C. Crane Witness AM/FM MP3 Player Review

Saturday, November 15, 2008, 12:07
Mp3 Players
1,392 views
View Comments

Fans of AM radio are disappointed as most MP3 devices available in the market do not have AM radio. Device makers give lot of excuses, but the primary reason is that they avoid the feature of AM radio as an AM antenna requires large space which affects the compactness of whole device. C. Crane Witness AM/FM MP3 Player is an MP3 player with the radio and is a good option for AM radio fans. Witness will cost around $229.95 for 2GB and offers pretty good features to the radio fans who do not have many options available in the market.

The design of CC Witness player is simple and it gives you a sturdy feel when you hold it. Its outer case is matte black with metallic sheen and silver trim around its edges. The left side of the player has built-in mic, a line-in port and a SD-card expansion slot, while its right side has a hold switch and volume rocker. The player has external speakers on either side and a few buttons on its front which help you to navigate through various options. Keys have been provide to access the menu, to go back through functions, for recording, editing, changing play speed and playing and pausing. A four-way control allows you to navigate easily through basic menu and options. The player is 4 inches tall, 2.2 inches wide and 05. inches thick. You don’t have an option to see album art or photos on its 1.8 inch screen which is a bit disappointing.

CC Witness is a basically an AM/FM radio and recorder. Like any other device, Witness has some limitations on its radio player. Each band offers you only 10 preset slots and its signal reception is pretty bad in large buildings. But its plus points will definitely attract the radio users. You can record AM/FM from 64kbps to 256kbps. You can set up to 20 timed recordings or you can do the recording through built-in mic and recordings can be monitored through the headphones.

In final analysis, CC Witness offers you a good AM radio with good recording options. But its convoluted file playback cripples the MP3 player. It’s good to get two good separate devices for AM radio and MP3, but it offers you a good option if you want both in a single device.