I picked this up on ebay (for $22.80 delivered) on a whim. I had never heard of it before, but it has a (upgradeable?) microdrive and had a great 50s/60s retro scifi look to it. It was still sealed and had a list price on the box of $150. Despite the 2004 date on it, the battery actually charged and worked! Amazing. It uses a USB mini cable to transfer and a separate 5V DC charger for charging.

It really does have such a cool retro scif vibe to it:

When I opened the silicon cap on the top to access the USB port, it was so old it just broke off, so that’s gone now. I added about 120 songs to it, no problem but when I turned it on, it had to index them and OMG it took a long time. It took about 2-3 seconds per song, so adding those 120 songs caused it to index for about 5 minutes when I turned it on. Yikes. In the interface, it’s also slow… there is a second or two delay when I hit next song for it to load. Speedy, this is not. So I did hit one major problem… the right/next button did not work. Major problem. Luckily, it was super easy to take apart, just a couple screws on the back, then pop it open.

See the 2.5 GB microdrive? It also comes in a 5GB model so I know it can be upgraded to at least to 5GB. The battery looks easy to replace – 2 wires, no soldering. So the problem – the D-pad on the front is poorly engineered. When you press one button, sometimes others will be pressed. And in the case of the right button the little nub wasn’t long enough to hit the button on the PCB. I fixed it, though it’s still not great, by adding a drop of super glue on the nib and added baking soda then sanded it down so now it’s long enough to hit the button now.

I wish I had a 3D printer, I bet I could come up with a better solution. Speaking of 3D printing, This would be great to 3D print a brand new enclosure. I can’t believe how plain the case is. No lightning bolts, no designs, not even the branding. This could look so cool. So how does it sound? It actually sounds great. I’m no audiophile, but it sounds just as good as all my other MP3 players. I’m really tempted to swap in a microSD CF adapter just to see if it’s even possible and to see if that speeds it up.

It also came with headphones and a belt clip. The belt clip is hideously ugly, and the headphones aren’t terrible, but I don’t like/use headphones. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with them.

This is a fun little player, and while not practical for daily use, I friggin love it.