e.Digital Corporation (fka EDIG)

[Tinroad]

The best Windows based MP3 player?
(courtesy of Gilgamash at Agora)

RATING DETAILS
Durability 5 stars

Portability 5 stars

Ease of Use 4 stars

Battery Life 5 stars

Sound 5 stars

May 22nd, 2003

Pros: Very easy to setup and use, large capacity, SRS WOW a big plus.
Cons: A bit on the bulky side, limited music tagging, no current MusicMatch plug in.

The Bottom Line: The Odyssey 1000 is an excellent choice for any Windows user, and this unit is recommended even over the market leading iPod and the new iPod 2.0s.



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Full Review
As a Windows user, I sat on the fence a long time before buying an MP3 player. The small capacity units just didn't do it for me. The process of endlessly downloading and replacing songs didn't seem attractive.

My friends had Apple iPods, and while they are slick, they are issues when using the device with Windows, and the price of entry is steep.

This year I started looking at the new wave of iPod look alikes coming to market, and jumped on the e.Digital Odyssey 1000 unit when it became available. I pre-ordered the unit and it arrived in late March as expected and represented by e.Digital.

With only some minor reservations, this is clearly the Windows MP3 player to beat. It's by far the most iPod-like, without all of the iPod's frustrations under Windows.

Bad news first.

The Odyssey is a bit bulky and heavier than other players, but it's not at all bad - picture a bar of soap. Much of this is due to the unit's sleek and well constructed all metal case - no cheap plastic here. The unit is very easy to hold in one hand in spite of this, and you won't notice it's seven ounces when clipped onto your belt.

The second negative is that the unit has limited music tagging and requires a fairly restrictive dual-level folder structure to organize music files. So you can do Artist-Album, but that's it.

Good news next.

The display is great: very large, very easy to read, cool blue effect, much more information that even the new iPod 2.0s offers, and a neat graphic equalizer display.

The controls are all metal and feature a unique scroll wheel which also acts as a selection button, very easy to understand and navigate, well done. The case that comes with the unit doesn't block the controls, something which baffled me about the iPod.

The unit's 20 Gig capacity is perfect for storing not only music, but data files, especially since the unit appears as a hard drive with a simple and fast standard USB 2.0 connection.

I copied all of my OutLook email, documents, and some digital pictures onto the device, and sync up quickly every night before leaving my office. So all my data is with me all the time, readily accessible from any standard USB port. I don't bring my notebook home anymore.

The battery is lithium and recharges quickly, but also very important: it can be easily replaced. Sealed unit's like the iPod's pose a problem when the battery goes bad and require service by the manufacturer.

It has a voice recorder, and voice navigation. You read that correctly. Tell the unit what song you want, it will find it. Very cool!

It has an FM tuner with 12 presets and I was amazed how many stations it pulled in clearly with no antenna.

Now the best part, and this will really trouble iPod owners - the sound output from the Odyssey is simply awesome, much better than the iPods 2.0's.

I know because I listed to the same set of songs on both units for a very long time, the Odyssey sounds hands down better with substantially better music definition - the built-in SRS WOW effect also make a huge difference when the unit is connected to external speakers.

If sound quality is high on your list, you definitely need to hear the Odyssey's sound output, it blows the iPod 2.0 out of the water.

e.Digital priced the Odyssey at a reasonable $349. Given everything it does and the superior sound quality, it has a decided edge over the new iPods, at a lower price.

The only reason to opt for an iPod over the Odyssey for a Windows user is size, otherwise the Odyssey is a better choice.

http://hardwarecentral.dealtime.com/xPR-E_Digital_Odyssey_1000_20_GB~RD-100683779716