Treo 15
Developer e.Digital
MSRP $159
MP3.com Review
e.Digital has redesigned its popular Treo 10 hard drive-based portable audio player, upped its storage capacity to 15GB, and has a new winner on its hands (and in yours) with the Treo 15.
Now snow-white instead of gunmetal gray, and with stylish ribs on its sides and a belt clip on its padded black carrying case, the 15 continues the Treo tradition of outstanding dollar-to-gigabyte ratio. The Treo 15 is just as unshakeable as its discontinued predecessor and, at 8.2 ounces, is 1.8 ounces lighter. You really can take it anywhere, even to the gym or jogging if you're careful. We shook it in all directions and couldn't get it to skip a beat.
The included Music Explorer file-management software lets you copy entire folders to the Treo, but only into ''top-level folders.'' Let's say your hard drive has a Santana folder that contains some miscellaneous Santana songs, plus a subfolder for ''Supernatural.'' You first create a top-level ''Santana'' folder on the Treo, then copy the entire ''Supernatural'' subfolder into it. But if you want to keep all your Santana songs in one logical place, you have to create a subfolder on the Treo, such as Santana Misc Songs, and copy the other songs into it. If you just have random songs in a folder on your PC, you can create a new top-level folder on the Treo, copy the entire random-song folder into it, then rename the top-level folder. Basically, every track must be in a subfolder. It takes some getting used to, but it does keep you organized. While you're playing a tune, hitting fast-forward or fast-reverse scrolls through any folder. When you find the song you want to hear next, hit the play button to start it -- a nice way to play without interruption.
Once you've got your music loaded, get ready for plenty of volume and excellent audio quality. While the included earbuds are adequate, the Treo really shines with a good set of headphones. The equalizer has five presets and five user-selectable frequency bands, so you can adjust the bass and treble to your liking. The player supports MP3 files up to 320kbps and VBR (variable bitrate), as well as WMA (Windows Media Audio) files up to 128kbps.
Music Explorer also lets you copy any kind of data files to and from the Treo's hard drive as a portable transfer device. Again, you first create a top-level data folder on the Treo, then use Windows Explorer to drag and drop any type of data files into it -- even MP3s and WMAs -- but you must use Music Explorer to copy them back to a PC. The USB 1interface is as fast as any we've seen, but you have to plug in the AC adapter/charger while transferring files.
The Lithium-ion battery now lasts about nine hours, compared to the Treo 10's six, and a full recharge still takes about three hours. You can adjust the LCD backlight to shut off after one to five seconds, or stay on all the time. And you can set the player to power off after one to 10 seconds of activity, or never. After powering back on, you're at the start of the last song played. MusicMatch software is included for file ripping.
Bottom line? With 15GB of disk capacity, the Treo 15 is an unbeatable value for PC owners. It should keep you happily listening to your CD collection wherever you go, for many years to come.
Company Hype
The Treó 15 is a lightweight, pocket-sized, digital music jukebox with the capacity to store over 4,500 songs - that's over 225 hours of music -- all reproduced with extraordinary sound quality. The Treó 15 features a stylish case, a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and a large, easy-to-read LCD display. One of the smallest digital jukeboxes available, the Treó 15 can literally put your entire music collection in your pocket.
AI
