Refine search for Multimedia

  Leave a comment      Email this to a friend TrustedReviews Newsletters

Moving through the tracks is easy enough, as is forwarding and rewinding. Just rock the dial back or forth to select the song you want or hold it in either position to forward or rewind. I would use the words fast forward or rapid rewind here, but there’s only one speed and that’s rather slow at approximately three tracks per second. If repeating the same portion of a song (or recording) takes your fancy, an A-B repeat function exists too. This is accomplished by sequential presses of the ‘rec’ button during payback.

As mentioned the Flash stick is capable of recording .wav files using the integrated microphone and sound quality is good enough to record a conversation in a meeting, although expect some background noise to accompany it.

The Flash Stick also features five equaliser settings. Only when playback is stopped can you select these by pressing and holding down the mode button until the letters EQ show up on the LCD. The same method is also used if you want to enter the delete or repeat menus where you can respectively erase the stopped track or all of them, and repeat the single track or all tracks. If like me you listen to a variety of music genres changing the equaliser to suit the song may become annoying, and you’ll probably just leave it on the normal setting. If you can be bothered, there are four extra modes to choose from including rock, jazz, pop and classic.

The headphones, as with many mp3 players are incorporated onto a cord that’s worn around the neck. A 3.5mm jack is attached to this and plugs somewhat inelegantly into the side of the Flash Stick, which itself is then clipped into the disk-shaped quick release mechanism. I was a little disappointed to find no cord-mounted controls and the sound quality from the earphones is a little on the harsh side. Nonetheless, this arrangement does offer a reasonably tidy way of carrying the gadget around, although whether you’d want it around your neck is arguable. As for altering the volume level, a sliding button on the side does the job, but as to why the level goes up to 63 is beyond me. In addition, when the sliding control is held the volume increments are very slow at two steps a second, so you’ll need to be a quick-fingered user to rapidly pump up the volume.

On the plus side battery life is good and you can expect to get somewhere in the region of 12 hours non-stop mp3 playing time and around seven hours worth of recording time before the batteries lose their juice. The Flash Stick also features a power saving feature whereby it switches itself off after about 27 seconds of inactivity. It’s also worth noting that this device can be used as an everyday USB storage key for backing up files and/or transporting data between PCs.

Verdict

At a couple of quid over £80, the price isn’t too bad, but I have to say I’ve seen mp3 players that have the edge over the Acer MP3 Flash Stick when it comes to construction and ease of use. It’s also rather chunky and in terms of desirability it falls short of many similar devices. The supplied headphones are a let down too with no integrated controls and a somewhat harsh sound. Granted, it can play music, offers a means of backup/storage and trebles up as a voice recorder, but then again so can many other mp3 players.

Add your comment