MP3 Reviews

Sony's D-NF610 slim CD "walkman" is an excellent personal audio companion. It's similar to its sibling D-NF510, except the NF610 has a digital tuner that pulls in AM/FM/TV and special weather channels, all in a compact, stylish form factor. Assembled in Malaysia (a country known for its anti-American politics -- hence one star deducted from my rating), the player seems pretty reliable. The weird shape is not as cool as Sony's perfectly round models, but it does allow for a larger, 2-line LCD display which, yeah!, can show MP3 tags. Another impressive feature is the 75-hour playback on two regular AA batteries.

Sound quality is good if nothing to get overly excited about. As always, you may want to replace the included headphones with your own favorite. On a good pair of earphones, the "digital mega bass" boost adds a pleasant and clear boom to the music, so you know this is not a phony, irritating bass system typically found on the Coby's and Samsung's.

The player also plays CD-R/RW discs burned with MP3 files or Sony's proprietary ATRAC3 files. Sony makes all kinds of claims regarding ATRAC3, but since 95% of the world uses MP3 and another 3% uses WMA and the rest probably AAC, I see little reason to burn ATRAC3 discs.

Finally, the price is right for a high-quality portable CD player.

After using this device for one month+, this is a small list I gathered here for good/bad things about this little mp3 player.

Pros:
- You set your favorite radio stations, and it is still there after you change the battery.
- Good sound output quality and can deliver high sound levels
- Two level dynamic bass (although, i dont like to use)
- Your old MP3 CD's will suddenly make sense.
- Long battery life. I bet if they put some kind of solar cell on this devices, it would run with them perfectly without battery nor main power.
- some of other sony cd mp3 players has much successful (harder to break) control buttons. But D-NF610 looks smooth and beautiful with its radio.

Cons:
- My reason to give it 4 star (canceling 1 star) is its poor quality buttons. Especially the CD OPEN button is a stiff plastic, when you bend it by pressing, CD door is open. Someday either it will loose its speciality of keeping the cd door close, or it will be broken.
- Sometimes when I try to change radio channels, CD starts playing. Because of tooo compact and joint button desings. I have small fingers.

- Poor quality radio, especially when I compare to my old sony walkman radio. Too much noise and no MONO/STEREO switch.
- There is a USA/Europe shortwave radio BW (9KHz or 10KHz) switch to make you choose. But No switch for NTSC/PAL/SECAM systems. So TV Tuner does not work in Europe. I guess, you will need to buy D-NF611 for Europe.
- You will need a cd player bag.

- Japans and I have opposite intuitive direction feeling. When I use Jog Dial button, it does the opposive of what I thought. (That had happened to me with my Sony CMD Z5, I guess this is something to do with japaness culture)

- You cannot register this item, if you are not living in USA/Canada.

- No built in battery charger. This seems a logical decision to remove such a charger, because it is a very simple and cheap circuitry to do that. Would only increase its cost of production say 1 cent for sony, but would made our life easier.

I bought this Cd player, not knowing what it had. I knew it had a player,radio,weather,and TV, but there is a feature thatmade me love this thing. The feature is the Atrac3plus. It lets you put on like 500+ songs on one cd, all you need to do is download it on your computer and put all your cds and mp3 stuff on one cd. Its awsome and no one really cares or trys it.
Well besides that, this player is awsome. It like I said, has a cd player,radio,weather,and TV. Its also a mp3 player. This player has such clear sound, I heard things I didnt hear on my old panasonic. It also has 3 different bass choices, none, medium, and alot. It of course has the different modes like shuffel, repeat, etc....It has 3 different displays, normal, wich is how much time the song has beed paying, Time left, and the song # out of all the songs. It also has a jog dial where you just spin the dial and push in to choose a song, and it helps when you got 200 songs on one cd so you need to use it to look for your song. Also you can turn of the player and it will go to the exact spoyt where u stopped.
The only probably is that when you pause it, it makes an annoying beeping sound, but i got used to that.

Altogether, you need to buy this cd player.

Panasonic DVD-RV30 (older model w/o MP3 capability) was rated excellent for picture quality in the Consumer Report magazine.I found that is true also for this RV31 (silver) model. Unlike my older JVC dvd player, this player allows me to set different black level (light and darker); it allows users to set contrast, brightness, sharpness, color, and tint--features used to be only available in more expensive players. The picture quality, of course, is outstanding. I could notice more details in the black/dark areas when I set the brightness a little higher than factory preset. Among the 3 dvd players I've owned, I find this RV31 to have the best (user-friendly) on-screen menu. This player, however, lacks a screen saver to prevent phospher burn-in. In addition, it lacks a coaxial digital output. It comes with optical output, and of course also regular (a/v) rca outputs. It has component video output as well. The remote control is fine. I didn't think the keys are too small; however,it is not a universal remote. MP3 player, honestly, works flawlessly. I expected that it wasn't going to work based on other reviews. To my surprise, the player was able to read and play all my tracks on every MP3 cd-r and CD-RWs I have. It could be that I have saved all my music files in bit rate of 128 or higher. It does say in the manual that if the bit rate is 96 or lower, it may have problem reading the files. All in all, I was very happy to have purchased this player. I have played DVDs, MP3s and my Hong Kong VCDs without running into any problems. I also like the silver finish (you can purchase in black, as well.)

After several years of trying different players, I keep coming back to this one. I have always strongly preferred Panasonic and Sony as name brands, and this DVD player comes close to the best, most user-friendly player available. It is without a doubt, the best Panasonic unit I have ever come across (including the newer models), and when you factor in the low prices of used ones now that this little gem is no longer in production, you can't go wrong. I have had mine for 1 and 1/2 years and I just purchased another one for the bedroom rather than settle for a newer model.

I am somewhat of an audiophile and manage the electronics department of a major retail store. Of all the 'stand-alone' players I have owned, this one is by far the best. I have purchased/ tested dozens of DVD players over the years and I keep coming back to this one for my own personal home use, as well as to recommend to customers. Every now and then, we will have one to sell, but usually the best buys are used ones on Amazon. THESE ARE DIFFICULT TO FIND AT THIS POINT--PANASONIC'S BEST AND MOST RELIABLE MODEL!! The picture quality is outstanding! Mine has lasted for 3 years and is still going strong!

After further review I would have to give the Nomad II C a low grade. My son and I each purchased one and initially they were very good products. Unfortunately, the software was not reliable, and the product support less than helpful. We upgraded our system using microsoft XP, which is not compatible with the NOMAD II C,,so in order to download new music, we have to rely on another computer system that uses windows 2000 or 98. The size, weight,and sound is good, but it does have its limitations due to the software issues.

I got this little thing nine months ago, and it just now occurs to me to write a review for it.
First, notice: Yes. I like it. I liked it nine months ago, and I still like it now. But there are some things I don't like about it.
What I like:
1.) It's small. It fits along with the rest of mess in my backpack. It's only about 2x3.5x0.75 inches, right?
2.) WMA support. On a pair of headphones, you lose some of the quality you would on a GOOD set of 2/4/5/6.1 speakers anyway, so dropping to 64Kbps with WMA really helps a lot, with only 64MB plus a card.
3.) It's not CD-based. I never much liked those big things.
4.) WMP8/9 support. I don't like those programs, but they get really useful when I want to put an MP3 on my player when I want it in as a WMA. (Which is about ALWAYS.)
What I don't:
1.) Short battery life. Ok, it's got probably a good 10 hours. But when you listen to a LOT of music, it blows out pretty fast. Also, you're already down to about 2 hours left when the meter shows 2/3 power.
2.) No playlist suppport. Admittedly, with such limited space as 192MB or less it doesn't matter as much as on a PC, but it'd still be VERY nice to be able to separate MP3/WMA files by artist or anime or DDR MIX.
3.) The battery/card cover. It falls off all too easily. (Even though the rest of the player is REALLY durable.) Plus, when it is off, the clips that hold the cover in place break off as if they were paper.
4.) No defragging. It's, honestly, to be expected, but I'd like to keep my lists properly intact such that I can add a song without getting it put right smack in the middle.

I bought this player at the end of august 03.
I had been looking for a mp3 player for a while
because I am tearing my hair out on my long train
rides to college. After reading about 100 reviews
on about 10 different websites. i decided to buy it.
the price is well worth it. another bonus is that
it fits the same smart media card as my digital camera.
ok, the ups are thats it fairly light, and small, and
you can listen for hours on 1 battery. the sound quality
is excellent and the volume doesen't distort the higher
you put it. it's got a few other cool extra, voice, time,
5 preset sound settings and a custom one. the downs are
you can't continue listening to the music when going
through the othere extras on the menu. the software
is mediocore, i get a few error messages sometimes, but
then you just try again and it's fine.
overall, i am really happy with product.
and recommend it to anyone who appreciates
value for their money...

Before venturing into the costly world of MP3 players, I wanted to be well informed and researched almost every MP3 player available on Amazon. Flash memory is the most convenient type but as a good one (in terms of memory) can be [$+], I decided a MP3 readable CD player would be an excellent solution. I am very happy with it--although it has a few design issues, the iRiver iMP-400 certainly lives up to its hype.
The Good Stuff:
1. Tons of features to customize to your liking (languages too)
2. Beautiful slim design
3. Good sound (has an customizable EQ)
4. Back-lit remote which definately increases its readibility
5. Easy to sort through folders and lists
6. Has a radio (reception is okay)
7. Comes with rechargable batteries and has AC adapter
The Bad Stuff:
1. Awful headphones (I replaced them with the Sennheiser MX500)
2. Unless the hold button is on, the remote buttons are easy to push accidently as the remote itself is only about the width of two fingers
3. Remote control cord is too long (~30 inches)! With my headphones plugged in, I feel like an octopus dragging so many cords around. They tangle at every opportunity!
4. Most of the necessary options are on the remote, the main console offers no text
5. My player has only given me about half the battery life it advertises
6. Weaker bass (even with the tweaked EQ) so beware if you like rap, R & B, soul, etc.
7. Price ... is hard to swallow
8. Console can get warm if you play it for a while (I generally listen up to three hours at one sitting)
Still, a product worth recommending if you are looking for customizable features and slimness! If you just want something that will simply play the songs, I recommend the Sony D-NE710 ATRAC3/MP3 CD Walkman. It has better bass, plays Sony's ATRAC3 but has little else in comparison.

After much searching online for a good mp3 CD player, I decided that the iMP-400 looked like the right CD player for myself (unfortunately this was just a little before the release of the iMP-550). It had many features that appealed to me, and I have remained happy with it over the last 9 or so months.

On the upside, I have loved all the features about this player, with the ability to play mp3's, audio CD's, AND have the radio function to be the most prominent features. The svelte styling of the player has impressed many people, along with the slim size of it. I also have defiantly put it through its paces by taking it camping/hiking along with my everyday use. The layout of the remote control, although somewhat tough to learn at first, provides instant access to all of the important functions. Also impressive is the inclusion of many minor features such as the inclusion of an audio-out port to connect the player to a sound system (I have also used it to connect a second set of headphones to share music with a friend). Another is the ability to select the next track to be played with out interrupting the current song; this ability is still available during random mode. The fact that the player uses firmware has allowed updates to include new modes and features, and even a snake-style game!

On to the bashing section of my review:
One of the faults previously touched on by other reviewers is the time that this system takes to power up. When I want music, I want it NOW, not 30 seconds from now.
Recently, the remote control's center button stopped responding. By taking apart the control (and probably voiding its warranty) I determined that the cause of the problem was that the pin attached to the backside of the button to depress the capacitor had inadvertently snapped. Although annoying, the problem was easily solved with the use of some gel-like super glue.
The player turns off when it is connected to, or detached from, the AC adaptor, which means that I have to go through the long boot process again.
My final grudge (although not too much the companies fault) is that only non-protected WMA's can be played (something I only found out after I had encoded most of my music library with the protection on)

All in all, if you want a mp3 player that also plays your CDs, the iRiver series is as good as they come. But if you don't plan to use its ability to play standard CD's too often, you may be better off with a hard drive player.

Heres the skinny. The Cdplayer is skinny, the LCD controller can play game(s), excellent radio frequency and sound compared to other CD/radio players,-10/+10 track skip to shorten time to switch ahead.

Basically its a very state of the art CD/MP3 player. To the people that complains about short battery life, did you know that the battery included are only about 1/3 charged? I used it all, charged it overnight, and it lasted the promising hours it said it will. As for damaged headphone included or any other broken part are impossible. The SlimX come in a BOX, unlike other CD players which usually come in some hard-plastic covering. You probably bought it used if you have damaged parts.

The SlimX delivers what it promise's. Great sound, great radio, great battery life, and great protection with antiskip. And for the people that say there players cannot work on the first try, or skips alot, try turning on the ROOT fucntion, if you dont know what that is or dont know how, then you probably dont even own this product.

I bought this product a year and a half ago and so far have had to cash in on the warranty 3 times to get a replacement player. This was not after hard use- more like taking it to the gym 3 or 4 times. This product is a lemon- no wonder Intel is getting out of the business!

I shopped around for an MP3 Playe rfor awhile, and this one seemed the best bet for the money- as far as the car hook-up and stereo hook-up, among other things. It's worked great for me so far, with the only feature I don't like at all is being able to manipulate the songs once they're on the player. You can't change the track order, or move songs from the player to a computer. The Intel program basically sucks, but MusicMatch is okay as long as you know how to use the software. And that stupid blinking light on the charger... Anyway- a handy product overall. The interface is easy to use, and it's nice and tiny, but very strong. I've enjoyed it a whole lot.

I was initially quite skeptical of getting a portable MP3 player, as I already had a portable MiniDisc player, but the Pocket Concert put my fears to rest. The two main reasons I think this player is great are the memory and the amplifier. First, the 128 megs of onboard memory holds a good 2 hours of music at a really nice bitrate. This proved to be perfect for me, as I use it mostly while walking or going to the gym, which is usually an hour and a half activity. 2 hours is the perfect amount of storage time. Second, whatever little amplifier they used in the Pocket Concert, it's *great*. The sound is totally clear, and you can really crank it up with a decent pair of headphones and it comes out loud and clear, the sound doesn't go flat at all. There's very little background noise as well, it comes through very clean. The unit is well constructed, quite small, and I also like the docking station that comes with the Accessory kit (i've got it hooked into my living room stereo so I use the USB cable for the computer). All in all, this is an excellent player, and in my opinion well worth the money. I never looked twice at any other player, and i'm completely satisfied with this one.

V600 is the best, most expensive cell phones I have ever had.
Here are the pros and cons I have experienced so far.
PROS:
1) Pictures taken from its camera are decent when you see them on the large phone display.
2) Plays very clear sounds and videos
3) Free Voice dialling feature is a real cool feature.
4) Datebook, calculators and capability to receive free text messages (on AT&T) can make you much more organized
5) mMode subscription (AT&T) to surf the web can make you very productive.
6) Free earpeice was delivered with my item
7) Calls can be answered without have to open the phone!

CONS:
1) For AT&T customers, having the mMode key same as the general select key is a major problem. If you accidentally press the mMode key, the browser will launch and you will be charged for the data transfer. This is ABOMINABLE! Almost feels like a trap to make customers pay for web access even if they don't want to.
2) The user guide is 250 pages long! It takes time to understand all the phone features.
3) I had a little difficulty in putting my SIM card in.
4) The top display is very small and has blue background which makes it difficult to read.

Overall, a very good buy. It is almost a PDA at the cost of a cell phone.
CONCLUSION: If you are looking for a new gadget to play with, this is a good one as long as you get it for under $100.

I had Nokia 6610 for 6 months, and have been very happy with it. But wanted to buy a camera phone phone with bluetooth, so here in my opinion is one of the best choices. After using it for 2 weeks, this is what I think:

Pros:
- Decent camera with 4X zoom.
- Loaded with features
- Lots of "normal" ring tones
- Bluetooth (although haven't tried it yet)
- Keys nicely displayed, big screen
- Good battery life

Cons:
- The "on" and "off" keys are reversed, compared to Nokia and Samsung phones...A big nuisance.
- The antenna, although improves signal quality, is a pain in the a**.
- AT&T has the worst service, no fault of motorola.
- Usual problems with clamshell phones, like having to answer a call while driving is much easier if you have a "candy bar" Nokia phone.
- The phone is a little heavier than the new samsung and nokia phones, and is not as small as some pictures suggest.
- Some of the menu features are hidden way deep. Nokia, in my opinion, has the most user friendly menu display.

Overall an excellent phone, but seriously consider Nokia 6600.

A

V600 is the best, most expensive cell phones I have ever had and I soon realized that both men and women like it. Before I give the reason, here are the pros and cons I have experienced so far.

PROS:
1) Free, nice looking ear piece was delivered with my item.
2) With headset plugged in, calls can be answered without having to open (or even touch) the phone !
3) You can use it as a modem and for faxes!
4) Pictures taken from its camera are decent when you see them on the large phone display.
5) Plays very clear sounds and videos
6) Built in Voice dialling feature is a real cool feature.
7) Datebook, calculators and capability to receive free text messages (on AT&T) can make you much more organized
8) mMode subscription (AT&T) to surf the web can make you very productive.

CONS:
1) For AT&T customers, having the mMode key same as the general select key is a major problem. If you accidentally press the mMode key, the browser will launch and you will be charged for the data transfer. This is ABOMINABLE! Almost feels like a trap to make customers pay for web access even if they don't want to.
2) The user guide is 250 pages long! It takes time to understand all the phone features.
3) I had a little difficulty in putting my SIM card in.
4) The top display is very small and has blue background which makes it difficult to read.

Overall, a very good buy. It is almost a PDA at the cost of a cell phone.

CONCLUSION: A great gift for your significant other. While the men will love it for all the cool features and a chance to use some real complex ones like faxes, women will love it for its smooth top and chic look.

I purchased the RipFlash MP3 play to work out to and not for the digital voice recording features. This is my first MP3 player so I have no point of reference compared to other MP3 players. Given that, here are my experiences so far.

Pros:

- very good sound - especially with the equalizer
- fast transfer rate from my PC - 30 songs in less than 5 min
- very lightweight

Cons:

- no software for ripping CDs. I had to buy some but found a good one called MP3 Workshop...

- can only read MP3 format. Would have been nice if it could read WMA format. Then I could have used the Windows Media Player to rip the CDs.
- earplug earphone sounds good but had trouble keeping them in my ears.

Things you should know:

- If you do want to add a SmartMedia card, the songs on the card will be played separately from the ones in the built-in Flash memory. (this may be important if you want to play randomly)
- The display is small and somewhat hard to read, but did not bother me.
- I haven't tried to Rip CDs with the line-in but I think it is a useful feature.
- Would have been nice to have a belt clip for working out.

Overall, very good player. As I said, I like it very much, but it does have a few minor flaws. I can live with them for working out and would buy it again.

I bought this mostly to record lectures digitaly for pesonal use and public distribution. The sound quality is excellent, even recording at 32 kbs in a conference room, it sounds like a sound studio. At this recording rate an hour takes about 14M, or 50 hours worth on a 700M CD.The size is great, the fact that it records directly to mp3 format is very convenient, and it is easy to convert old tapes to mp3. It also runs fine on rechargeable batteries. I would give it five stars if it included two things, a bookmark feature (if you leave off in the middle of a one hour lecture you have to remember where you left off and then fast foreward to get back) and if it included some kind of mp3 editing software. But if you are in the business of distributing lectures this is an excellent product.

After having done a month search, i think it will be fair to add one more star to it!

Original I wanted to buy a good music player for my husband, in addition to it, I could record lecture three times a week. RipFlash's metal look makes it a winner. The review mentions about the wrist band, but mine did not come with one. I had Archos Jukebox Recorder 10 and RipFlash 128mb Digital Recorder.

Software Problems:

RipFlash's software is very basic. Installation was easy. I could drag songs directly from the MP3 manager software when it was first installed. But on the next day, this function was not working. Furthermore, when I disconnected the USB from the computer, the devise still has the 'pc usb' signal on. Meaning? i have no way to play it until and unless i take out the battaries and reinsert it. It happens very often.

Neither Archos Jukebox Recorder nor Ripflash software is a good file organizer. The Archos Jukebox has one more problem than the Ripflash. When i closed the MusicBox software and disconnected the protable device, an error message saying improper disconnection will cause pc hardware problems..... I guess no one would expect to see such a message after having done everything in great care. In fact, it crashed my computer more than twice. I had to reboot my computer. I gave up, and returned it

As the RipFlash player does not display title, i have to guess what is coming next. I bought a SM card for extra memory, the eject 'button' is difficult to use. It seems i have to push the card out myself.

Voice recording

I have to admit that the voice recording function is very easy to use and very sensitive, compare to my Archos Jukebox Recorder. Unlike the Archos Jukebox, the Ripflash allocates a new file for voice recording automatically. The Archos one asks for a new name everytime. Otherwise it will either replace your existing 'new song' file or refuse to record. I missed almost 10 minutes lecture because of setting up the Archos. And the battaries ran out within an hour. I was caught in the middle for recording exam tips! Definetly I will not recommend the Archos Jukebox Recorder for reporters or students alike. As a matter of fact, the RipFlash recorder is a very eligant and handy devise for recorders or students.

Final conclusion: there is no prefect mp3 player!
With almost 90 bucks more, why should i buy Archose Jukebox Recorder10 instead of Archose Jukebox 10 or other Jukebox? I am still considing whether to keep RipFlash because of the unreliable software.

A month later, i had returned the ripflash and the Archose. I did a lot of research, it seems no mp3 can fit in my need. Hey i have to trade off. Pal, if you are looking for something to convert your old plastic disks into good digital songs, the Ripflash series seem to be the solution. PoGo has some improved products. check out its website.

I purchased the RipFlash MP3 play to work out to and not for the digital voice recording features. This is my first MP3 player so I have no point of reference compared to other MP3 players. Given that, here are my experiences so far.

Pros:

- very good sound - especially with the equalizer
- fast transfer rate from my PC - 30 songs in less than 5 min
- very lightweight

Cons:

- no software for ripping CDs. I had to buy some but found a good one called MP3 Workshop...

- can only read MP3 format. Would have been nice if it could read WMA format. Then I could have used the Windows Media Player to rip the CDs.
- earplug earphone sounds good but had trouble keeping them in my ears.

Things you should know:

- If you do want to add a SmartMedia card, the songs on the card will be played separately from the ones in the built-in Flash memory. (this may be important if you want to play randomly)
- The display is small and somewhat hard to read, but did not bother me.
- I haven't tried to Rip CDs with the line-in but I think it is a useful feature.
- Would have been nice to have a belt clip for working out.

Overall, very good player. As I said, I like it very much, but it does have a few minor flaws. I can live with them for working out and would buy it again.

I bought this mostly to record lectures digitaly for pesonal use and public distribution. The sound quality is excellent, even recording at 32 kbs in a conference room, it sounds like a sound studio. At this recording rate an hour takes about 14M, or 50 hours worth on a 700M CD.The size is great, the fact that it records directly to mp3 format is very convenient, and it is easy to convert old tapes to mp3. It also runs fine on rechargeable batteries. I would give it five stars if it included two things, a bookmark feature (if you leave off in the middle of a one hour lecture you have to remember where you left off and then fast foreward to get back) and if it included some kind of mp3 editing software. But if you are in the business of distributing lectures this is an excellent product.

After having done a month search, i think it will be fair to add one more star to it!

Original I wanted to buy a good music player for my husband, in addition to it, I could record lecture three times a week. RipFlash's metal look makes it a winner. The review mentions about the wrist band, but mine did not come with one. I had Archos Jukebox Recorder 10 and RipFlash 128mb Digital Recorder.

Software Problems:

RipFlash's software is very basic. Installation was easy. I could drag songs directly from the MP3 manager software when it was first installed. But on the next day, this function was not working. Furthermore, when I disconnected the USB from the computer, the devise still has the 'pc usb' signal on. Meaning? i have no way to play it until and unless i take out the battaries and reinsert it. It happens very often.

Neither Archos Jukebox Recorder nor Ripflash software is a good file organizer. The Archos Jukebox has one more problem than the Ripflash. When i closed the MusicBox software and disconnected the protable device, an error message saying improper disconnection will cause pc hardware problems..... I guess no one would expect to see such a message after having done everything in great care. In fact, it crashed my computer more than twice. I had to reboot my computer. I gave up, and returned it

As the RipFlash player does not display title, i have to guess what is coming next. I bought a SM card for extra memory, the eject 'button' is difficult to use. It seems i have to push the card out myself.

Voice recording

I have to admit that the voice recording function is very easy to use and very sensitive, compare to my Archos Jukebox Recorder. Unlike the Archos Jukebox, the Ripflash allocates a new file for voice recording automatically. The Archos one asks for a new name everytime. Otherwise it will either replace your existing 'new song' file or refuse to record. I missed almost 10 minutes lecture because of setting up the Archos. And the battaries ran out within an hour. I was caught in the middle for recording exam tips! Definetly I will not recommend the Archos Jukebox Recorder for reporters or students alike. As a matter of fact, the RipFlash recorder is a very eligant and handy devise for recorders or students.

Final conclusion: there is no prefect mp3 player!
With almost 90 bucks more, why should i buy Archose Jukebox Recorder10 instead of Archose Jukebox 10 or other Jukebox? I am still considing whether to keep RipFlash because of the unreliable software.

A month later, i had returned the ripflash and the Archose. I did a lot of research, it seems no mp3 can fit in my need. Hey i have to trade off. Pal, if you are looking for something to convert your old plastic disks into good digital songs, the Ripflash series seem to be the solution. PoGo has some improved products. check out its website.

The Net MD is a really great for listening to music once you get it onto the player. The problem is Sony decided to make getting songs really difficult with their software OpenMG. The program is barely functional on my brand new pc. To make thigs even worse the program has anti-piracy parts in it. Who actually buys a MD player to transfer songs they bought? Anyways if you have any problems with the software don't depend on any support since OpenMG website is closed. OpenMG is the only software you can use to transfer songs. I think you can use realplayer to transfer the songs now too but you can only put mp3s on it. Because of Sony guarding its ATRAC technology so closely they have taken away their user's rights to pick which program they would like to use. Unless you want to spend an hour changing the songs I suggest you don't but this product.

I'll start with the good points:
1. Lightweight and totally portable
2. I personally think the LP4 mode sounds fine. I constantly use it while on the subway going places. 5 hours per disc kicks any portable mp3 player in the pants.
3. Battery life is great! Even the rechargable is impressive.
4. BEST PART. I use the mic in with the sony MS-907 microphone and the results are superb. I have simple recordings of myself playing guitar and the recordings sound like I am in the room. I haven't tried dumping any recordings back onto the computer yet, but supposedly I have to do that through the analog jack.

Bad points
1. The headphones that come with it [are bad], but this is no news to anyone.
2. The remote takes some getting used to and it could be a little better designed.
3. 32X is a crock. I'd say realistically I transfer tunes about 10x speed and I have a 800mh PIII. Still not bad. You can go from there.
4. The Software. Let me repeat. The software is hands down the worst part of this package. As you have probably read, tracks must be 'checked in' or 'out' using the Open MG Jukebox software. You can only check out 3 at a time. Honestly, this is NO BIG DEAL because you can always re-import the file to the playlist and you get 3 fresh 'credits'. So don't let that bother you. I do have errors frequently not letting me check in a file that I checked out. I just delete it off the player and re-import the file if I need more credits. That's the way around Sony's attempt to police what I do with MY music.

The problem for me is that when you import a file the ID2 & ID3 tags must be in place. It doesn't just list each mp3 as whatever it is named. Let me explain. Open any song on your Winamp. Right click on the song and check out File Info. If these aren't filled in (which most of the time they aren't) then the artist is recognized as UNKNOWN on the MD Jukebox. I have about 5,000 mp3s on my computer, so I literally spent hours upon hours editing these tags JUST so I could find mp3s in the Jukebox that I was looking for. Once I did that, everything was smooth and was alphabetical. If you only have a couple of hundreds mp3s, then it probably won't bother you until you have thousands.

All in all, the player is excellent quality, so far. Recording with a mic is most impressive and I look forward to using it at my gigs, rehearsals, etc. The only hinderance is the software, but there are ways around some of the 'rules'.

Unbelievable skip protection on the Net MD. On technical mountain bike trails cd players are out...completely (they are in a state of perpetual skip and you almost never hear even a note). I have been stuck with my old tape walkman for years as a result...until now.

The Net MD never skips even on a rocky trail with 3 foot dropoffs...I even wrecked and it didn't skip!

Despite some of the other reviews here, I have no complaints about the software, it works great.

The storage capacity on the mini discs at 5 hours (in lp4) seals the deal. The sound quality is great on lp4.

Now that I have the MD, I question why I ever even considered an mp3 player.

Mine died (hard drive) in less than 6 months but the warranty only lasted 90 days. Customer Service was utterly unsatisfactory. Their solution was to send it in for repair, price $190 and wait (likely) 4-6 weeks. When asked for some kind of assurance that the new drive would not fail...something like a 1 yr warranty that they currently offer on the newer designs, I got nothing more than "these things tend to fail early."
The controls are an ergonmic nightmare and the software is weak at best.
Keep shoppng, this one is a disappointment.

This is my first mp3 player purchase. I had toyed around with an iPod at an electronics store and was almost sold on it. It was just so cool. But after thinking things over I decided it wasn't worth the price. So I started looking into the Zen. I was close to buying it when the Zen NX was announced, so I held out for it. I am sure glad I did! I was able to buy it for less than $300, but even for that it's an incredible deal. 30GB, incredible sound (according to professional reviewers it has the best sound of any mp3 player, including the iPod), well-designed navigation, and cool EAX features. Unlike some people, I didn't have any problem at all with the software it comes with. However, I had ripped all my software beforehand with other programs, so my ID3 tags and everything were all set. I only used Creative's program to upload them to my Zen. My only complaint with the player is the scroll wheel is a little hard to click. While the screen is small, it's sharp and easy to read and navigate. In short, this is the best bang for the buck. It's a good, convenient size, feels solid, comes with plenty of space for mp3s, sounds awesome, and is relatively stylish as well! Highly recommended for buyers unwilling to waste extra money on style (iPod).

This is truly an excellent player and a great value for money. The player is very pleasant to look at and seems much more aesthetically pleasing to the eye than the USB 2 version. The flip-type case coming with the player is very smart looking- it does have a flaw in that with the case fully closed, one cannot see the LCD screen. I feel that creative should have thought about this and made a slot for the LCD to peer through. The sound quality is EXCELLENT. However, you would need to get new headphones. The ones coming with the player dont do it justice. The player has the same EAX options as the USB 2. One of the biggest improvements is the software. The creative mediasource was a joy to use. The software was able to recognize the ID tags automatically and list each track by its respective title, artist, album, genre etc... This was a major flaw in the playcenter software. The transfer from the PC to zen was flawless. I was really happy with this pleasant improvement. The battery life is amazing too. I am getting around 12-13 hours with one charge. And of course the battery is user replaceable- a huge bonus. Eventually plan to get another battery for those long trips where u cannot charge. However 12 hours should more than suffice for a trip or your daily needs. All in all i think its a great buy and i am nothing short of very happy with the purchase...