Mp3 Players Compare: March 2010

Product Details

* Product Dimensions: 0.4 x 1.6 x 3.1 inches ; 8.8 ounces
* Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
* Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
* ASIN: B001PAEAYQ
* Item model number: MP600-4G

Product Features and Technical Details
Product Features

* 1.44-Inch CSTN LCD display
* 4GB Flash Memory
* music; MP3, WMA, video; MTV, photos; JPG, and text
* Integrated FM radio
* audio play time 10hr

Technical Details

* Brand Name: Coby
* Model: MP600-4G
* Digital Storage Capacity: 4 GB
* Color Name: black
* Battery Average Life: 10 Hours
* Hardware Platform: PC, Mac
* Width: 1.6 inches
* Depth: 0.4 inches
* Radio Bands Supported: FM

Product Description
Coby MP600-4G MP3 Player with 4G Flash Memory with FM and Color Display, 1.44-inch Video LCD display, supports MP3, WMA, MTV, JPEG, TXT, black

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Buy (includes commentary on points addressed by other reviews), February 26, 2010
By Brian Mess - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Coby 4 GB Flash MP3 Player with FM and Color Display (Black) (Electronics)
Appearance
Yes, it looks kinda like a toy. That said, though, it's small, sleek, and black. If you put a large emphasis on your mp3 player's looks, try getting some blown up pictures on Google to see if you like it. Otherwise, just know that it isn't horribly ugly.

Ease of Use
This mp3 player easily connects to Windows Media Player to sync, the menus are intuitive, the controls are mostly intuitive, and it allows for decent customization. I was able to figure out the controls without even cracking the manual. I may be fairly tech savvy, but the controls really aren't hard to figure out. Volume's the only thing that may be hard. To adjust volume, just click up or down while a song is playing.

Battery Life
I've only owned it for a day, but even the worst critics of this conceded that the battery lasts a long time.

Price for Quality
Paying less than $30 with tax is a great deal for this mp3 player. It's not perfect, but for $30 I don't think I could ask for anything more.

Portability
It's smaller than my friend's iPod Nano, and holds a charge. 'Nuff said.

Sound Quality
At least on my unit, sound quality is great. I can hear all the individual portions of the music better than when listening on my computer.

Flaws
--I can't find a way to turn on either shuffle or repeat. For most people, this will probably be fine. If you want to shake things up, move through songs randomly while the music's playing.
--The menus are a bit slow. But really, you're buying it for the music and price, not for the menu speed.
--There isn't really a play list feature. This said, however, you can organize folders on the flash memory, and can play a folder at a time.
--Doesn't support .wma files. They say they do, but they don't. Just make sure you're music files are mostly .mp3 before you get this.
--Small display. For browsing music, this doesn't matter. However, I don't see videos (if they work, which other reviews have not been positive about) or pictures being viewed on this. Great for music, poor for visual arts.

Rebuttals
--"Flimsy, cheap casing"
I would disagree. The plastic seems fairly sturdy, and I doubt you want to drop an iPod, so this really isn't a big flaw.
--"entire unit consists of a display area and two buttons: a Menu Button and a Control Button"
This is sort of true. They aren't mentioning the directional buttons or the select button (total of 7 buttons). Since all you are doing is scrolling through menus and selecting music to play, this seems like a rather silly thing to pick on.
--"[the ear buds] feel weird; overly large and slanted at a strange angle."
This is true. I would recommend getting different earphones for it.
--"alter the volume output, but the only selections are "Jazz, Pop, bass, etc." "
When the music is playing, pressing up or down on the directional buttons increases or decreases volume. It's that easy.
--"faint tinny sounds"
I'm not sure where this came from, probably an issue with the person's unit. The sound quality on my unit is crystal clear, and of a nice volume on both the included ear buds and on my $10 Sony ear buds I usually use with it (for comfort reasons, the included earphones are oddly shaped).
--"The player does not play the music that is added in the order it is ripped and synched"
No, it doesn't. That said, though, does it really matter the order a playlist plays in? If your answer is yes, all you have to do is change the name via the included software interface once it's on the player. Just start the track names with their track number, and they'll play in order.
--"The only issue I have with it from a functional standpoint is the short time the screen stays active (illuminated) during use"
All you have to do to change this, is go to settings > display > backlight and change the number from 5 seconds to a higher number (the number is how long the back light stays on until it shuts off for power save, in seconds)
--"The pinwheel on the player is a button device, actually 5 buttons, 4 directional and 1 in the middle to select. It's easy to use but it is button pushing, not gliding across a wheel (like an iPod)."
Yeah, they're buttons. If the "gliding" is that important to you, go with an iPod or other mp3 player that has one. If you consider the lack of a "pinwheel" a big flaw, don't buy this. If you're like me and don't care, then know that the buttons are sufficient for the menus.
--"Just want everyone to be aware that this MP3 player is not compatible with iTunes. My iPod nano was destroyed so I thought I could just get this cheaper MP3 player and upload all my iTunes in my libary. Not so. This might seem obvious to some, but I am not very techie and was not aware of this incompatibility."
General rule for anyone who didn't know this: iTunes is for iPods, and doesn't really work well for anything else. However, if you're using a PC, Windows Media Player (which comes with all Windows systems by default) works great with this product.
--"When I added music, it doesn't play most of it."
The product doesn't play .wma or .wav files. When windows media player rips cd's, it makes them .wma by default. However, almost all music you buy online is in the supported format. Further, there are several free websites that allow you to convert files on your computer between various audio formats.
--"The Coby media manager software is loaded on the unit itself. "
This software is what allows you to make folders to organize music in. The setup is the "launcher" file in my computer under removable media.

I hope that this review helps.

NICE MP3 PLAYER,

February 20, 2010

By	Amy M. Thurman - See all my reviews