TEAC MP-330 Beatman

CNET editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.0 stars Good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 6.0 (3.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Ken Feinstein
• Reviewed on: 12/16/2001

Mini MP3 CD players are smaller than conventional portable CD players yet hold three times the music--a great idea. The TEAC MP-330's excellent sound quality and compact design got us somewhat excited, but its lack of support for ID3 tags and dodgy antiskip technology gave us pause.Mini MP3 CD players are smaller than conventional portable CD players yet hold three times the music--a great idea. The TEAC MP-330's excellent sound quality and compact design got us somewhat excited, but its lack of support for ID3 tags and dodgy antiskip technology gave us pause.

Am I blue?
With its square, black surface and transparent blue-plastic top, the TEAC MP-330 certainly doesn't look like just any old CD player. Weighing just 5.6 ounces, it measures only 4.0 by 3.8 by 1.1 inches--much smaller than a normal portable CD player but still not quite tiny enough to fit into your pocket.

The MP-330 uses 8cm mini CD-Rs and CD-RWs, each of which hold 185MB of MP3 music. That translates to something like 45 songs, depending on the bit rate that you use. Though somewhat uncommon, these mini CDs can be created using any standard CD-R/RW drive. The face of the unit sports a very easy-to-read LCD and buttons for controlling the three-band equalizer and Repeat and Intro modes, as well as controls for creating a custom playlist on the fly. Plus, there's also buttons that control standard functions such as play, pause, forward, and reverse.

Major navigation flaws
When we dropped an MP3 mini-CD into the TEAC, it quickly recognized all of the folders and music. But the display doesn't show folders on the disc or song information from the ID3 tags--which, at this point, all MP3 players should do. Without them, folder navigation is difficult, and song selection is nearly impossible. Plus there's no easy way to skip to the next folder; you have to go through each track in one folder to get to the next folder. The player does support custom playlists, but the aforementioned display and navigation limitations make it difficult to find the tracks you want, rendering the function useless. Continue reading

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Recent user reviews

• Average user rating: 2.0 stars out of 6 reviews
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• 1.5 stars

  "As long as you don't want something longterm..."

  on November 13, 2003

• 2.5 stars

  "Great concept but skips too often"

  on September 16, 2002

• 1.5 stars

  "Why not Freecom?"

  on June 4, 2002

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