MPIO Chill FL300 (128MB review: MPIO Chill FL300 (128MB

MPIO FL300 Chill (128MB)
For those who think the Apple iPod Mini is just too darn big and look at the JetAudio iAudio U2 and bemoan its excessive bulk, MPIO has an MP3 player for you. The FL300 measures 1.9 by 1.1 by 0.5 inches--smaller than a Zippo lighter--and weighs a mere 1 ounce, yet it still manages to squeeze in an LCD screen, a voice recorder, and as much as 1GB of RAM (we tested the $100 128MB model). But does it go too far? Is it impractically small to the point where features and functionality are compromised? Read on for the answer.

The FL300 is a cutie. With its shiny, chrome body and eye-catching, sapphire-blue front (it's also available in Ruby Red and Amethyst Violet), it could even be mistaken for jewelry. Indeed, MPIO suggests wearing the player like a pendant, though our review sample came with an armband instead of a necklace string--the player is sold with different accessories in different countries. If you prefer the necklace approach, you can thread a string through the hole in the included, clear-plastic case, which is virtually invisible.

The FL300 has six thin buttons, three on either edge of the front side. The volume and play/stop buttons are self-explanatory, as are the Shuttle and Menu buttons. But the last of those takes on different functions, depending on whether a song is playing. Holding it down for two seconds takes you to the Settings menu. It takes some practice to master these controls, especially since the player is so small, but we ultimately found the FL300 easy to operate. If you need help, look past the skimpy, printed manual to the more complete PDF user guide stored on the accompanying software CD.

The player makes the most of its tiny, backlit LCD, which measures just 0.75 inch wide. It's a sharp, high-resolution display that's surprisingly easy to read--at least when the backlight is on. When it dims (after a user-definable amount of time), it becomes nearly unreadable. Pressing any button illuminates it again. When a song is playing, pressing Menu cycles through three different displays: a handy clock/calendar, a scrolling song-title readout, and a countdown timer with information on file type and bit rate. Both of the latter screens also display the equalizer mode, the song number and total number of songs, the sound-effect mode, battery level, and additional information.

The FL300 includes six equalizer presets and four sound-effect modes: Pure Studio, Concert Sound, Groove, and Dynamic Bass. These modes are really just additional equalizer presets, which help compensate for the lack of a custom setting. The FL300 also provides an alarm clock, though its usefulness is limited: you can't hear it unless you're wearing the earbuds.

The player connects to your PC via a USB dongle that plugs into the headphone jack, though MPIO also supplies an extension cable for hard-to-reach ports. This connection also charges the battery, but the lack of a charge indicator means that it's anybody's guess when the player is topped off. According to the manual, the FL300 takes three hours to fully charge. And based on our tests, it runs for 9.5 hours between charges, which is about what MPIO promises. That's pretty good for a player of this size.

In Windows XP and Mac OS X 10.2 and higher, the FL300 shows up as a removable drive (no drivers required), but in order to transfer DRM-protected music, you need to install the included Windows Media Player plug-in. Even after installing the plug-in, however, we had trouble with some DRM-protected WMAs. We found that we could transfer songs without a problem, but only some of them would actually play. We then tried Musicmatch Jukebox; again, the songs transferred fine, and we even noticed the usual "Verifying license" messages, but this time none of the songs would play. The FL300 fared just fine with MP3s, WAVs, and unprotected WMAs and performed well as a voice recorder.

The FL300 may be small, but it's not quiet--it's one of the loudest players we've tested, so feel free to take it on the subway. We appreciated the crisp, vibrant sound and the impressive bass response produced by the MPIO's earbuds. But those unpadded, hard-plastic buggers made our ear canals awfully sore.

With $100 to spend and a choice between the FL300 and a more full-featured player such as the GoVideo Rave-MP Sport AMP128, we'd almost certainly choose the latter--though not without one last, wistful glance at the lovely FL300.