CNET editors' review
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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Mediocre
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 03/09/2005
Yes, you read that right. The BeoSound 2 has no internal memory, despite weighing a rather hefty 3.2 ounces. Instead, you have to insert an SD card (available as an option from Bang & Olufsen) into a well-designed, flap-covered slot on the back of the player if you want to listen to music. Last time we checked, a 1GB SD card cost a bit less than $100. Some people will no doubt find the BeoSound 2's UFO-esque shape and polished stainless-steel body attractive (beware of fingerprints!), and we must say it feels comfortable to hold and is easy to control with just one hand. But our design praise ends there.
The player has poorly marked buttons that are no help in reconciling the fact that it has no LCD. A circular center button labeled Go is flanked by four other keys; the bottom and top ones are each marked with a single directional triangle pointing up and down, and they're used to skip tracks. The buttons to either side of Go are marked with double directional triangles (the traditional fast-forward/rewind indication) and serve to navigate folders as well as cue through songs. In theory, anyway--we couldn't get this function to work. It would have made more sense if the side buttons skipped tracks and the up/down buttons moved through folders, especially considering the lack of worded labels. Above and below the up/down keys are the volume controls, each marked with a directional carat (^).
While we've seen other players without screens, the BeoSound 2 is the first we've come across to lack even an LED indicator to show if the player is turned on or off or is in play or pause mode. And the player doesn't have the excuse of being tiny; it's 3 inches in diameter. Instead, it communicates with different patterns of beeps that we couldn't decipher and that aren't spelled out in the instructions, which consist of a pathetic two pages in English. On the plus side, Bang & Olufsen includes a nifty, alien-ship-landing-type dock, which features a wraparound LED that indicates the connection status of the player with different colors; these at least are called out in the manual.
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