Kodak's Chic MC3 Digicam Plays MP3s

More than just an inexpensive digital camera, Kodak's newest snapper can play MP3s and capture videos too.

Melissa J. Perenson, PCWorld.com

With its cool, purple-and-black case and vertical orientation, Kodak's MC3 digital camera is certainly an attention-getter. But this entry-level digicam has more going for it than just looks: The $299 MC3 boasts an integrated MP3 player. And because the device stores images and music on removable media, it offers greater flexibility over competing devices that rely on built-in memory. The model we looked at included a 64MB CompactFlash card; Kodak also sells a $229 version that comes with a 16MB card, but the limited storage of a 16MB card means you'll have room for only a handful of songs.

Easy Operation

Using the camera is very simple. On the back control panel, there's a switch you can flip to select from the camera's four modes: still capture, video capture, image playback, and MP3 playback. To move through the menu options and play images, videos, and MP3s, you use five navigation buttons arranged in a convenient, circular design. Unfortunately, you can't snap pictures while listening to MP3s--the camera can handle only one task at a time.

In an unusual twist for a digital camera, the MC3 is oriented vertically, not horizontally. To snap a photo or video, you must hold the camera upright, frame the image in the adequate-but-tiny LCD screen, and press the shutter-release button on the top right of the camera. The MC3 runs on three AAA batteries, which you insert on the bottom of the camera, next to the video-out and USB ports.

Uploading images is easy too: We simply installed the software and attached the camera to our PC with the included USB cable. Unfortunately, since the cable connects to the bottom of the camera--which is the camera's only flat surface--you'll need to rest the camera on its front. More practical is the optional $25 USB cradle, which enables the camera to stand upright.

The MC3 software shows thumbnail images of the images and videos you've snapped, and makes transferring content from the camera to your PC easy. The software bundle includes RealNetworks' RealJukebox and ArcSoft's VideoImpression and PhotoImpression.

However, you cannot use the camera for videoconferencing--an integral feature of Intel's $150 PC Camera (reviewed in September), which lacks a media card and MP3 player.

Casual Snapshot Images, and Good Audio

While the camera's 640-by-480-pixel VGA resolution won't do if you intend to enlarge images to 8-by-10-inch prints, it will suffice for e-mailing or for posting images on the Web, or for viewing them on your PC's screen. The best images we captured were of stationary people and objects in bright sunlight; objects in motion, on the other hand, often produced blurry or soft images. And as often happens when you use a film-based, fixed-focus disposable camera, even stationary objects were sometimes not as crisp as we would have liked.

When not shooting in bright sunlight, we found that image color was sometimes slightly off-base. Some of the images we snapped had bluish or yellowish overcasts--especially when the images were taken indoors with available light (the camera doesn't provide a flash). Our 320-by-240 QuickTime video clips (recordable at either 10 or 20 frames per second) fared somewhat better, but as with stills, our test videos did best in sunlight.

Audio playback with the MP3 player sounded surprisingly full-bodied through the included earbud headphones, and passable through the built-in monoaural speaker. A truncated track name appears on the LCD screen (which goes dark moments after the track starts). Volume controls are on the top of the camera, near the shutter-release button. The equalizer settings help improve the sound quality.

In spite of the MC3's limitations, this camera is a handy gadget that should prove a hit with its target audience: young people who want a robust, pocket-size camera for taking snaps to share with friends--and music to go along with them too.