Foxda FM6602 (128MB) review: Foxda FM6602 (128MB)

Foxda's so-so FM6602
Considering the abundance of excellent MP3 players on the market, the 128MB Foxda FM6602 has relatively little to offer. Although it sells for an affordable $90, its small screen, awkward controls, and limited playback options make it difficult for us to recommend.

At 3.3 by 1.5 by 0.7 inches, the white-and-chrome FM6602 is a tad larger than a pack of gum and weighs just a hair over 1 ounce, making it a good companion when exercising. (If you don't like white, this model is also available in red or black.) A small, blue-backlit, monochrome LCD and several tiny buttons that control the functions such as play, forward, reverse, and volume are all crammed onto the face of the player. As a result, the display is too small to read easily, even after we adjusted the contrast, and the controls are awkward to use. If the design had allotted more space for a larger screen and if the buttons were placed elsewhere on the case, the FM6602 would be significantly simpler to operate.

Flip the player over and you'll find the compartment for the AAA battery. On the side, there's a single 1/8-inch jack that does double duty as the connector to both the headphones and your computer. A microphone for recording voice memos is on the top next to the loop for the supplied neck lanyard.

The FM6602 supports MP3 and unprotected WMA files but unfortunately does not yet support protected WMAs. However, a firmware upgrade may be available soon, according to the company. Press and hold the Play button, and the device begins playing your tunes in alphabetical order according to filenames. You can opt for the Shuffle or Repeat modes if that order doesn't suit you (or you can use your PC to append the songs' filenames with numbers), but there's no support for playlists or otherwise arranging the music, a feature we expect from any quality player. There are five EQ options available to tweak the sound to your liking.

On the plus side, the Foxda comes with two features not found on all MP3 players. First, there's an FM tuner. Yet during our testing we couldn't tune in even the most powerful commercial radio stations in our area clearly enough to make listening enjoyable. The FM6602's other trick is its built-in voice recorder. Our recordings were intelligible but had quite a bit more noise than those of other players we've tested. Also, you can't change the recording quality as you can with other models such as the Daisy Multimedia Diva Gem.

Included with the player is a pair of ordinary-sounding earbud headphones, a neck lanyard, and a USB 1.1 cable. Transferring music from a PC to the player is a straightforward affair using Windows Explorer (drag-and-drop) or Windows Media Player.

We ran into a few snags during our testing process. We found the menu navigation to be a bit confusing, a flaw not helped by the small screen, the tiny characters, and the fiddly buttons. On several occasions, the player locked up on us, no longer responding to button presses. The only solution was to remove the battery and try again--yet another indicator that this is a poorly designed and cheaply made MP3 player.

Audio quality from the Foxda was acceptable, with no noticeable noise or hiss, although it didn't produce particularly loud levels, even with the included earbud headphones. Because the headphone amplifier doesn't produce much power, this player is not a good match for larger, more power-hungry, over-the-ear headphones. File transfer over the USB 1.1 connection was a bit slower than average at 0.43MB per second, but battery life was a touch above average at 14.9 hours.