TrekStor i.Beat Classico FM 2 GB MP3 Player (Black and white)

• Sleek silver digital audio player with 2 GB flash memory and built-in FM tuner
• Supports MP3, WMA, and OGG audio formats; line-in recording to MP3
• Compatible with secure WMA-DRM9 music services; dual headphone jacks for 2 listeners
• 8 preset equalizer settings; 2-color OLED screen; 20 station presets
• Lithium-polymer battery; measures 2.7 x 1.1 x 0.5 inches (W x H x D); 1-year warranty

What made me buy the i.Beat Classico was its line-in recording capability. One of the headphone jacks doubles as a stereo line-in jack and you can record any audio source to mp3 at 320kbps. I've recorded one of my records to mp3 this way it works wonderfully. However, your audio source better be LOUD because the input for recording on the classico does not seem to be very sensitive...

The FM recording, on the other hand, is pretty awful. I have a hard time getting a good signal to begin with. When I do get a decent signal, if I press record, the static increases. Wierd.

The microphone recording works extremely well. I have randomly had very static recordings that were definitely introduced by the player somehow. But that didn't happen often.

Mp3 playback is decent, but riddled with infrequent problems like random static (solved by skipping away from the song, and then skipping back to it).

There's a loud *thud* when you turn it on, and another when you turn it off. Sometimes I have the player plugged into my car stereo, and the thud is extremely loud!

Lastly, it's very small, and I used my thumb nail to push most of the "buttons" on the player. That was kind of annoying...

Unfortunately, I can't recommend this player to anyone. It was cool when it worked (which was most of the time), but the fact that it wasn't 99% reliable hurt its reputation with me.