Best Data CABO MP3 Player

Installation and General Usage

The CABO connects to your PC through a parallel port connection.  Unfortunately for most people, this means that you must remove your printer cable and plug in the CABO cable to upload files.  One end of the cable is made to fit the parallel port of your PC (must be in ECP preset) and the other end fits snugly into the CABO’s data port.  The included manual did not include many necessary steps when using the CABO itself.  First and foremost were the instructions for having the computer recognize the CABO player.  The instructions in the manual do not make any specification to having the CABO turned on or off when connecting it to the parallel cord.  The manual simply noted that when the CABO is attached to the parallel cord, the word “Connect” will appear on the LCD screen.  That was not the case.  The CABO must be turned on, then attached to the parallel cord in order for the computer to recognize the player, and then only will it display “Connect.”  The manual made no mention of this issue.

Before you can begin to upload any MP3 files to the CABO, the CABO Desk program must be installed.  The program itself is quite easy to understand for even the most inexperienced computer user.  The interface of CABO Desk almost mirrors Windows Explorer in that it shows a tree hierarchy of your computer as well as a section for the file contents of the CABO.  CABO Desk also has a window showing the amount of free space in the CABO’s memory which is another useful feature.  However, the manual makes another blunder when specifying the procedure for using CABO Desk.  For CABO Desk to recognize the player, you must click on “Connect and List” from the menu in the program.  The manual does not point out this procedure or make any reference to having CABO Desk recognize the player.  For a person who may be relatively inexperienced with such programs or using a device such as the CABO, not having these additional instructions may make it very difficult to operate this product.

When uploading files the CABO transferred data at an average rate of 1.23Mbps, or 0.15MBps through the parallel port, which is fairly good for such a connection.  However, a USB connection makes more sense for such a product because for most people removing the printer cable, and restarting the computer with the CABO cable can be too much of a hassle.  USB connections offer more versatility where you can upload files whenever you want at faster file transmission speeds unlike a parallel connection.  The CABO can also hold any sort of file.  It is almost like a 64MB floppy disk.  However, MP3 files cannot be uploaded from the CABO to a computer because it is considered copyright infringement.  The CABO Desk program blocks any and all MP3 files from being uploaded.

Another blunder in the manual involved using the telephone directory feature of the CABO.  The manual specifies that to access the telephone book you must press the “Preset” button until the words “Tel Book” appear on the LCD screen.  However, this will not occur unless any telephone numbers are already stored on the CABO.  To create a new listing in the telephone directory, you must create one in the CABO Desk program and then upload that file to the CABO.  Only then will the CABO go to the “Tel Book” preset.  In addition, you cannot shut off power to the CABO while in the “Tel Book” preset.  You can only shut off power in the voice recording preset or the MP3 preset.  Again, the manual has failed to note these procedures, which can make it difficult for some to operate the player straight out of the box.

Though some of these errors are made in the manual, many other procedures such as downloading files to the CABO are clearly drawn out and made easy to understand.