MSI Mega Player 521 reviewed

PC Magazine took the MSI Mega Player 521 to task and found the fitness-oriented player to be a decent choice for more active music fans, though likely not as attractive to the rest of us couch potato bedroom rockers. Coming in at 256, 512 and 1GB varieties, the device is compact and light at 1.6 ounces, but heavy on the pocketbook at $229 for the 1GB version. The interface apparently also leaves a bunch to be desired, such as the easy-to-mistrigger joystick controller than doubles as a select button when held down (sounds like a
Rio flashback); the menu system is counterintuitive in that you can't browse by artist or album, and must set up an ad hoc playlist just to view your tracks—or you can listen to your collection in alphabetical order (will someone please inform these companies that no one actually listens to music this way?). It's got a bunch of fitness extras such as a pedometer, calorie burn counter, and a stopwatch that can count both up and down, so that's a plus, as are the FM and voice recording features, and by the end we know PC Mag thinks this, more than RCA Lyra RD2212, is a device for fitness buffs. As in: if you don't need an exercise companion DAP, you might want to look elsewhere.