MP3 Reviews

I live in a fairly large metropolitan area and many of the lower FM frequencies that would be available in smaller towns are filled here. That being said, it's difficult to find a frequency to tune into with the Tunecast II. The second problem is sound quality...it's not terrible but it's less than cd-quality sound. Third is the Tunecast II's monstrous appetite for AAA batteries. On one car trip (a total of 6 hours of driving) I changed batteries twice. The secondary problem with this battery hog is that it loses its programmed memory when it loses battery power, forcing you to reprogram the frequencies over and over again. Don't waste your money, I'll be returning mine to the store.

I bought the one on sale for 14.99 I link? for my MP3 player and it was horrid. I upgraded to this FM transmitter. IT was about the same. I attached a 6 foot extension cable to make it easier to reach with out pulling the transmitter all over the truck and it made all the difference. It works like a champ and the ability to pick so many stations make it well worth the money. Iam using 94.1 now. Without the extension it is below average. I have a single cab truck and it was staticy sitting on the passenger seat pointing at the stereo. After attaching the cable it can go anywhere and work like a champ. I would recomend this one over the others with a cable attached.

I ended up buying the TuneCast II when I accidentially broke my iTrip. When I first got the iTrip, I thought that it was a pretty good FM transmitter. After I got the TuneCast, however, I realized that it's much better than the iTrip. For one, you don't have to "load" the radio stations into your iPod and the fact that the TuneCast gives you the option of using any frequency imaginable, which is good when you live in a big city (like I do), and the availabilty of radio frequencies seems to change from day to day. True, the sound quality is not perfect, but I attribute part of that to not being able to find a 100% unused frequency. I don't like the battery drain, but I've been told that some of the specialized digital media batteries (like the kind typically used in digital cameras) solves the drain problem easily. Overall, I'd give the TuneCast II a B+ to A-.

I ordered this product on May 31, 2004 and today is July 5th and I still haven't received it. I was told because I used regular mail to have it shipped that it was basically my fault that I don't have it. The postal service doesn't take over a month to ship a product from eastern pa to western pa.
I am very dissatisfied with the customer service I have received to date....

My daily 2+ hour commute is eased by having my MP3 player hooked into my desk using this cassette adapter. I have had it for a couple of months now and as far as the durability goes, it has held up well compared with a Radio Shack cassette adapter that it replaced (since the connectors around the plug came apart.)

I do have a couple of somewhat significant issues with it:
1) the cassette adapter will reverse directions on a random, varying basis; this will happen at least two to three times each hour, but sometimes more. I know that this not necessarily caused by the player since it has happened with the cassette in the deck and the MP3 player off.
2) the power plug has different power plugs to mate with different types of players, but the adapter plug can easily get tugged away from its cord - there should be a better way to secure this; this can be easily be corrected with some electrical tape, but it is a minor nuisance. It has required that I be careful with where I route the cords to make sure that it is out of the way.

Otherwise, I think this player and power cord is a good value and would purchase one again

You must have received CA-709 (without the cassette component) by mistake. CA-706 is prepackaged with the cassette component.

Before this I had a Sony discman for about 6 years which worked perfectly until eventually it got so old the glue dried out. I replaced it with this coby and have been very disappointed. Within about a 2 weeks the headphones (which kinda hurt) broke. Then about 6 months later the plastic holding the cover down cracked, so now the cover doesn't open and close properly. About 2 weeks after that the screen cracked. After 7 months this cd player was now functioning worse than the sony I'd had for 6 years.

It has great features and seems like a great buy, but it breaks easily. Invest another $5-10 and get a name brand, like sony or philips, that you can use for years.

I have been looking for a personal CD/MP3 player that comes with an AM/FM tuner. This is the only product that I have found on the market. Overall I am happy with it, but it does not have the best audio quality. The sound is a bit flat regardless of source (radio, CD, or MP3). Also, I notice a very slight hiss when playing MP3's.

Good points: CD/MP3 w/ AM/FM, low cost, moderate to good sound

Bad points: CD too sensitive without ESP, slight hiss when playing MP3's

You won't mistake this for a Sony. It's not terribly pretty, and it feels a little cheap. The controls are not models of clarity, either, and the instructions provided don't cover MP3 browsing in enough depth.

On the other hand, it's the only unit on the market that has MP3, CD and AM/FM in a discman sized unit. And the price is right.

The radio is good, better than the one on my Sony AM/FM discman it replaces. It does a good job of tuning out interference from PCs in my office.

Controls for CD playing are fairly standard: youwon't even need to read the instructions if you've ever used a CD player before.

Ossasionally the unit has trouble recognising a CD-ROM full of MP3s, and it does take about 30 seconds to catalog all the tracks on a CD before it starts playing. If it has problems recognising the CD, open and close the lid and try again.

Controls for MP3 browsing are a little rudimentary. Basically, there is an Album button that walks you through the directories on the CD-ROM, and then you use the search buttons (<< and >>) to select the track. There is also a random play mode that skips through all the MP3s on the CD-ROM, and this is the play mode I usually use.

I didn't have to do anything special with the MP3 CD-ROM to get it to read it. Both my old backup of my MP3 directory on my PC and a new CD I burned after getting the unit play perfectly. (Maybe it's not a comprehensive test, but so far so good.)

The included headphones are cheap garbage, but this is pretty much what you'd expect for bundled-in headphones. Sound is decent with my Sony ear buds. It's certainly capable of playing the limited range of sound MP3s provide.

Overall, while it's a bit rough in execution, it has more features than units that cost twice as much. And for AM radio with MP3 playback it's the only game in town smaller than a boom box. I am satisfied with mine.

Had this for 7 months. Kept it in excellent condition but after 7 months it crapped out. I had to pay shipping and deposit $20 with Creative to have them look at it. They told me it was a bad circuit board and it would cost me $125 to fix it. I told them to keep the $300 paperweight. Then 2 weeks later they call and ask me if it is correct that someone (I assume inside Creative) authorized to charge my account to fix it. I told them that if I see any charges on my account I will contact Better Business Bureau. I used to swear by Creative products. Now I just swear AT them.

I have a huge library of mp3s that I maintain on a 40 gig mp3 player. I wanted to upgrade, and the Creative 60 looked good. Two insurmountable problems: 1) the unit's manual is provided as a pdf file, but in order to load it onto your computer, it assumes that you don't have Acrobat Reader (of course - this is 1960, isn't it?), and insists on installing acrobat on your computer. When it discovers you have acrobat (no!), it doesn't know what to do, so a) it screws up your current acrobat installation, and b) it fails to provide access to the manual. 2) Creative is confident that, even though you have 60 gigs of music, Creative knows better than you do how to organize it: by artist, name of song, album, year, and genre (rock, jazz, etc.) Never mind that you organized music by year (1973), function (wedding music), or specific category (Anton's favorites). In order to find a song, you must scroll through 60 gigs of songs to find yours. This is a small, sleek (perhaps a little tinny and fragile) unit, but the restrictions on organization render it useless. The old Archos 20 gig is a far more user-friendly system. The RCA Lyra 40 I now use has similar issues, but accomodates a work-around. The Creative is simply not "creative." Keep it. I'll try not to buy another Creative product.

This player is an overall disappointment with a couple of big flaws that potential buyers should be wary of; and all readers need to know about a third party software company that resolves virtually all of the Creative MediaSource file transfer issues.

Zen Good points:

1. I achieved my basic objective; my entire CD collection is on a portable device with lots of room to store more.

2. Most MP3 players have a gap between the end of one track and the start of the next; it's annoying in music that is intended to be continuous. The Zen has minimal stoppage between tracks; when listening to music that continues from one track to the next the gap is just a hesitation - a slightly audible click; if I am not listening for the progress from one track to the next I don't even notice the click.

Flaws:

1. Creative MediaSource software is OK to rip, catalog & burn music if you are starting from scratch; but I used MusicMatch to rip my CDs before I bought the Zen (272 CDs; 3,350 tracks; 12Gb of music all ripped at 128bps) and guess what? MediaSource did not recognize my tags; my choices at that moment would have been to manually re-tag my music or re-rip using MediaSource. I don't think so. BTW, if you *are* ripping your CDs, MediaSource accesses the CDDB music catalog over the Internet and the few CDs I experimented with all provided good quality [correct & uncluttered] tag information.

2. Despite most reviewers giving kudos to the Zen for music quality, I experienced a flaw using EAX. After about 45 mins of listening there was audible static in the player. When I turned EAX off the static disappeared. When I turned EAX back on the static was also not present. Creative are *the* sound people for computers, I can't understand why EAX would introduce static. Is EAX faulty? Is my unit defective? Was I just unlucky at that moment? Was it a full moon that night? I haven't figured it out yet.

3. MediaSource is an application with serious user interface flaws. Do not underestimate this in your purchase decision. Many reviewers refer to it as "clunky" or "difficult" - heed their warnings.

4. The Zen *stores* data files, but does not allow a folder structure nor does it allow documents to be opened or programs to be launched from its disk (they must be copied to another hard drive to be launched). In other words, the Zen is not a convenient data storage device; only buy the capacity you need for your music collection (see point 2. for some sizing information). My goal of using it as a music player *and* data storage device has not been met; don't make the same mistake.

5. The Zen does not have a Stop button! You can stop playback by pressing 2 buttons, first the Pause button, then the "Next Track" or "Previous Track" button. But this is *not documented* in the Zen manual - neither the hard copy nor the CD version. To discover this I had to read about 10 online reviews (with many complaints about the lack of Stop button) before I found one reviewer who was smart enough to both figure it out & document it.

6. The Zen NX battery requires the AC adapter to recharge; it does not charge by USB cable; this is not tragic, but USB recharging would be a convenient (additional) choice. If you are buying a Zen Xtra check whether the battery recharges via USB; it does not on the Zen NX.

7. MediaSource did not install on my personal notebook. It referred to a "Microsoft Jet Database Engine" error and the install program suggested I download a service pack from the MS website to fix the problem; I did that and re-installed the software but had the same error. Creative provided e-mail support; I followed their advice but that failed, too. I experimented with installing MediaSource on 2 other computers at home and it worked fine. So it is probably "just bad luck" on my part that the personal notebook I own had this install error. However, it did motivate me to find a work-around solution.

Third Party Software To The Rescue

After much frustration (above) I found the Notmad Explorer; cute product name for software that resolves virtually all of the Creative MediaSource FILE TRANSFER & ORGANIZATION problems. I am not associated with the company, I am not providing a URL, but search for NotMad and you should find it pretty easily. This provides drag & drop transfers of music between the computer & Zen; each time it transfers music to the Zen it asks if you want to generate a playlist; it allows playlists developed in other software to be transferred to the Zen (.m3u files are used by most mp3 players like MusicMatch and Winamp, but not Creative); it doesn't care what software you use to rip or catalog your music - Creative or any other company - all my 12Gb of music were transferred to the Zen with correct tags - hooray! Notmad has other features too, but this is not an advertisement so please see the company's web site for more information ...

Conclusion:

If I knew then what I know now I would have paid the extra to get an iPod & avoided the Zen. Given that I already have the Zen the only reason I am happy with it is because of the Notmad software. And I am hoping the static I heard when using EAX was a blip ...

To summarize, I am using the Creative Zen as a mobile device; I am using MusicMatch to rip & catalog (and if I choose, download) music; I am using Notmad Explorer to move music & playlists between the Zen & my computer. The only Creative software I am using is the device driver(s).

This product is not worth the cost. It does not connect to the internet efficiently. Wireless is not available. Keyboard doesn't connect which makes editing playlist painful. Although there are 3 USB ports, they don't seem to work. Networking doesn't seem to work behind a firewall. You can't add drivers via the CD because it doesn't understand a data CD.

HP Support is unhelpful. I sent e-mail asking about attaching a Lynksys Wireless Ethernet. The response was - we can't help you on third party wireless solutions - just HP. So I responded - what is HP's solution. Answer - "We don't have one"!

I recommend you buy a dedicated PC - it functions better and more reliable.

Wow--I bought one, and it has been the WORST consumer electronics experience of my lifetime.

The device does not read CD's when you plug it in and start it up. You have to reset it, but the instructions on how to do so are wrong.

Although you can put in on a local area network, and download music to it, you cannot upload music from it.

Even when downloading it takes from minutes to hours to "post" the downloaded music in your library. (No, you can't find them in your "Recent Downloads" file either.)

When you shut it off, the hard drive continues running 24x7 unless you really shut it down (hold the power switch for 5 seconds) If you have an energy star monitor attached to the unit (it's internal display is really not usable) the monitor will not go to sleep.

When ripping CD's to the hard disk, the machine plays out of the hard disk, but you can't play anything except the tracks being ripped. (unlike a Tivo or ReplayTV where recording and playback are understanbly not tied together)

Every morning the unit powers itself up to check for updates, but it never powers down.

Downloading to a Compact Flash card (by the approved SanDisk SDDR-31) just does not work. "No portable device found".

The unit requires Audio CD-R or CD-RW royalty-paid media, but only low-speed media is writable.

I burned an Audio CD-RW sucessfully, but the unit refused to erase it afterwards. "CD is not writable".

Calls and EMails to HP support are the most ridiculous thing imaginable (I saved them) Support does not read the question, they merely supply an answer that has some of the same keywords as your question--Like the answer to my question about erasing CD-RWs was two-fold: A: "You can't use data CD-RW, you have to use Audio CD-RW" (Since I burned it, they should have known it was Audio media--I told them it was. B: The DE100C does not Erase media (then what does the "Erase CD-RW" function do?)

Anyway, I strongly urge people NOT to buy this. For its incredible lack of functionality, it's WAY overpriced. I'm taking mine back shortly. I'll just buy a dedicated laptop for less.

I've had my HPDEC since Christmas. At first it worked great, but about a month later it really started to have problems. It started locking up during its nightly updates and requiring cold boots to recover. Then one day it quit coming up altogether. It would sit at the "Starting Up" screen and go no further. :( I scoured the HP Technical Support site but they had no information on how to fix it so I called HP Tech Support. They put me on hold for almost an hour (at my expense, they don't have an 800 number), and finally got to talk to a technician who told me these "secret" way to reset it:

1) During a cold startup, hold down the 'CD' button to reset to try to reinstall the last patch.

2) If that doesn't work, hold down the 'CD' button to get to the '5 seconds' screen, then press and hold 'CD','Library',and 'Record' until a screen comes up saying restoring to Failsafe version. This restores the OS and software to the original factory-installed version. You'll have to go through audio/network setup again, but it DOES NOT erase your saved music, as that is stored safely on a different disk partition.

I had to perform Step 2 about twice a week for the next three weeks till I got fed up and unplugged my network cable (which is the only way to stop the nightly updates). That seemed to work until the power went out last week and I had to do it yet again. Ugh. Can't say I'd call this this thing STABLE by any means... I really like it otherwise, about the only other really annoying thing is it should allow you to hook up a keyboard since entry of song/cd info through the remote control is PAINFUL.

I got this Saturday afternoon and by Monday morning, I was convinced that I should return it. Thinking about taking advantage of that 920 shock protection? Think again! This shock protection (or lack of it) is a joke. I can't even walk with this or keep it in a non-90 degree horizontal position for more than 30 seconds without it skipping. And even when it is horizontal, it skips every few songs, stops playing a song halfway through, and also takes about 10-20 seconds to switch from track to track. And these headphones are terrible. For some strange reason, one ear cord is longer than the other.

Pros:
- Slim and fits in your pockets
- Remote control is great and easy to use
- Good battery life
- Plays WMA files as well
- Good sound features

Cons:
- It's impossible to play this without skipping
- Stops playing songs halfway through and goes to another
- Headphones are an insult to music and engineering
- The chords are ridiculously messy and unorthodox
- The radio tuner that's supposed to be digital is full of static
- Does not stay true to many of the specs advertised
- Time between songs is excessively long

The cd player has a beautiful design but it lacks many things, which I expected from a Samsung product. First of all, it skips a lot. I had it lying on a desk without moving it and it still manages to skip every once in a while. Second, there is a great lag in between songs and the song stops in the middle and seems to never resume. And when the songs are changing, it makes a loud whirring noise which gets annoying. The anti-skip system is a scam. It says 960 seconds, but it's more like 9.6 seconds. I wouldn't recommend this product to others. For cell phones, get a Samsung. For a CD walkman, get a Sony or something else.

I bought this from Circuit City yesterday for 90 dollars. since it was the smallest, and cheapest CD/mp3 player with FM tuner, i decided to buy it and see how it works.

It sounds great! it's remote controller has backlit light so it's easy to use at night. its surface is made out of thin, very strong aluminum(or metal, don't know exactly), not like other cheap cdplayers that are made out of cheap plastics.

However, the anti-shock is a total joke. it says 960 seconds shock resistant. No, it's more like 9.6 seconds shock resistant. i wasn't even running. I was walking with this in my pocket, and it was skipping like crazy!

So here is my summary.

Pro:
1. Solid construction.
2. Perfect sound quality.
3. Everything is built-in.
4. Nice remote controller.

Cons:
1. It skipps too much.

I was looking for a way to transmit digital music from cable TV to my stereo in the family room about 40ft away. Running wires would be very difficult, so this product looked like the ideal solution. Set-up was fairly straightforward. The location of the transmitter/receiver is somewhat sensitive, but once everything is in place and the antennas adjusted for clear reception I kept getting clicks as if the music was coming off a dirty vinyl record. Totally unacceptable for listening.

Suspecting my Panasonic 2.4 GHz cordless phones at the opposite end of the house, I proceeded to unplug them. The clicks went away and I received a very nice clear channel of music. Unfortunately, I can not unplug my phones, so I will have to return this product. I called J&R Music and promptly got return authorization. Too bad, I'm still looking! Has anyone found something that works?

I'm now exprimenting with a 8oo MHz system, but I'm fighting clicks from my 800 MHz cordless phones. If I'm really careful I can position the receiver so that the clicks are tuned out. I'm finding that you have to be really careful when mixing wireless gadgets together.

Low expectations key to avoiding disappointement. At least in an appartment building where the neighbors employ a variety of electronic devices the sound quality was poor, the songs sounded like they were coming from a dusty sratched up record spinning on a turntable. Changing channels (there are four) didn't help. Oh, and there were some minor problems too: couldn't get the remote to work, one cable was missing from the package while another came with a duplicate, only two batteries were included instead of four. Had to return the product. Maybe someone else with more patience and better luck will be able to get satisfactory performance out of this thing.

A bit of experimentation with the placement of the transmit and receive devices yields a good signal and decent sound quality.

I have avoided 2.4 gigahertz phones to reduce competition with my 802.11b wireless lan equipment and adding the soundlink didn't cause any problems.

This product is superior in every way to the US Robotics 900 megahertz product that I tried out first.

Neither device is true "HiFi" quality, but for music originating from a PC expectations need to be realistic and the Sonic Link is wholly acceptable.

Bought it, hooked it up, wow! Great! The commercials aren't blasting us out of our chairs anymore. After two or three days, I seem to be right back where I was before hooking this thing up. The HD channels are whisper quiet, the commercials blast out at 2 - 3 times normal volume. Obviously, this unit has quit working. As one poster said "Use a good power strip" - heck, this is hooked up to a UPS; surges weren't the problem. I'd say poor quality components and bad design.

Does it's job well but will cease to work without the use of a good surge protector.

This devise doesn't last long. I did have a breif power failier in my area but if it is that sensitive, I sure wont replace it. I get no sound going through this devise anymore. If you can buy a simular devise by a different manufacturer, try that one.

After 2 months of normal use, this product died. Nothing turned on anymore and wasn't even recognized in the USB plug. When it worked, it's volume was low, sound quality poor and cheaply designed. Do not waste your money on this junky product.

How am I supposed to buy this without any knowledge of how much memory it stores??

I am completely satisfied in its abilities to act as an mp3 player, usb flash drive, and voice recorder. No doubt, it's the best of its kind; it beats the Creative Muvo handily with an actual screen and equalizer settings. However, there are a few things about it that bug me.
1 - It always starts from the first track when it turns on, not from where it left off when it last turned off (as I've come to expect from my portable audio devices).
2 - It automatically turns itself off after 30 seconds of inactivity. This means that if you pause a song for more than 30 seconds, you get to start all the way back at the first song when you come back to it. Inactivity shutoff should be a user customizable variable, or the player should simply pick up where it left off when you turn it on.

I listen to music in the car or while doing an activity, so I listen to music in 20 minute bursts or less, and with the Cendyne Gruvstick I end up listening to the same songs over and over. These aren't complex problems, and they can be fixed with a simple firmware upgrade (of which there are none on the Cendyne website). I hesitatingly recommend the Gruvstick because it is small, neat, and functions well. If Cendyne would only update its firmware, I'd be recommending it to everyone I know.

The beautiful metal surface of the iPod scratches just sitting on the desk (I'm not kidding). The Jam Jacket does the job of protecting the iPod surface but it's ugly. Plastic wrap (also called cling wrap, seran wrap, glad wrap) provides an alternative handy cover. It can be wrapped around the body, leaving the top and bottom open. The keys are touch sensitive through the plastic and it fits inside the carry case that comes with the 20 and 40Gb. It's not an elegant solution, but it's cheap while you find a functional case that has some style to it.

The Jam Jacket is just a rubber jacket that is supposed to mold around your Ipod. Don't waste your money, unfortunatly I already did. I mainly needed a cover for the Ipod that will cover the screen to eleminate scratches; the Jam Jacket does no such thing, it barely fits. Everytime that I even touch my Ipod, I have to resituate the jacket to line up with the screen and buttons. The Jam Jacket gets 1 star from me because of it's crappy material, lousy fit, ugly color, zero screen protection, and being a more of a pain in the ass than useful!

I own a case just like this but a different color. It's a great case. Totally protects your iPod from any damage. Even a little squishy in case you drop it.