Performance
Music playback is comparable to any top-rated music player. The bass lines in Slam by Pendulum -- a powerful electronic dance track -- boomed into our ear canals like a war siren. This track sounded even brighter than from our Apple iPod. Highs of the Counting Crows track, American Girls, were clear and well defined. Again, this track sounded brighter than on other players.
There are plenty of preset EQ options to play with, such as pop, rock, jazz and dance. The auto EQ option is on by default and selects the most appropriate EQ setting based on the style of music you're listening to. It works well enough but we preferred to have manual control over the EQ. The FM37 also features some interesting 3D effects, such as concert hall, but they're neither useful nor pleasant to listen to.
Video playback and photo support is excellent. The screen is bright and colourful, with plenty of detail and, impressively, some good blacks -- something often missing in portable players.
Voice recording can only be activated using the dedicated button on the side of the player. The microphone is omnidirectional and very sensitive. Recording quality is superb and will instigate no complaints from even the hardened sceptic.
LG includes the LG Media Center software for managing media on the FM37. It's not the most enjoyable piece of software we've used, in part thanks to the lack of any right-click options on the most commonly used library sections. We decided to use the drag and drop functionality within Windows, as this works perfectly and is far more user-friendly. Transferring our 1.5GB test library of MP3's to the player took exactly 20 minutes.
LG also includes a very simple program for converting videos into the format the FM37 supports. A 30-minute video took 40 minutes on our office computer.
We got a healthy 18.5 hours of continuous MP3 playback from a battery single charge, which is acceptably close to LG's quoted 20 hours. We got 4 hours of continuous video playback though, despite LG's expectations of only 3 hours.
Conclusion
With excellent sound quality, great video support, a wealth of useful features and drag-and-drop library management through Windows, the FM37 is a strong contender in the crowded MP3 player market.
A competitor like Sony's NW-A808, however, with its equally good video support and 12 hours of extra battery life, may appeal more if usability is your top priority.
Ultimately, the FM37 is best for the style-conscious music fan -- the rest of us will find that its ease of use has been compromised too much for an aesthetically satisfying design.
Edited by Kate Macefield
Additional editing by Kate Macefield
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