The FlashTrax XT will also serve as an MP3 player,
FM Stereo radio and can even record directly from the FM radio, allowing
you to capture your favorite music with the press of just two buttons
("Record" and "Enter").
Not a great standalone MP3 player
This is not the unit to purchase if you're only looking for an MP3 player, and it's definitely not the device to purchase if you're looking to record audio from an external
audio source. Why? Well, first off, the unit is too big as a standalone MP3 player, and secondly, SmartDisk has neglected to
add a music record mode - aside from the FM tuner recording. Since the unit has the ability to record audio, I am not sure why SmartDisk didn't specifically add the ability to
record from an external audio source. If the device was mainly being targeted at photographers then it wouldn't matter, but since they're pushing it as a multimedia device, I
consider it an oversight. SmartDisk did include an on-board microphone for recording voice notes.
Workaround for MP3 recording
Since the unit doesn't feature external audio recording, I wanted to
see what would happen if I recorded an audio track from a CD, while in VIDEO
mode. I connected the audio out from a portable CD player to the audio/video
input of the FlashTrax XT. I then set the record mode (under SETUP) to
video. When I pressed the "RECORD" button, the screen displayed a message
stating that there wasn't a video signal, but the audio from the
CD player still passed through. I proceeded to record the audio track
to the unit while in video mode - and it worked. The
song was 3:48 seconds long, it was recorded in 128 Kbps mode, and its
file size was 6.5MB, almost double what it would have been as an MP3-only file.
The file size increased because the Flashtrax XT recorded a black
video signal along with the audio.
If you don't mind larger file sizes, this method does allow you to record
external audio, although you'll have to access the recorded "MP3's" in the VIDEO mode since the file
will be saved as an .asf file and won't show up when in the Music mode.
Very good MP3 player functionality - as a bonus feature
If you purchase the FlashTrax XT as a portable storage device for your
digital photographs, then the added MP3 functionality will be a nice
bonus. The FlashTrax XT supports playback of MP3's, WMA's, and ASF (G.726
Codec) files. It also supports industry standard .M3U playlists and
will allow you to add, remove, and create playlists without a PC. Music
will play through the built-in speaker unless a headphone is connected.
The built-in speaker makes desktop listening very convenient. In fact,
when the FlashTrax XT isn't being used for backing up or viewing photographs, it makes
a convenient music player.
