The market is undoubtedly proliferated with an abundance of MP3 players. From the hard drive based players to flash players, there are literally hundreds of models you can pick from to suit your needs. We are all aware of the regular group of manufacturers that usually hold a large portion of the market share, but can the smaller companies deliver? Frontier Labs, a name not familiar to the majority of us, has introduced two new MP3 players that give listeners some storage flexibility at a competitive price tag. Is it worth it? Read on and find out

Credit: Frontier Labs

One of the first things you?ll notice is the gaudy exterior of the MP3 player with bright colors including burgundy, crimson (pink), blonde (yellow) and gray. The exterior of the NEX 3+ isn't exactly the dream MP3 player that someone would want to show off as the next best music player. Apparently, Frontier Labs has designed this player for the sportier listener in mind that prefers to jog in the morning and want something a bit more rugged (maybe a bit too rugged?. However, what Frontier Labs appears to be forgetting is that the whole concept of flash players is to allow listeners the liberty of not being as careful as they otherwise should be with a device as delicate as MP3 player. The beauty of flash players, in most cases, is that you?ll really have to be careless if you want to break one of these devices.

With the said, the main buttons including volume up/down and menu are embedded in the rubberized (or shock proof, if you will) covering of the NEX 3+. The left side of the MP3 player has the headphones jack and the line-in recording input while the right side includes a recording button. The top of the NEX 3+ has the main connector for transferring files back and forth between the PC and the MP3 player in addition to the lock slider and skip forward/backward slider. The blonde edition we received for testing actually had gray buttons at the top, which didn't fit well with the overall color scheme. Plus, the buttons aren't exactly as refined as they could be; regrettably for Frontier Labs, the player includes flimsy plastic buttons that don't match well with the color scheme of the product, which isn't all that great to begin with.

The screen is actually pretty decent, though not as colorful as the some of the players we've seen from Samsung and Rio, but considering what've discovered thus far, the NEX 3+ is desperate for positive points right about now. It vividly displays ID3 tag information, duration of songs, memory level, battery level and a few other standard things that we are glad to see on the NEX 3+. Thus far, the exterior of the MP3 player has really disappointed us, but the screen and its design for sportier listeners manage to keep it afloat. We really don't see how Frontier Labs can market the NEX 3+ in a market where functionality and aesthetics are key deciding factors for buyers.