MSI Mega Stick 1 - The Mini Wonder
by Andrew Ku on November 12, 2003 10:50 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
Mega Stick 1 — Supercharged USB flash drive (continued)
The buttons encompass the Mega Stick's side, predominately on the left, which can be a bit fickle to work with at times. The two major buttons remain to be the menu button/toggle and the play/pause/power on/power off button (hold down for several seconds to power down). The menu toggle acts as a track skip, while holding down the toggle acts in a seek function. The track skip gets to be a bit slow to work with because the skip time actually takes time, and holding down the toggle down too long acts in a seek function.The controls are laid out fairly naturally, as the operation of the unit feels comfortable for an uncannily small unit. With the hand resting on the back of the Mega Stick 1, the user's thumb is able to access all of the buttons, minus the hold toggle. The operation of the unit feels oddly familiar to the use of an oversized car remote.
Besides the software to format and upgrade firmware for Windows XP, the Mega Stick 1 comes with a pair of earbud-style headphones in a neck strap that utilizes 18mm drivers. We suspect that these headphones produce a frequency response range similar to that of the headphones for the iPod (20 to 20,000 Hz). However, we do not currently have the specification information made available to us.
The neck strap functions also as a carrying device for Mega Stick 1, as it also can be used as a USB flash drive. Pressing a small metallic button on the lower part of the neck strap releases the unit, but the headphones need to be detached additionally to remove the Mega Stick 1. The headphone wires are hidden cleverly within the neck strap nylon cords, something we love to see, as this reduces the clutter and protects them from damage.
Click to enlarge.
Due to the use of USB 1.1 protocol, the Mega Stick 1 cannot be charged via the host computer. Instead, plugging in the unit will power on the unit automatically, whether the hold button is enabled or not. The ability to charge is something we would love to see in future Mega Stick models.
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Aaapold - Tuesday, November 18, 2003 - link
Outwardsound carries the Jens of Sweden, but it lists for $219.95.geckojohn - Monday, November 17, 2003 - link
So, has anyone tried out this MSI mp3 player?I'm really thinking about getting it... Do you know what Newegg's return policy is? Could i return it if it suckS?
Thanks
Zoomer - Monday, November 17, 2003 - link
It has been around so long, practically all the taiwan/china odm/oems have jumped onto it and produced tons of them.If it gets imported to America en masse, I wouldn't be suprised if the price falls to around $70. In fact, I just saw the Hyundai HY-208 MP3 Player + 128Mb Mini Usb Flash Drive for S$139 - that's about USD$77. I would imagine that it would be even cheaper in HK, S.Korea or Taiwan.
The reason for such popularity? Well, if you are going to get a 128MB usb flash disk for $50, why not toss in another $20 to have it be able to act as a FM tuner/recorder/MP3 player?
Besides, they are small, stylish, "in" (the current trend).
This gets me thinking - how much profit would we be able to get if we get them and sell them on ebay? :)
geckojohn - Sunday, November 16, 2003 - link
Hey, So what one would you recommend besides the Sweeden one?OCedHrt - Saturday, November 15, 2003 - link
http://www.wewa.com.hk/products.asp?mode=second&am...Here's some more.
FRiC - Friday, November 14, 2003 - link
Not to mention, Acer has been selling this exact same MP3 player for a few months already, and for a lower price, before MSI released their version...Andrew Ku - Thursday, November 13, 2003 - link
Well, one more point I need to emphasize, and then back to the other reviews we got on the burner.The MSI Mega Stick 1 can't be seen just for its feature set, as size, weight, and price are just as important. If you compare it to the Nomad Muvo, there is a distinct differential in those three specific groups. This is also the case with iRiver.
Ultraportable notebooks are the "all the rage" overseas, but are not necessarily in the same situation domestically. And in the context of motherboard makers diversifying their portfolio, we do see this to be the first type of product to market. We can eyeball the foreign markets all we want, but the American demographic (I am getting a bit political here... :p ) is very very different from the rest of the world. Not being able to be successful in the American/North American demographic has been a big roadblock to the success of many products.
And to answer your hint of more MP3 player reviews: yes, we will have more down the road. The reason there are 4 and not more is because we took a hiatus from this section for a while. Our lack of reviews in that time is not an indication that we don't see the MP3 player market proliferating.
araczynski - Thursday, November 13, 2003 - link
america is usually behind in technology, europe/japan always has the newest/smallest gadgets at least a year before america decides to copy them... i remember my brother brining home a cell phone from japan many years ago, while everyone was carryign those bricks around here, they had things a third of the size.america doesn't innovate as much as people think, america's good at copying and mass producing at lower prices, which is good too :)
boran - Thursday, November 13, 2003 - link
ehm, may I point you to this site here:http://www.dansdata.com/usbmp3.htm
it's just a "george" or "fred" with the buttons swapped around a bit, even the transfer speeds etc are the same, which makes me believe msi isnt really as innovative as the article is, since the review bout the george dates 11 feb 2003 and you cant claim different weight, specs for function, I believe they R 99% alike (besides logo, firmware and button arrangement)
you can find around a million clones of the george or fred players on the market, imho my first misinformed review on anandtech cous if the reviewer just would have looked at the available players on the market for just a second he would have seen that there is nothing new or innovative at all with this MSI mp3 player.
Boran
Oxonium - Thursday, November 13, 2003 - link
I agree that Anandtech is extremely behind the times with this review. I just hope they make it up to us by having this be the first of many such reviews. Looking at the audio reviews menu, I see only four mp3 player reviews in 2.5 years. The mp3 player market is exploding and evolving as fast as SFF and it is barely being covered.