Olympus M:robe MR-100

Pros: size, included base

Cons: all clear plastic face, red/orange LCD, hard to use "buttons"

Summary: With some of the other reviews it must be that people just want to see their screen name on line or something because they sure as heck haven’t used this thing. I had it for 3 weeks and used it every day in the gym, the car and on an airplane. I listen mostly to audio books but I have plenty of music.

On mine the battery indicator didn’t work, it would always say full charge. The shiny front is awful. Did Olympus think we all have gloves on and would only keep this thing in a velvet pocket? I knew it would be trouble and kept the plastic protector on while I had it. Good thing, could never have returned it without. In 6 months I bet this thing would be so scratched you couldn’t hardly see the display.

If you’re a BMW or Pontiac person, you’ll like the display, but a plain black LCD would have been better. The controls are too hard to use as well. Trying to go up and down tracks is guesswork. Hit the button and nothing happens instantly. There’s no beep to indicate it and the software must have a delay.

I also hate that I MUST use someone else’s software to put mp3s on the device. Why can’t I just drop files on it in window’s explorer. I had an iriver H320 stolen and I loved the way it would work. Just open window’s explorer and drop all your files in the music folder. So simple. iPod does this too but at least the software is somewhat useable.

With coupons and discounts it was $170, but not worth keeping. It won’t organize files by file name, only through MP3 id tag. So it thinks file name cd2-1 (2nd CD in a collection, 1st track) comes right after cd1-1, leaving all the other tracks on CD 1 behind. Not a big deal for music, but a 7 CD book on CD, that really sucks. Means I have to redo every track for 7 CDs worth of tracks.

I took back an iPod mini for the same reason, but the software had ways to deal with it. I’ve also found every new MP3 player is working this way, even iriver’s new mini portable.