Samsung YP-K3JQR K3 2 GB Slim Portable Media Player (Red) Review

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(More customer reviews)Well, here's Samsung's answer to the ipod nano, and it's a beauty. Yes, this is the RED Samsung K3 2GB mp3 player with built-in FM tuner. The unit is sleek, stylish, easy to use, and it offers EXCELLENT sound. The earbuds provided sound as good as my Sennheiser earbuds, unexpected performance for pack-ins. Though I haven't filled the K3's memory to capacity, it would appear to hold around thirty albums or 500 songs at the standard 128bit sound quality. There are a number of EQ settings designed for different types of music, but you can also set up your own custom setting using the built-in seven-band equalizer. FM performance is excellent as well, with adjustable sensitivity. The little color screen works great as a GUI but washes out in sunlight and doesn't do the greatest justice to your photos. This unit excels at playing music, not displaying photos. Beyond that, battery life is claimed to be 25 hours. I have been using the K3 with the Belkin mp3 armband designed for nanos and K3's, and it's very unobtrusive and comfortable to wear. For someone who grew up in an era of portable battery-powered record players accompanied by a stack of worn 45's, this is an amazing device!

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Featuring a bright, 1.8-inch full-color OLED display, the Samsung K3 is an ultra-thin 2 GB subscription-enabled MP3 player. Instead of being limited to one equalizer mode, the K3 has five EQ modes so that your music plays the way you want to hear it.
Keeping up with the Samsung media players of the past, Samsung includes above-average headphones with the K3, so you'll be able to enjoy your favorite music files with high-quality resonance right out of the box. These bass-boosting earphones fit comfortably in your ear and substantially limit extraneous noise for an improved listening experience. With an easy-to-browse picture menu, photo-viewing capabilities, and a built-in FM tuner, the K3 truly stands out among other Flash-drive-based MP3 players.
The K3 supports MP3, WMA, and DRM-Janus audio files and JPEG photo files. The player's Li-Poly battery supports up to 20 hours of continuous audio playback. For added convenience, the battery recharges every time the player is linked to a live USB connection. And with its speedy USB 2.0 connectivity, transferring audio and picture files to the device is a snap. Compatible with Windows XP and later operating systems, the K3 measures 3.78 x 1.73 x 0.27 inches and weighs just 1.76 ounces.
What's in the Box K3 media player, balance earphones, USB cable, and installation CD.

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Creative Zen 32 GB Portable Media Player (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a great choice for those people who previously limited their flash players to workout duty, or only holding a small piece of their large music collection and having to change the music on it every so often. With a 16GB capacity most people can fit their entire collection on here without difficulty, and even have room for some videos.
First impressions of this player are very good. It is extremely appealing to the eye, everyone who sees it will ask about it. It is about the size of a credit card, just thicker (less than 1/2inch). The front is a very glossy black plastic that looks great until you touch it, instantly covering it with fingerprints :) The back is a rough, cheaper feeling black plastic. Overall it has a nice solid weight and feel to it, but not very heavy. This will easily fit in a pocket.
The 2.5" screen is absolutely gorgeous. Very bright with vivid colors. The viewing angle is very good, two people can easily look at the screen at the same time while watching a movie for example. The menus are all nicely animated and intuitive to navigate. The icons and text are big clear and easy to read.
One of the big perks to having so much capacity is plenty of room for videos. This was one of the first things I've tested as it was a big reason for my purchase. First of all it DOES play Amazon Unbox videos perfectly. Transferring files was very easy (just a few clicks) and very quick. The quality of the video was great as well. The max size of videos is apparently 320x240, I have not been able to get it to play anything larger than that. If the video is smaller (for example widescreen) you have the option of playing it at the correct aspect ratio, or fill the screen (stretched out). I've gotten it to play videos encoded in Xvid and WMV format. Xvid files were encoded with AutoGK, and the WMV files were encoded with Arcsoft MediaConverter. If you synchronize with Windows Media Player, you can put in *almost any* video file and it will automatically convert the file into WMV format and then transfer to the player. How long it takes to convert depends on the type of video you're encoding, how big the file is and of course the speed of your computer.
Music sounds very good on this player, but please... get rid of the stock headphones they are horrible. Using a decent pair of headphones makes a HUGE difference. The EQ options are OK, there are about a half dozen presets and a customizable EQ. The "Bass Boost" option just made it worse in my opinion, it just distorted the sound. Otherwise it is a very even and balanced sound, very similar to the Vision:M.
The FM radio has a whopping 32 presets and the reception is pretty good. Strong stations are in stereo, weaker ones come in mono. I haven't had a chance to test out the built-in mic.
I easily transferred music and playlists onto this player from Windows Media Player and MediaMonkey, as well as protected music (WMA) from Napster. Everything was very easy, usually just dragging and dropping. The speed of transfer is probably the fastest I've seen. I've used this player on XP Home and on Vista Premium 64-bit.
Regarding the SD cards. I think its only a slight inconvenience that the memory card media isn't directly integrated with the other content. Meaning if you have videos on the SD card you don't go to the "Video" menu where all the other videos are, you have to access them through the "Memory Card" menu. Once there, you browse through the file structure like normal. If you organize the content smartly on your cards you should have no problem. And really its a small price to pay for that feature. Currently SDHC cards are up to 16GB in capacity, meaning you could double the capacity and carry around 32GB worth of content in your pocket. Amazing. I tested a Kingston 512MB SD Card and a Kingston 2GB microSD card (with adapter of course) and they were recognized and played the content without difficulty.
A quick note about the firmware. Mine came with 1.10.05. When my player turns off, it really turns off. With newer firmwares when it turns off it goes into a sleep mode for a while before it finally turns all the way off. What that means is with the older firmware each time you turn it on it has to "boot" all over again, whereas with the newer firmware you get an "instant-on" at the expense of slightly reduced battery life (since it is asleep and not off). Something to consider before you decide to upgrade the firmware.

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This credit card-sized ZEN has a stunning 2.5-inch color screen and is perfect for music, videos, and photos. Enjoy up to 8,000 MP3, WMA, or AAC songs; watch up to 120 hours of videos; and share hundreds of photos with your friends. Even expand your portable music, video, or photo collection by adding additional content through the convenient SD memory slot. The ZEN player also is available in 2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB, and 16 GB capacities.

Credit Card-Sized Player Supports 16.7 Million Colors View your album art, videos, and photos on this 2.5-inch razor-sharp TFT display. Your favorite photos will burst to life in 16.7 million colors on the fresh, new ZEN-patented user interface. The TFT display works under sunlight and allows everyone to watch your home videos and vacation slideshows from any angle.

Truly a Multimedia Player ZEN is the first Creative player to support the unprotected AAC format, so you can enjoy all your favorite CD tracks that you've ripped through iTunes software. ZEN also supports iTunes Plus tracks from the iTunes store, in addition to MP3 and WMA music tracks. It is also compatible with music subscription services such as Napster To Go and Rhapsody.

ZEN also supports audio books from Audible.com. Download your favorite books to keep everyone entertained on long road trips, or download daily news reports every morning and listen to the news during your morning commute.

Watch purchased or rented movies and TV shows from online services like Amazon Unbox. Share home videos, or load your TivoToGo recorded movies and TV shows.

Plus, share your collections of latest photos in 16.7 million colors. Instantly turn your slideshows into attention-grabbing multimedia extravaganzas by adding your favorite song to the slideshow.

Expandable Memory Need more space? Add additional storage capacity with the built-in SD slot and easily play new music, videos, or photos on your player. With SD cards to go, carry virtually unlimited amounts of your digital library, anywhere you go.

FM Radio In between your tunes, use the built-in FM radio to keep yourself up-to-date on world events, sports scores, or traffic reports. Or tune in to the program airing on the gym's TV while running on the treadmill.

Battery Life Enjoy up to 30 hours of your songs or 5 hours of video on a single charge--over a full day of music. Or 10 episodes of Scrubs!

What's in the Box Creative ZEN 32 GB player, earphones, USB 2.0 cable, installation CD, and quick start guide.

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Zune 120 GB Video MP3 Player (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)No matter your opinion on Microsoft, the amazing fact remains that every time they update a Zune they include a free software update for all past Zunes making them nearly identical as the new Zunes. I am sure one day this may stop due to the fact that the new hardware will require a different type of OS that won't work on the old Zunes (i.e. a Zune Touch or something). Until then, I am have been a very happy past/present Zune owner for this reason.
I owned a Zune 30 for 2 1/2 years prior to buying the Zune 120. My old Zune worked perfectly and was not a factor in my decision to upgrade. Did I need the extra space? Not really... but I wanted to try out the touch/click "squircle" before the new Zune games were launched. I read that some games may not work (or work as intended) with the Zune 30 since it does not have the touch sensitive pad. We'll see how true that is when games are put on to the Marketplace.
My opinion after owning the Zune 120 for a couple weeks:
The Good:
-I am a rabid/avid fan of the Zune Pass. I don't mind renting music, in fact I LOVE it. It really opens me up to new bands without wasting $10-20 on an album I may hate. For $14.99 a month [for unlimited downloads on up to 3 Zunes and 3 Computers] I can download from more songs than I can fathom and not be upset if I pick a few tone-deaf artists along the way. If I love an album enough to keep it I can buy it from Zune or Amazon or whomever. If you think about it, the Zune Pass could save you money by allowing you to test out bands before committing to a purchase. Also, if throwing a house party or having guests over, you can download music for your guests that you might never consider buying for yourself.
-Audible support now available. Not sure how much I will use this feature yet but for now I like it and am happy I am not closed off from this option.
-WiFi: the options are now amazingly more advanced and now having WiFi on the Zune makes sense. Being able to download songs over a WiFi connection is huge. McDonald's is teaming up with Zune and will be offering their WiFi connection to Zune owners in the near future. While iPod does this with Starbucks, there are many more McDonalds than Starbucks in the U.S. Though not sure if this is a good thing ;)
-Channels!!!: I love the new channels built into the software. As a Zune Pass subscriber I love taking advantage of this. The software makes a "channel" once a week of songs it thinks I will like based on a genre (I have a "My Classic Rock" channel, "My Rock" channel, and since I share my Zune Pass with family members a "My R&B" channel). I choose which, if any, channels I want to subscribe to (so I can skip the R&B one if I desire) and it downloads a playlist of sorts that changes every week. Also, I can subscribe to other generic channels (i.e. "Rock" Channel, "Punk/Ska" Channel etc.) not tailored directly to me if I so desire. This has been a great way to sample new bands/music that have relevance to my music style. Of course if you love a song/artist you can always permanently download the songs. If you are an avid gym buff or runner there are some very cool channels titled "Walk" "Jog" and "Run" that have songs which consist of the same range of beats per minute to keep you moving at a constant speed. Very cool.
-Mixview: Much better looking than "Genius" on iTunes since Mixview uses album art and artists pictures rather than plain old text and Mixview's suggestions seem more relevant to me than Apple's "Genius." This can always change in the future as each product develops and I am excited that there is competition in this arena since it can only make this better and better. If you don't know what Mixview is, it is Zune's way of gathering data based on your music preferences (and the preferences of others) to recommend new music to you. Pandora (the Internet Radio website) does a BEAUTIFUL job at this. It's free and I would check it out if you have never used it before. Amazing.
-Battery Life: Much better than the Zune 30 which is a nice surprise. Leave WiFi off for a longer battery life.
-Accessory Compatibility: the charger, dock, remote, car charger, etc. from the Zune 30/80/120 all work together wonderfully. If you have the version 1 dock you will need to remove the plastic insert in order to have the 80/120 fit. It only takes a few seconds and is very painless. I would add a link to websites that show video/pictures on how to do this but Amazon removed two posts in the Zune forum where I did this. Do a search, it's out there. The cases for the Zune 30 do not work with the 120 but the 80 is the same size and both use the same cases. Heard there are problems with older FM transmitters working with the newer Zunes. Not sure how prevalent this problem is as I use an AUX jack in the car.
-The Squircle: This is the only "big" difference between the Zune 30 and the 80/120. It did not take long for me to get used to using this but my learning curve may be shorter than others as I am used to swiping on my iPhone and now clicking seems more difficult for me. (You can turn this feature off if you just want to use the squircle as a click pad.) When I went to buy a case I found that most cases covered the squircle and was concerned it would mess with functionality. I want to report that it did not take away the ability of the Zune to notice my movements. However, the case makes it not as smooth of an action as the bare squircle (I have a silicone cover that makes my finger "stickier" against the case so the glide isn't as smooth). Something to think about when purchasing a case (which I would recommend.. see "The Bad")The Bad:
-I LOVED the Zune 30 casing. That was one beautiful thing that the Zune had over the iPod. The iPods scratched and showed wear very quickly and the Zune 30's casing was virtually indestructible. With the new casing (party in the front/business in the back... the reverse mullet) it seems that the possibility for scratching is now higher. The shiny front is a fingerprint magnet and the matte black back has a silver/gold metal underneath (as evidenced by Microsoft's Zune Originals website where you can have your Zune engraved professionally.. they "scratch" [engrave] a design and the gold/silver color appears). Not sure how deep you would have to scratch to get to that color and I won't volunteer to be a guinea pig. Sorry!
I highly recommend getting a case and I am a sucker for buying a screen protector as the Zune is nearly all screen on the front and should remain beautiful and scratch-free.The "I don't care"/ "No opinion":
-The Clock: There is a clock now.. and I don't care. Many did so they will be happy. No alarm built-in, so beware clock lovers. (Microsoft updates the firmware and software quite a bit so you never know if this could be added soon.)
-Buy from FM: I hate the radio in my smallish town. There are only a couple decent stations but they aren't good enough for me to stop listening to MP3s and tune in. For those who have better stations and are in to Top 40 or what is new on the charts this may be an amazing option for you. Getting artist and album info over Zune's FM radio could be helpful if your DJ never states the name of an artist (like so many don't) and, if you really like the song, you can download it immediately or tag it for download later (depending if you are in a WiFi hotspot or at home with plug in hand).
-Headphones: the Zune 30 came with "run of the mill" headphones, the Zune 80 came with "premium" headphones and the Zune 120 went back to the "run of the mill" headphones. I use third-party headphones ($100+) so I don't care what comes in the package. Others might so here it is.
-Games: as of today's date, there are no games available for download on the Zune Marketplace. This is supposed to change soon and I sure hope it does. However, there are two games that come loaded on the Zune when you plug it in to the computer and update (Hexic and Texas Hold 'Em). Apple has the upper hand here and has done wonders with the App store. I hope Microsoft takes note and does something like it with the Zune. Heck, I hope the do something even better so then Apple steps up their game even more... and around and around we go. Competition is great for consumers.
I think here is a good place to mention that I love my iPhone 3G AND my Zune and I need to have both in my life to be happy (in the materialistic sense). I don't listen to music on my iPhone due to limited space (after adding apps, photos, podcasts, etc. there isn't much room for music) and also because Apple does not have a subscription music "rental" service. Ideally I would like to see Zune make a phone similar to the iPhone or the iPhone to have a subscription based music service (both phones would need a large capacity drive) so I could carry around just one device (either iPhone or ZunePhone depending on the offerings). Until that day I live in harmony with my Zune 120 and my iPhone 3G.

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Archos 5 32 GB Internet Tablet with Android Review

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(More customer reviews)I just got my new Android 5 500GB direct from Archos yesterday and its quite a beauty. I'm upgrading from my old Archos 5 250GB, so that will be my primary point of comparison. I also have the following to compare to: iPod Touch 64GB, Archos 605, Walkman X, Samsung P2, and a host of other MP3 players large and small.
Given that my iPod Touch upgrade this year was less than astounding, I pretty much figured that this upgrade for Archos would be similarly understated. Mainly I just wanted the extra hard drive so I could backup all my laptops onto my music player. I was wrong! The new Android version seems to have a whole new feel both in form factor and the new software. I had heard that Archos was having problems with the software, but they seem to have ironed most of them out as of 1.1 firmware release. I did update my firmware immediately, and the process was quite smooth.
I'm going to rate this player on my absolute scale. I will also be making notes on the value of the upgrade from my old Archos 5. Note: I mostly use this as a media center to play music and video; secondarily as a backup drive.
Let's get to it then, these are the things I love about my new Android:
1) 500GB -- totally awesome amount of disk, I can now put just about every digital file I own on the Archos.
2) Android interface -- the overall feel of the software interface has definitively improved with the integration of Android. Effects are crisper, the esthetics are cleaner, things seem to happen faster. I especially like how easy it is to access the most recently played song or video from the main screen, pops up with a little thumbnail that you tap on and voila, resumes right where you left off!
3) Apps -- with Android we now have access to some serious app selection. Of course, nobody compares to the Apple App Store, but this comes the closest.
4) Weight -- this actually feels lighter to me than my 250GB.
5) Dock/DVR -- this popped right into my old 5 DVR and started playing right away. I still think this is the best DVR/Player combination available of all the MP3 players.
6) Video/Hi Def -- of the players I have owned, this has the best, biggest, and highest resolution screen.
7) Portrait/Landscape -- Archos has borrowed the iPhone trick of rotating the display according to orientation. I guess they have an accelerometer in there now, I dunno. Still, its fun to see this feature on an Archos. Its a lot easier to navigate playlists in portrait mode.
8) Easy and regular firmware updates -- with a WiFi connection, the firmware updates are easily performed on the unit itself. That's the easiest system I've seen of all my players. One thing I've learned about Archos over the years, they will put out a steady stream of firmware updates.
9) WMV/MTP mode-- very smooth interface to Windows for either Media Monkey or Windows Media Player.
10) Dedicated volume button -- power and volume buttons have been conveniently located onto the top edge. This is actually much easier to use when it is docked on the DVR (which is where mine spends most of its life!).
11) Sound quality is quite good, sounds great through my Klipsch speakers and seems to have more oomph than my other players.
12) WiFi/Browser -- has a good browser and WiFi connection has worked well for me. I think the keyboard is better than the Touch's, although Safari is probably the slightly superior browser. The bigger screen also helps for browsing. Overall I'm inclined to give the Archos the top ranking for browsers.
13) I just discovered Twidroid, one of many apps pre-loaded, allows me to check my Twitter in a really nice format -- love it!
14) Portability -- well there's only so much portability that can be expected with a screen and hard drive this large. This new design is smoother and rounder so its a little more comfortable in a pocket. It is very easy to carry around as a handheld device, fits nicely in my hand as I stroll about the house trying out all of the Android Apps! In any case, this is not as portable as a Touch but I think its pretty good for a small computer -- which is basically what this is.
15) No extra plug ins needed (so far!). Always in the past I've laid out another $40 for additional Archos plugins to play iPod format music and other video formats. So far I haven't had to do that -- thank you Archos :)
16) Archos will stand behind their product. I've had to send in a couple of Archos units over the years and they have always been happy to either repair or replace the unit without quibbling about it, as long as its under warranty. Note: it did take two weeks to get my unit back!
17) Multi threading: now I show my engineer/geek side. This baby can do a bunch of different stuff at the same time, unlike the iPhone/Touch which can really only do one thing at a time. The Android can be doing other stuff while you are listening music. I love the little bar on the top that you can pull down and switch to any other task that is running.
18) Built-in kickstand, very nice feature.
19) Stylus friendly touch screen -- sometimes you just get tired of trying to type a touchscreen keyboard with fat fingers! In general, this is one of my favorite touch screens. Most of the other touch screens, including iPod/iPhone, are capacitance which means stylus won't work
20) Micro USB cable plug-in: finally a standardized USB plug and you can have it resting on its kickstand while plugged in :)
Given that the Archos tops the class in several categories, and continues to be the best 500GB 5 inch screen player available I give it about a 4.7 stars out of 5 (round to 5). There are a few things I'm less than thrilled about:
1) Update: I believe you can now format your drive in a Windows friendly format on 1.7.96 version of firmware. External hard drive EXT3 -- as I understand it, Archos changed to the EXT3 hard drive format for reasons of speed and reliability. The result for me is that I can no longer simply select hard drive MSC mode, plug the Archos into a Windows machine and expect to access the drive. You have to install an Ext3 driver such as EXT2 IFS on your Windows PC. Once I did that I was able to access the hard drive and backup files to my hearts content.
2) The playlist interface didn't get much of an upgrade and its still kind of clunky. I want to simply tap my playlist and it starts playing. Often times I have to do a couple of extra taps to get the thing playing.
3) We lost the dedicated play button and removable battery a while back -- but I still miss them both! None of my favorite touch screen players has either of these features. I'm also missing the brown metallic color and the rubbery backside.
4) Finding a case for this baby is no easy trick. You're not going to find one at the local Best Buy I'm afraid. In the past I've resorted to ordering my Archos cases from European companies like I-nique and Noreve. This is generally true of any player that is not an iPod or a Zune.
5) As always with Archos, you must remember that you are dealing with a French based company. This means that they don't always provide the best support/service/upgrades to us Americans.
6) Lets face it, Archos is always playing catch up. Some of the new features aren't fully functional yet. I do have faith that Archos will fix all the little glitches with things like GPS over the course of the next 6 months. The Apps available are currently a bit limited. I expect this will improve over the coming months.
7) Keep in mind that this is not a unit for the faint of heart. This is more for the hobbyist who wants a cutting edge experience that may take some messing around to get it just the way you want it. If you want something easy that requires minimum effort then iPods are going to be more your cup of tea.
For me this is still the best player of its class -- that class being large hard drive, big screen PMP players with other fun features. Android makes for some fun possibilities, and overall I'm impressed with this as an upgrade. Once again, if you don't mind a smaller screen and you love apps I suggest you get an iPod Touch. If what you care about most is sound quality you may want to get a Walkman X. For me those are your top 3 touch screen players, it just depends on what you care about the most.
Note: 10-23-2009; I upgraded to firmware version 1.2.03 which fixes some App, Browser, and YouTube issues. Apps do seem happier now, upgrade process was very smooth. Still happily listening to tunes for about 8 hours a day with no problems :)
Update 11-7-2009: I've been running version 1.2.15 with a host of bug fixes and the unit does seem more stable in general now. Wifi is working better and USB connection seems more reliable.
Update 11-23-2009: Upgrade to firmware v 1.3.07 -- a long list of bug fixes including a few improvements that I had hoped for to control the scanning of multimedia files/ ArcLibrary. Got an AppsLib update which seems to work more reliably. There seem to be a lot more apps available now (300 ish) in AppsLib. Just keeps getting better and better! Still is playing music day in and day out with no problems and I'm backing up 2 laptops worth of files onto my 5 IT.
Update 12-18-2009: I've been on firmware 1.4.16 for over a week now. Lots of little fixes, seems even more stable now.
Update 2-11-2010: Firmware 1.7.33 (Android Donut) upgrade. The upgrade was a bit of work, I ended up reformatting the drive and starting anew. However, power saving seems to work a lot better and I haven't seen it reset itself for quite a while now. This seems to be the most solid release yet!
Update 4-8-2010: Firmware...Read more›

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Archos, award-winning for its constant technology innovation, now introduces its new Archos 5 Internet Tablet. This product combines all the multimedia know-how that Archos is famous for, with the Android operating system. It offers you an uncompromised Internet, Media and TV experience in a customizable interface. In perpetual evolution with the continuous arrival of new applications, you can personalize your Archos 5 Internet Tablet to perfectly reflect your tastes and needs.




HD Multimedia
Brilliant 5-inch Touchscreen The Archos 5 features an 800 pixel-wide 5-inch touchscreen, an ultra thin design, and an accelerometer for portrait or landscape viewing. Whether enjoying media yourself or sharing with friends, it delivers outstanding image quality.

HD Video Formats Don't compromise--the Archos 5 Internet Tablet is able to handle the widest range of video formats, even at HD 720p resolution (H.264 HD, MPEG-4 HD, and WMV HD5).

Your Music Everywhere Enjoy more music formats directly on your device (MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC, AAC+, FLAC and OGG Vorbis). In addition, the unique Archos music browsing system allows you to create your playlists without using a PC. Who needs a tuner? Just plug your Archos 5 into amplified speakers and you're all set.

Experience Your Photos Browse through your photos with a simple flick of your finger or play a slideshow with music and transition effects. The high resolution screen is great for zooming in on details.

Take It All The devices features a 32 GB Flash drive and a microSD card slot for expanding the player's capacity, so you won't waste time choosing what files to bring along--take your entire media library with you.




Internet
Fast & Convenient Web Surfing The Archos 5 lets you easily surf the Web. With a Wi-Fi connection (802.11 b/g/n) and the new OMAP3440 processor running at 800 MHz, you get quick and responsive Internet browsing just like on a laptop, without the endless waits for page loads. Enjoy the Web in full width thanks to the 800 pixel wide screen, with no need to zoom in or out.

3.5 G Mobile Phone Connection If you own a standard mobile phone equipped with 3.5 G & Bluetooth technology, simply pair it up to your Archos 5 Internet Tablet via Bluetooth. This will give you easy access to Internet directly on your device anytime and anywhere.

Web TV and Web Radio In less than 3 clicks, you can access nearly 1,000 Web TV channels, over 10,000 Web radio stations, and 100,000 podcasts. There's no downloading wait time. Radio and TV start streaming directly from a worldwide list of traditional and independent radio and TV stations.

Media Club The Media Club remains the easiest way to get video and music content on the go. With an even richer library with new partners and some of the biggest industry names, you'll discover a large library of movies, documentaries, music albums, and games. Buy or rent your entertainment in a couple of clicks and start watching it on your Archos 5 Internet Tablet.



GPS
Full-Featured GPS Whether you are walking or driving, you will always find your destination with the on-board GPS. The GPS includes voice assistance, points of interest, fast multiple-route calculations, and car/pedestrian/adventure modes based on the latest maps from Tele Atlas with 3D landmarks.

You can go to your account at anytime on the Archos website and purchase the available maps or cities.

3D Photo-Realistic City Navigation Find your way around cities in 3D Photo Realistic mode. With multi-angle views and four zoom levels, you'll be able to recognize places as if you had taken your own photos from the sky. This is ideal when walking and visiting large cities in the US (available Q1 2010).

Free 7-Day Trial Try the GPS for 7 days free of charge.



TV
HD TV-Out With the Optional DVR Station or HDMI Mini Dock Turn your TV into a real web-connected multimedia platform. Enjoy all the Archos functions on the big screen of your living room. Watch your movies in HD (720p), listen to your music, share your high resolution pictures, play games or surf the Web.

Record your favorite programs with the Optional DVR Station With the optional DVR Station, you have the perfect match for your Archos 5 Internet Tablet at home. Record TV shows and movies in one step using with the included remote control. Then you can enjoy your recording at home on your wide-screen TV or in the palm of your hand when you are out.



Applications


Ready to go with pre-installed applications Enjoy a selection of fun and practical applications for daily use right out of the box:
eBuddy IM: for instant messaging The multi-platform instant messaging application. Chat from one place to all your friends on the various platforms. Supports MSN, Yahoo, Gtalk, Facebook, ICQ, MySpace and AIM (AOL)

DroidIn: for connecting to LinkedIn Connect to your LinkedIn account to exchange information, ideas and opportunities. Stay informed about your contacts and industry. Find the people & knowledge you need to achieve your goals. Control your career online.

Twitroid: for instant micro-blogging Twitroid is the industry-standard Twitter client for the Android platform. Easily access the famous free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables you to send and read tweets, publish short URLs and pictures.

Deezer: for music streaming Enjoy 35 free web radio stations and the SmartRadio directly on your Archos 5 Internet Tablet.

Dailymotion: for viewing and sharing videos Browse videos by searching tags, channels or user-created groups.

QuickPedia: for access to Wikipedia Access to the free web-based and collaborative encyclopedia.

ThinkFree Mobile: for viewing Office documents This application allows you to view, edit and create Microsoft Office 97/2000/XP/2003/2007 Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF documents. You will get a free update before year-end allowing you to also edit and create documents.

E-mail & contacts Stay in contact by using the full integrated Email and contacts applications.

Moov: toggles easily between your apps Moov wraps up your search needs all in one place, so you can quickly toggle between the product's contacts, Google, Wikipedia and the remaining Applications on your product.

CraigsPhone: for access to online classified advertisements CraigsPhone is a centralized network of online communities, featuring free online classified advertisements--with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, resumes, and discussion forums.

High Paying Jobs: for access to a list of jobs (US & Canada only) Browse through jobs lists directly on the Product. Search over 2 million jobs from all the leading jobsites.



Add-ons
DVR Station This accessory allows you to record TV, play video back to your TV and charge your Archos. Recording your favorite programs has never been so easy. You can also surf the Web or stream web video to your TV while comfortably laid back on your couch using the included remote control as a keyboard and mouse pointer.

DVR Snap-on Use our DVR Snap-on to record from almost any audio or video analog source when you are on the move.

Mini Dock Transfer your files directly from USB keys, digital cameras, or other portable media players. Quickly charge your Archos with the included charger/adapter. Play video out to your TV with video output in high quality S-Video or standard quality composite.

HDMI Mini Dock Optimize TV playback with HDMI output quality. Transfer your files directly from USB keys, digital cameras, or other portable media players from the standard USB port. Quickly charge your Archos with the included charger/adapter.

Battery Dock Transfer your files directly from USB sticks, digital cameras, or other portable media players. Quickly charge your Archos with the included charger/adapter and get extended playback with the built-in backup battery. Play video out to your TV with video output in high quality S-Video or standard quality composite.



What's in the Box Archos 5 Internet Tablet with Android (32 GB), headphones, Standard USB cable, DVR Station adapter, Quick Start Guide (QSG), legal and safety notice.

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Creative ZEN Vision:M 30 GB MP3 and Video Player (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've had my Zen M for about 2 months now so I think I have a good feel for what it's pros and cons are. Here you go:
Pros: Beautiful and Bright Screen (displays thousands of more colors than the Ipod video by the way). Even at 50% brightness (which is default setting out of the box) it looks bright!
Ability to Customize most of the features. This includes being able to set your own photos for the wallpaper, custom equilizer, custom brightnes setting, custom shortcut button, organization of folders(audio, photo, video folders)...etc.
Great Sound! This isn't a surprise because Creative develops sound hardware/software like soundcards.
Good User Interface: The thumb scroller interface takes a few days to get used to, then it's pretty user friendly. You can customize the sensitivity of it too.
Ability to play lots of different video files like Divx and Mpg4.
This was a big selling point for me. The screen is perfect for watching cartoons and anime on.
Good Size. I'm refering to it's physical size. It's actually the perfect size and feels great in your hand. Still pocketable and still feels rock solid and not fragile.
Displays Album cover art! I had trouble with this function in the beginning only because in order to get it to display the album art correctly, you need to rip the Cd album with a program that automatically downloads album info including art. One program that does this is Windows Media Player.
--For the techies that don't want to re-rip everything to get the album art to display, just download a small jpeg image of the album cover that is about 150 by 150 pixels, rename it folder.jpg, make it a hidden file and place it in the folder of the correct album. When you move it to your player it will ask you whether you want to move it to the photo folder, make sure you select "no" and leave it where it is.
Cons: There isn't a lot about this player that is negative. But one aspect which is really annoying is that to charge it or plug it to the computer you have to use this tiny seperate adapter that comes in the box. It's the white adapter/attachment that looks like a dock connector. What the heck were they thinking! I have to carry the separate item everywhere I go just in case I need to charge it or upload music. It sucks man! Why the heck didn't they just build all of the ports into the player itself!!
Also, they should've included the video output cable instead of selling it separately! Or at least made it use a standard video cable! Also, the battery is not removable... at least not meant to be.
These are the only reasons why I gave this player 4 out of 5 stars. Otherwise I would have given 5 out of 5! All in All this player really rocks and is worth every penny! ... and is a much better buy then the "other" competition out there.
Hope this is helpful to you guys. If it is, please give me a vote. Thanks!
For more electronics and technology reviews, visit my site at:
http://newtechnews.blogspot.com/

Click Here to see more reviews about: Creative ZEN Vision:M 30 GB MP3 and Video Player (Black)

The ZEN Vision:M MP3 and Video Player lets you take all your movies, music, and photos in a light, pocket-sized device that is loaded with 30 GB of memory. At this capacity you can carry tens of thousands of photos, 120 hours of movies (500 Kbps MPEG4-SP), or up to 15,000 songs (WMA encoded at 64 Kbps), all in the palm of your hand. You can also tune in the radio (32 station presets), record your favorite talk show, or make personal voice memos with the built-in microphone.
Today's big-screen blockbuster, yesterday's picnic home video, and even your favorite TV shows--they all now fit in your pocket and are ready to be shared. ZEN Vision:M supports many video formats, such as AVI, DivX 4 and 53, XviD4, MPEG-1, -2, -SP, WMV9, and Motion-JPEG, which simply means you have more choices and less restrictions. Instead of busting out your wallet to show snapshots of your kids, you can enlist the ZEN Vision:M to give viewers a glimpse of your precious memories--tens of thousands of them. In 262,144 vivid colors and 320 x 240 resolution, complete with a thumbnail gallery, this device makes it easy to scroll through your entire photo collection. Of course, music files are a big portion of anyone's digital canvas. Perfect for taking with you on the road or just around the house, this device makes all your music sound as good as the ZEN Vision:M looks. And with eight preset EQ settings and 97 dB signal-to-noise ratio, you can fine-tune your listening experience for any musical genre.

You can also connect the ZEN Vision:M to a projector or TV with the included AV cable, and put on a big show from this little device. Synchronize music files with photo or video montages for a taste of spectacular, personalized big-screen magic. Viewing images on this device is a pleasant experience. The 2.5-inch, high-definition LCD screen features a 320 x 240 resolution and hundreds of thousands of colors. What this means is you see crisp, clear detail in every movie and photo, even under bright light.

Creative didn't skimp on design, either. The ZEN Vision:M features an ergonomic design with an innovative touchpad control that enables quick, comfortable access to menus and settings. And you'll get loads more playback time with the built-in rechargeable battery. Enjoy up to 13 hours of music or 4.5 hours of movies on a single charge. The optional extended-life battery pack lets you double playback time, so you can enjoy days of uninterrupted entertainment. Other features include a personal organizer that you sync with Microsoft Outlook and an integrated voice recorder that can store hundreds of hours worth of recordings. Take a closer look at all the ZEN Vision:M features.

The ZEN Vision:M MP3 and Video Player uses PlaysForSure technology. Look for the PlaysForSure logo if you're shopping for a portable music or video device and you want to make sure the digital music and video you purchase will play back on it every time. Match the PlaysForSure logo on a large selection of leading devices and online music stores. If you see the logo, you'll know your digital music will play for sure. Choose from a large number of digital music and video stores, including MTV's Urge, Rhapsody, Yahoo!, MSN Music, MusicMatch, MusicNow, Napster, Wal-Mart Music Downloads, and many more.

What's in the Box Creative ZEN Vision:M, earphones, sync adapter, USB 2.0 adapter, pouch, user's guide, and installation CD. Note: As of July 2006, Creative no longer ships the ZEN M with the AC power adapter.

Click here for more information about Creative ZEN Vision:M 30 GB MP3 and Video Player (Black)

Sansa Fuze+ 4 GB MP3 Player (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)As humans, we sometimes tend to personify our gadgets. Having witnessed the phenomenon in others, I'm happy to see I'm not the only one (a psychologist could explain it better, but it probably stems from our post-toddler, invisible friend/stuffed animal days, but no matter). So if this little MP3 player could speak, I reckon it would probably say something like, "Hi there! I know I'm not as full-blooded as an iPod Touch or as sleekly designed as an iPod Nano, but I'll work real hard to make you happy. Honest!"
First, a bit of history: I've owned iPods since late 2003 when I bought a spanking new 15 GB third generation iPod. Back then, smart phones had yet to come of age and if you wanted a high-capacity MP3 player, Apple were just about the only game in town. It helped matters immensely that my iPod was so well constructed since I used it day in, day out for five years until it finally died and I replaced it with a fourth generation iPod Nano. That Nano sure *seemed* solid enough (what with its sleek, anodized aluminum body and all) but a mere year-and-a-half later it fell apart faster than Joan Crawford in a wire hanger factory (see "Mommie Dearest" for an explanation of that analogy). With hopes held high for an amazing sixth generation Nano, I balked at the rather stripped-down feature set and the tiny, nigh-unusable touch screen.
So, off a-shopping I did go.
Since Sony didn't appear to make a Mac-friendly Walkman, I opted to punt, snapping up the newly released Sansa Fuze+ (black, 8BG capacity). I'd known about -- and respected -- Sansa players for years as affordable and worthy iPod competitors, so this seemed the best available option. Whether consciously or not, SanDisk are filling a huge void in the marketplace right now caused by the absence of last year's multi-purpose fifth generation Nano (and as a student, I really, really needed its now long-gone voice recorder feature badly).
To define the negatives of this particular player: as many reviewers have pointed out, the Fuze+'s touch-sensitive interface can be a bit unresponsive at times and over-responsive at others. The GUI isn't anywhere near as intuitive as anything Apple could have designed. Furthermore, the industrial design is rather plain and the plastic is easily scratched (HINT: rub any scratches that appear on plastic with Brasso and a clean, lint-free cloth; after several minutes, it clears them right up -- promise!). That said...
Onto the positives: the sound quality from this thing is amazing -- rich and full! I've run battery tests only to have my jaw hit the floor when power usage on my unit clocked in at a WHOPPING 53 hours for 128 kbps MP3s and 30 hours for 256 kbps AAC files. This in itself is an astonishing discovery, particularly having come from the notoriously power-hungry iPod realm. This little fellow plays video beautifully, although the screen's visual "sweet spot" is at a slightly off-centre angle when watching a movie in Landscape mode. Also, it's got a voice recorder -- a good one -- that uses the unit's incredibly wee, shockingly responsive built-in microphone. While the Fuze+ won't win any beauty contests, it is enough for me to say that it *is* solidly constructed, having already dropped it several times without so much as scratching it (Brasso time!).
I give this player a solid recommendation -- especially (way) over the current iPod Nano -- keeping in mind that it is still quite new and there *are* flaws. However, SanDisk seems to really care about their customers, listening to their concerns and working hard to iron out the kinks. Their Website support forums are a good place to go for advice, especially considering that by buying any new first-generation product, you're essentially signing up to be a Beta tester.
It just comes with the territory, folks.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Sansa Fuze+ 4 GB MP3 Player (Black)

The Sansa Fuze + MP3 player delivers a rich portable multi-media experience with superior audio and video capabilities, stylish industrial design, a best-in-class unique graphical user interface, and flexible storage expansion via a microSD card slot, with incredible value for today's overburdened consumer. From its sleek and thin styling to its invisible touch control, the Sansa Fuze+ MP3 player delivers a great user experience and lets you do more than just play back music files. Enjoy music, audiobooks, podcasts, photos, and videos with ease. Add a blank microSD card to either expand your own music library or increase the capacity of the device, or add a preloaded slotRadio content card for an instant library of songs - even listen to FM radio with the ability to pause or record stations, or record your voice with the built-in microphone. PLUS now even more! With the expanded codec package compared to the much loved legacy Sansa Fuze+ player, bring along even more of your favorite video files and photos. BLACK / SOLSTICE

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