e.Digital Treo 15 MP3 Player (13830836)

I recently decided to get a hard-disk based MP3 player, as a way to more easily organize and carry my CD collection. I initially looked at the Ipod (expensive!) and the Creative Nomad Zen. But before I could get around to dropping big bucks, I found an open box special on the E.digital Treo 15 player for less than $50. The deal was too good to pass up, so I decided to give it a try without knowing much about it. Now I ve had a chance to use it, and can report the following:

The E.digital is a reasonably compact unit, with a decent feel and great sound. It plays Mp3 and WMA files, fixed and variable bit rate formats.

The unit is fairly inflexible regarding the organization it requires to play music. The directory stucture MUST be 2 levels deep, so the typical
ArtistName->AlbumName->Files structure is pretty much required.

The Music Explorer software is intended to look like Windows Explorer, but is less flexible. The instructions note that you MUST install the Music Explorer software before connecting the Treo to your computer for the first time if you don t do this you ll crash your system when you connect the Treo!!! Once installed, the software requires you to make each directory by hand before dragging and dropping music into it, and music cannot be moved from one directory on the Treo to another with the software. Fortunately, the version 2.2 firmware upgrade allows the unit to show up as a disk drive to your PC, so that your pre-organized music (and other kinds of data) can be copied to the Treo using any file management software. Be careful using this feature directory names longer than 65 characters will crash the Treo so my Kate Wolf Anthology (labeled Kate Wolf Gold in California, Vol. 1 & 2: A Retrospective of Recordings 1975-1985 ) made the Treo completely unusable until I identified the problem.

If you access the Treo as a disk drive rather than with the proprietary software, the songs will be ordered by name. Thus, the easiest way to enforce play order is to name your music files using the TrackNumber - SongName ArtistName convention. If your files are named with Artist name before track name, it will be difficult to identify specific tracks when browsing.

I am using Windows Media Player 9 to rip my CDs, with the naming set to Track Number, Song Title, Artist. This produces exactly the naming and structure needed by the Treo. (Unfortunately there is not direct support for the Treo in MP9).

Connection between the Treo and PC is via USB level 1 cable, with a proprietary connector on the Treo end. The unit does NOT draw power from the USB port, which is unfortunate as it requires the AC adapter for USB access. In practice this means that you must carry BOTH the proprietary cable and the power supply to use the Treo to carry data between work and home, or to play music on a work system from the Treo s hard disk. Furthermore, the connector on the Treo end does not look like it will hold up well if used heavily.

The Treo also comes with headphones and with Media Jukebox software my open box special did not come with either of these items.

The unit supports playlists, although the only method for creating them in Music Explorer is somewhat cumbersome. (The Media Jukebox software may make this easier).

There are fairly standard other features optional backlighting activated by using any key and a limited equalizer.

Battery life was an honest 8.5 hours of continuous use at high volume (no backlighting or equalizer).

In summary, the Treo 15 a bargain-priced Mp3 player which works well only with a very specific structure for directory and filenames. It is not a good data caddy, but is solid if you just want a small device to hold a large number of CDs. I am thrilled with the unit for $50, but at $169 (Mp3.com) I might hold out for USB 2.0 and a more smoothly integrated and easy-to-use package.