Intro

With dozens of styles, features, and manufactures, there seems to be enough MP3 players on the market to fit the countless needs and preferences of portable audio consumers. The flash-based MP3 player market is crowded with products from companies such as iRiver, Creative Labs, and MPIO. In an attempt to give these leading portable audio leaders a bit of competition, X-Micro presents us with the newly released EVA MP3 Player. The X-Micro EVA is available in one of the three memory sizes: 128MB/256MB/512MB. I will be reviewing the 128MB model.

Package & Contents

The X-Micro EVA MP3 player comes packaged in a very small, yet colorfully detailed package. You can easily imagine this product being displayed on a retail shelf or in a display case.

Instead of having to unpack flaps to open the box, X-Micro chose a different route by using magnets to hold the opening lid to the box. In conjunction with a sturdy cardboard construction, it is unlikely that the box will show any wear and tear from frequent opening and closing.

As pictured above, the EVA MP3 player and battery are presented when the box is opened. Underneath of the first layer is where the included accessories, manual, and installation CD can be found.

Here is a list of the package contents, taken from X-Micro’s Website. Following is a picture displaying the contents.

Package contents:
- EVA MP3 Player
- USB connection cable
- Driver CD
- FM Earphone
- User guide
- AAA battery
- Neck brace

EVA Design

First let's take a look at the physical design of the EVA MP3 player. The device is around the size of any other USB flash drive, has a silver elliptical shape to it and is made of plastic. Being a small and portable device (101mmx32mmx24mm) many users can easily pocket the MP3 player or throw it in bag or purse. The only downfall I have found with this is that since the EVA MP3 player is made of plastic I predict that the device will scratch easily, especially if pocketed with keys.

On the front of the EVA MP3 Player is a 96x32 dot matrix LCD. When the EVA MP3 player is turned on this is where track information, battery life, and various menu options will be displayed. One nice feature that is included is the scrolling ID3 tag information; if you’re file name is very long it will repeatedly scroll across the LCD. The LCD also illuminates for night use and is very clear and easy to read.

To the right of the LCD is the built in USB plug. Like most other devices with built in USB plugs, the X-Micro provides a plastic cover for the USB plug. Once on, the cover fits snuggly and will not come off accidentally. To the left of the LCD are two buttons. First is the play/pause/power button. When held in for a few seconds it powers the device either on or off. When powered on, this button will either play or pause the current track.

Next is the repeat section button, which is labeled as “A-B”. This button is used to mark which sections of the current track you wish to repeat. The “A” section denotes the starting point while the “B” section denotes the ending point. If a section is marked as “A” but there is no “B” section, the track will continue to the end and then repeat starting at the “A” section.

On the end is an opening where users can attach the included neck brace/lanyard. Also notice the very small slit right before the opening for the neck brace/lanyard, this is the built in microphone.

Users will also find additional buttons on the side of the EVA MP3 player. On one side a clickable lever. When listening to a track the lever is used to fast forward/rewind through a track or can be used to move between tracks. When the lever is pressed in, the EVA MP3 player option menu will appear. I am pleased to report that the lever was very responsive and worked flawlessly.

On the other side is where the headphone jack, hold switch, and volume buttons are located. The headphone jack is a standard 3.5mm jack and nothing special to report on. One design option I really liked was the hold switch X-Micro included. When the hold switch is enabled, buttons on the EVA MP3 player cannot be pressed. So if you pocket or bag this small device, you won’t have to worry about other items accidentally pressing buttons. Thumbs up to X-Micro for adding a great feature!

The last set of buttons is the up/down volume buttons. I actually came across a big design problem with this setup. On the LCD, the volume bars increase left (low) to right (high). As you can see in the picture below the volume buttons are labeled + (increase) and – (decrease), and this is where the problem arises. When the right volume button (decrease) is pressed, the volume bars on the LCD travel to the left. When the left volume button (increase) is pressed, the volume bars on the LCD travel to the right. The button setup is inverted to what is actually displayed on the LCD. This may take some time to get used to.

The last picture shows the battery compartment, which can be found on the back of the EVA mp3 player. It stores a single AAA battery (included) that is expected to give about 12 hours of play time.

That is it for the physical design of the EVA MP3 player. Other than the gripe I had with the volume button layout, I are very happy with the overall design and layout used on the EVA MP3 player. Every button/control can be easily accessed with one hand, so athletes and commuters will find this setup very accommodating.