Its been a while since the Creative MuVo landed on our desks- it was the first MP3 and USB flash disk combined into one unit which basically is the idea behind a lot of new such devices nowadays- combine functionality and reduce the size. Lately, there have been quite a few companies producing x-in-1 type of USB flash drives and MSI joins that list with their Mega Stick 1 which acts as a USB storage device, an MP3 player and an FM player amongst other things.
Packaging and Software
The Mega Stick 1 is bundled in a cute little box and inside, MSI bundles a USB extension cable as well as a neck strap type pair of earphones along with the main unit. A small users manual along with a drivers CD is also provided for Win9X users (the unit is completely plug ’n’ play under Windows 2000 and XP.) Lastly, the Mega Stick uses one AAA battery when not connected to the USB port and MSI bundles that as well. The drivers CD also features software for updating the firmware on the player- We think MSI should’ve also included some CD-ripping application.
Design and Feel
The Grey and White colored Mega Stick looks nice but is a little “mega” in size. It measures 9.6 x 3.1 x 1.9 cms and weighs around 40g with the battery. We’ve seen other players that are smaller in size and thus weren’t really impressed by the design. The LCD screen on the front of the unit is quite small in size displaying 96 x 25 pixels- quite a bit smaller than iRiver or Creative MP3 players of this type. The good thing is that the screen is backlit and is easily readable. Besides the LCD screen, the unit features a big play/pause button that also powers up/down the unit.
MSI puts almost all the buttons on one side of the unit which makes navigation easy. Starting from the top, you have volume control buttons, a jog-dial that can also be pressed for selection, the record button, the function button and finally the internal microphone. The jog-dial wasn’t as smooth to use as the one featured on some of the Sony devices. At times, we had to press the jog-dial quite deep for it to click. The other side of the Mega Stick only features a slider that can lock and unlock the buttons on the unit. Opposite the USB connector, MSI places jacks for earphone and an external microphone if you need to connect one.
Features / Usability
The Mega Stick is a 5-in-1 device although we really think that four functions are the big ones, whereas the last one is just an “added” feature which is a repeat function that can be used to repeat a particular segment of a track over and over- good for learning languages but not really a stand-alone feature. The real features of the unit are the MP3/WAV playback, an FM radio, recording of voice or FM radio and last but certainly not the least- a storage device. The Mega Stick 1 has 128MB of memory which is a bit on the lower side consider we have SD cards that hold 256 and 512MB commonly available.
Using the unit is real easy. The jog dial lets you switch between the different functions of the unit as well as navigate within them. For example. While playing MP3 or WAV files, you can use the jog dial to fast-forward within songs or skip tracks. Similarly, you can use the dial to tune in to an FM station or select between one of the ten presets.
Recording was quite easy on the Mega Stick and we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the built-in Microphone. MSI allows you to set the record rate between 8000Hz – 48000Hz for different types of audio. A built-in equalizer lets you adjust your output settings and although its not customizable, you have the option of selecting between Normal, Rock, Jazz, Pop and Classic.
The output produced by the player depends a lot on the earphones you use and the ones that MSI provides were pretty decent and will work for most, however, if you’re really into music then we would suggest getting better ones. What was surprising was the battery life on the unit- a single AAA battery lasted us over ten hours of hearing MP3s. Keep in mind that listening to the FM and using backlight frequently will drain your battery sooner.
Conclusion
The Mega Stick 5-in-1 is a decent device, however, it could’ve been better. We think MSI should focus on cutting the size and increasing storage if they plan on releasing a future version. The unit can be picked up for under US$ 100/- (approx AED 350) which is a decent price. Basically, the Mega Stick is a decent unit but there’s nothing really extra-ordinary about it.
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