“Because of its small size, great design and good sound, we give the MPIO-DMK our coveted Editors Choice award.”
- Polished design and great sound
- Limited to 128mb size
Summary
Overall, the MPIO-DMK is the perfect player for those on the go. We say this because the DMK is so tiny that you will hardly notice it on you. The DMK is perfect when working out both in the gym and on the street. This is the easiest mp3 player to use and anyone can learn its functions in a matter of minutes; it is an mp3 player for the rest of us so to speak. If you have hours to spend categorizing and storing albums of music on a hard drive, look somewhere else. For us, all it took was an easy 3 minutes of moving songs from our computer to the DMK then running out the door. Because of its small size, great design and good sound, we give the MPIO-DMK our coveted Editors Choice award.
Introduction
Once in a while we get our hands on a product so innovative in design and function that everyone here in the office cannot wait to get their hands on it. The MPIO-DMK MP3 player is one of those products. In the past year MP3 players have been shrinking in size and growing in storage. You can now store gigs of information on an MP3 player that fits in your shirt pocket. For those of you who do not like carrying such an expensive and technical MP3 player on the go, there is an alternative. The MPIO-DMK does not have in internal hard drive, or an expansion slot, but we feel it was meant for a different audience.
Design and Features
The MPIO-DMK is a cross between a women’s lipstick tube and something out of Star Trek. This mp3 player is literally the smallest we have seen to date. The MPIO-DMK measures 3.2 inches long and weighs a mere 1.1 ounces with the battery (single AAA) installed. There is a small LCD screen on the front of the player with a button that resembles an eye of sorts and functions as the power/play/pause controls. On the side of the play is a round toggle switch that functions as the skip forward/backward and next song controls. When you push the toggle button in, the display changes to show either the song name/title or song length and sample rate. Holding in the button for 1 second reveals a 3rd layer of controls where you can change the equalizer settings, change the light timing, and switch to random or repeat modes. We found the 5 band equalizer to be more than adequate with very audible differences in the various equalizer settings. All of us agreed that the “rock” and “x-bass” equalizer settings sounded best.
Sounds, Software and Juice
Overall we were more than impressed by the tiny DMK’s audio output. We felt that the music was crisp and clear in all music categories with deep bass and crisp highs. The signal to noise ration is rated at 85 dB and when testing the DMK with various MP3 sampling rates we found there was no audible hissing on all but the lowest sampling rates. The included software is adequate and functions well. It is a no nonsense software program that was not over bloated with unwanted features. You can transfer a full 128mb of music to the player in just under 4 minutes. We did however find it annoying that you cannot rename the songs on either the player itself or the directory on your computer using the software interface. We also thought it was weird that there was an option in the included software to change the programs font; an unusual menu option.
Battery life is fantastic and gives you a solid 10 hours of music on a single AAA battery. Make sure you buy the 128mb version of this drive because the 32mb and 64mb configurations will leave you bored and yearning for more music.
Conclusion
Overall, the MPIO-DMK is the perfect player for those on the go. We say this because the DMK is so tiny that you will hardly notice it on you. The DMK is perfect when working out both in the gym and on the street. This is the easiest mp3 player to use and anyone can learn its functions in a matter of minutes; it is an mp3 player for the rest of us so to speak. If you have hours to spend categorizing and storing albums of music on a hard drive, look somewhere else. For us, all it took was an easy 3 minutes of moving songs from our computer to the DMK then running out the door. Because of its small size, great design and good sound, we give the MPIO-DMK our coveted Editors Choice award.
