BenQuality (Benq Joybee 120 128 MB)

Member Name: ScottyBoy.

Product:	Benq Joybee 120 128 MB
Date:	30/12/03 (1066 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Value for money, Ease of use, Style

Disadvantages: Headphones- poor

BenQ Joybee 120 MP3 Player

What did you get for Christmas? A CD? A book? Or even one of those up-and-coming DAB digital radios?
What did I get for Christmas? Well, amongst other things, including an Advent Laptop (I plan to write a review on this shortly), I gladly received a BenQ Joybee MP3 player.

From the outset one would not have guessed it be an MP3 player. All neatly wrapped in the most luxurious of Christmas-decorated paper, the size of a shoebox. As with all of my presents previous to this one and indeed subsequent to, I paid no consideration to the skill that went into wrapping it, in fact I didn?t even read the attached tag, until after- only then realising that it was from my Dad.

So there I held it- a cardboard box. The top right-hand corner revealed it to be an MP3 player. Was I pleased? Dam right I was. It was, after all what I had asked for. I set about investigating the contents. In opening the box revealed yet another box. Inside this box appeared to be the 'stuffing' of the parcel. There was a carrying case, a set of headphones, a software installation CD-ROM, a USB connector cable, battery charger, neck strap and of course the all important User guide and warranty card. And the MP3 player? I scanned the contents once again, checked the box to review contents and the appearance of the device. I come to a brief conclusion that it was disguised- as part of the headphones? No, none of the contents that I could see had any such resemblance to the stylish Joybee. So where was it?

After a full two minutes I found it tucked neatly within the outer box. I had missed it at the initial stage. It was so small!

Anybody reading this I would presume to have knowledge of MP3 devices. But for those who don?t? (If you know already skip to the next paragraph).
The BenQ Joybee 120 is a portable audio player capable of storing compressed music files in MP3 and WAV format. Music such as this is obtained
and downloaded, via the USB cable, from a computer. Tracks can be extracted from a CD or downloaded from the Internet. You plug the headphones into the player and listen away. No CDs to lug around- just music of your choice on a device smaller than a small matchbox.


~THE PLAYER~

The BenQ Joybee 120 MP3 player is the most stylish, smallest and lightest sub-£100 MP3 player on the market. It has received full star ratings from most that have reviewed it, including 'Sound and Vision' and 'Computer Shopper'. The small price of £95 (even less if you buy in the sales) makes this gadget an absolute bargain.

So, How Stylish? Very! The player is compact and buttons are easily accessible and displayed in a well thought out manner. The blue backlight gives its appearance a massive boost and the display is configurative and informative. The Joybee is available in three colours: Silver (that?s mine!), green and orange.

How Small? Dimensions measure 57mm x 38mm x 11.5mm. Extremely small!

How Light? With the battery excluded only 24g. The battery adds hardly anything to that weight. It?s so small and light that you would lose it in your pocket.

The Joybee 120 is available in three different capacities: 64MB, 120MB and 256MB. With one minute of music using around 1 MB and the average song requiring 4MB, there?s a capacity to suit the individual.

Full charge of a battery should take no longer than 2 hours and that will provide you with 16 hours pure MP3 playback, which is impressive when comparing to post-£100 models, some of which have only 12 hours battery life.

What you get for your battery life is impressive. Besides offering users MP3 (or to be technical, MPEG Audio layer-3), WMA and WAV supporting formats for downloading and listening the Joybee is also an FM Radio, a Dictaphone, a radio and music recorder and a USB flash drive.

The supplied install software is essent
ial in getting the full benefit from the player. It includes a drive installation for users who require it (Windows 98 users), 'Qmusic' for easy editing and management of music files and an online user guide available in four different languages.

Can a player really be this good? It must have at least one fault surely? Well unfortunately yes. The headphones do not match the standard of the MP3 player, which is a big shame. If just a little more money were to be spent by BenQ then the headphones would be credible. The headphones are white- the player silver/orange/green. I have to say the silver and white do not match. It is seen as a cheap, tacky set of headphones attached with an expensive, stylish MP3 player. I believe that even BenQ themselves are dissatisfied with the supplied headphones, choosing to display a different pair altogether on the covering photograph.

The BenQ Joybee 120 MP3 player is outstanding amongst other sub-£100 players in what it offers for the money. With the exception of the headphones there is absolutely nothing wrong with this nifty little gadget.

Summary: