I got my MiniPod today!!! MP4/MTV player review

When I got home, I went straight to the mailbox in hopes of finding a package from canada. As I peered into the mailbox I screamed for joy when I saw a bubble wrap envelope resting peacefully on some junk mail. Quickly, I grabbed it and ran inside to tear it open violently. After it was open, I found a strange looking box kept closed by a magnetic seal. I opened this box and found my MiniPod! I was amazed by this shiny little MiniPod; A puddle of drool insinuated at my feet.










Also in the box were:

• Manual
• Drivers CD (On a cool lil' minidisc)
• USB Cable
• AC adapter (usb 2 wall converter)
• Ear Buds

I prepared to hook it up to my computer, but the usb cord provided would not fit in the bottom of the MiniPod! I ran to best buy and radio shack searching for the correct USB cord, but it was nowhere to be found. When I came home I tried one last thing; the USB cord to my Toshiba Digital Camera. I looked at it and smiled; I forced it in and it fit perfectly! I plugged it into my computer and it acted just as a normal mass storage device.

Video
There was a video provided on the minipod already. It was in .AMV format; I haven't been able to find a video converter to convert into .AMV format yet, but there was one provided on the drivers CD that converts into .MTV format. Before I could get it to work I had to download video codecs from: http://www.auhe30.dsl.pipex.com/utility.htm. After I did that, I was able to convert the videos and play them on my player. The video and audio seemed to be in sync as far as I could tell and the audio quality sounded great.

Audio
The music files transfer over easily and quickly. It allows for multiple folders and directories. The firmware is nothing like that on an ipod but it gets the job done. The music sounds crisp and clear, and would probably be much better with higher quality earbuds. .WMA and .MP3 file formats can be played.

FM Radio
The FM Radio works just as an FM Radio should. It's a great feature to add on; although, I don't think I will be using it much.

Picture Viewer
Works great. It can view pictures of all sizes. It would be sweet if it would have a slide show mode with zoom and whatnot.

Text Viewer
It cuts off words and continues them to the next line. I think there is a way to fix this in microsoft word, but I'm not to compelled too read books on this tiny thing.

Voice Recorder
It sounds a bit muffled, but it is a really awesome feature.

Settings
The settings allows you to change the screen saver time, dim or brighten the backlight, change the language, and update the firmware.

Firmware
Definately gets the job done, but lacks quality and convient features.

Ratings

• Audio 10/10 - plays crisp and clear
• Video 8/10 - plays videos, surprizing feature in something as small as this
• FM Radio 10/10 - Plays the radio like it should
• Picture Viewer 8/10 - Good, but not the best; mostly because of screen size
• Text Viewer 6/10 - Are you really gonna sit down and read something on this thing?
• Voice Recorder 8/10 - Does a great job, just adds more to the fun
• Firmware/Settings 5/10 - This mp4 player would be much better if it had better firmware. Updates?
• Customer Service 4/10 - Wrong USB? C'mon, don't you know your own product?
• Overall 9/10 - Good price, and in my opinion, it's better than an Ipod.