A new data storage format shows potential.
Personal Computer World, 24 Jan 2003
The MusicUS-B is described as a personal music player and data storage unit, and uses DataPlay, the second of two new data storage formats recently released.
DataPlay is essentially a very small minidisc capable of holding up to 500MB of data, be it music, pictures, video or whatever takes your fancy.
Media Enabling is the first company in Europe to release a device using the format, coming out with a portable music player that can transfer any other data you would wish to put on the disc, but it can only play back MP3, AAC and QDX audio formats.
The drive is about the size of a large minidisc player, and comes with some reasonably good-quality headphones, but no remote.
It's not the prettiest of beasts, and the interface is very unresponsive; at times it takes more than one press of a button to get it to work, and navigation through the menu system is tricky.
Once the drivers are installed, the drive is recognised as removable.
Files can be prepared for transfer via dragging and dropping in Windows Explorer, but you have to press 'Record' on the device driver for the data to be recorded, which is an unnecessary complication.
Sound quality is excellent though, and the device is pretty much shockproof.
However, as ease of use is so poor, DataPlay currently has very little going for it.
Other drives are likely to appear, even though DataPlay the company filed for Chapter 11 in the US. Hopefully these will make better use of what is potentially a brilliant medium.
SPECS
DETAILS
Price: To be confirmed
Contact: DataPlay
www.dataplay.com
Pros:
Great media in principle.
Cons:
Device is difficult to use.
Overall:
The potential of DataPlay as a format is wasted here, as the device is not only unsightly, but also difficult to use
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