Mpio FY200 256MB Review

Digitalway's MPIO FY200 is more than your typical digital audio player. With voice recording and data storage capabilities, there is a feature to please everyone.

Summary

You can pack a ton of features into a product, but if they are not executed correctly, they really do not matter in the first place. This is what happens with the Digitalway FY200 MP3 player. The quality of the player and the headphones are clearly above average, but the execution of everything else falls short. You cannot randomly play songs between multiple folders which is a major bummer and those that appreciate hip hop and techno genres will be disappointed by the lack of bass present. Those looking to use an MP3 player while exercising will probably find the included arm band and second set of headphones annoying to say the least.

The FY200 is a fairly good product and we are sure once the kinks are worked out, will be one of the better MP3 players on the market. If you can, try out the FY200 before you buy it or purchase it from a store with a good return policy. The FY200 will most likely fit the needs of some people just fine, but will also leave others disappointed.

Introduction

It has been more than a year since we had our first experience with an MPIO product, the DMK 128MB MP3 player. The DMK was one of the smallest MP3 players on the market at that time and offered sound quality that rivaled much larger and more expensive MP3 players. Since the MPIO DMK received our editors choice award on the site for overall quality and technology, we had very high expectations from their newer player the FY200.

Priced at around $200 dollars for the 256MB model and $140 for the 128MB model, the FY200 adds new features over the DMK such as a built in FM tuner, voice recorder and the ability to be used as a USB mass storage device.

The FY200 with the standard and second set of headphones including the wrist strap

Design and Features

Our first impression of the MPIO DMK was that it had a very distinctive feel to it. The packaging had a lot of Korean type and symbols on it and the LCD display presents you with a start up animation when you turn the player on; it is very cute in a way. Digitalway, the maker of the MPIO FY200 decided to go a different route and make this newer digital audio player a lot more stylish and cut down on the "cute" factor.

The FY200 features a white and silver housing with a design quality that reminds us of the Apple iPod or the Philips Key Ring MP3 player. The player is designed almost like a piece of jewelry; featuring a shiny silver accent and a strap allowing it to be worn like a necklace.

On the front of the unit is a three-line LCD display that will show the ID3 tag information of the MP3 file you are playing, the battery status, duration of the track, FM station ID and more. The LCD display is inset in the player and covered by a mirror finish clear plastic screen. The right hand side of the player has all of the controls except for the play/pause functions. This includes the volume, hold, record, menu and fast forward/rewind controls.

Many of the newer digital audio players coming to market give you the option to store not only music but also data on their product much like a regular hard drive. The FY200 is seen as an external hard drive by Windows and with the included USB dongle, it is easy to hook up to your computer to store any kind of data. Unfortunately, the direct connection can only be used for data files; the player requires the included software for transferring music files.

Lastly, for those of you who like to listen to music while working out, Digitalway includes an arm band and an extra set of headphones with an especially long cord so you can strap the FY200 in and set out for a nice jog.

The FY200 with the USB adapter plugged in

Setup and Use

Since the FY200 offers a good number of features, there is a lot of information you may need to read about in the included manual. Digitalway includes a rather detailed instruction manual, however, the Korean to English translation is rather poor. You may find that you just need to spend some time getting used to the players controls and functions on your own.

For the most part, menu navigation is rather intuitive and if you have any experience with other digital audio players you should have no difficulty navigating around the menu system.

The software that comes with the FY200 is compatible with Windows 98/ME/2000/XP as well as MacOS 8.62