MP3 Reviews

i've had this mp3 player for a year. It takes forever to load and keeps skipping to the next track without me touching it. It seems like every Sony product I buy breaks!

I've owned this player for a week, and it's the first portable CD player I've owned. The greatest aspect of this little wonder by Sony is the battery life--I've played this all day at work, and played it more at home, and the batteries last a very long time! (I'd definitely recommend rechargeable batteries for this unit, preferably nickel-metal hydride.)

As far as playing MP3's, I'm very impressed with the ease of control and the quality of sound. A folder button allows for easy navigation, and a display button alternates information about the folder and tracks. My player does not skip.

All in all, a truly wonderful gadget for a person like myself, who likes to carry the entire Beatles collection on a single CD.

I just bought this thing a couple of days ago and all I can say is: Wow! When I bough this thing I had only 2 things on my mind no Rio Products! and MP3 compatible. The reason I bought this player is because my Rio 600 busted after only a year of operation (another reiview). I was torn betwenn an MP3 compatible CD player or an actual MP3 device. Based on cost, the CD is clearly the better option. A cd can hold at least 700MB, to get that kind of memory in a actual MP3 player prepare to drop at least [$$$]. Here is the coolest part, the player reads the song, stores it to memory and stops the motion of the CD! About 5 seconds before the end of the trak it starts loading the next song into memory! That's how it gets 24 hours of battery life.

As far as sound quality goes, its excellent. This thing actually sounds better than my Rio 600. The only problem I have with it is that the Bass Boost function doesn't work too well on the upper level (2 of 2). Other than that minor probelm, excellent.

I recently bought this player and got exactly what I expected. The unit is very small and lightweight and is pretty easy to operate. The sound is great and it's just a good piece of technology. As just about everyone else has mentioned in their reviews, there are limitations that may be difficult for some people to deal with. This player is a battery eater. I have been getting about 3 hours total listening time before replacing the battery. This can get to be a bit much money-wise. Also the 32 MB memory is not quite enough. You can figure that you'll only get about 30 minutes (or less depending on the sound quality of the MP3 files) of music. Basically I would say it's great to take jogging etc. This is what I use it for and uploading different songs every day is very easy. For travel or other situations where listening to the same 6 or 7 songs over and over and replacing the battery every few hours will drive you crazy, I'd suggest one of the other units.

It's a really nice player so far it's great, it is really small. The bad thing is it should come with a belt clip or arm strap, it comes with a chain instead (like the one for a pager). If battery is an issue for you than this is not the player for you. the software is average. easy to rip songs off your CD and organize your collection of mp3s, very annoying message asking for upgrade the software though. Overall this is a good player with a reasonable price. If you are looking for a player for short trips only this is the one, but long trips i would still recommend an upgradable or a player with more memory. One additional note, i bought Energizer e2 Titanium Technology batteries for my mp3 player and it didn't work, my mp3 player only take certain brand of batteries.

dude, i got this as a gift, without the headphones though, and i found that the baby yepp program was sooo simple. sure, the 32MB space is a blow, but if you encode in mp3PRO using dBpowerAmp Music Converter ( http://www.dbpoweramp.com ), it makes this tiny thing an awesome mp3 player. you can get a 6MB file down to 2MB with OK quality, i mean, it aint perfect 192Kbps, but it sure sounds good for a 2MB file. trust me, this is a greatt buy!

Are you the frequent traveller who likes setting up a small stereo in your hotel room, and not relegate yourself to uncomfortable headphones???

With all the speakers out there, I would have to say that, with regards to the iPod, this pair of speakers is the best!

1. Portability

---- The speakers fold up real nicely and are VERY easy to pack in your carry-on..... I've often had trouble placing speakers in my bags, but these ones fold into a flat surface, which makes it very easy to stick into any little crevice

2. Loudness

---- Some small speakers never quite get loud enough --- while these speakers aren't like a THX sound auditorium, they do produce a pretty loud beat! You'll be putting the volume down more often then turning it up

3. Clarity

---- Like I said, this isn't the perfect clarity, but for the price, the speakers really get the job done....... Very clear and they sound great -- I highly recommend putting your iPod on VOCAL BOOSTER for great sound on this speaker set

4. iPod connection

---- Its so cool how the iPod connects to this thing.... Unless you have the 1/2nd generation iPod (which also works with this system), then the simply put your iPod into the dock and connect no other wires! it plays from there....... unless you use AA batteries, then you will have to plug the AC adapter into the speakers, which is fine, because then the iPod will charge as it sits in the dock

isn't that awesome! you can finally listen to your iPod continuously without having to worry that it'll run outta battery power

so overall, this is a device that you can't live without if you're an iPod lover

great sound, great portability, and great charging

BUY YOURS NOW!!!!

These are really great speakers for the size. Those expecting room blasting sound are looking at the wrong type of sound projection devices. Sure you'll have warped sound if you jack up the sound to max... why would anybody want to do that anyway? For your desk, your room, play or work space at reasonable sound level, these are darn incredible. Hey, I paid $149 for being an Early Adopter gadget freak! For what Amazon is charging, these are a super deal. No bigger than the size of a book, lighter than a book, you unfold it, plug it in (or use AA batteries), plop in your Rev 1 or Rev 2 iPod and you'll be amazed at the quality of sound and bass. Noting the convenience, wow and cool factor, all you iPod owners should have one!

I echo what everyone's said here. This little speaker set is great! <br /> <br /> The sound is amazing for something this size and can be turned up quite loud before distortion. <br /> <br /> The portability is second-to-none! Light, compact, and it runs on 4 AA batteries for a decent amount of time?? Fantastic! <br /> <br /> I use it ALL the time. Sure beats plugging it into my old Aiwa stereo and having it tied to one room! Now I can carry it from room to room, work, whatever! <br /> <br /> VERY happy. :)

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.

Granted, I didn't want to spend too much on one of these. I guess I kind of got what I paid for. There is a splotch on the screen that showed up just two months after receiving it. ViewSonic totally ignored me. The battery stinks. The screen freezes so I have to reset the dumb thing. I bought this back in July of 03. I hate it.

I don't know if I could be considered a power user. But this pocket pc more than meets all of my needs. I've got a pretty big collection of contacts and my schedule is updated daily. I've used the pocket versions of excel and word and the note maker. No errors, no conflicts with my desktop. Its pretty smooth. I haven't taken full advantage of the Avant Go SW but from what I've used its pretty cool. To sum it up the main advantages I've noticed from this machine are:

1. Good display. Colors are crisp and you can make it as bright as you want. Mind the bat life though.

2. Easy to use. Its windows. I haven't had to reference the book or help sw more than a couple of times. Its very implicit and comes naturally.

3. Good speed. Turns on fast and programs load quick.

4. Easy as cake to sync. I've had issues syncing palms to desktops bfr. This required very little thought.

The complaints I have so far:

1. The batery has to be watched. Using it for a few hours at a time is taxing.

2. Its all plastic. I assumed the front was metal. Not a big deal really. I should have read the description closer. If anyone is assuming the same thing I thought you'd like to know.

Really, this is a good little machine for the money. I'm not sure you get as much from the palm m515. Prices change so I don't know what the cost val comparison would be but if you use your palm/poc pc to keep track of names, dates, notes, etc.. then this thing more than meets your needs and its slick too. I get a lot of inquiries. ViewSonic didn't skimp on the design or the quality control. A great entry level choice if this will be your first 'handheld'/palm.

I switched from a Palm V. What a difference! No eyestrain anymore. The screen is bright, the colors help with reading calendars, contact information and e-mail. With an add-in 256 MB SD card there is plenty of storage for music and documents. It fits nicely into a shirt pocket, even with the semi-hard case, and is light enough not to notice. It has been running very stably and so far seems surprisingly sturdy. I suspect that the HP iPAQ Pocket PC h1910 is similar but the specs show a lot shorter battery life. The Toshiba e310/e335 is also similar but a bit larger and the screen did not look as bright. The Dell Axim X5 is heavier and larger but can accomodate a CF type II card in addition to an SD card. Regardless of your choice, I suggest getting one of several utilities that are available to keep track of memory and battery charge on the Today page.

Casio's Cassiopedia is a very nice unit. Is it the best value available? Well it could have been, but unfortunately they scrimped in a couple of key areas. I base this on what I feel is their closet competitor, the Compaq Ipaq. The first thing you'll need to do after purchasing the Casio is run down to the store and purchase a very expensive MMC card. You'll want to pick up at least a 32mb card (currently between $76.00 and $99.00). Now you'll have some breathing room to work in. The Compaq comes with this additional memory with the purchase price. The last feature that is a little disappointing is the TFT backlit feature. Because of the basic design, the Ipaq does a much better job in very bright conditions. But get your Cassiopedia in a little shade and with the 65,000 plus colors you'll blow the Compaq Ipaq away. In conclusion, I guess there's pluses and negatives with most very thing, and if you don't mind having to immediately spent another $100.00 to get the space you'll need the Cassiopedia is the better unit. I would argue that the Compaq Ipaq is probably the better value.

The Casio Cassiopeia EM-500 is undeniably the best PDA/PocketPC on the market today. It has a vast number of programs: telnet, finger, ping, internet explorer, e-mail, irc, aol instant messenger, word, excel, access, notepad, transcriber (no graffiti to learn, it recognizes anyone's natural handwriting and converts it to text just like this you're reading now), and so much more. If you are a programmer or web designer, you must have this PDA/PPC! It's also great for listening to MP3/WMA audio and playing video clips and movie previews, storing pictures, scanning the Pocket Bible, and so much more. MMC is the future of compact memory technology..., it will replace compactFlash within the next two years guaranteed! It will support modems, network cards, cameras, and of course memory with projected sizes above anything CF Cards can imagine. (according to the MMCA group). Do yourself a favor and get the CASIO EM-500! It is the next best thing to a laptop!

I've had mine for three years. I did buy it new, though. I have been eyeing the Dell Axim, but since there is nothing wrong with my Casio, I can't find any reason to switch.

The LCD cracked while in my pocket with no drop or hit!
Sent the unit to HP and after bouncing around their customer service, I was charged $190 for the repair. Browsing the internet (unsuccessfully trying to find a cheaper repair option) I found several similar complains. It seems like the IPAQ4155 has a serious quality problem that costs 50% of the value of a new unit to fix. I am selling my unit as soon as it comes back from repair and will never by an IPAQ anymore!

I have very few complaints with my iPAQ. I've had it for about a month now, and using it in conjunction w/ my Bluetooth enabled Sony Ericsson T610 has been pretty sweet.

Like others have said, the battery life is nothing great. A little more memory would be nice as well. But the battery life and memory isn't sub-par; it's current with the market right now.

Another thing is the FileStore. Prior to this, I had the 1945, which has the same dimensions (.01cm smaller?) and similar feature set (minus Wi-Fi). The FileStore (an area of memory that isn't erased when if you must hard reset) is only 3mb on the 4155, compared to 13mb on my 1945.

I love the fact that it fits in my scrub pocket, and obviously the wi-fi is great. I have gone into Starbucks and connected so effortlessly that my email was synced before I placed my order.

If you get this (which if you want to have the ability to use WiFi, Bluetooth all in a PPC you should get this one) I would suggest getting one or two SD cards. I currently have a 256mb card, and sometimes it even feels too small.

One last thing: missing the CF card slot doesn't seem that important when you have the SDIO ability. I'm hoping to see more peripherals built using this standard in the next year.

I had been always curious about the Pocket PC OS and its usefulness and practicality on the PDA environment. I am now a believer and definitely prefer it over the Palm OS due to its ease of use, compatibility and similarity to the Windows PC environment. This also results in a faster learning curve.

Integrated wireless:
This was the selling factor, and it did not dissapoint me. I got it to work at home and at the office, where I connect to different wireless access points. The iPAQ allows you to create individual profiles for every connection, so there is no need to manually configure every time you switch networks.

Bluetooth:
This technology is becoming more common around airports, offices, malls and other places, although probably you'll need to incur in a connection fee. I have not tested this feature yet although my iPAQ recently came across and recognized a Bluetooth network on one of the airports I travelled to.

Synchronization:
The iPAQ supports Outlook (preferably 2002) for Calendar, e-mail, notes, file and task synching. The Active Synch software is included and required on your host PC in order to start synchronizing with your PDA. A maximum o 2 PCs (partnerships) can be established for synching. Methods of synchronization include IR(Infrared), USB(using the included cradle), WLAN (yes, you can synch wireless) or serial.
Word and Excel documents are automatically converted into Pocket PC format when they are synchronized with the iPAQ. The original document needs to be copied into the Pocket PC folder (Pocket_PC My Documents) on your host PC before performing the synch.

Internet:
In order to connect to the Internet, you are required to be connected to a network, be it WLAN or Bluetooth. There are a few interesting web links included with your iPAQ and you can add your own favorites as well. Navigations is similar to Internet Explorer although you are required to scroll up/down and left/right continously on web sites that are not mobile-friendly.

E-mails:
E-mail accounts on the iPAQ are setup in an almost exact manner as Outlook on a normal PC. By default, and in order to conserve memory, e-mail attachments are not downloaded, there's also a default limit of e-mails you can carry at a time. E-mails can be downloaded while connected to the Internet or synched using the methods mentioned previously.

What about games? Two games are included: Guess what? Solitaire is one of them! The other one is Jawbreaker, a very simple but extremely entertaining game. There are many web sites with additional programs that can be downloaded for your iPAQ.

Programs and utilities included:
MSN Messenger, Windows Media Player, Pocket Excel and Word, Pocket MSN, Microsoft Reader, Calculator, Terminal Services Client among others.

Security:
Password security is optional; there are two security options, a simple 4-digit number and a more complex alphanumeric password option. Wireless connection security is obtained using 64 or 128 bit WEP encryption. Obviously your PDA is as secure as the network it is connecting to. Setting up 128 bit encryption on your iPAQ won't work if your wireless access point is unsecured.

Time settings: Up to two different time zones are available at the same time.

Display:
Very clear display, sharp, easy to read text, adjustable text size and fonts in some programs.

Battery:
The iPAQ possesses a respectable battery duration. It obviously varies according to your battery saving settings. Reducing the default screen brightness helps as well as turning off the wireless access or lowering the sound volume.

Settings:
You can monitor memory usage and power consumption, remove programs, adjust backlight settings, align the screen, sharpen the text, etc.

Other features:
Voice recording: There's a button on the upper left corner of the iPAQ to start recording short messages or reminders, very handy.
MP3 audio: MP3 files can be downloaded and played on your PDA using Windows Media Player. A headphone jack is also available for your private listening pleasure. Memory is limited though, is not like you can have a CD full of music on your iPAQ, don't confuse it with an MP3 player.
Letter Recognizer - A very cool option where the iPAQ attempts to recognize your handwriting and converts it into readable text.
Block recognizer - It's similar to the Palm's graffiti recognition
Transcriber - It recognizes words written in cursive
Notes can also be quickly handwritten as if using the iPAQ as a paper Notepad.
Images can also be viewed using your iPAQ, and as with the MP3 files, you should consider the memory limitations.

Memory:
Additional memory can be obtained with Secured Digital (SD) memory cards. These come on 128, 256 and 512MB sizes at reasonable prices.

The HP iPAQ 4155 is a complete, full-featured piece of equipment, well worth its price.

I have had great luck with a Samsung VCR and Samsung DVD-709 DVD Player in the past so I was loyal to my confidence in Samsung products by purchasing the Samsung DVD-M301 DVD Player. What I found out was that not all DVDs would play correctly in this machine. I had played 4 movies without any trouble and was impressed by the video display quality of this model. But when I tried to play Artisan Entertainment Studio release "Bad Boys" with actor Sean Penn it would not play the audio for this movie at all! This is not some high-tech movie either - it is a basic real-life film made in 1983 with no special effects like most of the newer movies have. It displayed the video portion just fine but there was absolutely no sound during the playing of this DVD. The movie had played fine on my older Samsung DVD-709 model so I know it was not a problem with the DVD itself.

I wanted to know if it was a defective player or a product design flaw in the M301 Player so I took it to a local store who had the same model Samsung DVD-M301 Player that I could try the "Bad Boys" DVD with. Well it was the same result with the store's player also - NO AUDIO! That made my mind up for me to return the Samsung DVD-M301 and I purchased a Panasonic DVD-RV31 player instead. The Panasonic plays the movie just fine - audio and all. I did not feel comfortable keeping the Samsung not knowing how many other DVDs I would buy or rent that would have similar trouble.

I am writing an email to Samsung about this player and my experience and hopefully soon they will address the problem and correct it on future models. Until then BEWARE!

I got this unit from e-bay and it was worth the effort I spent in trying to outbid other e-bay members. The video output is excellent (I hoooked it up to my 31" Philips HDTV) and the audio reproduction is really as advertised - it simulates surround sound as if It were connected to a surround system. It plays cds and cd-r without a hitch and sounds great on my Kenwood VR-6060.

this xmas was the breakout season for getting dvd players. my purchase was based on sound & vision magazine review. so far, the player's performance has been excellent. no skips or freezes so far. the best video is with the component inputs, but the cable prices are very high. also with wide screen versions of most dvds, it's better to have a big screen tv. my 20 inch jvc has large black bands above and below the picture and i would prefer a full screen version. be sure to read the manual for the player; don't assume it' just enter and play. sometimes you have to set the audio on some dvds. i have also rented several dvds with no problem, but you'll find yourself buying a lot if you're not careful. that's how good dvd is.

On paper this sounds like a great DVD. I was looking to upgrade my current DVD and also a unit for my Dad to go with his HD TV.

I kept the one for my dad but returned mine. The picture's fine and it operates OK as a DVD player.

My complaints:
Lacking 5.2 audio outputs (guess i should have read the specs better). But where this baby really misses is MP3 playback They advertise it. But not all the files were listed. The others were all listed twice. Only 8 characters were listed on the screen display it could not use the ID info on the disc. But absolutely worst of all the files it did manage to find to play were full of clicks and sprts and whoops and other weird artifacts. Definately lo-fi minus. I have a Rio Volt and its simply fantastic at finding and playing files - of course it took until early last year B4 firmware upgrades made it work right - but the SD3750 can't even take firmware upgrades off the CD-ROM. No hope at all. Certainly a mega-corp like Toshiba (and other brands as well!) should be able to hire decent programmer/engineers to make the MP3 work right.(my daugther's P********c brand can't read the directory right either but at least the songs it finds it plays w/o artifacts) Maybe the market staff for DVDs isn't into MP3 at all... Best take a sample MP3 disk to the store if this is omportant to you.

When I bought a new DVD player, I was looking for a wide range of formats, because there's no stereo in that room. This player is advertised as being able to play MP3 files. That's not quite true, as I discovered. It can play <128Kbps, old-style 8.3 filenames, and not always perfectly.

I agree with some of the other reviewers that the remote could have been better designed; I find that it's difficult to do by touch because the buttons are very close together. Also, the arrow navigation is a little awkward; you have to use Up/Down/Left/Right the way Toshiba wants you to (keep hitting right, and it won't go to the next line, for example).

In the grand scheme of things, though, these are relatively minor flaws. I bought this unit to play DVDs, and it does that well--good picture and sound quality. I don't use the progressive-scan feature (I bought this model because it seemed to offer the most features in my price range; the PS was a bonus) so I can't comment on that.

If you want to play DVDs, and maybe some CDs and CD-Rs, this is a good unit to buy.

You can not go wrong with this very nice DVD player. It has everything you could want except for DVD-Audio, which is okay since the selection of them is so limited. By the time the selection is better, this DVD player will be old and in need of replacement anyway. This player has an excellent picture, good sound, and a nice menu and button layout. The remote is good. For the money, this player is a winner!

this is my first pocket pc that i purchased it to replace my handspring visor. the metal case is very sleek, matched with the color screen, it definitely is a head turner. the rechargeable battery is a nice feature, although the life span is rather short. the serial sync cable included works fairly well but a usb cable would have been better. the infared sync works well with my laptop, but it's much slower than the serial cable. one thing that does annoy me is the fact that you can not store the stylus on the pda itself (like on the palm or visor) rather it stores in the protect sleeve instead. if you get this device you will soon find that the built-in memory is not enough, so i highly recommend getting an additional compact flash memory card. i have used it as an mp3 player but since i store the music on the expansion cf card, reading from the cf slot drains the battery pretty quick. i have also done some light editing of word and excel documents while on the go which works out great.
i also have a cf analog modem and cf wireless card to access the internet, it's not very fast but gets the job done when i need to chek my email. color depth is not all that great, you cannot view pictures or video very well but that might be expecting too much.

For almost three years I had exclusively used a Jornada 820 (Windows CE handheld with built-in modem and keyboard) as a portable device. And while I still love to take the 820 along on trips, there was one drawback: It was always just a little too big and heavy for my purse. This is why I recently bought a Jornada 525 Pocket PC.

The main reason for deciding on a 525 was its price, but I was also pleasantly surprised by its great functionality and design. The device fits well into my hand and exudes a sense of quality - no thin plastic body but substantial metal with rubber coating on the sides for a better grip. It looks pretty cool.

Of course there are a few compromises compared to higher-priced Pocket PCs: The 525 does not come with a cover, although one is available separately; the stylus cannot be stored in the device itself, although there is a slot for it in the included protective glove. Also, this Jornada has only a 256 color display, and no USB interface, however, a serial cable is included for synchronization. Another thing that's missing is a docking station, but again this can be purchased as an accessory. The 525 has only 16 MB memory, and not the fastest processor (SH3, 133 Mhz).

But all these things do not bother me too much. I synchronize via infrared anyway (which you CAN do with this device), and I have already purchased a cover - the silver-colored one looks quite good with it! Sure, the 16 MB memory is not great, but luckily the 525 has a Compact Flash Card slot. With prices for these cards plummeting, I put in a 128 MB CF card and I'm loaded for bear.

If you are like me - and I would dare say like most of the Pocket PC users - you will probably use such a device mainly for storing contacts and appointments, for playing Solitaire or read an eBook while waiting at the doctor's office, or for listening to MP3 files when the wait gets REALLY long. Also for storing other information like credit card numbers, passwords and PINs, and for keeping track of projects, orders, etc. With the optional camera module, one can even take pictures and view them.

All these things work on the Jornada 525, and work well. I would urge anyone who is in the market for a Pocket PC to really think about what he/she wants to do with it, and not blindly go for ads that make you want to spend hundreds of dollars more for a little more speed, contrast, and built-in memory. The fact is that all these devices have a very short shelf life, and what is top-of-the-line today, will very likely be gone by this time next year. Unless you are one of those rare power users who really live and breathe this technology, I believe the Jornada 525 will more than meet your needs.

The reason I didn't give 5 stars is that in my experience its battery life is not the best - I've learned to never stray too far from an electrical outlet. But again: This also depends on what kind of applications you are running, and how many at the same time... Nothing to gripe too much about.

I`m from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I bought my Jornada 525 on november 2001 and I`m realy happy with this unit.
It is really elegant for business and it has the basic programs that a business man need.
Unnluckily, it was discontinious.