MSI Mega Player 533 - 128 MB

MSI Mega Player 533 - 128 MB

Milind Bandekar, Jan 11, 2006 1010 hrs IST

128MB is too less for a digital audio player. And the cost makes the whole deal pointless.

Light, compact, FM radio, SD card slot for expansion

Poor sound quality, ultra poor quality earphones, expensive for 128 MB memory, no mic for recording

Recently we reviewed the MSI Mega Player 536 media player with a storage capacity of 4GB. Though mainly aimed to compete with the iPod Nano/Mini, its pricing couldn't bring it any closer to Nano in terms of quality. Today we have a lower end model by the same guys for review. This one however is a flash memory based player, hence you can't expect much in terms of storage. Let's find out if it delivers in sound reproduction atleast.



The MSI Mega Player 533 is small in size, light in weight and has smooth curvy edges, which make it fit well within your palms or glide easily in your pocket. It has a full white casing as its shell and silver colored buttons laid out on its front panel for basic media control. You'll also find a dedicated volume control notch on its top edge and a hold button at its back.

It also offers a display; but unlike the 1.8" color LCD display found in 536, this player comes with a tiny monochrome LCD display, ruling out photos or videos playback. It comes with 128 MB of flash memory (wonder of what use this player would be?) and an SD card slot for expansion. It supports USB 2.0 connectivity for fast data transfer. So this can also be used as a card reader and a flash disk without the battery via the USB connectivity.

Copying music on this player was quick and easy and filling up space as low as 128 MB took hardly any time. Navigating and finding your music on this player is at your fingertips with a few easy keystrokes. This player supports playback of only 2 popular formats - MP3 and WMA. It comes preloaded with different equalizer modes, such as jazz, rock, classical and pop. We ran the same set of tests that we usually do for most of these players. However, this time we had only 2 sound formats to test. We transferred MP3s with high/low and variable bit-rates and some WMA files to test its playback quality and support. The MSI Mega Player 533 was accurate enough at reading all of these. However the reproduction of each was way below average. The lows, mids and the highs were completely off the level than the normal and sounded as bad as a something played in a hollow tube. We also plugged a pair of original Sony earphones into this unit, which did improve the sound quality marginally but the bass lacked the punch that most other good quality players offer. The earphones bundled along with these were somewhat the same quality as found in the earlier MSI player. Actually, these were even worse. Hence we have to say it once again: Manufacturers PLEASE bundle better quality earphones with your MP3 players to deliver the optimum sound and to gain some respect for your audio player.



Besides the MP3/WMA playback it also features the standard FM radio tuner. It supports manual as well as automatic frequency tuning and allows you to store up-to 20 different radio stations into the preset memory for quick access. The reception strength of this was clear in open spaces, but not too powerful to sustain the signals in trains or any enclosed areas.

A built-in Mic for recording external sound signals is a common feature to most of these lower range mp3 players these days, but surprisingly missing in the Mega Player 533. This means you can't use it as a voice recorder to record interviews or something similar. However, it allows direct recording of the FM radio stream.

Like most of these MP3 players Mega Player 533 runs on a single AAA battery. This sort of adds to the cost of your playback time. However, one AAA battery provides anywhere around 8 hrs of playback time - sufficient enough for the average user.

The MSI Mega Player 533 is available for a street price of Rs 3,650 with a year's warranty. Now this is expensive, not only for its capacity (128 MB), but also the fact that the sound is of poor quality and headphones which bundled along with are even worse. You'd rather spend a little more and get the MobiBLU tiny cube mp3 player with 256 MB, which not only offers an excellent sound output but also unique catchy looks!

Test unit sourced from: MSI



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USER COMMENTS

my MSI mega player 533 DEATH after update firmware download from MSI offical website. is there anything i can do to bring it back to life? pls email me advice assp, thank you!

by ravol, usa, on Sep 28, 2007 09:36 PM, Report abuse   Reply

How come you have not reviewed its Sibling ie Msi Mega player 522BT. It has all functions as well as Bluetooth which means i do not have to remove the earphone plugs to take my phone calls. Site says 522BT allows us to take the phone call via the player itself I hope my request for this Product to be reviewed is accepted.

by Prasanna, Mumbai, on Jun 19, 2006 05:35 PM, Report abuse   Reply

no one bothers reading requests nowadays in Techtree :(

by Prasanna, Mumbai, on Jul 29, 2006 03:05 PM, Report abuse

great player, great sound quality. but I can store up-to 10 different radio stations, not 20. Why?

by mike, NY, on May 15, 2006 11:00 AM, Report abuse   Reply

I have recently purchased this player with 256 MB of internal memory,and surprisingly the results I find are quite opposite to what is in the review.The audio quality is superb.This player comes with a built in mic as well.And you can do a recording from the FM Tuner also.This player plays WMA/MP3/WAV.Though the headphones that come along with this player are not that good but with a pair of sony headphones the audio quality of this player is very very good and it was appreciated by all the persons who has listened to the player. I bought this player from Supreme store and I think the price tag of the other players offering these features and quality are much much higher than this.A big thumbs up to anyone going for this player.

by Paulam, Kolkata, on Jan 16, 2006 05:11 PM, Report abuse   Reply

Seems MSI is not ready to donate products to reviewer of IT Nation / Techtree... Milind might has not got the products free, otherwise no media writes this language. ..... This has to be checked by the owner of IT Nation, if some one is using the media for personal interest. We should start looking for otherwebsites

by R.Anand, Mumbai, on Jan 25, 2006 05:26 PM, Report abuse

Hi, Paulam, What model did you buy and at what price. Did you buy it in Kolkata; if yes from where?

by Nagarajan, Kolkata, on Apr 04, 2006 09:21 PM, Report abuse

i dont know why techtree team is giving false impressions to people reading this review. MSI 533 mega player 256mb is available for 2700 Rs. I myself have enquired this a few days back from a msi distributor in delhi.so 128mb would be available for 2000/-. keeping in mind the features it provides(fm, fm recording, voice recording, sd/mmc card reader) and low price its a good buy as one can always buy a good quality earphones to pair with it.

by Akash, Delhi, on Feb 09, 2006 01:22 PM, Report abuse   Reply

We have just purchased this yesterday and we are very pleased with its features. I think there's a mistake in the review because it has a built-in mic and its sound is very good. Also, it's very user friendly. Though the earphones are not that good, it's still worth every cent that we paid! :)

by altadelta, Manila,Philippines, on Mar 22, 2006 09:19 AM, Report abuse

God ! who in his f--ing mind will buy a MSI 128 MB music player- only morons-- please do not even review this crap & waste readers' time--there are plenty of good audio/video players not yet reviewed by TT- good reviewing -is also selecting good products to review!!!

by vijayshimla, Shimla, on Jan 12, 2006 08:17 AM, Report abuse   Reply

who do you call God? hope your not pertaining to satan :) morons? you are, coz you don't know people, you cant design an MP3 player... why did you post? don't waste your time here, pray to your god(satan) :) sorry, i just hate people who post nothing but waste...

by kalel, city, on Jan 26, 2006 11:56 AM, Report abuse

Hi VS, u indian gets scrap, need to update, we uses min 256 MB & MSI provides us 1GB in 533 model

by crazyzap, New jercy, on Feb 06, 2006 02:43 PM, Report abuse

cant techtree find iriver models?

by sachin, goa, on Jan 11, 2006 10:52 PM, Report abuse   Reply

You give bribe to Review & see what happen, Iriver or any chinese chi po would come best products...

by A Mak, LA, on Jan 25, 2006 05:29 PM, Report abuse

very very bad design by MSI. not at all a 'status symbol'.

by Ayan Debnath, Kolkata, on Jan 12, 2006 10:53 AM, Report abuse   Reply

I pity you Indians. You yearn to get "status symbol." You in the middle class think you've "made it" but you don't realize your efforts don't amount to anywhere near commendable. You are still poor and always will be. Don't waste your time dreaming.

by Ramon Fernandez, Manila, on Jan 19, 2006 09:46 PM, Report abuse

this is perfeckt but this memory is very low and i want butten is not to hard, and looking for pen drive type sige,i want 512mb minimam sige ofplayer,

by subhash, udaipur, on Jan 18, 2006 10:54 AM, Report abuse   Reply

Did u mention that it also has card reader in it

by Ruzveh, Bombay, on Jan 13, 2006 11:13 PM, Report abuse   Reply

Rs.400-500 would be a good price for this.

by Hellfire, Hell, on Jan 12, 2006 11:44 AM, Report abuse   Reply

After reading the Review MSI Mega Player is not even woth for 1250 INR means 3 times more than what we are getting in same price.I think they want to roll back this product very soon.

by Samir, BANGALORE, INDIA, on Jan 12, 2006 10:43 AM, Report abuse   Reply

hey where can we get MobiBLU cube mp3 player

by Anks, Mumbai, on Jan 12, 2006 01:29 AM, Report abuse   Reply

not worth a review.

by Atish, Kolkata, on Jan 11, 2006 05:11 PM, Report abuse   Reply

too less space

by anshuman, vapi, on Jan 11, 2006 12:08 PM, Report abuse   Reply

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