There’s a huge market out there for fitness-oriented music players. In more ways than one, this particular niche is more competitive, with the iPod Shuffle still unable to prove as the indispensable choice the way they Apple has cornered other areas of the market.
The Haier America Ibiza Trainer is another one in a long line of ultra-small music devices geared for exercise use. Apart from the usual music playback, it comes with a number of fitness-friendly features that makes it ideal for use both in the trail and in the gym.
As a music player, the Ibiza Trainer offers good quality sound. It doesn’t offer anything better than what you’ll usually find in similarly-sized packages, but it serves the purpose well enough. As long as you forego the horrible bundled headphones, the music should come out clean, warm and with a very good bass.
There are bit more controls in the compact device than what you normally get from its peers, with some very strange functions (the buttons’ actions changes depending on the menu/screen). It shouldn’t be too hard to get the hang of it, though. The rest of the player functions as normal, with transferring files done by treating the device like a regular hard disk. One thing the Ibiza Trainer doesn’t support, though, are playlists, so you’re stuck having to group your songs in folders if you want them to play in any particular order.
Bundled fitness suite includes a pedometer, a heart rate monitor and a fitness-tracking software. This is a great set to package with an ultra-compact music player, one that really makes it a usable exercise machine right out of the box, setting it apart from the loads of competing units in the market.
If I was shopping for a fitness music player right now, the Haier America Ibiza Trainer will probably be my choice. The bundled suite is just the exact thing its consumers need. Coupled with decent sound quality and a good FM tuner, it’s a very capable competitor in a fast-growing market.
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