Melissa J. Perenson

Panasonic SV-SD50 E-wear SD Audio/MP3 Player

This is one of the smallest MP3 players we have reviewed to date, measuring just 2.9 by 1.9 by 0.9 inches. Though some of the buttons are small, they are fairly easy to press, and larger buttons for changing the volume are on the side. There's also a wheel for navigating forward and backward. The unit lets you scan within a song--you can hear the song playing at a quicker-than-normal rate as you fast-forward to a specific point. The SV-SD50 does not have a USB port, instead coming with a USB 1.1 Secure Digital Card reader/writer for quickly transferring music files. (Panasonic charges $80 for this drive by itself.)
The tiny three-line screen is difficult to read, and the curvature of its bottom edge doesn't help. This device has no internal memory, relying exclusively on the Secure Digital card; you'll have to pay about what the unit costs if you want to get a larger memory card.
Though the content in the foldout manual isn't copious, it is adequate for getting you started. The RealOne software bundled with the SV-SD50 defaults to 96 kilobits per second, but you can manually set the Jukebox to encode music at 128 kbps. You'll also have to manually switch from the default AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) format to MP3, assuming that's your preference. Copying files is relatively simple: First you create a playlist, and then you can select the "copy to" option and choose the device. Alternatively, you can select specific music files and then send those to the device. We fit about ten songs on a 64MB card, encoded at 128 kbps. Sound quality was good in our tests. The included headphones fit over your head, but the earpieces are designed to sit inside your ears.
One of the smallest players we've reviewed, the SV-SD50 will easily fit in a pocket or hang as a pendant. The trade-offs are its display--one of the tiniest and least readable--and its relatively limited standard amount of memory.