Review: Trekstor Vibez portable audio player

When portable players are getting more and more jack-of-all-trades, it's good to see one that concentrates on the basics.

Trekstor’s Vibez is able to show a few photos and act as a stopwatch, but it’s primarily a high-capacity music player, pure and simple.

Its neatly designed lozenge shape, with a matt black front and chrome back, is dominated by two inset circles. The top one has a conventionally rectangular colour display set into it, while the bottom one is a large control disc. Rotating it scrolls up and down through menus when selecting tracks, and adjusts volume when playing them.

The player would benefit from a click-wheel effect as provided by the iPod, so the user gets feedback when flicking between options. The disc an be pressed down, top and bottom, either side or in the centre, for transport control and option selection.

The Vibez is fitted with 12GB of internal memory, so most users should be able to get the important parts of even a large music collection onto it, with space left over for photos too. The amount of space also allows for formats that are less compressed than mp3 – the player supports WAV, OGG and FLAC, as well as mp3 and WMA. Sound reproduction is clear and precise and the supplied Sennheiser in-ear earphones are a touch above those typically supplied with cheaper players, both in sound quality and comfort.

There’s a sound recorder built into the machine, which can handle both voice input and line-in (a cable is included). Both sound sources end up as WAV files on the player – there’s no direct mp3 or WMA encoding. The replaceable Lithium ion battery will give up to 20 hours playback, which will get most people through a good couple of days between recharges. The player charges back up, through its USB connection, in a couple of hours.

As for software, Magix MP3 Player SE is provided to handle playlist organisation and music downloading and despite the SE designation, which usually means 'cut down', it’s a fairly full-featured utility. It’s not that easy to work your way around, though, and may take a while to learn. It provides Internet radio selection and playback from a wide range of genres, so it is a good source of free original material.