JVC XA-MP51 (512MB, Blue)

CNET editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 2.5 stars OK
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 5.3 (2.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Nathaniel Wilkins
• Edited by:
  Jasmine France
• Reviewed on: 09/16/2005

Best known for its camcorders and VCRs, Japanese consumer-electronics giant JVC is making a second foray (see the first) into the cutthroat MP3-player market with its XA-MP101B ($189.99), a 1GB flash-memory model with an integrated FM tuner and FM- and voice-recording capabilities; a 512MB version, the XA-MP51, is also available. At 2 by 2 by 0.6 inches, the XA-MP101B's ultracompact size and skipproof flash memory make it an appropriate choice for active pursuits, but its so-so user interface, antiquated USB 1.1 transfer speeds, and relatively narrow file-format support limit its appeal.

The black-gloss-and-metallic-silver player has a small, 0.5-by-1-inch, but adequate four-line text display with blue backlighting. The main controls (play/pause, next track, previous track, stop) reside below the display; the menu and record buttons are situated on the left-side panel, the volume controls on the top panel. The one notable extra is a fixed-level line output for connecting the player to multimedia speakers or a home stereo. For the standard headphone jack, JVC supplies basic earbud-style headphones. We were able to comfortably stash the lightweight XA-MP101B in a track-pants pocket while jogging, but JVC also includes a lanyard so that you can wear the player like a necklace. JVC doesn't provide a case or a carrying pouch.

The player's user interface is mediocre. To change tracks, you can simply press the next-track or previous-track button, but there's also a mode that lets you navigate the unit's musical contents by directory trees. The XA-MP101B doesn't support playlists or allow you to navigate music by ID3 tag-based categories such as genre and album. Those features would make it easier to manage the large number of tracks--approximately 500 WMAs--that you can store in the nonexpandable 1GB memory.

The XA-MP101B supports MP3, WMA, and WMA-DRM files purchased from services such as Napster or Rhapsody. Unfortunately, it can't play Janus-protected WMAs downloaded as part of a subscription plan such as Napster To Go or Yahoo Music Unlimited. In fairness, only a few flash-memory players (the iRiver T10 and T30) currently have that capability, but it's worth holding out for at this point. The XA-MP101B is a universal mass-storage device, so file transfer is a drag-and-drop process, though you must use Windows Media Player for purchased DRM-protected WMA files. Unfortunately, transferring is a tedious process, coming in at 0.9MB per second; although the packaging asserts that the player is USB 2.0 compatible, it transfers files at the antiquated USB 1.1 rate. Essentially, it's not a high-speed USB 2.0 device--a glaring oversight nowadays.

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