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Page Two of DUO-Aria MP3 Player

At this point I wanted to try the player out right away. I started by plugging in the included ear bud headphones. I was greeted by a hello message from the DUO-Aria people and a few samples of Audible’s content, don’t worry you can delete these. I skipped ahead to the MP3’s I had uploaded to the flash memory. The sound that came from the included headphones was a little tinny and lacked any real bass (Digisette offers and upgraded pair for $19.95), I promptly unplugged them and reached for my $50 Panasonic headphones. What I heard next was a shear joy; crisp highs, deep lows, and a decent midrange. The controls on the DUO-Aria are simple and straightforward. A nice feature is the ability to stop the MP3 player and start it later at the same place I left off, this is a real boon for book on tape--rather, book on MP3 listeners. Another nice feature but not very well documented is the equalizer function. If you press the play button while the MP3 is playing you can toggle between Jazz, Pop, Classical, and Normal.

Next I looked for a car cassette player. This was not as easy as it sounds but I eventually located one. You simply place the DUO-Aria into the player and use your cassette decks controls to operate.

Play – Starts the MP3 playing
Pause – Pause d MP3
Stop – Stops and bookmarks the MP3
Press F.F. for less than 1 sec – Skips to next MP3
Press Rew for less than 1 sec – Plays previous MP3
Press and hold Rew – Rewinds MP3 and 2X
Press and hold F.F – Plays MP3 and 2x

Audio playback in the car cassette player produced some signal noise because it has to transfer its audio signals into analog between the players “tape head” and your car’s cassette player tape head. However the Digisette engineers have included a handy alignment control switch to help compensate for this as well as ensure compatibility with a wide variety of cassette decks.

The DUO-Aria is well constructed with a sturdy aluminum case and a satisfying metal weight feel. The unit I tested came with 32 Megs of flash memory but in the back of the owners manual they list a 64 Meg version. You can increase the onboard memory with a 32 or 64 Meg MMC (MultiMedia Card) card. This is almost a must for any serious MP3 listener. To squeeze out more songs per Meg you may want to consider using Microsoft’s WMA file format. The DUO-Aria offers decent audio quality and a unique design, specially suited for the traveler or someone who still uses a cassette player in their car. I would like to have seen it come with more onboard memory for the $299.00 list price ($249.00 estimated street price). You can order optional accessories from their website, such as the upgraded headphones and a serial port cable for non-USB users.

--Bill Landon

PROS
Works in regular cassette player
Sturdy design
Good sound quality
Lots of accessories

CONS
Limited memory
Included headset not high quality

SPECS
Model: DUO-Aria
Storage Type: Onboard flash memory, MMC Card support
Storage Amount: 32 onboard, up to 96 w/ MMC cards
Interface: 1.5 MB/sec (USB interface)
Formats: MP3, WMA
Size: Cassette form factor


For more on the DUO-Aria visit their website:

http://www.digisette.com

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