This Otto headset combines the MP3 player and headphones into one device, essentially making it wireless, not because there’s no wire between your player and headphone, but because the player is the headphone. Oakley tried a similar concept by putting an MP3 player into a set of really ugly sunglasses hoping to catch the interest of snowboarders and Battlestar Galactica fans. Otto’s product isn’t nearly as conspicuous looking, though it is bigger than a set of earbuds.
The headset includes 512 KB of memory for storing MP3 or WMA files. For me that came to about 60 tracks at various sizes, though the amount will vary depending on the track and compression. That’s not a lot these days, but more then enough for a couple of good bike rides or trips to the gym. The Otto doesn’t come with any downloading software, but it works with Windows Media and Napster. I used Napster because I already had a number of play lists set up in the application. The unit connects via USB, which acts as the battery charging cable and transfer cable. The transfer was pretty quick, though charging a completely dead battery takes about 5 hours.
The controls are very basic. You get play, pause, forward, reverse and volume. Since there’s no screen you can’t really search for a specific track other than just skipping forward until you find it, but since this was designed to use during physical activities, the screen isn’t very important either. Red and green LED lights display the player’s status. Unfortunately, there isn’t a shuffle feature. The tracks play in the order you loaded them. A shuffle button would be a welcome addition.
When I was ready to go, I put the headset on and headed out the door for a bike ride—luckily my bike helmet straps and sunglasses didn’t interfere with the headset at all. The headset was fairly comfortable on my hairless head, though the ridged plastic can get uncomfortable after long periods. Non- skinheads won’t have that problem.
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