The LINQ is the eighth multimedia player addition to the line up of Venzero, an innovative worldwide provider of mobile consumer electronics and multimedia lifestyle.

The company obtained a reputation for its daring features and clever designs, which they have been producing since 2005. Through the years, Venzero has developed know-how and expertise in a broad range of multimedia players. Their first player was a low-budget mp3 player with limited options, while current innovations such as digital television and a WIFI receiver should dumbfound Venzero's competition.

WHAT'S IN THE BOX

Venzero LINQ
Manual
USB cable
Stereo earphones
Venzero Multipass for MusicMarker service
Software CD

FEATURES

FM Radio
Built-in microphone
WiFi Receiver for the streaming of online radios and digital music from WMP 11
Five equalizer presets

DESIGN

The exterior of this slim player is made almost entirely of plastic -- including the "chrome" trim, which makes the black-sheened LINQ nearly weightless. Its size of 55 x 82 x 12mm makes the LINQ easy to carry along in a pocket or bag, while the screen has a scratch-resistant overlay. With a 2.4" TFT screen of 262,000 colors, it performs well in almost all lighting conditions and is designed to held horizontally. It screen size allows for perefect viewing of photos and videos at a decent resolution.

THE GOOD

By adding a WIFI application to the LINQ, Venzero makes good use of the tremendous growth of wireless Internet hot spots that continue to pop up at numerous public locations. The WIFI application provides internet radio on the go and makes it possible to stream music from a computer with Windows Media Player 11. Radio shows can be bookmarked and sorted by genre, country or languages, while the FM Radio navigation is straightforward using the center controls. The LINQ is compatible with a wide range of file extensions, including MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC, OGG, JPEG, AVI and MPEG4.

Everyone knows how frustrating it is when you hear a hot song in a club or store, and no one can tell you the name of the artist or song title. The MusicMarker Music recognition service prevents these annoyances by giving the listener the opportunity to record a sample of the song with the player's built-in voice recorder, which automatically retrieves the artist and song title through MusicMarker. Other welcome extras are a voice recorder and alarm clock.

THE BAD

Now that 80+ GB media players have surfaced on the market, a 4 GB memory card makes the LINQ a skimpy underdog. The 4 gigabytes is capable of holding approximately 1000 songs, which will satisfy the average listener, but is relatively small to fully enjoy the LINQ's video function. A cold comfort is the MicroSD slot for memory expansion up to 2GB.

Although the 2.4" TFT screen performs well and sharp, Venzero could have spend more time in upgrading their graphical skills. The menu graphics and images are simplistic, which is a shame with a 262,000 color performance and relatively big screen resolution.

The LINQ has seven buttons to make the navigation quick and easy: four chrome buttons on top and three on the face of the player. The navigation becomes unpractical when, for instance, you have to type in a password to access the WIFI feature. Selecting each character with arrows that force you to scroll through the alphabet and numbers over and over again is time consuming.

THE VERDICT

Selling in a $200 price range, the LINQ has some good things going for its price, such as the WIFI application and MusicMarker service. Although Venzero did not shy away from introducing new features, in this case, it is clear the innovations have had the upper hand. Standard features such as the dull graphics and stiff navigation controls should have been thought out better.

For more information, visit Venzero.com.