Solid MP3 Player
Written: Sep 08 '01 (Updated Sep 09 '01)
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Pros: Firmware upgradeable, good sound
Cons: Sluggish song selection, difficult to insert memory card
The Bottom Line: I rate the NexII an above average mp3/wma player. It is solid, with good amplification, and the ability to upgrade firmware allows improvements to the unit's operation.
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| jbenante's Full Review: Frontier NEX II MP3 Player |
I received my Nex II a few days ago and have already been using it extensively. I had read reviews criticizing the player as a "basic" player lacking "bells and whistles" such as an FM tuner and voice recording capability. In my opinion FM and voice recording are not "bells and whistles" - they are unnecessary frills that I don't miss at all. If I want to listen to FM radio (and I hardly ever do), I will use one of several devices I already own that will provide this function. If I want to record my thoughts, I will use my mini cassette recorder. I did not buy an MP3 player to be able to listen to FM radio with it.
What the Nex II does, and my reason for buying it, is play MP3 and WMA files well, with good amplification and the ability to display ID3 tags. Another very important benefit the Nex II offers is firmware upgradeability. I will not purchase any audio device from now on that does not offer this feature.
The unit itself is attractive, and very slightly smaller than my first generation Rio 300 player. I purchased my Nex II with a 128MB CF memory card. There is no internal memory in the player, but I don't see that as a negative at all these days.
I'll start with what I like best about the Nex II.
1) The all important ability to have the firmware upgraded via the Frontier Labs Web site. I have already upgraded to the most current firmware as of this date, version 1.33c. Among other improvements, this update adds one level of folder recognition to the player, where before it would not recognize folders at all.
2) The ability to play WMA format files. With the recent release of version 8 of the WMA encoding utility, song files can be compressed to 64k and yet retain very near CD quality. I have been able to cram as many as 70 WMA encoded files onto the 128MB memory card.
3) Amplification is very good. I am slightly hard of hearing in one ear, and yet the volume becomes overwhelming for me when set much more than 15 or 16 out of 20+ for most songs, even with the supplied headphones. The headphones themselves are probably not of the highest quality, but I've found them to be comfortable and quite adequate in the sound quality they provide.
4) The LCD display is crisp (though the text is very small in list mode), and the indigo backlighting is aesthetically pleasing.
And here are the items I am not all that fond of:
1) I had a very difficult time getting the supplied CF memory card into the slot. The instructions warn that you should not force the card, but through several attempts it seemed that the card would begin to jam as I pushed it in, and I had to gingerly pull it out again. On about the sixth attempt, just as I was beginning to fear that I had a defective unit, the card magically seemed to slide right in. I was happy, but now I'm reluctant to ever remove the card.
2) At least one other review mentioned that the battery door is flimsy. And yes, it is. It is made of the thinnest plastic, is very small and difficult to open even if your fingers are fairly slender as mine are. If you have beefy hands and fingers, it can be a real chore.
3) There is a "jog lever" on the top right side of the unit that provides the functions of turning the unit on, skipping one song ahead, or behind, fast forwarding or reversing through a specific song, and scrolling up or down in the list of songs. The idea of this lever is very cool, and for the most part it works okay. However, I've found it to be rather sluggish in its response, especially in song list mode. If you try to scroll down 4 or 5 songs quickly, the feeling is of being in molassas - the display scrolls seconds behind the pushing of the lever. In addition, sometimes while scrolling through the list of songs, you find yourself suddenly skipped to another part of the list for no apparent reason. This makes it kind of hard to zero in on the one song you are looking to get to so that you can play it. Perhaps this is something that can be improved in future firmware upgrades.
4) There is no resume function, so each time you turn the unit off and turn it back on, you must start from the first song on the list. I see no reason for this important function to have been omitted from the feature set. I only hope that a future firmware release will add this feature, just as it was added in a firmware update for the RioVolt mp3/CD player.
5) If a song is playing, and you want to get back to the list of all songs to choose the next song you want to play, you must first press the Escape button, which unfortunately stops the song in progress. You can't view the playlist and listen to a song at the same time. This is not a fatal flaw, but it is annoying, and once again I hope that a future firmware update will fix this.
6) Programming a playlist if fairly simple - just scroll through your main playlist and hold the jog lever in for at least 2 seconds for each song you want to add to your list. Then, you can use the function button to tell the player to play the programmed playlist rather than the entire playlist. This works okay. However, when you turn the player off and then turn it back on later, the program has been lost! Once again, I hope a future firmware update will allow for the retention of a programmed playlist even when the unit is turned off.
7) This is nitpicking, but the carrying case that comes with the unit, though nice and plush, is pearl WHITE. Yes, it looks kind of cool and all, but if you are active and really intend to take the Nex II along with you during strenuous activities, the case is going to look filthy gray or black in short order, I suspect. I wish the case had been black, or navy blue, or even gray or maroon. Is the case washable? The instructions don't say, but I hope it is.
Now, you can see that the negatives apparently outnumber the positives. However, this doesn't give a true picture, because most of the negatives having to do with the functionality of the unit CAN be corrected via firmware upgrades. Of course, there is no guarantee that they WILL be. I'm not very big on trusting any outcomes to "faith." But I am going to place a tiny bit of faith in the idea that if Frontier Labs really wants this baby to be a success, they will have to improve the feature set and fix bugs via firmware updates.
Therefore, I give the Nex II a conditional "thumbs up" rating.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 199.00
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Epinions.com ID:
jbenante
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