Description

The Philips EXP521 eXpanium is a portable CD player, MP3 player and (limited) gaming handheld in one. It plays both audio CDs and MP3s with 420-seconds skip protection. This makes it possible to use the player while riding a bike or even while running.

Gaming handheld?

However, what differentiated the player from others is that you could also play 5 games on it, namely Snachter (Snake), Muncher, Breaker and Copter. However, the games are very limited games in size, scope and graphic splendor. Moreover, the refresh rate of the screen and the limited processing power mean that the games do not play well at all.

You control the games with the left function keys and with the right play keys. A special feature was you could play music during the games. This was then limited to the use of ear buds, as the player itself has no speakers. A funny gimmick, but no more than that.

The eXpanium could be used with AA and AAA batteries. To accommodate this feature, it has two battery covers. It also had a wall charger, for longer ‘gaming’ sessions.

The eXpanium came at a time when the first “small” mp3 players were entering the market. These were easier to handle and would soon eclipse the CD player market.