Pine Technology SM200C Personal CD Player
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Similar in Portable CD Players
- CD-R/CD-RW Playback: CD-R/CD-RW
- Bass Boost: With Bass Boost
- Anti Skip Buffer: 10 sec.
- Supported Formats: MP3
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Decent 1st-generation model, but now outdated
Pros
MP3 CD format, support for id3 tags and VBR MP3s, relatively cheap
Cons
Somewhat bulky, shock protection could be better, newer models have surpassed it
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
When MP3/CD players first came to market, this was one of the best players you could buy. Now, it is bordering on obsolescence. But such is technology.
The Pine D'Music SM200C MP3 CD player was one of the first models of its kind to come out. Now, a few years later, it is still a serviceable unit but it has been surpassed by other models such as SonicBlue's Rio Volt.
Using the player
-----------------------
Using the SM200C is very simple. The unit is similar in looks and size (although somewhat bulkier than average) to most portable CD players. Burn a CD full of MP3s, pop it in, and you're good to go! The player can determine whether you have put in a normal CD or an MP3 CD. With an MP3 CD, the unit will quickly scan the disc to determine the total number of songs (this takes two or three seconds at the most). Then you can select the mode (random, repeat, etc) and hit play for hours of music!
The sound quality of the player is pretty good. Obviously, it is dependent on the quality of the MP3s you burn (also, the included earbud headphones are not fantastic). But when using my own headphones or hooking the unit up to my stereo through the line-output, the player sounds quite good. There are some EQ modes you can use (e.g. Pop, Jazz, X-Bass, etc.) although I rarely bother with them.
According to Pine, the SM200C supports MP3s with bitrates from 32 to 320kbps including VBR MP3s. Personally, I use mostly 128 and 160kbps MP3s in order to fit more songs on each CD.
As far as what type of media you can use with the SM200C, I have only used 650MB CD-Rs, and all brands have worked. Pine says CD-RWs can also be used. I do not know if 700MB CDs would work.
Problems
---------------
Unfortunately, there are a number of things about the player that range from minor annoyances to glaring problems.
For instance, the SM200C does support ID3 tags. For some reason, however, my unit only displays the song title on the LCD, not the artist as it is supposed to. This probably could be corrected if the unit's firmware was upgradeable... but it's not.
A bigger problem is the lack of playlist/directory support. When you have 200 songs on one CD, it is nice to be able to quickly find the one you want to listen to. The SM200C simply reads your MP3s in the same order that they were burned, no matter if they were in separate folders or not. Thankfully, pressing pause then holding the next or last track buttons will allow you to skip around 10 tracks at a time.
Also, with so much music, I like to use random play. The problem here is that when in random mode, hitting the "next track" button actually goes to the next track, instead of a random track. A minor problem, but one that comes up constantly.
Additionally, battery life is not fantastic. The included rechargeable AA NiMH pack lasts about 2.5 - 3.5 hours when fully charged. The batteries can be charged by the unit, although I have found the included AC adapter to be a little flaky at times (not fully charging the batteries).
The shock protection is OK at best, and it cannot be turned off in MP3 CD mode. The unit does not skip too badly in a car, for instance, but I wouldn't recommend using it in any situation where it would get shaken or jarred much.
The player comes with MusicMatch software as well as a somewhat useless manual on CD in PDF format. You also get a CD full of a bunch of random MP3s, almost all from bands you have never heard of.
Conclusion
-----------------
As I have said, the Pine SM200C is a 1st generation MP3 CD player. Many of the problems I have listed have since been corrected by Pine and other manufacturers in their newer models (in fact, Pine released an "SM200C+" shortly after the original release of the SM200C which was essentially the same player with some bugfixes). Overall, the unit is still useful because of the huge convenience of the MP3 CD format. However, if you are buying today you should look elsewhere unless you are getting this unit VERY cheaply.
Using the player
-----------------------
Using the SM200C is very simple. The unit is similar in looks and size (although somewhat bulkier than average) to most portable CD players. Burn a CD full of MP3s, pop it in, and you're good to go! The player can determine whether you have put in a normal CD or an MP3 CD. With an MP3 CD, the unit will quickly scan the disc to determine the total number of songs (this takes two or three seconds at the most). Then you can select the mode (random, repeat, etc) and hit play for hours of music!
The sound quality of the player is pretty good. Obviously, it is dependent on the quality of the MP3s you burn (also, the included earbud headphones are not fantastic). But when using my own headphones or hooking the unit up to my stereo through the line-output, the player sounds quite good. There are some EQ modes you can use (e.g. Pop, Jazz, X-Bass, etc.) although I rarely bother with them.
According to Pine, the SM200C supports MP3s with bitrates from 32 to 320kbps including VBR MP3s. Personally, I use mostly 128 and 160kbps MP3s in order to fit more songs on each CD.
As far as what type of media you can use with the SM200C, I have only used 650MB CD-Rs, and all brands have worked. Pine says CD-RWs can also be used. I do not know if 700MB CDs would work.
Problems
---------------
Unfortunately, there are a number of things about the player that range from minor annoyances to glaring problems.
For instance, the SM200C does support ID3 tags. For some reason, however, my unit only displays the song title on the LCD, not the artist as it is supposed to. This probably could be corrected if the unit's firmware was upgradeable... but it's not.
A bigger problem is the lack of playlist/directory support. When you have 200 songs on one CD, it is nice to be able to quickly find the one you want to listen to. The SM200C simply reads your MP3s in the same order that they were burned, no matter if they were in separate folders or not. Thankfully, pressing pause then holding the next or last track buttons will allow you to skip around 10 tracks at a time.
Also, with so much music, I like to use random play. The problem here is that when in random mode, hitting the "next track" button actually goes to the next track, instead of a random track. A minor problem, but one that comes up constantly.
Additionally, battery life is not fantastic. The included rechargeable AA NiMH pack lasts about 2.5 - 3.5 hours when fully charged. The batteries can be charged by the unit, although I have found the included AC adapter to be a little flaky at times (not fully charging the batteries).
The shock protection is OK at best, and it cannot be turned off in MP3 CD mode. The unit does not skip too badly in a car, for instance, but I wouldn't recommend using it in any situation where it would get shaken or jarred much.
The player comes with MusicMatch software as well as a somewhat useless manual on CD in PDF format. You also get a CD full of a bunch of random MP3s, almost all from bands you have never heard of.
Conclusion
-----------------
As I have said, the Pine SM200C is a 1st generation MP3 CD player. Many of the problems I have listed have since been corrected by Pine and other manufacturers in their newer models (in fact, Pine released an "SM200C+" shortly after the original release of the SM200C which was essentially the same player with some bugfixes). Overall, the unit is still useful because of the huge convenience of the MP3 CD format. However, if you are buying today you should look elsewhere unless you are getting this unit VERY cheaply.
