Cassettes aren't dead yet... at least cassettes that play and record MP3s.

Editor's Note: Watch Cat Schwartz take the Digisette on the road on today's "Call for Help."

Believe it or not, the most original feature of the Digisette DUO-DX MP3 player isn't its innovative cassette shape. We've seen this odd but useful form factor before in the disappointing Rome MP3 Player, which allowed you to play MP3s both as a stand-alone player and inside a cassette deck. What makes the Digisette so innovative and fresh is that it can record audio into MP3 either via a line-in connection or directly through the tape mechanism.

Encased in durable aluminum and plastic, the Digisette -- with all of its buttons, jacks, and slots -- looks more like an incarnation of Dr. Frankenstein than an MP3 player. It is superbly compact, measuring 2.5 by 4 by 0.5 inches and weighing twice as much as a typical cassette tape. With 96MB of internal Flash memory (and an additional slot for an MMC card), a rechargeable battery, stereo earbuds, and an equalizer, the DUO-DX satisfies all your portable MP3 player needs. (It's also compatible with the Audible and WMA formats.) On the drawback side, you'll have to navigate through tracks without a display. While a mere hassle in a conventional player, the lack of a display is a downright pain in the anything-but-conventional DUO-DX.

It's an MP3 encoder, too

The DUO-DX is one of the first Flash-based players to encode audio into MP3 on the fly, thanks to a new DSP chip from Texas Instruments. The DUO-DX records, and in the process encodes, audio in three ways.

  1. Direct MP3 Encoding -- just stick it in a cassette recorder and press record. Wow.
  2. Encoding cable -- plug in from any external audio source (like a CD player) using the supplied cable with a 1/8-inch jack.
  3. Voice Recorder -- record directly through the onboard microphone into low-quality ADPCM format.


MP3s are encoded at 128 Kbps so you can record about an hour and a half of music, provided you have an "empty" cassette. You can record up to 390 minutes using the voice recorder.

Not bad, but here's the rub. Without a display, it's difficult to keep track of how much free memory space you have. You can't record onto an MMC card either. All the DUO-DX offers in terms of operational status is a pin-sized LED that blinks green or red. You'll have to memorize various functions like delete (press FF and REW simultaneously for two seconds) or record using encoding cable (FF + PLAY),

How does it sound?

The DUO-DX is most suitable for drivers since a cumbersome cassette adapter isn't needed. Just remember that before inserting the DUO-DX into a cassette deck, it must already be playing. The quality of the sound coming through a tape deck isn't nearly as good as when used as a stand-alone player, and you'll have to eject the DUO-DX if you want to skip through tracks.

All this twiddling for about an hour and a half of MP3 may not be worth it to many users. However, since the DUO-DX is compatible with the Audible codec, users may download books-on-tape or other spoken audio from Audible.com (for a charge). This is the best way to enjoy the DUO-DX on the road.

Hidden in a secret compartment is a slim rechargeable Ni-MH battery, which lasted a little under six hours in our digital music tests. This is three or four hours less than competitve Flash-based players like the Sonicblue Rio 800. You'll get nine hours of power if you're listening to Audible files.

Also included with the DUO-DX is a battery recharger, a USB cable for transferring files onto the player, a carrying case to protect the exposed tape contacts, and Windows software (DUO-DX Manager, Windows Media Player, and Audible Manager). The DUO-DX is also compatible with iTunes for Mac OS 9.x and higher.

The $189 DUO-DX deserves praise for its innovative design and cutting-edge functionality. Throw in a simple display on the next version and you'll have a much easier product to use. Cool factor aside, we recommend the more durable Sonicblue Rio 800 with 128MB ($170) for most users requiring a compact and skipless MP3 player.


Pros: Unique and compact form factor; record/encode into MP3; memory expansion slot

Cons: No status display; counterintuitive recording


Company: Digisette
Price: $189
Available: Now (at Radioshack.com)
Category: Digital Audio
Platform: Windows/Mac