can't accidentally activate or change settings while listening to music. The + or - volume buttons raise and lower the volume level. A level indicator will be displayed briefly on the LCD while you are performing the adjustments. The volume level can be set from 0 - 40. I found that a level of 10-15 to be more than loud enough.

On the right side of the player is jog button. The jog button is an easy to use spring loaded lever that can be pivoted up or down to do such tasks as moving to next or previous songs. Pressing the button in allows you to go into a setup mode where you can choose equalizer settings, repeat settings, backlight settings.

For the equalizer, you can choose presets such as Normal, Pop, Rock, Classic and X-bass.

The repeat settings can be set to:

Normal: Plays all stored files one at a time in order.
Repeat One: Repeat the current file.
Repeat All: Repeats all stored files.
Shuffle: Please the files in random order.
Intro: Plays the first 10 seconds of each file.

The other feature that is accessed thru the jog button is the Backlight setting which allows you to adjust the length of time the backlight shines when a button is pressed. The maximum time is 10 seconds.

On the back of the DMK is the battery compartment and the neck strap swivel eyelet. An unusual set of ear buds that are built into a gray woven neck strap are included with the player. Although the sound quality thru the ear buds is good, I didn't find them to be very comfortable.

You can also wear the DMK on your arm with an optional arm band, or on your belt with the included belt-clip. Depending on how long your torso is, you might not be able to use the included ear buds while also wearing the DMK on your belt.

[Left to Right: Arm Band, Belt Clip]

In order to transfer music into the DMK, you have to install the included MPIO Manager desktop software and attach the USB cable.

This is a really easy to use this drag and drop type program. You can use the file manager to navigate to a folder on your PC that has MP3 files stored, and then drag them to the internal storage. File transfers are very fast thru the USB cable.

You can also change the play order of the songs by dragging and dropping.

The MPIO-DMK is a fun little MP3 player. The size is fantastic, the controls are easy to use and understand and the sound quality is fine. What would make this player better would be a larger LCD, more internal memory and a lower price. $209 for a 128MB seems very expensive for a player that has no external storage.

Available thru DGN Depot.

Price: $209

Pros:
Great size
Very good sound quality
Easy controls

Cons:
Expensive
LCD is small and hard to read
No external storage
Does not support WMA file format