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Typically I wish to hearken to music and never take into consideration the web, which is more durable than it sounds in 2024. My music is on my telephone and if I choose up my telephone I’ll see notifications, which I am incapable of ignoring. It is a weak spot, I am going to admit, however I’m sure I am not alone. Due to this, I can not actually hearken to music within the yard and skim a guide—I’ll inevitably find yourself distracted.
The Mighty 3 goals to unravel this drawback. It is a music participant than can sync playlists from both Spotify Premium or Amazon Music. It’s inevitable, at first look, to match this to Apple’s iPod Shuffle, and for those who preferred that machine you’ll in all probability benefit from the Mighty. It affords an identical screen-free solution to hearken to music that’s up to date for the streaming age. It additionally helps Bluetooth headphones, which is one thing no (non-Contact) iPod ever supplied.
At $125, the Mighty 3 affords streaming music customers a solution to hearken to music with none screens—and other than a couple of disappointing design quirks, it delivers.
An important, nearly nostalgic listening expertise
Left: The Mighty 3. Proper: the 4th technology iPod Shuffle.
Credit score: Justin Pot
Let’s begin with the listening expertise, which might be a very powerful factor. This can be a very small music participant—at the very least, it is smaller than your telephone. The face is a 1.5 inch sq. and the product is simply over half an inch thick—not large however greater than the fourth technology iPod Shuffle. The Mighty 3 weighs 0.7 ounces, which was sufficiently small to clip to my garments and neglect about. I may snap it to my shirt, join my headphones, and hit play.
A devoted button within the high proper permits for leaping between all of the playlists I synced over. Navigation is assisted by a computerized voice that says the present playlist. This all works rather well—I used to be capable of browse the ten or so playlists I synced and discover the one I needed in a short time. The Mighty remembered the place I used to be in every playlist, which means I may soar between them and choose up proper the place I left off.
On the Mighty, you may alter the amount and alter the monitor utilizing bodily buttons, which I did not notice I longed for till I began testing this machine. That is notably helpful whereas driving—I may change between playlists with out ever wanting down, which is extraordinarily not potential whereas utilizing your telephone. I additionally actually loved this throughout runs and exercises, although the character of clipping a tool to my garments meant it was often tough to recollect which buttons do what mid-run. I ended up re-starting a monitor I used to be making an attempt to give up greater than as soon as, although I am positive I am going to get higher at this with observe.
Yeah, I dug out my previous iPod headphones for this one. Would not you?
Credit score: Justin Pot
If I’ve one criticism of utilizing the machine it is how the button placement impacts my skill to make use of the clip. It’s arduous to open the clip with out urgent a button, which means I typically ended up unintentionally elevating the amount or switching the playlist whereas making an attempt to clip it to my shirt. It is an unlucky design flaw, although not a dealbreaker.
Syncing works properly, however the reliance on streaming companies has some drawbacks
Syncing music over to the Mighty is a little more convoluted than I might like however in the end manageable. A smartphone app is required for managing the machine, which means for those who have been hoping to sync utilizing a pc, you are out of luck. The appliance is simple and was good about guiding me by setup. After putting in the appliance, I used to be in a position to hook up with the machine and hook it as much as my streaming service of alternative.
After that, I may choose which of the playlists in my library I needed to sync over. The Mighty have to be plugged into an influence supply to sync with a telephone, and it wants to remain linked till the sync is full. There have been occasional glitches, which meant I might have to restart a sync cycle that solely partially accomplished. I can not assist however assume this may all be extra dependable from a pc, however alas.
There is no such thing as a devoted solution to sync over podcasts, which means I wanted to both construct or discover playlists on my streaming service with the intention to sync over episodes. There’s additionally no solution to sync albums, which means I needed to the identical factor there, too. I made it a behavior to seek for discography playlists for the artists I like most—I nearly at all times discovered one.
I additionally wanted to make use of my telephone to attach Bluetooth headphones and audio system to the Mighty. Connecting for the primary time took the usual quantity of Bluetooth wrangling however utilization was straightforward after that. I want the vary of the Bluetooth was just a little higher—placing the Mighty in my pants pocket is outwardly just a bit too far for audio to work persistently. A shirt pocket, sleeve, or collar are all nice, although.
One disappointment: there isn’t any solution to sync over my very own MP3s. Most songs, at this level, can be found on streaming companies, however not all the pieces. Not providing an MP3 fallback means there isn’t any potential solution to hearken to such music, or any audiobooks you might need.
These are all minor factors, although. If you would like entry to your Spotify or Amazon Music playlists with out entry to your telephone, the Mighty 3 is a superb machine. I liked grabbing this earlier than going for a run or drive—I’ve a solution to hearken to music that does not chain me to the web. If that is interesting to you—and you do not thoughts paying $125—the Mighty works properly.