Good value, but no accessories and so-so case.

This is an ideal mp3 player for someone who wants to take their music collection with them but is on a budget. I wasn't about to spend a bundle on an iPod and didn't want to use iTunes software, so I picked this one as a low-cost alternative. As with most mp3 players, the earbuds they supply with the player aren't that great, so I hooked up my Labtec headphones to it and it sounded fine for classical and jazz music. Has a sturdy look and feel to it. If you have Windows XP or a newer version of Mac OS you don't have to install any drivers--your pc will detect it as an external hard drive. You can just drag and drop your music files into the drive window and off you go! It easily read the format folders I made for classical, jazz, new age, audio books, etc and stored my files in nice neat order. There are two ways to charge the unit--either with supplied USB cable or the AC adapter. The transfer speed (USB 2.0) is quite fast given the size of the hard drive. I was able to transfer my entire music collection from my CDs to the player quickly. One of the best features of the unit is a line-in outlet (cable included) that will let you plug it into any audio device with a headphone jack and convert the output to mp3 files. This is especially handy for those who want to record their old LPs, 78s, and tapes to mp3 files for archiving. The FM tuner is also a nice compliment. Reception of local stations and sound quality are good. It may not be a McIntosh 1700 receiver, but for something this size it sounds decent with a good pair of headphones or earbuds. The only downside to the player is that there are no accessories I can find anywhere for it--no silicone skins to protect it, no apecially designed tabletop systems to fit it into (as with iPods), and the carrying pouch it comes with is only good for storage to keep the dust off. There are also no protective screen covers for it, so be careful about scratching or dropping it. Other than these very minor issues, it's a great player for the price!

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why so many bad reviews?

I am a college student who travels a lot (home is on the other side of the USA) so this mp3 player is GREAT. I haven't even used 1/2 the memory and I have ALL my music on it. It's great for on the airplane and for roadtrips, I just connect it to the car speakers with one of those tape connector things. THe radio works great too and I can record songs off the radio and onto the mp3 player. I love it and found it a lot easier to use than my old iPod or my Creative Nomad mp3 player.

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works well, excellent value!!!! You do have to be patient.

First, for those who only read the first line, if you are not a patient person with electronics and computers, then this unit is not for you. But if you can navigate computers well, and can easily troubleshoot computers, then this is a very good unit for you.

The price of this unit is dropping like hotcakes. I got this for $100 bucks brand new from a chain store. Very good value. 20gb of storage, and easy to load and use, once you figure out all of the fuctions. It transfers files fast, and you can create sub folders on the root directory to get nice and orderly. the menu functions are easy to navigate, and the settings are easy as well. large, well lit display showing the names of the music clearly. Fast transfer as well. I had no luck with windows media player playlists, but at least the customer support was very good about responding to all my questions. Windows media just would not "sync" with this unit, or recognize it was there to make a playlist to. I did find that musicmatch playlists work for this unit. You have to create a playlist from files on the unit itself, then save it, then pull the actual playlist file by drag and drop over to the unit into the playlist folder, and boom it works. Overall, the value and functionality of the unit outweight the time it took to learn how to maximize the utillity from it. Good buy if you get it for the price I did. This model will soon be obsolete, and is quickly being discontinued soon due to new models coming out.
FYI here are the specs:
FEATURES:
Stores More than 5,000 Songs
Up to 12 Hours of Battery Life
Supports MP3, WMA Music files
Ultra-fast USB 2.0 Transfers (up to 40 times faster than USB 1.0)
Built-In FM tuner
Built-In Voice Recorder
Simple and Easy Music Navigation
Real-Time MP3 Encoding (no PC required)
20GB of Internal Storage
Mobile Data Storage Function (Store or transfer files of any type)
Big Backlit LCD
Rechargeable Lithium Polymer battery
Upgradeable firmware

ACCESSORIES INCLUDED:
Installation CD
USB cable
Charging cord
Professional Neckband Stereo Headphones
small tie pouch for cables/unit
windows 98 driver cd

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