Epson's P2000 Multimedia Storage Viewer: Not Your Grandmother's Photo Album

reviewed by Michael Day

Epson has long been an industry giant when it comes to producing reliable, competitively priced printers. It seems like it wasn't that long ago that they - rather successfully - branched out into the digital photography realm. Here's yet another Epson success story: the P2000 Multimedia Storage Viewer.

The P2000 is a true portable multimedia center. Not only can you put your digital pictures on it - without the use of a computer - but you can also store MP3s and videos on it as well. Transferring digital images without a computer doesn't get much simpler than this. Just slide your CompactFlash (Type I and II), Secure Digital (SD) card, or MultiMedia card (MMC v2.1 or later) into the appropriate slot in the top of the P2000. Transfer is a snap using the four-way ring control and on-screen prompts. It will also handle Memory Stick^®, SmartMedia^TM, and xD-Picture card^TM form factors simply by using a CompactFlash adapter.

But pictures are only the beginning to what you can store and play on the P2000. It also supports playback of .avi, .mov, .mp4 and .asf movies encoded as MPEG4 or Motion JPEG format.

You want audio? It does audio: .mp3 and .aac (.m4a) formats as long as they aren't encoded with a bite rate exceeding the 320kbps upper limit of the P2000. And they must also be 100MB or smaller. I know I don't have many MP3s that large.

The P2000 comes complete with output jacks allowing you to connect the device to your television's RCA inputs, or your stereo, or even headphones to see or hear your collection. You don't need any of those devices though. It has a built in speaker and amazingly sharp 3.8" LCD screen allowing you to experience everything stored on its 40 Gig hard drive almost anywhere.

For those of you that do have a computer and aren't afraid to use it, the P2000 also has a USB 2.0 jack for hi-speed transfers of data to and from it. As a bonus feature, if you have one of a select number of Epson printers, you can use that same USB jack to print directly from the P2000.

Included in the package are: battery, cables, AC adapter, CD and a cool little cradle. Plug the P2000 into the wall, set the unit in its cradle and you can use the P2000 as an endless, desktop slideshow.

It's hard to write a review about a product that I have trouble finding fault with, but I did fine one: Get a snazzier name! C'mon, P2000 Multimedia Storage Viewer? This great little find is so much more!