Its an MP3 player, Not a micro computer
The good:
Light weight, easy to upload music, Battery lasts all day (12-16 hours-ish), Charges 100% in about 3 hours from my laptop. Expandable memory with micro SD chips.Its not an ipod and you don't need itunes. Has a built in FM player that picks up radio stations pretty well.
The bad:
Sometimes it locks up when trying to read the micro SD chip. I was a little upset when i took it to the gym with me the first day I had it. turned it on and the boot up screen gets stuck. wouldn't even turn off. After 3 miles of no music i later found that it was the 8 gig micro SD card causing the lock-ups. removed the card, re-inserted it and it booted up fine. Its done it to me 2 or 3 more times since. re-seating the SD card has fixed it everytime.
The built in EQ is not very good. Any changes in EQ setting reduces the overall gain. (which is not an adjustable EQ setting)
Also it doesn't read mpegs.I haven't tried any other movie formats, but my music videos aren't supported. I didn't buy it for the video features,I got it for the gym, so not an issue for me, but could be for someone else.
Other thoughts:
Headphone jack is on the bottom. I'd rather it be on the top, but thats more of a preference than a con i suppose. The coolest thing about it is its 1/3 the price of an ipod, and potentially holds more music/video due to being able to hold expandable micro SD chips. Another feature i really like is i can play just a folder, or just the internal memory, or just the external (micro SD card) memory, or play all and shuffle through the whole thing. Theres no lag at all when I have it shuffling on play all and it jumps to songs on the SD chip and the internal memory of the player.
Overall i'm pretty happy with it. $70 for 16 gigs and a built in FM radio (8gig Fuse + 8 Gig micro SD chip). How much is an ipod shuffle again?...
2009-11-20
Great value -- for geeks as well as non-techical people
I've had this for a week. It was on sale for a great price, and came recommended value for dollar from at least two sources I checked. It fits my needs well.
Pros
1. Great sound quality
2. Great price for value (I paid $[...] on amazon, when it was $100 or more on other sites; $100 would have been decent too).
3. Looks great (I got the black version). Black will show scratches, dust, and pocket lint more than some colors, but not a big deal for me.
4. Lightweight, fits in small pockets (eg, shirt pocket or side pocket on carpenter jeans, and maybe some coin pockets).
5. Easy to use.
6. Storage space (8gb, plus an expansion slot for Micro SD cards)
7. Good battery life! (Not space-age battery life. For that, look at higher-end players). They advertised 24 hours playing, but I have gotten more like 12. I tend to access the screen a lot, though--and its backlight probably consumes more battery.
8. Lock switch on right side, so buttons don't get accidentally pressed while it's in your pocket.
9. Smooth rubber-coated back - doesn't slide off my desk at work, but it also doesn't stick in my pocket too much.
10. You can navigate menus and settings without stopping music.
Ambiguous
1. Small screen, but the user interface makes this less important.
2. Other reviewers have not liked the position of the headphone jack. Personally, I like it.
3. Rating songs is a pain, but that's not the first reason I bought this.
4. Other people have commented on how difficult it is to make custom playlists. I haven't had it for long, but I haven't had much need of this feature anyway. I suspect it would be difficult, though, from what I've seen.
Cons
1. The protective sleeve it ships with is difficult to use, although you can press buttons through it. You might want a plastic screen protector [....]. Without using a protector, mine has already gotten a couple small scratches on the screen.
2. The headphones it comes with can fall out of your ears easily. They are fine if you don't need anything special, though. I use a different pair.
3. It displays artist/song name fine for MP3s, but for Nonstandard file formats (ogg, flac) the ID3 tags are ignored.
4. Proprietary USB cable instead of a mini USB cord. Hopefully the cable lasts forever.
Geeky Features (More Pros)
1. Plays ogg & flac files (but won't show ID3 tag data from them (artist and album name, etc)).
2. USB mass storage device (you can just plug it into your computer and put files on it like any USB drive)
3. Keeps audio books and music separated (just put it in the right folders)
4. Remembers play position when switching between audiobooks or music.
Other good features
1. FM radio
2. Recording feature (see product description)
3. Can play audiobooks at higher-speed or lower-speed (chipmunk-ifies the voices, though)
4. Video and Photo features
2009-11-19
