Cute enough for me, but maybe not for everyone. . .

I don't really consider myself a music fanatic (my walls sport Dali paintings, not NSYNC posters), but I like my music well enough that buying an MP3 player a few months ago seemed like a fantastic idea. But geez, everything out at the time would have put a serious hole in my pocket -- and I'm not talking about the good kind of hole (if there is such a thing). So I was thrilled when I found the I-Jam at Outpost.com for $50. That was about $150 less than the rest! And surprisingly, the cute little I-Jam isn't a total waste of your hard-earned Greenbacks.

It's plain-jane vanilla, but it does what it strives for very well. The system comes with 32mb, although it's separated onto two tiny, 16mb Multimedia Cards, at least one of which I'll surely eventually lose. And that's a sad thing, because Multimedia Cards are a rather expensive medium at the moment. For extreme (even moderate) audophiles, 32mb will probably not be enough. I have been able to squeeze 35 minutes of music onto one 16mb card, but that was at a very high compression level. It was okay for me; I couldn't tell too much of a degradation in quality. But I can see how the lower quality may not be satisfying to others.

The I-Jam also sports an FM radio, which is certainly a welcome addition seeing as how you'll soon tire of whatever songs you can fit onto 32mb. You can program up to three stations, though I wish you could program more. But in any case, if you get completely fed up with your limited song and radio selection, the casing is so sturdy that if you throw it across the room, it'll be just fine.

I have heard some complaints about the sound quality and volume levels, but both I and my brother, who has a more discerning ear, agree that the I-Jam sounds great (when the MP3s aren't extremely compressed, that is). The volume also goes to pleasing levels; the max is 20, and I usually stay around a comfortable 9.

I have one complaint with the buttons: they aren't too responsive. Sometimes I have to jam my fingernail against the little rubber buttons (they're REALLY little) for it to register my request. This is bad when you happen to go from a quiet song to a monstrously loud song. . .which seems to happen to me quite frequently for some odd reason. Anyway, as soon as my eardrums start getting blown to smithereens, it would be nice to lower the volume level quickly. . .

Other functions of the I-Jam are quite limited. It has the standard random and repeat functions, and it also has the ability to loop sections of songs (which could be potentially useful to musicians try to nail a certain section). But there's not much else. It doesn't display any information about your music except the track number and song position. The LCD screen can be difficult to read, especially in low light. There is a backlight that is supposed to rectify this, but it doesn't seem to help whatsoever (in fact, in low light I find it harder to see WITH the backlight turned on). The I-Jam also give you the limited ability to adjust bass and treble levels.

The I-Jam is by no means the best MP3 player on the market, but for the price, I'm satisfied. It's small and rugged, so you can take it with you wherever you go (unless you want it on your scuba-diving adventure; it's not waterproof silly). The sound and volume are very good, and the USB transfer is flawless and fast.

Now, if you'll excuse me; I have some music to listen to. . .