Once again an ad in Wired Magazine pays off. After a wait of a few weeks, I had in my hands what is undoubtedly the coolest tech toy I've seen in months.

As I first picked up the MobilePlayer, I noted that it weighed less than I expected for its size. Pushing a small recessed button on the side revealed why: a tiny Li-Ion battery about the same size and weight as 2 AAAs gives this device hour after hour of power. In fact during two weeks of testing, I never wore the battery down! (The manual states up to 5 hours battery life.)

The casing is sleek black plastic and seems to be even larger than necessary (probably to accommodate the large play/stop button). It fits nicely in the palm of my average/large hand, and my thumb can reach all of the control buttons with ease. A complete selection of accessories includes headphones, car cassette adapter, docking station, leather carrying case with strong padded belt-clip, and the usual complement of an AC adapter and a serial cable with 9-25 pin adapter.The leather case is slightly padded and with the Velcro opening on the bottom, makes the slightly tapered Player a snug (and somewhat difficult) fit.

Actually using the Audible Player is a simple and intuitive process: plug in the headphones, turn the on/volume switch, and press the play button. The player provides a decent output volume, though I did notice that in some cases, the headphone output volume isn't enough to compensate for outside noises. To play though a car stereo, simply plug in the cassette adapter. For non-cassette playback, a simple tuner dial on the back of the player allows you to broadcast 10-15 feet through any unused FM frequency between 88.5 and 94.1 FM.

The sound quality is surprisingly good, and can play both RealAudio and Audible's own format sound files. While music would lose much of its impact with such compressed sound, spoken word and news programming come across fine, sounding better than typical digital answering machines and many digital note recorders. An impressive list of fiction, non-fiction, and news programs are available for the both the Audible MobilePlayer and the free Audible Desktop Player, including many no-charge programs in both audio formats.

Adding new selections to the MobilePlayer is a two step process. After hooking up the docking station to an unused serial port, plugging in the AC adapter, and inserting the player into the dock, you must install the Mobile Manager software from the included CD. The Audible Manager program starts each of the applets (the Download Manager, Transfer Manager, Desktop Player and Configuration Wizard), but with the exception of the Config Wizard, the applets are a bit too complicated for a device that appears to be targeted at the books-on-tape market.

I accidentally erased the Alice in Wonderland book that was on it when I got it from Gareth, and managed to crash my PC while attempting to transfer a new program into the MobilePlayer. A display showing time-to-go would also have been nice, as the Transfer Manager does not make it clear exactly how long it takes to move a new program from the PC to the MobilePlayer. The schedule functions are also less-than-clear. When setup correctly, scheduled transfers allow you to automatically install new programs, leaving the MobilePlayer charged and ready to grab when running out the door. A Wizard-based transfer and scheduling system would have been a worthwhile addition, and hopefully will find it's way onto future software versions.

Despite the software shortcomings and the too-snug slipcase, the way-cool Audible MobilePlayer breaks new ground, and seems to point to the inevitable evolution of the venerable Walkman and Discman. The only question now: What is Sony going to do about it?

- Bill Koch [6/5/98]