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I did not think that in 2019 that anyone still used MP3 players but if it looks like they do and if this new £34.99 player from Gueray is anything to go by then they still have plenty to offer.
Packaged in an attractive but rather downmarket box was the MP3 player itself along with in-ear wired headset, micro-USB charging cable, soft carry case, three sets of earbuds (one prefitted), and a well written but poorly printed colour User Guide. The build quality of everything seems excellent. The 2.5 x 2.2 x 0.7 Inch MP3 player is built like a tank with a metal body, metal and tough plastic buttons, glass screen and is heavier than I expected, perhaps for that reason. The supplied in-ear headset is of better than average quality and superior to those usually supplied with budget audio devices. The User Guide is of decent quality and in colour but is small in size, poorly printed and hard to read.
Facing the screen on the left side of the metal body are buttons for Menu, Forward, Back and Return. On the other side are the large knurled volume knob and micro-SD card slot whilst on the top are the micro-USB and Headphone ports together with the Power On/Off button. On the front face is the 2.4" 320x240 TFT backlit screen which is bright and colourfull if but rather low resolution. The device uses an integral 420mAh polymer lithium battery charged through the micro-USB port (which can also be used for OTG file transfers to a smartphone) with a 4-5 hour charge giving a claimed 45 hour playback time. It comes with 16GB of internal storage and up to a further 128GB can be added using the micro-SD card slot.
This device is not just for music playing (MP3/WAV/OGG/WMA/FLAC/APE/AAC-LC/ACELP formats) it can also support these features:
Video (160x128 AVI)
Ebooks (TXT/LRC)
Images (JPEG/BMP)
FM Radio (87MHz-108MHz) with 30 presets
Audio Recording (MP3/WAV)
Bluetooth 4.2
OTG smartphone connection for file transfer
Direct USB connection to PC/MAC for file transfer
As regards these other features, they do all seem to work but some are far more useful than others. Video playback does work but the low screen resolution and limited file formats make this not really worth the effort. Ebook playback does work and the screen is bright and with good contrast but again the small screen size makes this not really very practical. FM Radio works fine, using the wired headset as an antenna. Audio recording works but can be best used for note taking rather than music recording. Bluetooth headphones work well and are easy to connect in the usual way but it is a pity the latest Bluetooth 5 system is not used.
Audio quality, the main requirement for an MP3 player, is excellent. The menu system is good and easy to negotiate to find the tracks and albums needed. The screen displays the album cover if this is included in the selected file folder. The built-in storage is enough for about 3500 songs in standard format and music can be listened to whilst browsing folders, images and ebook files on the device. Using the common LRC format song lyrics can also display on screen as the music plays. Personally, I use it with Bluetooth headphones for MP3 and FM radio only. the other features either not of interest to me or not worth the effort of configuring.
The Good
Great Build Quality
Good Price
Good Audio Quality
The Bad
No USB-C
No Touch Screen
Poor Video Quality
No Bluetooth 5
Music: YouTube Audio Library: The Mini Vandals: Who's Using Who?
