2. Closer Look

The construction of the MP3onChannel player is extremely simple. On the top is a dial that changes the FM broadcast frequency from 87.7 to 88.9 MHz, in 0.2 MHz increments. The three front buttons are for back, forward and play/pause.

The USB slot, located on the wide end of the player, accepts USB 1.1 or USB 2.0 flash memory drives. You simply preload your MP3s on the USB drive and plug it in. A small LED, located next to the frequency dial, turns on when the drive is inserted.

Use

The MP3onChannel only plays back MP3 files. We tested MP3s having different bit rates and lengths, with the largest 34 MB. All files played back to the end. The player does not have a loop function, however.

Since the MP3onChannel doesn't have a LCD display, you will be playing songs "blindly", as with Apple's new Shuffle. It appears that the unit plays songs in alphabetical order. When a song finishes, or when you press the forward button, the player will start playing the next song. There is a delay of a few seconds before the next song comes on, which makes the player unwieldy for navigating more than a dozen MP3s.

You can hold down the forward or back buttons to increase or decrease the volume, but you should never need to use this feature, since adjusting the volume with your car radio is much easier.

Playback quality is acceptable, if inconsistent. You definitely won't get CD quality music, and nearby FM radio stations will cause static until you change to a less busy frequency.

We tested the player in 2005 Toyota Matrix and a 2004 Toyota Matrix. On the 2004 Matrix, songs played back with no detectable noise. On the 2005 Matrix, playback was often slightly noisy, with a faint hum noticeable that resonated with the engine. Sometimes reseating the player solved the noise problem.

We used several USB flash drives, from a no-name 64 MB drive that we received for free at a recent trade show, to a 1 GB Kingston DataTraveler flash drive. There were no problems with playback, as long as the drives were configured as a single partition - the player refuses to play any songs on a multi-partitioned drive.

Conclusion

The playback quality on the MP3onChannel is more suited to playing voice recordings, such as audio books, or self-help or language learning programs. For song playback, the player cannot compete with audio CDs in quality. Song navigation is acceptable only if you don't have many songs on the USB flash drive.

This is a decent player in certain situations. If you are looking to get rid of the wires on your long commutes and willing to put up with average audio quality then the MP3onChannel may work for you.