Acid for Blood

MobiBLU DAH-1500i "Cube" MP3 Player

I was happy with the sound quality, the features, the unit size (smallest MP3 player in the world!), the 1GB space, and the aesthetics of this MP3 player, but I returned it to WAL-MART last Sunday.

It is unreliable. It was working fine the first few weeks, and then it started acting up. First, it wouldn't turn on, no matter what I did. Then, it would turn on, but the welcome screen wouldn't go away. It just stayed there and eventually the batteries drained away. Updating the firmware did solve those problems, however they returned in a week or so. One can't tell when it would start to misbehave. In order to avoid that situation, one would have to update the firmware prior to loading a new batch of music into the drive. That would be annoying. This is not a 'feature' I paid for.

I will be watching DontBuyJunk.com for a replacement, but I am not in a rush.

Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 THX®-Certified Speakers

Shindakun Steve asked about my speakers.

I'm very happy with these speakers. The sound is fantastic. I've played all sorts of music (orchestral, anime music theme songs, video game remixes, indie, rock, pop, metal, etc.). You can vary the bass levels if so desired, but I just leave it on the default setting, because I don't want to disturb people by turning it up.

For gaming, I've only played Guild Wars, and it definitely sounds good on these speakers. The only other game I have played on my PC recently was the Fahrenheit demo, and the sound came out very clearly and crisply.

My movies also sound great. I popped in my DVD of Akira since the most recent version has THX sound, and I've seen it enough times to be familiar with all the sounds in the film. Of course, Akira sounds fantastic. For other anime, lately I have been watching:

• Bleach -- Teenage boy can see ghosts and becomes an banisher of evil spirits. After the first episode, I was undecided. I am up to the third episode, and it's becoming more interesting.


• Cowboy Bebop -- Skint bounty hunters in space. Episode 7 is up next. I must be the only one who hasn't seen this series. Sarchasm said that this is the only one I should be watching.


• Macross Zero -- Set during a war in which two factions fight using transformable 'variable' fighter jets. There's an ancient prophecy told by a primitive island tribe, and a bunch of scientists have dug up an ancient, yet strangely technologically advanced, humanoid-shaped machine from the bottom of the ocean. I'm up to Part 3. Great anime so far. Rob-El told me to watch it last year, but I just recently got around to acquiring it.


• Naruto -- Fighting anime about a ninja boy with grand ambitions, but whom everyone hates. I am still not keen on this series, after three episodes. Characters like Naruto Uzumaki (the main character) really annoy me. I am hugely sceptical of this show because of all the annoyingly rabid otaku. There are some series with well-deserved fan followings (Fullmetal Alchemist), and some which don't deserve half the adulation they receive (Hellsing). Most people, in my opinion, tend to have mediocre taste in anime, though their passion for said anime goes through the roof. However, Dyannamika says Naruto is a pretty good series, so I will stick with it.

What a digression. You got some anime reviews, too. :-P Anyway, all my anime sounds great as well.

The only thing I would change, and this might be a sticking point for many people, is that the power switch for the speakers is located at the rear of the subwoofer unit, near the bottom. I keep my subwoofer under my desk, so it's a bit of a pain to bend down and turn it on or off. I did know about the power switch location prior to my purchase, so I'm not too bothered about the extra effort.