Median MX-400M | VOIP on a multimedia player

Friday, December 01, 2006


The mp3 players market is ultra competitive and manufactures have to be creative to attract customers away from the big players. They may pack their devices with more memory or they can try to widen the capabilities of them.

One example of the latter is Median MX-400M a music player announced recently by the South Korean company Median. It is the evolution of the MX-400, a good product that was starting to show its age. To upgrade it Median packed it with several useful features in addition to those already available (mic, speaker and the sliding USB jack).

The main one is the ability to also become a VOIP cell phone. This way when connected to a desktop pc or notebook the devices allows the user to make and receive free phone calls using the Internet. Median, for the MX-400M, instead of choosing Skype opted for Callpia and its MiraPhone to provide the VOIP service.

As for the music capabilities, the Median MX-400M can store up to 1GB or 2 GB of music (depending on the chosen version). Median secured a deal with a South Korean website (Bugs music) that offers music downloadable for free.

Other features of the Median MX-400M are in-line recording, a FM radio, an IR remote control and the support for several audio and video formats. The 260k TFT LCD can also be used to watch pictures that can reside on the player or in an external memory card. The MX-400M in fact also sports a memory card slot that can be used to expand the available space.

Lastly Median provided the MX-400M with a rechargeable Li-Polymer battery that guarantees 20 hours of continuous playback. The retail suggested price in South Korea is $139 for the version with a 1GB memory and $169 for the one with 2GB.