The MP3 watch is perfect for joggers and active people in general, and it's a lot more convenient to wear than a Walkman or Rio. If you wear a long-sleeved top you can easily hide the headphone cord inside your shirt, leaving people around you bamboozled as to the location of the device sending that annoying techno music to your ears.
The bad news is that the watch can only handle around four songs encoded at 128Kbps in its 16MB of inbuilt memory, so you could be stuck with the same ol' tunes in your head for quite a while - though a 32MB version is on the way. On the other hand, the built-in decoder provides a great listening experience in tandem with the supplied Sony headphones, producing crisp highs and deep bass without distortion at a maximum volume setting.
To load the watch with music you simply fire up the software package (which unfortunately was not provided for our review) and lock the watch in its well-designed docking station. This station connects to the PC by USB, and will also recharge the watch's battery so you never miss that 6:01 express bus.
I found the watch/player's soft plastic controls, which are located on the watch face rather than on the sides, a little hard to manipulate at first, but I soon realised that using just a little pressure rather than pushing with a whole lot of force was more effective. Thick-fingered people may find this control scheme a little annoying.
For occasions when all you need is a regular water-resistant watch, the headphone connection that protrudes from the left side of the device can be removed. The MP3 Watch is due to hit the market in September.
Casio
Price: $599
Distributor: Shriro
Phone: (02) 9370 9100
URL: www.casio.com
