Sony CRX10U review

Verdict:

Review Date: 1 Jul 2001

Price when reviewed: (£410)

Reviewed By: Ben Pitt

Our Rating 4 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

As an MP3 player, the Sony is absurdly expensive - for over £400 you could probably convince most up-and-coming bands to follow you around with acoustic guitars for a week.

However, MP3 playback isn't really its prime concern, as it functions as a portable CD-R/W drive, making it the perfect partner for a notebook. Its USB interface only manages a modest 4x write speed, which equates to 6 seconds per typical MP3 transfer, though the CD finishing process adds around a minute to the total process.

Away from the PC, the drive functions as a portable CD and MP3 player, its controls located on a funky little remote half-way down the headphone cable. Sound quality is mediocre, with a fairly harsh tone and no tone controls, though it's by no means unpleasant. The 8Mb memory buffer means you can shake the thing for ages before the audio gets interrupted, though the mechanism takes its toll on the generously-proportioned lithium ion battery.

This is clearly a niche product, but if you want a battery-powered CD-R/W drive, Freecom's Traveller Light is a lot smaller and cheaper, at £270. You could then buy a better MP3 player with the change.

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