Creative Labs, Hyun Won, and MusicGremlin Solid-State Music Players

All in a Flash

Another nice perk is the SRS processing, which gives some punch to the already decent sound. But you’re out of luck if you want to display photos, and the included software is borderline useless. At least you have a choice of memory: 512MB, 1GB, or 2GB, which works out to about 170, 333, or 667 songs.

Overall:

The long battery life and grab bag of extras make the B153 ideal for music lovers who really hate going back to the home base of the PC.

MusicGremlin MG-1000: $250

I’ll say this for the MusicGremlin MG-1000: it’s not boring. By incorporating Wi-Fi into the player, the guys at Mickey G’s have introduced a potential wild card into the flash game. Wireless communication surges with possibilities. Microsoft’s Zune, which is also empowered with Wi-Fi, has been widely criticized for its restrictions—would MusicGremlin fare better?

Before I answer that, I have to say that the MusicGremlin’s first impressions out of the box were not good. The player is positively massive for a flash model, and the rubberized outer edge makes it look like it was designed by Fisher-Price. At least the bulk gives it room for relatively beefy memory (8GB) that can hold about 2,500 songs.

The player isn’t helped by the Wi-Fi’s somewhat unwieldy setup. Be prepared to do battle with activation codes, wireless encryption keys, and online registration before you can unleash the Gremlin’s full potential. I’m sure a lot of people won’t bother.

Their loss. As soon as I’d set up the player with a monthly subscription, I started downloading track after track with a vengeance. At one point I had over 20 songs queued up to download right to the player—a few from other MG users who were set up to share through the Internet. Downloads are DRM-protected WMA files, which means you can copy them to your PC and other devices, with limitations. Having an entire music catalog at my disposal while sitting in Starbucks was amazing—I hadn’t been this excited about an MP3 player since my first iPod. The Wi-Fi rapidly drains the battery, though, so it’s best to keep remote downloading to a minimum.

Overall:

The MusicGremlin makes you jump through hoops, but the rewards are well worth it—a great choice for serial downloaders looking to take their experience to the next level. TPV