Panasonic is not a pioneer when it comes to Digital Audio Players. The company still makes no bones about sidestepping this aspect of its business for other, more important verticals – but that's not something we are concerned about here.
Out of the blue comes an oddball player with little substance and more form than required. The player is called the Panasonic SV-MP70V, and to be frank I didn't like the name. The trend these days is to have zippy monikers like iPod and Zen. I think any DAP, good or bad, deserves a better name than S-V-M-P-7-0-V.
That apart, the form factor is appealing but not functional. It’s rectangular, with a 'divided' design – one side is taken up by the screen and other by the buttons. There aren’t too many buttons, which is how it should be. The microUSB slot cover is a bit of a put-off; it requires you to have strong nails to pry it open.
The SV-MP70V has a small screen that can display only a few lines at a time. And boy, does it take its own sweet time to do anything! It’s sluggish as hell, and really makes things very difficult while surfing. Even though the player can read folders, it doesn’t allow you to jump from one folder to another. You will have to keep fast-forwarding.




