The Sylvania branded MP3 player made by Curtis

Some years ago Big Lots was selling a number of USB Flash Drive MP3 players. I bought 2, though I meant to buy more but never quite got to doing it. I bought a nice COBY 1GB model that's been very robust and a really good performer. The other model I bought was a Sylvania branded 1GB model but made by Curtis. I still have my 256MB model also made by Curtis, and maybe I've mentioned the problems with several 512MB versions that have met their functional ends in various means.

The odd thing with the Sylvania player is that instead of the usual USB connector on one end was a small USB mini plug that you plug into it, and THEN the cable goes into a USB port. And then even after that, if you don't have the right way to use it, you end up being able to use it or not able to use it. I would imagine a lot of people who didn't have my set of computer skills returned these if they had a Windows XP system. Here's why.

Most MP3 USB devices have a FAT file system on the device and it's accessed like a regular flash drive. Drag and drop files, easy peasy. But no. The Sylvania with XP connects in some odd Media Transfer Protocol method. It's not simple Drag and Drop. You have to figure out how to "sync" it with Windows Media Player and all that jazz. Too many things to jump through. This might have put a lot of people off in that they were unable to use their devices. I wonder how many got returned to Big Lots.

However, I also happen to own a Windows 98SE system. I can plug the Sylvania player into it and access it like any other 1GB USB Flash Drive! It came with a USB driver CDrom for Win98, and that's how I ended up being able to use my Sylvania / Curtis MP3 player. And surprises of all surprises, it still works. Maybe Curtis finally got around to making it right?

I still haven't been able to figure out how to get it to connect to XP and get treated like a regular removable storage device in My Computer. It's probably something I'll try to figure out at some point.