Sizing Up Mini Audio Players

Photograph: Marc SimonAgainst Apple's Goliath IPod come the digital-music versions of David: miniature players that compensate for lower capacity by delivering greater portability and designs that are even more head-turning.

At $150 and $100 respectively, the 256MB Yepp YP-T5V and 128MB Joybee 102R (you can get 128MB and 256MB versions of both) cost less than the IPod Mini but also hold less music--about 20 or 30 4-minute songs per 128MB.

The Joybee recharges when connected to your computer via USB 2.0; the Samsung (also USB 2.0) takes one AAA battery. Both last about 10 hours, but I'd rather spend the money on batteries, because if the Joybee runs out of juice, you have to plug it in and wait.

BenQ's QMusic and Samsung's Yepp Studio proprietary software are far from user-friendly when it comes to transferring files from computer to player. Instead I used Apple's free ITunes and Windows to drag-and-drop files on the players.

With the Joybee, I found its lack of an LCD screen frustrating--you have no idea which song is playing or how much juice is left. It has two identically shaped buttons for all functions, and they're easy to confuse with one another unless you look at the markings--not very treadmill-friendly. The sound on the preproduction unit I used was great, but the headphones fell off regularly when I was jogging; because the headphone jack doubles as a USB port, you can't substitute a different pair.

Photograph: Marc SimonThe Samsung's display shows song title, battery life, and other vitals. Its main joystick controller makes it easy to navigate through songs or change volume. The cool MP3 encoding feature allows you to plug the player into a CD player's headphone jack and record songs at very high digital-sound quality.

Does David have a chance against Goliath for those who don't need 1000 songs at all times? With the Joybee, I'd say no. With the Samsung, I'd say Yepp.