D-link DMP-110 (32 MB) MP3 Player
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- Number of Songs: 8
- Usage: Music Recording
- Interface: USB
- Main Storage Type: Built-in Memory
- Expansion Slots: SmartMedia Card
- Storage Capacity: 32 MB
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Depends on what you pay
Pros
Affordable, USB Interface, Software Package
Cons
Difficult Buttons, Cheap Finish, Better products by competitors for $149
Recommended it?
Yes
The D-Link DMP-110 is a new unit (as of October 2000) that replaces the DMP-100 (review here). Much of the features are the same -- the notable changes are slight changes to its dimensions, and the quicker USB interface.
I'll write a lot - hopefully you can pick out what interests you.
Fit & Finish - "not great"
The DMP-110 is built with a plastic housing and chromed, plastic buttons. If this were a AM/FM + tape player (aka Walkman-type), then you would probably tell me that it cost $20, if you simply judged it from its fit and finish. The belt clip and everything else is very "plasticky," and while it seems decently rigid in construction, the feel is extremely cheap. I can't say that fit & finish is "great" - even in an overpriced mp3 player market, I would expect something nicer for the retail of $149 - especially when you consider mp3 players by Diamond or Creative. The only reason I'm not complaining more is because I paid $49 at BestBuy.
Sound Quality - "good"
Digital sound is reproduced quite well, and I'm sure any audio fan will be impressed. It's nothing to die over, but considering that it's a low-end device, it sure delivers. As you may have guessed, the five EQ modes of Flat (none), Classic (mids), Rock (lows), Jazz (highs), H.Metal (low + mids), are quite generic settings, and not too useful. Ironically, I have found the H.Metal setting to be more closer to the original sound than the Flat setting. The volume is controlled in a range of 0 to 40, provides ample volume, and allows for precise control without sudden jumps in volume. As with many inexpensive products, there is a slight "hum" that is audible when using a lower volume setting. This is noticeable from volume 1 to about 10, but not too annoying.
General Usage - "not great"
The plastic belt clip is not confidence-inspiring, but functional. I do wonder how long it will last, though - it doesn't seem very sturdy. I was slightly bothered by the fact that the main buttons were oriented as:
Rew, Fw, Play, Stop, Rec
as I'm used to the seemingly standard button layout of:
Rew, Stop, Play, Fw, Rec
In general, I guess I don't like the placement of the buttons. Of course, that's a minor complaint compared to how the buttons are in general. The buttons are extremely sensitive to pressure, and even a slight brush against them by my sleeve would execute a command. There is no audible confirmation tone when depressing the buttons, so you really can't tell what you're doing unless you look at the LCD screen. (or get *really* used to the player) The only real use I've found for this player is to just let it play a 30-minute set while I'm working out - where I don't touch any of the controls.
LCD Screen - "good"
No backlight, but the LCD is comfortably large, crisp, and displays pertinent information. Navigating the menus can be slightly difficult due to the lack of confidence when depressing the buttons. (of course, that's a fit & finish issue) Track numbers are given, but the ID3 info is *not* displayed -- meaning the song title and artist info will not be shown. Users who are used to the countdown mode (shows you how much time is left on the track, or CD), will miss that function. D-Link is very sloppy when it comes to providing documentation for the non-Networking products, so you cannot find a user manual online -- thus, you have no idea what the LCD panel looks like until you buy it.
USB Interface - "great"
I can simply say this - do not even consider purchasing a multimedia device that uses your parallel port, unless you have absolutely no alternative. I'm not going to spend too much time on this, as this is fairly common knowledge. The USB port is anywhere from 5-10 times faster than a parallel port, and 5-minute songs will take approximately 10 seconds to transfer. An entire CD will take about 90-120 seconds. On a parallel port, you may have to wait as long as 30 minutes to load a CD.... not fun. Of course, the limitations of this is that you'll need to have Windows 95 OSR2, or Windows 98.
Software - "good"
The included mp3 manager is easy to use, and functional. In this category, "good" is actually pretty impressive considering a lot of other mp3 players come with downright horrible software. My only complaints about the software was that it a) always starts me at the root directory of C:\, b) doesn't display individual file size or song duration, c) does not display total song duration. While a) and b) are minor issues, I was somewhat discouraged about not being able to find out how long my "song set" was without having to dump them all into Winamp to tell me how long a music set I had. Maybe this is not an issue to you, but I use audio devices for set-duration workouts... MusicMatch is included with the package, and if you already didn't know, this is simply an awesome package that will extract, identify, compress, decompress, and burn music at will. It's especially great if you want to lower the bitrate on your songs, as MusicMatch can do that via batch job, and on the fly.
Battery Life - "poor"
The unit requires TWO AAA batteries for 10 hours of music playback, whereas most of the competition only requires one AA for 10 hours. Using AAA's on a high-drain device isn't great - especially when you have to use two. On top of that, I've gone through 4-5 sets of Duracell Ultras, and the most I've gotten is about 7 hours of playback. All in all, not a very good deal here - hopefully you have rechargeable, NiMH AAA's...
Memory Size - "average"
32MB seems to be the average size of memory these days, and unless you are okay with lowering the bitrate of your mp3's, it will really only hold about 30 minutes worth of music. Upgrading the memory is a pricey proposition, as 32MB SmartMedia cards go for as low as $45, while 64MB cards go for $85.
Verdict - "Depends on what you pay"
As you can tell, the player does what it's supposed to do, and I give it credit for that. At the same time, its cheap feel causes control problems, is not user-friendly, and eats batteries often. So, if you're like me and paid $49, you pretty much got what you paid for. If you paid around $80 on eBay, that's still not too bad. Of course, if you paid $149, then you have my sympathies. For $179, you can get a Diamond Rio 500 directly from http://www.diamondmm.com, which has a much nicer fit & finish, double the memory, backlit LCD, and uses one AA battery for 10 hours of music.
I'll write a lot - hopefully you can pick out what interests you.
Fit & Finish - "not great"
The DMP-110 is built with a plastic housing and chromed, plastic buttons. If this were a AM/FM + tape player (aka Walkman-type), then you would probably tell me that it cost $20, if you simply judged it from its fit and finish. The belt clip and everything else is very "plasticky," and while it seems decently rigid in construction, the feel is extremely cheap. I can't say that fit & finish is "great" - even in an overpriced mp3 player market, I would expect something nicer for the retail of $149 - especially when you consider mp3 players by Diamond or Creative. The only reason I'm not complaining more is because I paid $49 at BestBuy.
Sound Quality - "good"
Digital sound is reproduced quite well, and I'm sure any audio fan will be impressed. It's nothing to die over, but considering that it's a low-end device, it sure delivers. As you may have guessed, the five EQ modes of Flat (none), Classic (mids), Rock (lows), Jazz (highs), H.Metal (low + mids), are quite generic settings, and not too useful. Ironically, I have found the H.Metal setting to be more closer to the original sound than the Flat setting. The volume is controlled in a range of 0 to 40, provides ample volume, and allows for precise control without sudden jumps in volume. As with many inexpensive products, there is a slight "hum" that is audible when using a lower volume setting. This is noticeable from volume 1 to about 10, but not too annoying.
General Usage - "not great"
The plastic belt clip is not confidence-inspiring, but functional. I do wonder how long it will last, though - it doesn't seem very sturdy. I was slightly bothered by the fact that the main buttons were oriented as:
Rew, Fw, Play, Stop, Rec
as I'm used to the seemingly standard button layout of:
Rew, Stop, Play, Fw, Rec
In general, I guess I don't like the placement of the buttons. Of course, that's a minor complaint compared to how the buttons are in general. The buttons are extremely sensitive to pressure, and even a slight brush against them by my sleeve would execute a command. There is no audible confirmation tone when depressing the buttons, so you really can't tell what you're doing unless you look at the LCD screen. (or get *really* used to the player) The only real use I've found for this player is to just let it play a 30-minute set while I'm working out - where I don't touch any of the controls.
LCD Screen - "good"
No backlight, but the LCD is comfortably large, crisp, and displays pertinent information. Navigating the menus can be slightly difficult due to the lack of confidence when depressing the buttons. (of course, that's a fit & finish issue) Track numbers are given, but the ID3 info is *not* displayed -- meaning the song title and artist info will not be shown. Users who are used to the countdown mode (shows you how much time is left on the track, or CD), will miss that function. D-Link is very sloppy when it comes to providing documentation for the non-Networking products, so you cannot find a user manual online -- thus, you have no idea what the LCD panel looks like until you buy it.
USB Interface - "great"
I can simply say this - do not even consider purchasing a multimedia device that uses your parallel port, unless you have absolutely no alternative. I'm not going to spend too much time on this, as this is fairly common knowledge. The USB port is anywhere from 5-10 times faster than a parallel port, and 5-minute songs will take approximately 10 seconds to transfer. An entire CD will take about 90-120 seconds. On a parallel port, you may have to wait as long as 30 minutes to load a CD.... not fun. Of course, the limitations of this is that you'll need to have Windows 95 OSR2, or Windows 98.
Software - "good"
The included mp3 manager is easy to use, and functional. In this category, "good" is actually pretty impressive considering a lot of other mp3 players come with downright horrible software. My only complaints about the software was that it a) always starts me at the root directory of C:\, b) doesn't display individual file size or song duration, c) does not display total song duration. While a) and b) are minor issues, I was somewhat discouraged about not being able to find out how long my "song set" was without having to dump them all into Winamp to tell me how long a music set I had. Maybe this is not an issue to you, but I use audio devices for set-duration workouts... MusicMatch is included with the package, and if you already didn't know, this is simply an awesome package that will extract, identify, compress, decompress, and burn music at will. It's especially great if you want to lower the bitrate on your songs, as MusicMatch can do that via batch job, and on the fly.
Battery Life - "poor"
The unit requires TWO AAA batteries for 10 hours of music playback, whereas most of the competition only requires one AA for 10 hours. Using AAA's on a high-drain device isn't great - especially when you have to use two. On top of that, I've gone through 4-5 sets of Duracell Ultras, and the most I've gotten is about 7 hours of playback. All in all, not a very good deal here - hopefully you have rechargeable, NiMH AAA's...
Memory Size - "average"
32MB seems to be the average size of memory these days, and unless you are okay with lowering the bitrate of your mp3's, it will really only hold about 30 minutes worth of music. Upgrading the memory is a pricey proposition, as 32MB SmartMedia cards go for as low as $45, while 64MB cards go for $85.
Verdict - "Depends on what you pay"
As you can tell, the player does what it's supposed to do, and I give it credit for that. At the same time, its cheap feel causes control problems, is not user-friendly, and eats batteries often. So, if you're like me and paid $49, you pretty much got what you paid for. If you paid around $80 on eBay, that's still not too bad. Of course, if you paid $149, then you have my sympathies. For $179, you can get a Diamond Rio 500 directly from http://www.diamondmm.com, which has a much nicer fit & finish, double the memory, backlit LCD, and uses one AA battery for 10 hours of music.
