Some time ago, I had purchased a Curtis 256MB flash drive model at
hhgregg for $25. It has been a good model, nice and rugged with good
sound quality. But I soon filled it with files. I had been eyeing 1G
models for a while, then saw a 512MB model in an hhgregg advert for
about $30. So I went over and snapped it up.
I realized soon after I bought it that it was going to be trouble. The
battery door didn't quite fit - a tab used in the design of the part
snapped off so I had it held shut with a piece of tape. 2 weeks after
that, the single color backlight stopped working. Attempts to get it to
work again, which was mainly pulling the battery out and putting it back
in, resulted in the unit not working at all.
In a fit of rage over this piece of junk, I whipped it at a wall and it
naturally burst into pieces. The earbuds themselves disintegrated in my
hand.
On March 1st, 2007, I finally shipped the thing back to Curtis
International along with a copy of my sales receipt. The thing was still
under warranty, but due to my fit of anger, I doubted they would do
anything. Warranties usually do NOT include coverage for acts of abuse
or neglect, but in my case, the device failed to work anymore so it
deserved what I did to it.
In the middle of that, a friend had noticed one model of MP3 player at
Officemax that was a sport model that read Secure Digital memory cards,
up to 2 G. Attempts to order it failed, but I found a simple card reader
/ MP3 player at USB Geek for $15 US. I ordered 2 and traded one with
that same friend, who ordered 2 1G SD cards, and traded one of those for
one of the players. This is a no frills player, no screen. It just turns
on, plays MP3 files on the card, and turns off. It also plugs into the
USB port directly. The clear plastic case for the device is quite
fragile. Mine had broken into pieces that I was able to superglue back
together. I haven't tried a 2G card in it yet, nor other forms of memory
cards. Should be interesting to see what it can do. Some files it won't
play if the sample rate is too low.
Anywho, back to the other player...
I will have to include the letter I sent along with the Curtis MP3
player sometime soon, because today via FedEx, was a package from Curtis
International. They had sent me a brand spanking new 512MB MP3 player.
This is a different model from the one I bought at hhgregg. This
completely knocked me over. I had sent off the defective unit, explained
why, and didn't expect anything out of them except hopefully making
better quality products. After all, the 256MB model was a beauty of
design and still works just great.
This new model is sleek, sexy, and has some nice features. I hope this
is one of their top of the line models for the memory size. It has 2
output earphone jacks! It has an Inline Jack for recording from other
devices! Imagine being able to record off your tape player then pulling
that over to your PC and editing it later! Multicolor backlight! Much
more rugged and precise in design and manufacturing. It doesn't have a
built in USB plug like the other models, but a cable is included to plug
it in, as well as a CDrom for Win98SE.
To the people at Curtis International, thank you very much for honoring
your warranty when you didn't have to, and I now believe I will get my
money's worth. Please continue to make MP3 players that are rugged and
also look nice.
Some pointers:
1. A 12 band customizable equalizer would be nice. When I have to put up
with subpar quality earbuds, the equalizer that I can adjust at will can
offset the bad qualities of the worst of earbuds. Presets do only so
much.
2. Decent bass boost regardless of audio mode - Lots of bad earphones
are midrange and compress the quality so much. The bass range gets
squeezed out. It needs all the help it can get.
Oh yeah, the one feature that knocked me out in regard to the player
Curtis Int. sent back to me - support for Japanese text!! OMG! This is
too cool! The model number is MPS533! I can put my Japanese anime MP3s
on the thing, and if any of the ID3 tags are in Japanese, I'll get to
see that. Sugoi ne!!
The roof is almost done. The part over my room is done. But the roofers
working on the part above Apt C just popped the old shingles off today
and created another huge mess and a roofing nail nightmare - again. The
dumpster company wants to come pick their property up soon, and I have a
huge mess to clean up. I wish the roofers would have been more careful -
some pieces hit part of the Dish Network antenna dish thingy and broke
part of the plastic covering. It still works, but I'll need to glue it
back together and use some duct tape or something. I half a half-day off
tomorrow. T.T
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