Digital convergence is one of those irritating buzz phrases used to describe things like an Internet fridge. But every so often a product that epitomises the concept actually appears. One such product is the PD Hercules Digital Jukebox, a combined hi-fi component-style CD and MP3 player. But to do it justice I must mention five unusual facilities. The first is the built-in 20GB hard drive on which can be stored MP3 and WAV files ready for playback.

The second feature is a built-in MP3 encoder. You load in an audio CD, select Rapid Archive from the menu, and the Hercules will rip the tracks onto the hard disk and then convert them to MP3 using a real Fraunhofer/Thomson MP3 encoder. Or you can rip the tracks straight to WAV files on the hard disk and they can be played back in that form for higher quality (which considerably reduces the Hercules 300-plus hours recording capacity). Alternatively, rip to WAV and have the Hercules do the encoding later, while its in sleep mode.

Thirdly, built into the Hercules is a subset of the CDDB, which contains artist, title and track information for a large proportion of the CDs released over the last decade. These can be assigned to tracks recorded onto the Hercules.

Fourthly, it can connect to your Windows PC using the supplied cable and software downloaded from the PD Hercules Web site. With the software you can download MP3 files from your computer to the Hercules, operate it or use an online CDDB site to name tracks not mapped to the built-in database.

Finally, you can copy MP3 tracks to a SmartMedia card inserted in the slot on the front of the Hercules.

Now thats digital convergence!
Of course, you can do more mundane things like copy MP3 tracks from a CD-ROM directly onto the units hard disk. It will play back all MP3 formats, but when encoding tracks it is restricted to the 128 and 320Kb/s constant bit rate formats.

There is also a stereo line input for analog recording (to WAV or MP3), providing excellent frequency response, but hampered by a lack of level control or even a level meter. My measurements suggest that hard digital clipping would be reached with any signals exceeding a peak of 1.68V. Most CD players output 2V peak, so all CDs should be recorded from the built-in drive.

A pair of analog audio outputs (their level is adjustable by a digital volume control) and an optical digital output are provided. MP3 files played back through this output are converted to standard CD-style PCM.

Playback frequency response is nearly as good as the recording response, with the -1dB point at 17Hz and -3dB at 8Hz. Above 20,000Hz there is a small peak in the response, which would generally be inaudible. There are also three EQ settings that are best avoided.

A bi-directional remote control has a full typewriter keyboard on it for naming tracks. However, typing is a slow process because the infra-red bandwidth is notoriously small.

Once you transfer your music collection, youll never have to reach for a CD again.

Stephen Dawson