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First Look: M:robe Tries to Do Too MuchIt's a music player, a photo viewer, and a digital camera--but it doesn't do anything particularly well.Tracey Capen, PC World
Combine a small hard drive, good-sized LCD, and built-in digital camera and you might have the ultimate portable multimedia box. Pint- size audio players and photo viewers abound, but Olympus' $500 M:robe 500i is the only player I've seen to add a digital camera to the mix. I have to give Olympus credit for a great concept, but I think it's a hat trick the company did not quite pull off.
I tested a shipping version of the (just) pocketable device, which plays WMA and MP3 music files, lets you view photos on its 3.7- inch color screen, and has a built-in 1.2-megapixel camera for taking spur-of-the-moment snapshots. As a music player, the 4.3-by- .8-by 2.9-inch M:robe is a little bulky, especially compared to other hard drive-based players like the ubiquitous IPod.
The quality of the audio was about par for...