MP3 Reviews

Though the great price on this mp3 player makes it more attainable than an iPod, the external quality of it is poor. Good for running and exercising, the small, compact shape makes it easy to carry around in your pocket or purse. Unfortunately, the cheap outer coating on mine started coming off about a month after I bought it, so that now (at one year old) it looks very cheap and used. The screen does not display the name or artist of the songs, only a number to which it is assigned, which was disappointing as well.
The software often crashes, but is easy to use for beginners. Also, the program seems cheaply put together as well.
But again, I have had mine for one year and it still works prfectly. If internal quality is your real concern, and you have no preference of how it looks, I'd say this mp3 player is a great deal.

This player is great. I exchanged an iRock 730i for it, and so far I've absolutely loved the simplicity of it and it's great features. The toggle button is great. Not only is it unique, but it makes all the controls into one switch right at your fingertips. Although some might argue that this player isn't all that since it lacks ID3 tag support, I don't see much of a problem with it since I won't question what song is playing -- if I downloaded it to the player myself, wouldn't I know what it was in the first place? I really like how you can change the equalizer settings during playback. The sound is great, including volume level, and the transfer software is really easy to use. The simplicity of the player makes it extremely appealing. Definitely worth the investment.

It was so easy to load the software and get connected to my pc. In just a few minutes I was converting cd tracks to mp3 and downloading to the player. I had never subscribed to an MP3 web site but the player comes with a free trial offer and now I'm hooked. The sound is fantastic. Great bass even without the base boost turned on. All features are easy to access with the "mode" button and a jog button. It's so light weight that I don't even feel it in my shirt pocket. Only suggestions would be a backlight and a belt clip. Integration with Windows Media Player would also be nice.

Got this for my girlfriend. It sounded great, and I didn't mind having to convert my MP3s to play them. Unfortunately, it began having problems almost immediately. First, it kept giving an error saying that the hard drive door was open--it wasn't. Then, it kept saying that the hard drive wasn't inserted--it was. Now it only powers up intermittently and will only play one song at a time, if that.

We've called Toshiba and gotten pretty good support (a real, English speaking person!!), but nothing they suggested worked. Now I have to pay to mail it back to the company. To be honest, given the cheap door and hard drive mechanisms (I couldn't believe how flimsy these were!), I'm not confident that this will EVER play for any period of time.

I might just buy a Rio.

1. This is NOT a 20GB Jukebox as listed by Amazon.com. It is in fact only 5GB.

2. Even though Toshiba touts the USB 2.0 interface, music transfer is painfully slow because of Toshiba's attempts to assuage the record companies' concerns about digital piracy. First you'll have to rip your tunes using Windows Media Player, there is no flexibility there. Then you cannot even copy the files directly to the unit. You must use the Toshiba "Audio Application" to encrypt those music files. If you attempt to bypass the "Audio Application" to leverage the USB 2.0 speed, the music will not be playable in the unit. So you are basically worse off than using USB 1.1.

3. Background noise is about 9db higher than an apple iPod and the frequency range is about 12% less.

4. The backlight is way under-illuminated

5. Navigation for song selection is horrible.

This unit showed a lot of promise and I was very excited about the possibilities. The size and shape was very appealing even if its slightly bigger than an ipod. However, I would much rather go for 20GB of unfettered access to my music collection. Even at the amazon.com price you are better off getting an iPod or a Nomad Zen.

I was really surprised at how good this unit was for the price.

The PCMCIA hard drive is an awesome idea. It can function as a portable 5GB USB or PCMCIA hard drive (no drivers needed in Win ME, 2000, or XP). It will play MP3, WMA, and WAV files created from ANY program (unlike a previous reviewer stated). Sound quality is top notch...the bass enhancements really work well.

Now, the main complaint is the encryption software that's needed to transfer music to the player. I'm not sure of the purpose of this encryption since you can copy all the music files you want to the hard drive and store them there, you just can't play them. The transfer application is small and looks exactly like Windows Explorer...you just copy and paste your music from your hard drive to the Toshiba. If you have a 1 Ghz or higher PC, the encryption shouldn't slow you down much, if at all. I have a 3Ghz PC and was able to fill up 4 gigs in about 15 minutes, so I find that very reasonable. The menu system on the player is very basic and intuitive. Everyone in the office was able to pick it up and operate it right off the bat. Not sure what one of the other reviewers didn't like about it, it's easy and accessible, what more do you want? It's very sturdy unit, made out of brushed aluminum, and the controls are easily accessible (I like the position of the volume controls...the recessed buttons are unobtrusive yet functional).

In a nutshell, I think this player is one of the best values for the market. I've owned a Nomad II, a Nomad Jukebox, and a 5GB iPod (which died), and this seems to be the best of the group so far. Enjoy!

The Samsung Techno Yepp (STY) is my first MP3 player so I do not have anything to compare it with. With that in mind I offer the following comments:

Positive Features:

o The STY provides good audio quality. The sound is strong and clean, although the bass is a bit weak.

o The STY provides good audio quality. The sound is strong and clean, although the bass is a bit weak. Yes, I just wrote that. I want to stress the point that the sound quality is good. The primary feature of any audio player should be sound quality. The STY delivers good sound quality.

o The STY is very convenient. The MP3 player is quite small, easy to carry/wear, and it does not skip. These characteristics make it very useful while exercising or working.

o The STY has a built-in sound equalizer that helps to improve the playback sound quality. I often play recordings of classic American radio programs from the 30's, 40's, and 50's. This feature reduces the hiss, pops, and other flaws that are common in old radio programs. It is also useful with modern hi-fidelity recordings as well. Depending on the type of music the different equalizer modes can restore some of the warmth and depth that is lost in the MP3 format.

Negative Features:

o I would recommend using different headphones than the ones that are supplied. They sound a bit tinny and they are uncomfortable.

o The STY requires use of Samsung's provided software for loading and unloading recordings. Unforutunately they do not support the Linux computer operating system. Macintosh or Windows computers are well supported though.

o The FM radio tuner that comes with the STY is not integrated with the MP3 player. It is a seperate "remote control" that is part of the headphone cable. The tuner works well and sounds fine, but it is a bit cumbersome. It acts as a lead weight on the headphone cable making the headphones pull on your ears when you are moving about.

I recommend this product as it provides you with good sound quality in a small, convenient player that does not skip.

Best regards,

Joe Kotran

Well, Please ignore this. I'm trying to SEE the reviews and I'm being forced to rate it first. Pretty stupid!

For Christmas, I wanted an MP3 Player and I spent countless hours online looking at ones I wanted and finally chose this one. Whenever it looked like a good player, the reviews said that it was a piece of ..., but I ended up buying this one and man am I happy with it.

Reasons It Rocks:

-- Sound is great
-- Doesn't skip
-- Holds 70 songs on 64 kbps quality MP3s (which sound fine)
-- Has radio
-- Great battery life - around 10 to 15 hours

Reasons Not To Buy:

-- Only if you have poor judgement will you not buy this

I have read so many reviews trashing players but I think the reason it doesnt work for them is because they didnt read the instruction book before they used it!!! Thats probably it!

I've read a number of reviews while checking out the spec's on this device. It seemed that their were more negative reviews of this device than not. Well, I am here to tell you that you are ALL WRONG. After 3 days of use and dissecting the "reading glasses" manual (Are all Koreans more myoptic than westerners?).
I assimilated the device protocol and it kicked my ASS! Yes! The internal amplifier could be a bit more powerful and their could be a bit more memory. But, this device is one of the most intuitive and comprehensive designs I've seen.
NO MOVING PARTS IS A VIRTUE!
The sound quality really took me and my bros for a LOOP. But, forget about the audio playback capabilities of the device...IT RECORDS!!!!!!
IT RECORDS BOTH LINE INPUT AS WELL AS AN INTERNAL MICROPHONE!!!!
I made tests of the line in from other portabe MP3 players and their was not diffence in quality from it's original to clone.
The size of RIPFLASH is 1/3 the depth of a pack of cigarettes and if that wasn't all...It's got a god damm digital FM radio tuner in which you can directly record broadcasts internally. I love this feature. Dication is a breeze with over 20 hours at 32k with the internal microphone. All in All, a great music/sound machine BAR-NONE! I don't know what all the bad reviews are about the operation of this device...Did you graduate HIGH SCHOOL GUYS? Get off your Playstation and learn the real world.
GRADUATE TO RIPFLASH PRO IMMEDIATELY.

I couldn't believe all the functions and capabilities coming from a device so small. It is stylish, rugged & easy to use.
The software was very intuitive & easy to install and use. The sound quality is excellent also. The lithium ion battery lasts for many hours and can recharge through the USB port of your computer or use optional external charger. The built in FM radio appears to be very high quality and I'm able to get great reception. I've tested the built in recording capabilty and it seems to be very sensitive ...should be good for recording meetings & such. I think the extra memory (256Meg) is well worth having, can playback several hours worth of high quality MP3 or WMA material. The only limitation I can see is that you have a 200 file playlist maximum. Pogo products has toll free number for support, if necessary. I really can't find any negatives.

I ordered this on Thursday March 25 at 1:00 AM on Amazon with the free shipping and I got it on Friday March 26th at 1:30 PM. That's 36 hours! Amazon estimated that it will ship on April 1st and I'd get it on April 9th.

This thing rocks. How can something so small pack so much stuff in it? If I had a complaint it would be that it can do way too many things for me to use! I bought it to record the Howard Stern show and listen to it at night so I can get motivated and exercise (ya, right). At 32 bps, which is enough to hear a talk show, it can record almost 20 hours. Now that's awesome.

It is plenty loud and holds enough songs (almost 80 at 128 bps)to satisfy my needs. I know these new ipods can store a gazillion songs on them but I don't need all my songs with me. I just need a few. It costs less than half of the iPOD and it's way smaller than it. It has no moving parts. WOW!

The only thing:
Where can you get the travel charger the manual mentions?

If you're looking for a cheap alternative then Mojo is the right choice. I was looking for a MP3 player that was light and small and I didn't want to spend too much on it since I'm hoping to get an iPod soon. All other alternatives I had seen were too expensive to be worthwhile or didn't have a screen. How can you buy an MP3 player in which you don't know what's playing??!!?? this small player has an incredible amount of information, it's incredibly small, includes interesting functions and works with drag and drop like a breeze. Battery life is 12 hours as promised. The cons are basically the headphones (better use your own) and I found the maximun volume a bit low. All in all, it's definetly an excellent choice (you can use it as a pen drive if you get tired of the MP3 functions)

This can play MP3 files at different bit rates. If you rip in 64kbps you can fit almost 4 hours of music. I'm not sure if WMA is a good format, but this one is compatable with that. It's really light! You don't feel it's there.

This is my 2nd flash player. My 1st one (digltal way) was very bad and lasted just 2 months. I just had this for more than 2 months so woopi! it's already outlasting the 1st one.

Gripe: why is this only USB 1? it takes a long time to copy all the music. Should be USB 2!

Ok I wasn't expectin FM on this since this model is inexpensive. It has good sound to boot, and the orange color does attract attention. I just wish it had USB 2 not the older, slower USB 1 technology. Otehrwise I'm a happy user.

While this gadget does what it says it will do, it falls short on several levels. First of all, when I bought it, I needed to download the Windows ME driver (a fix not indicated anywhere in the literature) - then it worked fine.

I used it regularly as an MP3 player at the gym. Took it to Mexico with me on a vacation - it crashed. Came home - it worked! Go figure...

One of the advantages of digital photography is being able to see you pictures immediately after you take them. For this camera, you'd better have a computer close by as there is no viewer window.

One day when I took the camera out to use it, I discovered the tiny plastic hinge on the battery compartment door had broken (this is not the type of damage that some unknown person could have done - it was in a protective bag, just sitting on a shelf). I continued to use it holding the batteries in by hand when needed (ugh!).

Now for the real disappointment - I purchased a new computer system using Windows XP, downloaded the driver from Pretec's site - no go. Camera won't work. Tried to contact tech support via the web - filled out their web form and - imagine this, when I hit "send" I got "Page not found" (after a couple of tries too). So, refusing to give up, I called their headquarters. The recording said they were open 9-5 Pacific time (oh well, it WAS only 8:54 Pacific - no point in getting there early I guess) and asked if I'd like to leave a message for tech support - I pushed the appropriate number and...GUESS WHAT? It wouldn't take my message because THE TECH SUPPORT BOX WAS FULL! I wonder why....

This was a regrettable purchase.

You can't really hold this camera in your hand and take a picture because it will turn out too blurry. But if you place it on a tripod or flat surface it works allright. People don't realize that for everyday pictures 640x480 is pretty sharp. There's a 20 second timer which is also great and the video out is convenient enough (there's no way to preview window on the camera).

The MP3 player works well, and I have minimal complaints with the voice recording (what can you expect for [the price]). It's poor sound quality and the mic is a pinhead sized hole on the camera.

There were some problems using as an internet camera in NetMeeting where the picture started bleeding and there were artifacts in the display as if the update was too slow, but again in a pinch it's not terrible.

All told I'm glad I got it. I'll take a picture or two with it and play music on it while I commute or walk around. I can't really speak about battery drainage either. I'm trying to find an AC adapter for it.

I found this unit while looking for a combination webcam digital camera. I had also desired to purchase a compact flash MP3 player. Double bonus, and a audio recorder to boot, what a deal.. The pictures are suprisingly detailed and with accurate color reproduction, something I would expect in a higher echlon camera. It is not a multi-megapixel unit, but can hold its own in its class. Detail on images taken inches away lacks resolution, but anything taken with more than a foot has enough definition and will suprise you. The USB connection transfers images quickly and the TV display connection is nice. It does not have a LCD screen on the unit, but its price is enticing to say the least. The mp3 player works great. Another bonus that both pictures and mp3 songs exist on the same memory card. The camera creates a folder on the card for its images. Triple mega bonus, both the mp3 songs and jpeg pictures are immediately accessible on my Windows CE PDA!!!! Unbelievable... My friend just spent $300 for a Sony mp3 player and an absorbant amount on a Sony maciva digital camera and is disappointed that the memory sticks are not readable by both and his files are not transferable to his PDA.

If have the need for a digital camera, mp3 player and webcam look not further as this is the unit for your. It will work great in capturing moments and memories while providing countless hours of music entertainment.

If you are looking for a digital camera to produce high quality prints to display and frame, you will need a higher end mega pixel unit and some good digital imaging software.

I purchased this system in Jan. 2002. It is now Jun 2004. The DVD player no longer works. Also the system always had an annoying habit of producing loud "pops" during DVD playback along with visual stutters. I will not buy from Daewoo again.

I didn't want to pay too much for my first home theater system so I waited until I found a unit with everything I needed for my price. This was it. It has all more inputs and outputs than similar grade (and much higher priced) Sony and Panasonic systems. S-video, composite, component, Outputs for adding on a cd/dvd burner or cassette player; Plays VDC,CD, DVD, CDR CDRW MP3's. I am not a a real freak about sound, so I cannot get really picky here, but I think it sounds alot better than the stereo speakers on my TV. You can make the center channel louder than the other channels in dolby digital 5.1 so you can hear the dialog without blowing everyone out when the dinos started stomping. The subwoofer has a control knob so you can adjust quickly if it gets too loud.

Good price/quality. The satellite speakers could be in wooden boxes though. My manual came in German, but as far as I could understand it, I should have got a Euro/SCART cable to connect to a TV set, but there wasn't one.
Has a lot of different inputs and that was the Daewoo's major advantage over the competition. It was the main reason i bought it. A complete Dolby Digital reciver with all the necessary inputs and outputs, integrated with a DVD player !
5X30 W should be enough for a home cinema. Subwoofer has 50 W. Remote control is included, of course.

This player has no way of transferring things you record onto another Computer or even other media. It has, as my reviewer colleague explains, no line out.

I bought this as I am a professional musician, and I want to record and archive rehearsals, etc. It was sold with a microphone(which I didn't buy) for that purpose.

The manual says this, but it is on page 72 in 8 point font in a footnote. The advertizing is misleading, as it says you can "check in" tracks.

The whole promise of MD devices was that you could do everything on them a CD couldn't do--like record. This lack of feature effectivly prevents you from recording, because you can never get the recording off the Mini Disc. In fact, for all the great editing tools that are advertised with this device, you cannot even edit the recording live.

The only solution is to plug it into a ripper. This converts the digital signal to analog, effectivly wasting the whole point of using digital media in the first place.

I bought this recorder originally to make sound recordings, and it worked well for that, but unfortunately because of some copy-right protection issues, it is very difficult to remove sounds from the minidisc recorder to my computer. So I gave up and have recently been putting CDs onto the MDs and using the system in my car. The sound is much better than on my portable CD player and it comes with a little remote that's pretty handy. I don't particularly like the software that comes with the MD recorder.

I bought this recorder for recording purposes. To me, it does a great job in offering the sound quality that I really need.

The problem I have with is transferring from the recorder to my PC. The original software that comes with this recorder does not allow users to do just that. Thanks for the inconvenience Sony!
It took me almost what seemed to be all day to

1) Download a "audio capture software"
2) find an minijack analog cable....whatever that is

Its a very good device, sound quality wise, but, Sony needs to come up with a program that allows users to transfer from Minidisk ( MD ) to the PC.

The CONs:
- it does drain a battery. I feel like I have to change it often, but its a AAA to thats probably why
- the navigation button doesnt always work as well as it should. I feel like its difficult to skip to the next song...forget this if at all if you are working out doing something high impact....you need a steady hand to do it and several attempts
- volume level doesnt go that high
- radio doesnt pick up stations and its not easy to set them
- cant do your own playlist in the the order you want. It sorts it alphabetically. You can do random but sometimes w hen working out i want to put songs in a certain order

PRO's:
- so small and lightweight!!! this is a great feature.
- i have the 256 mb capcity and sometimes i fit 90 songs on it.
- its really easy to plug and play into a computer!
- great for a commuter

I got this as a gift and as its my first one I have to say overall I love it as its much smaller and easier than a cd player when working out and commutting. However when I really think about it when I do get another one I probably will be checking out other ones unless they improve the navigation buttons and battery life. But seeing as how I have no experience with other MP3 players I dont know if this is a norm or not.

I bought this as an upgrade to a 128 MB player, and thus far, don't mind it. It holds a lot of music (110+ songs in MP3Pro format, use MusicMatch to convert for free). The screen is big enough and shows all the nessisary info, though for some reason, the song time is messed up occasionally. Though, for example, it is a 4 minute song, the display says 2 minutes, and every second on the countup timer takes 2 seconds. Strange, but not really a crisis.

It's dirt easy to transfer songs, too; just plug the player into a USB port and drag and drop in Windows Explorer. Windows 2000, ME, and XP have the USB driver built in, too.

I like the size; not too big or too small. I wouldn't mind it being a sliver smaller, but oh well. I like the earphones that come with it too; nice and small, yet comfortable. The belt clip and neckstrap are nice, too.

I havent used the FM tuner much, but when I did, it picked up the popular stations well, but none of the weaker stations. The voice recorder is great for recording notes to yourself, but too weak to make recordings of a lecture. You can record from the radio, too, which is cool, if not kinda pointless.

The navigation button is frustrating at times -it pauses when I try to skip forward, or it doesn't do anything when I press forward- but I usually get it. It doesn't have a browse feature, either, so you must manually go through all the songs to get to the one you want. One thing I hate is the battery life; it seems that every few hours I must change it. It's probably more like 6, but still.

The customer service is great, too. My first one had a loose wire and kinda melted (kool to look at, anyhow) and I called them and it was replaced within 10 days, free of charge.

PROS
-Cost: only $125 now
-Size: about the size of two of my fingers (I'm a big guy though)
-Capasity: Over 4hrs/110 songs w/ MP3Pro.
-4 in 1: Works great as voice recorder, FM tuner (for strong stations), and thumbdrive.
-Included Accesories (Belt clip, neckstrap, USB extention cable)
-Great customer support.

CONS
-Buttons don't always work.
-FM tuner bad on weaker signals.
-Battery life: 5-6 hrs.

I purchased Gateway's 256mb MP3/WMA player, model DMP-300, which is similar to the DMP-310, but without the radio.

Connection to my computer is provided via a USB cable, (included in the purchased package), and downloading an MP3 music file is a simple drag and drop function, from my computer to the MP3 player. For me, that's great. I want to listen to music, not reengineer the technology.

Sound quality was a great surprise. It is very clear, given the size of the headphones that come with the player.

The DMP-300 is a 3-1 device that gives you the ability to listen to music, store data files, or use as a voice recorder.

Dimentions: 1.53" x 3.39" x .52" and weight: (without the AAA battery) is 1.13 oz. Very compact and light! And the number one reason I chose this Gateway MP3 player.

Capacity of the model DMP-300 is 256mb, and I've been able to store about 52 of my favorite songs. Can't say for sure how much time total that is... but it's nearly 3 1/2 hours.

Menu functions are straight forward. Some of my favorites are the ability to set the player to repeat all, or as much of a song that you want to hear. There's also the Random play, which mixes up the listening order, and an intro feature that plays the first 10 seconds of each track. There is also a feature that allows you to adjust the units 10-band equalizer to your preference.

Buttons are easy. Play, stop, Rewind/Previous, FFwd/Next.
Two obvious volume control buttons, + and -.

I wish the unit allowed programed play, but it does play the songs in the order that they are recorded. A little forethought, programed play is easily accomplised in the order I record my music.

The unit has adjustable contrast for the disply. A blue backlight is also provided and can be turned off, or the duration of backlighting can be set for a shorter or longer period, depending on your preference.

It's just a great unit. The sound is clear with no background noise. Simple and straight forward to use, with some features that make playing your music a pleasure. Not a task.

Recieved mine last year for Christmas, and at first was completely turned off by the interface of the software that came with it. The software also stopped working somewhere in the middle of the year. I could not place songs on my irock, nor could I remove songs, but the software would connect and let me see the songs. Baffeling really!

However, with a little tinkering I got it working again, and truthfully I don't know what the problem was or how it was fixed in the end. All I know is that the player itself is a handy little gadget, it's affordable, isn't too hard to figure out and works very well. I am happy with the player! I should also note that my niece has the same exact player and has had the same exact problems with the software, but hers works now too.

The software on the other hand... well I'm still TRYING to get along with it. It seems to get buggy everynow and again and can be a pain, but like everything, you have to learn it and learn what works and what doesn't work.

So, in the end, I would recommend this product to anyone looking for an affordable mp3 player that gets the job done.

:)

Not sure the issue some folks have with this unit. I have two of the 128mb internal memory versions along with 128mb viking smc and they work fine. If you want to use a smc card from another gizmo you may have to use the irock wipe utility (different than the format utility) and vice versa. Only drawback is the battery life - definitely get a rechargeable setup.

The software it comes with is amazing, and the best part about the IROCK is that you are able to use Windows Media Player to manage what goes on it. The IROCK software formats the card, and is able to search through your computer for tracks. It is really your choice which you will use to get on your way to listening pleasure. The quailty of sound is shocking, even on lower kps levels.