Picked this up in Shanghai at the newest electronics market. I went there to buy an el cheapo mp3 player for the Mrs. and came away with this. I'm just learning all of this so if I make an error, please correct me (terminology, etc.)

MDE is from the SHENXHEN JIAXINDA ELECTRONLCS CO.,LTD., according to their web site (English version, very unhelpful).

The player is a brushed metal case, with a screen that accepts 320x240. Not sure how the screens are measured. I believe, based on what I've read here, it has a Rockchip set. The firmware reads: "Ver: 01.08.0000, Date: 2007-08-18", then it reads the on board memory and the flash drive memory. It has 1GB on board, and I believe it will accept a 2GB mini SD card.

The player will play video, music, e-books, games (two on board), and has an FM player. The latter allows you to chose the region for the FM player. The music player appears to play most formats, while the video player only plays the .avi format. Then enclosed software is, in one word, stinko and I can't get any of it to work. There is also a small speaker in the back, but it's really only useful to prove the audio is working as you really can't hear much unless the room is completely quiet and it's a loud piece.

I've gotten video's loaded through the mini-usb by converting them via FairUse Wizard, and then again using ViDrop. The former converts from a DVD to an Xvid .avi and the latter converts the .avi to an .avi file that will play.

The screen is excellent, the audio is good (not great), the screen is very good, and the battery life is okay, but when it shows 1/3 or so battery left, it will go to zero suddenly and shut down. Curious. It also came with a small multi-voltage USB charger, cable, and earphones which are going in the garbage can tomorrow as they are also stinko.

I paid 350 rmb, which is about 47 USD.

Let me know if there are any questions. I'm a bit surprised I've not found this model on eBay, or anywhere on the net, to include MDE's web site. The vendor said it was very new, but I was a little sceptical.

Cheers!

Thanks for the review herkdrvr.

Do you have any photos of the player you can post with the review as well? Would be great to see what it looks like.

Does the CD come with any firmware files or any other helpful tools?

From your review, it plays .avi so it's most likely to be a Rockchip player which there isn't any tools available, so the more the better .

Pictures added to the picture section, showing the front of the player and two screen shots.

Software list (don't ask me what any of this does 'cause none of it seems to work with my computer): MSK_MP_SetupV2.11.exe, AMCap.exe, MP4Tool-310.exe, MP4Tool-310E.exe, InstMsiA.exe, InstMsiW.exe, a Setup.exe in the folder 1.5AMV, amvtransform.exe, and AviConverter.exe.

Again, none of these programs works properly on my computer so they are pretty much useless.