San Disk Cruzer Micro USB flash drive & MP3 Companion

reviewed by Michael Day

San Disk has done it again. They are the world’s largest manufacturer of flash storage cards and for good reason: they keep producing goods that are great! Their newest lineup of Cruzer USB flash drives are one of the slickest, most affordable USB driven accessories to come out in a long time.

In 128, 256, 512MB and 1GB capacities, these little drives really pack a big punch for the dollar. With MSRP ranging from $49.99 to $139.99 (July '04), these will be the stocking stuffers of the year.

Talk about versatile; you can store anything from video to text, music to data on these sleek, compact units. The Micro USB flash drive will fit on a key ring, but I found the included lanyard more convenient. And you needn’t worry about data on it falling into the wrong hands because it comes with CruzerLock software that will allow you to encrypt individual files keeping private data private.

If you have a computer with a USB 2.0 compliant port and are running Windows 2000, ME or XP, or a Mac with OS9.1.x+ or OS X v10.1.2+, you can take advantage of the Hi-Speed transfer rate right out of the package. Don’t worry if you’re not up to date on your hardware because it’s backwards compatible with USB 1.1. And if your operating system (OS) of choice is still Windows 98SE, you can download a driver for it. 

And if the Cruzer drives aren’t enough of a good thing, check out San Disk’s MP3 Companion. All I can say is, “WOW!” This is the coolest, most affordable way to take your music with you that I have seen in a long time.

It’s sold as a Cruzer drive companion device because it only works with the Cruzer drives.

But the MP3 Companion is very impressive on its own. I popped in the required, single AAA battery (included), plugged in the Cruzer drive after loading it with some of my favorite music, and referred to the instructions on how to turn on the MP3 Companion (press the Play button for about four seconds). The blue (very cool) LED in the Cruzer flashed a few times, indicating that it was being accessed and the music soon flowed from the included bud headphones.

The controls are very intuitive and I found the backlit LCD panel easy to read. In no time, I was choosing from the 15 equalizer presets, traversing files and folders, selecting from the many different repeat play modes and adjusting the general appearance of the LCD panel to my liking. Battery life for the single AAA battery is reportedly just over 7 hours and in real-life testing, appears to be accurate.

The documentation says that the 1GB Cruzer could store up to 30 hours of digital music in mp3 or wma (Windows Media Audio) format. So by simple math, the 256MB Cruzer I received to test should hold 7.5 hours of digital music.

The mp3 music I chose to listen to was encoded at 192kbps @ 44kHz and I only got about 2 hours 40 minutes of audio mp3 music on my 256MB Cruzer flash drive. I suppose that if you’re willing to encode your audio files at a lower sample rate mp3 or wma file, you can probably squeeze 7.5 hours of audio onto a single 256MB Cruzer.

I wore my MP3 Companion while mowing my lawn and cranked the volume to 40, its max level. It drowned out most of the sound of the mower until I got so sweaty that the bud headphones eventually fell out of my ears.

At that point, I went to put the unit away. In doing so, I accidentally dropped it on the concrete, scuffing its rather fragile finish. Scuffed or not, the MP3 Companion still rocks.

So, would I spend my money on these two devices? You bet. Not only would I spend my money on them, I know what a certain someone is getting for Christmas this year!

Epilog:

I was riding my motorcycle home from work a while back and had the MP3 Companion going at a fair volume when the unexpected happened. An unavoidable situation arose and I wrecked my bike. I was a little banged up, but all-in-all I was ok. Here’s the amazing part: As I pulled myself up off the ground, I could see several people that had stopped to offer assistance mouthing something at me that I couldn’t hear. I said, “Hang on a second” and found the stop button on the MP3 Companion; it was still playing. 

Once it stopped, I could finally hear “Are you ok?” And, “I can’t believe you got up; I thought you were dead.” Well, I did, and I’m not, and neither is the MP3 Companion!