MP3 Reviews

The drivers for the SBLive have never been great. With Windows 2000 the drivers were horrible. With Windows XP, you can have basic functionality, but instally Liveware (required to get all the features from the card) will cause system instability, etc. Don't buy this for XP!

I bought this card in a bundle that included the FPS1000 and I've been fairly pleased with the card. (The speakers are a different story. Please see my rant under the Soundworks FPS1000 if you are interested.)

I realized from the get-go that this was just a Soundblaster Live with extra software. However, I'm a sucker for bundled software, and so I took the bait.

As to be expected, the software has run hot and cold in its usefullness. I will say that once I FINALLY get Cakewake to interface with my MIDI keyboard, I will be quite pleased with my purchase. (However, the last time I tried to get it to work, Cakewake was strangely silent. Something must have been wrong in my setup somewhere.)

Some of the software is quite lame. Creative's LAVA and "Keytar" come to mind. (The former is a bad rip off of some of Winamp's finer visual effects and the latter is a poor, poor excuse for guitar effects on the keyboard. Get a real guitar.)

In the end, however, I'm pleased with the performance of my card, and I still maintain that this was the bundle for me. (I certainly shouldn't have bought the "X-Gamer," and I'm still not certain how useful the "LiveDrive" that comes with the Platinum edition is.)

I give it 4 stars because the chipset is a GOOD chipset for a consumer sound card. If you are serious about sound and computers, definitely look elsewhere. Myself, I'm only semi-serious, and, for better or worse, this is where I landed.

I've upgraded my computer many times in the past, but I had a few problems with setup this time. First, it was confusing because the drivers for Win98 are designed so that you *don't* install them when Windows prompts you. While the card included a "Quick Setup Guide" that explained this, the main manual didn't. Also, my Gateway has a sound card wired into the motherboard, and this caused a *major* conflict. The manual wasn't really helpful in troubleshooting this problem, either. But once I disabled the other sound card in the system bios the card started working perfectly.

Other than setup, though, the card is working wonderfully. My old card was a SB64, so I wasn't sure how much better the sound would be. It is, however, noticably better. And it gets even better when the environmental audio settings are used.

I do have to agree with some other reviews that some of the software seemed a little silly. The mp3 player/recorder looks great, but I can't seem to get it to play both mp3s and cds, which makes me kinda prefer realjukebox.

Oh, one other thing about the card -- it includes support for multiple cd drives, so I can finally use my second cd drive for playing music. A wonderful advantage if you have two drives.

I knew that if I was going to use my Nomad II with any sort of frequency, I was going to need a charger. The price may be high, or you might say that the charger should be included, but if you bought a Nomad II, you need to get this.

The battery life on a Nomad II is about 8-10 hours of play-time. So you use one battery, then another, then another. Soon, you'll be spending a boatload on batteries. This accessory makes the Nomad more cost effective for you.

Not only is this a charger, but it's also a docking cradle. Like the Palms out there, you can use this tool to upload files (in this case, songs). The connection is through a USB port, if you were curious.

Don't fret if you're looking to buy a Nomad II. You do not HAVE to have this accessory. You can purchase batteries, and a USB cable and USB port on the gadget come with the Nomad II. But if you're going to use your Nomad II a lot, you NEED this.

I bought this docking cradle and a Nomad II at the same time. The cradle makes the Nomad easier to use, because at the end of the day you just drop it in the cradle and it charges, and it's ready again the next morning. It also comes with it's own USB cable, so that you can leave the one the Nomad comes with at a friend's or work for trading files there. The other good thing is that when you transfer files to the Nomad through the cradle, it doesn't use batteries like using a straight USB cable to the Nomad does. My only complaint is the fact it has to plug into the wall for power, as well as USB, but they can't help that (since it has to charge a battery).

I had bought the Japanese version in Japan a few months before the American version of the docking station was released.

It worked perfectly on the USB port, performing the synchronizations I needed and charging the battery in the Nomad.

This may be the best boombox you can buy. It's the only one I've ever found that has an auxiliary line-in jack, and the separate woofer adds real depth to the sound. The backlit LCD display is an excellent touch.

My only criticisms are the lack of real tone controls (but those seem to have disappeared from boomboxes years ago) and the mechanical (as opposed to soft-touch) cassette controls. Oh, and it's a bit unattractive, unless you don't mind a boombox that looks like a nuclear submarine.

My kids keep trying to steal this from me, which is the ultimate compliment.

I got this boom box for Christmas and it has very good sound. The power drive woofer makes all the difference by providing deep bass. If you don't want deep bass you can turn it off. The high frequencies are clear as well as the vocals. The sound only distorts at top volume which is extremely loud. This is the best sounding boom box I have ever heard. I have no complaints and recommend this boom box. It is a good value for the money.

I ve bought many boomboxes over the years but none sounds as good as this one.The woofer and the sound equalizer does the trick. I ve bought a few Aiwas with their Q sound and surround, but all were lacking in that great bass. This unit seems to have a built in surround sound. I just bought it the other day and I ve encountered no problems. It is a bit on the cumbersome side and like most cassette recorders does not record wellon High bias tapes.Unfortunatly thats all I have,The line in feature is great. I ve been using it to play my portable DVD player. The sound is awesome. If only it wasnt so heavy..and thats notincluding the 8 D batteries to power it. Allin all for $100 its a great machine. I would imagine only the Bose radio is more powerful, but with a CD player and cassette recorder builtin to this unit...its a great buy.

At first I was impressed with my AV380, but then I realized my battery life was defective - approximately 90 minutes on a full charge. My AV380 is still under warranty, and Archos doesn't return my emails, and doesn't even have a telephone support line, so I'm at a loss how to get help!! I can not reach anyone at Archos, and my warranty is running out.
Before buying mine, my friend had warned me, and I had read reviews before that Archos customer support is known for being the worst in the business. But I figured I would take my chances - I did - and now I'm paying for it!
Incredible that this company is still doing business here in America... I understand they are based out of France.... Maybe that explains the lack of customer service... Buy at your own risk - Peeved in Hawaii!

This thing is exactly what I was looking for to take on long trips. First, it replaced a portable DVD player and the need to take all my movies on DVD disks with me. Next, it replaced an electronic film vault as I can load JPEGs in from my CF cards, and the screen is much better to share photos with friends. And the size and weight of the AV380 compared to lugging around a laptop is pure joy!

I was concerned that movies would be "jerky" or "pixilated", but nothing could be further from the truth. Maybe it's not DVD quality, but it's so close I can't tell the difference.

This product is going to turn heads wherever you go. I see that Archos is releasing the AV400, which has CF built in, but it's not hard to do with this unit. Synchs right up to Win XP, and the USB 2.0 is great for moving files around.

Anything I don't like? I believe we'll see these PVPs really take off in the next year. On my wish list would be removable battery packs, a speaker, and a built in CF reader (all now available on the new AV400 which should be shipping soon, and more file acceptance TIFF, PDF, etc. A flip cover for the screen would also be nice, as the unit doesn't come with a case. Recording movies into the unit is a snap, but the process of doing file conversions on movies I've made with Pinnacle was more daunting than I was prepared for (no, I didn't major in computer science). Much easier to just output to disk or camcorder and then re-record into the AV380.

All in all, the coolest product I've bought since the first portable DVD players came out a few years back.

The archos AV300 series is a portable computer in addition to an awesome personal video player. All you need to do is install windows to a partition you make on the hard drive and you can run your computer from anywhere where there is a USB connection and a monitor. The simplicity and speed of the file transfer method is un-matched unless you need to install an upgraded USB hub. All you do is drag and drop. Immediately upon plugging in the Archos to a computer it recognises it as a USB mass storage device and you are ready to do your bidding. And get these while you can. The main problem is that battery life is less than 4 hours when watching videos. And since the battery is a proprietary non-removable Li-Ion battery, you can't just pop out the old battery and put in a new one. The unit does have a ability to turn off the LCD backlight while operating each time you skip a song or mistakenly press a button in your pocket. It has an excellent record timer, A nice surprise,so you can record a weeks worth of your favorite reruns. It is easy enough to get video recorded into it with the provided cables and DVR attachment, and easy to connect to your TV for playback. If you read the specs and don't have a problem with the size and other features, you will be very satified. Don't expect DVD quality playback on your TV. It has the wonderful AV recorder which comes inside the pack, makes video recording very easy. you wont need a video anymore. connects easily to the TV or VCR, but you should be careful of the cables connecting the AV380 because they turn out to be too plenty. The remote control (wireless) is excellent and makes life easier when placing the AV380 away from you. Finally, Archos gets it!! With this model, Archos has addressed most of the drawbacks of previous models. This product is actually in a class of its own! It does everything it claims to do, and does it well! The interface has also been drastically improved, though it is not obvious how to use the 3 "soft" buttons at first since the buttons are aligned vertcally at the right while the functions are listed horizontally at the bottom of the screen. However, a quick glance at the button descriptions in the quick-start guide is all you need to understand how everything works. Yes there is actually a quick start guide in addition to the well-written manual. The interface is much improved by the addition of a joystick. Also, the Operating System now allows file-handling functions such as rename, delete, etc to be done right on the jukebox, whereas a PC was required before. Also as with previous models, the jukebox looks like a hard-disk when connected to the PC which means transferring files back and forth is as easy as drag-and-drop (as opposed to using proprietary programs). The USB 2.0 connection is extremely fast and definitely a plus. The audio input jack doubles as line-in and mic-in. Live recording is now very clean with no hard-disk noise, even when using the internal mic. This model adds official support for playing WMA files. The latest OS update (free on their website) adds support for playing AND recording in WAV format (in addition to the MP3 format. You now have a full blown DAT recorder in your pocket! This update also allows you to do some basic audio and video editing on the unit itself. Video looks very good indeed on the large 3.8" LCD screen. May not exactly be DVD-quality as they claim, but its close! The included DVR module allows you to record MP4 video on the fly or you can convert videos to MP4 on your PC and transfer them to the unit. Pictures look great! The unit supports both JPEG (non-progrssive) and BMP. You can use the optional memory card readers to upload directly into the jukebox bypassing your PC, or you can download pictures from your PC. Also for the hefty price tag, Archos should have included the optional wired remote that adds FM Radio support. The lack of an included carrying case is puzzling especially since the cheaper Archos models all came with cases. Go out and buy a case right away to protect that huge LCD screen.
The Arcos is quality is miles ahead of any other competetors products.
Recommendation:If you like having alot of movies on hand, alot of photos on hand and the ability to play hundreds of song, then this is for you. I am a chauffeur for a living and this definately kills the sit and wait time assosciated with my job. Excellent for long trip, plug into the vehicle dvd player or music into the tape deck. Makes for a shorter trip.

I was looking for something small I could carry in a pack or a pocket. This gadget fits the bill. It's so tiny and cool to use, people are always astonished when they see it. It's useful for taking quick pictures and short videos (the resolution isn't great but it's good enough for email and web pix). The MP3 player is a great bonus. I use it to listen to audiobooks. I would highly reccommend it for anyone looking for a small multi-use gadget. It will never replace my Canon digital camera but it's a nice extra.

This has been a perfect buy for my wife and I. She wanted an easy-to-use, easy-to-carry digital camera. Well, I found exactly what she wanted, plus a digital camcorder (it records/plays MPEG4 clips), an audio recorder, and a MP3 player --all for the price of an entry-level digital camera!!

The video editing software that comes with this baby is not ideal, but it handles the basic tasks of viewing and deleting files. I also wish I could use the device as a webcam. But other than that, I've had so much fun with it, including recording instructions for my wife on how to use it!

this is the coolest thing you get four great things in one, although i cant print out the pictures because my mom lost the product key

a retard could figure this out it's so easy,but if you are going to buy this buy an extra card for recording because they dont hold very much. well, you should still buy this because instead of buying those expensive video camera, or mp3 players, or digital cameras it's all in one and VERY COOL

If you have Windows XP, forget it. I was on the phone with Yepp Technical Support, as well as RealJukebox Help (Yepp uses RealJukebox software). No one could tell me how to get it working with Windows XP.

After a *LOT* of research I bought my first MP3 player.
It is a very good deal, specially if you buy the 32Mb version an add an unexpensive 64 Mb smartmedia card. 96Mb is fairly more music than the one you'll need for a ride on the bus to college or work.

The sound is pretty good and you'll usually use it on shuffle without the remote. I don't have to say anything about the look.

The software works ok, you'll probably preffer the Yepp explorer (downloadable from samsung's site) than the included Real Jukebox.
About the transfer speed, well, when working with the embedded memory is just fine, however, downloading or even erasing music from the smartmedia is kinda' slow.

To sum up, if you get it from less than 100 bucks... it's a really good deal.

I have just received this unit today. It takes less than 2 minutes to transfer 32MB mp3 songs to the onborad memory using windowsXP, the YEPP explorer from the samsung website, DO NOT INSTALL THE SOFTWARE ON THE CD. I think this player's output is loud enough to enjoy the music on the street or working out. I don't know the battery life but ppl do have good thing to say about it. I have no problem connecting this unit to the computer.(less than 1 mins) and about the belf clif? It is very easy to use and fit perfectly to the player and I have no problem wearing it around.(I do prefer to have an arm band.) The battery door is no trick to open. This is the easiest electronic I have ever used. I don't know why people keep having hard time to operate it. I bought it at 39.99 with free shipping and I am heading to the neweggs.com to get a 25 Dollars 64MB SmartMedia card. Total investment will be around 65 dollars for a 96MB meomry MP3 player with cool apperance. Thumb UP to samsung again. oh yeah, I do own another 99 dollars Samsung Laser printer (8MB). I think I will give them more business in the near future when I buy a new plasma TV or HDTV.

I owned several memory-, CD-, and HD-based MP3/WMAplayers and honestly I don't know why I get this Muvo2 player. There are simply too many thing that I don't like about this player

1. The control is way too small (less than 1/2" in diameter with 5 functions)

2. The navigation sucks -
a. You can't choose a song directly w/o playing a folder and then advance to the song you want.
b. You can't back out of a folder w/o going through menu | folder option | 1st folder | next/prev folder...
c. Only 2/3 functions of the tiny control wheel is available for navigation.

3. They want you to buy additional battery for $50 instead of using standard batteries.

4. The control wheel and play buttons are completely hidden when the unit is in the case so you have to take the unit out before you can control it.

5. The USB 2.0 and USB charging support are nice. However, you can't use the player in the USB charging mode.

This was my first MP3 player purchase. I have waited until there was a flash-memory-based product with sufficient capacity to be worth my effort. While the Creative MUVO2 X-Trainer has several attractive features (intuitive/no-hassel interface as add-on hard drive via USB2.0 or USB1.1 connection, mega-battery life - over 24 hours continuous play,noise-free operation - no moving parts, skip free playback - no moving parts, and armband/waistclip, seemless integration with Creative PlayCenter software), it falls short on some critical features:

* Unable to play ".WAV" files without errors
* Playback buttons not very user-friendly - especially compared to other products on the market.
* No FM radio
* No record function/input (microphone)
* Memory only 512 MB & can't upgrade with flash memory cards. Creative either needs to increase memory to 2 gigs (NOT HD), enhance usability/design and increase features.

By the time they re-launch their products, we will be demanding miniature MPEG4/JPEG/MP3/FM... with easy-to-use wireless interfaces on flash memory and infinite battery life for under $300. Viva la consumer :P

I picked this for no moving parts, and easy interface with windows XP. So far, So Good, we use it while out on the ATV's. Ease of use for us is just fine, yea, wish it had more memory, Yea, regular batteries would be nice, but ease of getting MP3's onto it is great, hit play, and enjoy....

I'll just cut to the chase:
Pros: Cheap; great audio quality; the easiest search song functions; the random function is in deed an ALL song random function; includes AC/DC adapter (not everyone does, watchout).
Cons: Lousy headphones (comfort & audio quality); ESP (Antiskip) works only in regular CD's (not MP3's); if your MP3 CD surpasses 130 songs it won't read the 131 and so on; the open/close device is very insecure, for it can be opened very easily during playback if you're not cautious.

The veredict: Worth for the money you pay. It does the task. It won't dissapoint you.

I have a problem with this cd player. The problem its that my cd player "burns" battery literally. I put a pair of "AA" battery and in a half of hour it appears "Low Battery". Why???, and also I was searching for how much time does the battery offers and I couldn't find anything...

This mp3 player is excellent for anyone who wants to listen to their entire music collection on just a few simply made CD's. When you create an Mp3 disc RecordNow is an great for making the mp3 format discs. After you have selected every song on your computer, just burn them to the CDR and whalllaaahhh.

Good Quality Mp3's have a filesize of about 1.0 megabytes per minute of music. An mp3 cd that I made for my friend had 275 songs which was about 680 minutes of music.

Here's how you can calculate how many regular Cd's you can fit on an mp3 formated disc:

Number of minutes of music on a regular CD X 1 = space in MB taken up on the CD

So if your average Cd is 50 minutes long you can fit 13 of your reugalar CD's onto one disc to play forever on this player.
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Bottom LINE 680-700 minutes of music on one disc
Equivalent to 11 hours of music Yeaaaaaahhhhhh

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I bought this product in June 2003. It stopped working 3 months later.
First it turned itself off abruptly with NO REASONS. - 1st month
Then strange characters start showing up. - 2nd month
Then nothing showed up on LED and no key works. - 3rd month
I don't think a 128MB MP3 player is supposed only to work for 3 months.
Be cautious of this product.

Major stuff: BIG ole sound, even at 64 WMA
SMALL little box, expensive feel.
Really good battery life.
Expandable. Although I have already put
a lot of songs on it and still have memory
left.
Buttons nice and easy to click.

Minor stuff: Earphones about 2 inches too short for
walking with player in jacket waist pocket,
although not jacket vest pocket

Arm band not made for bigger biceps. Could not
get used to wearing player on my wrist.

Bottom line: Small mp3/wma player, wma recorder from voice or
line-in CD player input. VERY few players will copy
your collection of CD's right from your CD player.
Really good sound quality at 64 bit rate WMA. Go
to 128 if you want to.

This player is superbad!! I ordered another for my
son.

Before I rave on about how great this product, let me just say up front that it is not the best mp3/wma player, nor is it the best recorder... but it is the best for doing both. I purchased the player because I wanted to listen to my digital music away from home. I purchased the Ripflash DX because I wanted to make digital recordings of the high school choirs that I teach. Because the DX records in WMA format, it is able to compress near-CD quality sound and transfer it to my computer without sending it through my sound card using a LINE IN or MIC port. With the ability to change the recording bitrate and the option for another 128MB, the recording options are near limitless.

This review comes after using the SD80 daily for nearly two years.

Pros

Sound quality is generally excellent
Battery life is fantastic, especially with backup AAA battery
Player is tiny and can be worn on your person or put in your pocket
Protective case offers outstanding protection and is functional
Transferring files to SD card is reasonably simple
DRM protection has never caused an issue for me

Cons

Panasonic support is woefully lacking, to the point of irresponsibility

Product is now dated for what it offers
You must use Real Audio or, when you can find it, Panasonic's SD Jukebox software to transfer files
Limited to USB 1.1; no support for third party card writers, 1.1 or 2.0
Included 64mb SD card would not function in the Panasonic USB Reader/Writer, but was able to bring it to life formatting it on another writer
Panasonic does not maintain an archive of all of the software needed to make the player work should you lose the installation CD.
Maximum volume below average - you may find it too low in noisy environments.

Overall

A great choice if you can find it at a substantial discount. I would have rated it four stars a year ago. The unit has become considerably dated now, with far faster USB 2.0 units for less money and fewer problems. This has always been an obscure player in the MP3 marketplace, and Panasonic has done nothing to change that in North America.

Some tips and observations:

Throw away the included headphones. They're terrible. I recommend the Koss Porta Pro or KTX Pro 1 headphones. They have better bass response and carry a lifetime warranty.

Panasonic in North America has been completely unresponsive to customer support requests for their SD series players. Many customer service reps do not even know the line exists, much less offer support. Panasonic online support for the product is completely unacceptable. They have essentially abandoned updating their website with software and driver updates, and they unacceptably do not provide online access to all of the software necessary to make the product work. If you lose your installation CD, your player is worthless.

Multiple experiences with customer service have never produced a satisfactory result. This is a major negative for the entire Panasonic product line and is an important consideration if you think you will need product support.

Unit must be used with included software (or SD Jukebox, usually found overseas). You also cannot use a third party USB reader/writer, which limits you to their own unit, which operates at USB 1.1 speeds. If their reader is missing/broken, it is not cheap to replace.

Certain MP3 files encoded with lower end "ripping" software do not play correctly. Those songs will abruptly end. The only way to predict this behavior is to compare the reported length of the song as it sits in your library with that reported by the Panasonic unit after transferring songs. There is no fix - you can only re-encode the song in hopes of getting through this. It affects about 3% of songs I've found, but almost always those produced by individuals, not professionally encoded files.

WMA files play at louder volumes than MP3 files.

Transfer times can be laborious. Make sure you have the software set not to re-encode your files or convert them to another format, such as AAC. It will add lots of time to the transfer.

Player controls are not intuitive for changing to random playback, boosting the bass, or other extra functions. But you can usually manage it in five minutes or less. Note the playlist function does not appear to be implemented.

Clearly the Panasonic line is not well known and you can impress your friends with the individuality of their product line. Unfortunately, it turns out there is a reason why a product line is not well known - in this case it's Panasonic's own fault.

Sure, this Audio Player is tiny and compact and will wow anybody that you show it to. Sure, the small storage disc makes it easy to fit many, many songs.

But if you lose that software disc you get when you first buy it, then there's no point in ever having it in the first place.

Even worse, you could still have the disc and you'll never be able to use it ever again. If you lose the case that the disc came in, you would have bought all this in vain.

The serial number for the disc is needed to install in into your computer, but if you lose the case which tells you the serial number.... then you're just in trouble.

I have not been able to locate a new SD Jukebox software anywhere, and since somebody accidentally deleted my SD Jukebox program from my computer, I'm left with no means to rotate my songs.

So, if you decide to buy this portable audio player by Panasonic, don't ever lose that disc. Even if your life depended on it, don't lose that disc.

The main draw of the SD80 is just how small it is--I throw it around my neck everytime I leave the house because it's so non-obtrusive to anything. You might as well have it with you 'cause you never know when you're going to have to wait a couple of minutes for a bus, get bored walking down the street, or whatever. It's there when you want it, and is so simple to use you can operate it even under clothing (living in Seattle, I often wear it under a sweater or coat).

The player's functions are simple, but enough. Random play, playlist play, and repeat... All playback operations are handled with three buttons--skip back, skip forward, and play/stop/pause. The play/stop/pause button is actually very functional, despite combining so many things.

The player doesn't come without some problems, though. First of all, it's not a straight MP3 player. To put files onto the SD card you need to use the Real software. It's not bad software per se, but I would unquestionably prefer being able to simply drag MP3 files from my hard drive folders to the removable USB drive that shows up in Explorer. Also, the included 64MB card is a little stingy ... It's enough to fit a whole CD, but nothing more. At least you can upgrade...

Overall, the convenience of being able to just throw the thing around my neck when I leave the house is what makes the player really really usable. It's always there, never in the way...and the other complaints are minimal.