MP34 Player

We were startled to hear that a certain credit card-sized MP3 player was being sold on the streets of Mumbai, so we sent out one of our scouts to check. And voila, we struck gold. Bearing no association to any known manufacturers, the MP3 player in question is indeed the size of a credit card.

Ironically, no matter how innovative the idea may seem, the fact is the product is a product of the Chinese intellectual prowess that one can find in abundance on streets across the globe. The player is simply called “MP34 player”. Does that mean it plays MP3 as well as MP4? Guess not, since I couldn’t find a screen anywhere!

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The player comes with a 2.5mm jack and only four buttons: for playback, rewind, fast-forward and power, and doubling as volume keys and stop. According to the spec sheets on the back, the player comes in 126MB, 256MB, 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB capacities.

What’s interesting about the player is the number of skins you can get for it. Ours had Mother Mary on it. The player quality is strictly okay, and the earphones seem pretty flimsy. After two days of usage the left earpiece stopped working, and that’s not a good sign, is it?

I wouldn’t hold too much stock in the sound, since the frequencies were all messed up. The sound was mediocre at best, and not loud enough to drown out the racket on the road. The only appealing factor was the size and the kicks I’d get whenever I pulled it out of my wallet and flashed it around. But the charm died soon enough.

The player costs around Rs 1,750 for the 1GB version (which we got). The battery life isn’t that good either, so pick one up with caution. There’s no denying, however, that the device can be a social ice-breaker.