Mini CDR Madness: Evolution or Revolution?

7. Compaq - iPAQ - PM-1, Continued

A close-up of the Compaq PM-1 does not show everything. Control buttons are located on both the front and the side of the unit. Since most folks will use the inline remote for control of the unit, this wasn't a big deal. As you can see, the PM-1 is smaller than the RipGO!, but it also lacks any type of a case or belt clip, a helpful feature for those who are fitness-oriented.

As you might imagine, with only two twelve-character lines to work with, the interface and navigation on the unit are a bit more challenging than with the full graphical display on the RipGO! The interface is usable, but it took a little while to get the hang of it. When compared to the elegance and ease of the RipGO! interface, we felt like we had taken a step backward.

An area that we think Compaq's PM-1 got right was their use of two AAA rechargeable Ni-MH batteries. These batteries are inserted into a battery access door that is on the inside of the unit. The unit will run on two regular AAA alkaline batteries when you can't recharge the Ni-MH batteries that are included with it. You can purchase additional rechargeable AAA Ni-MH batteries, although they can be hard to find. We found the battery life of the included AAA Ni-MH batteries to be more than four and one-half hours, which we considered to be very good. Of course, using the electronic skip protection does reduce battery life. When using alkaline batteries rather than the rechargeable batteries, you can gain about twenty-plus minutes of playing time over the supplied rechargeable batteries.

The PM-1 is constructed of plastic and does feel a little flimsy when compared to the RipGO!, which seems to have a little more quality construction. We aren't saying that the PM-1 isn't durable, but, as with almost any portable electronics device, one accidental drop could spell disaster. The PM-1 does not offer a belt clip or carrying case, but the inline remote does have a clip.

Upon starting the PM-1, it scans the insterted media music files and reports back with the number of files that it has found. We tried to throw it a few curves and see how it handled files in sub-directories. Like the RipGO!, the PM-1 was able to traverse the various levels of sub-directories to find additional MP3 files. The PM-1 does not offer support for the Microsoft WMA format, so you can't play those music files on it. The PM-1 does support regular CD digital audio, but, as the mini CDR/ CDRW format is only capable of holding twenty-one minutes of this type of music file, we are not sure that many people will take advantage of this feature.

The PM-1 has five factory equalizer presets: Normal; Classic; Pop; Jazz; and Rock. You are not able to define your own equalizer settings. These five settings do give you a good range of equalization, but we would still like the ability to fiddle with the settings.

The sound of the PM-1 was very good. The supplied headphones provided a full and rich sound. The PM-1 was good on the high end and was able to hit the low end with a boom, as well. In head-to-head testing, we still liked the sound of the RipGO! a little better, but we think that was due, in part, to the better headphones that Imation supplies with the RipGO! unit.

When looking at all of the value that Compaq has packed into the PM-1 for such a low price, we would highly recommend it. It has good sound and excellent battery life, which are two of the things that we think go into making a really good unit. Unlike some of the typical MiniDisc players using the MD format, the PM-1 has a very good form factor which isn't too bulky. We found the PM-1 to be an impressive first outing for Compaq.