Samsung YP-U3JQB 2GB Touch Control MP3 Player (Black) by Samsung Electronics
|
List Price: Category: Network Media Player See more digital camera details and other models |
|---|
(Click here)
Digital camera reviews of Samsung YP-U3JQB 2GB Touch Control MP3 Player (Black)
Digital camera Review: Has Samsung gone over to the Dark Side?
Summary: 3 Stars
I already owned the Samsung YP-U2 before I bought the YP-U3 recently. I use Linux as my OS and a dominant music compression program available with most distributions is OGG-Vorbis, which does have not the legal baggage associated with MP3. So when Samsung advertisements stated that the YP-U3 offered OGG-Vorbis I jumped at the chance to buy one. However, Samsung's technology has begun to bow to the Windows way of doing things. I am not able to use the YP-U3 as a mass storage device (think USB thumb drive) like I did with the YP-U2; it has evolved into a device that requires separate music management software to upload music - which Windows users will understand if they use Media Player to manage their music files. Linux users have a limited means of using separate software to manage music, but in my case (with some adjustments to my system) I was able to use Amarok (a music program available with Linux/KDE) to upload music to the YP-U3. This is very cumbersome and much - IMHO - has been lost with Samsung's change in technology. Now that I have managed to modify my OS I really enjoy listening to OGG derived music on the YP-U3 but it has unneccessarily complicated what was a essentially a seamless process before with the YP-U2.Digital camera Review: I would not risk my money on this!!
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought one of this in a Walmart store in Tampa a couple months ago.
It worked nicely at the beginning, but al of the sudden it just stopped working, thus representing a total waste of money.
Sorry about this poor opinion, Samsung, but that's the truth.
Luis
Tampa, Fl.
Digital camera Review: It will NOT work like a usb drive.
Summary: 1 Stars
Note: This YP - U3 will NOT work as a USB Drive. it used to work, then Samsung & Microsoft Teamed up to update the firmwire in this device, it can NOT be used as a usb drive now. and it ONLY work on windows XP (not even 2000), no linux, no mac.
And you will need Admin privilege to install the driver. (so if you want to transfer file between computer, this thing won't work).
I am IT engineer so I did a lot research on this and managed to update the firm ware. But it is such a hassle. I won't buy this thing if I know in advance it won't work as a usb drive.
I repeat, It will NOT work as a usual usb drive. you will have to install drivers on the computer. The description in Amazon in not accurate.
if you have a firm ware early than 1.07, it might work. most of them are 1.11 now.
Hope this will save you some money and time.
Digital camera Review: Love it
Summary: 5 Stars
I was in the market for an mp3 player, but I didn't really want to shell out a whole lot of money for an iPod or its comparable competitors. Not only am I terribly tight, but I knew I wouldn't need a lot of the features: video, pictures, a huge screen, and so on.
I also knew I wanted an mp3 player that had enough space for what I planned on listening to: currently, I'm listening to a year's Bible study on mp3, and I needed enough space for at least the final 25 of 52 (I'd already listened to most of them while cleaning house and traveling). That is to say, I needed enough space for at least 25 hours of audio.
Of course, the young man selling me this item couldn't tell me how many hours of audio the mp3 player would hold, because that all depends on the audio compression. I tried to tally in my head how many megabytes each audio file was, but couldn't. I liked the Samsung best out of all the mp3 players, so off I went.
Likes:
--Two gigabytes is more than enough for my purposes (saying that makes me sound like I'm going to take over the world, but don't worry, I'm not like that). My entire study of 52 hours of audio at 32 kbps takes up about 690 megabytes of space on my hard drive itself, so I have plenty of space left. I cannot recommend purchasing any less than 2 gigabytes of space, no matter what mp3 player you buy.
--It doesn't have buttons on the front to get jammed or broken; you just touch the volume up/down track forward/back. (The power, pause, and hold buttons are actually buttons or sliders, though, and placed on the sides.)
--Its screen gives you a clear readout, mine in a very stylish blue. (I did not want a Shuffle with no way to see what I was listening to, especially when listening to a sequential study or perhaps in the future, an audiobook.)
--The voice recorder is pretty cool -- records in mp3 audio. I can't speak to how clearly it would record in a crowded place: I tried it at home, in a quiet environment. Of course, I didn't buy the thing so I could hear myself talking, so this is just a nice bonus.
--The radio was a feature I completely forgot about until I returned to the main menu. Works pretty well, at one point clearly picking up a station 50 miles away. Not so well in my building where I work (still got local stations, though), but that's okay. I didn't buy it for the radio. It's just a bonus.
--Easy to put music on it. Mine came with an installation disk for the Music Studio, but I didn't need it. (I'm one of those people who hates installing things on my hard drive.) I use Windows Media Player, which is compatible.
--No battery to change.
--The battery lasts ages. I was a bit peeved when it suddenly said, "Low Battery!"; I didn't realize that I'd already listened to almost 17 hours on it: more than I'd expected.
Dislikes:
--I would have liked more of a warning that the battery was going to die. Of course, I say that and then I think maybe it had already told me: I turned off the "beep" that came with each button push/pad touch, and I am uncertain whether or not that turned off any battery warning.
--"My mp3 player" is more time-consuming to say than "my iPod." So I named my mp3 player Troy. I'm just kidding.
--It's more lightweight than I thought it would be; a bit more heft would psychologically inspire me not to toss it around as much as I do. (I have a case for it; I'm just clumsy.)
--I was a bit perturbed with the USB connector. It doesn't rest as snugly in the USB port as I would like; it feels quite loose. Even as I write this, it's charging in the port, and I can visibly lift and lower the player. I'm just afraid it will break off.
All told, I'm very pleased with this purchase. Its ease of use and excellent audio quality far outweigh its shortcomings.
Recommendation: If you're prone to breaking things, this is probably not the mp3 player for you. However, if you're careful, and if you don't need bells and whistles, I really do recommend this mp3 player.
Digital camera Review: MTP takes a good device and ruins it
Summary: 2 Stars
I use Ubuntu Linux, and had I known that Samsung's media player used Microsoft's MTP format, I would never have bought this device. Locked DRM ghettos destroy the value a customer seeks in a product. The proprietary player which ships with the device requires Windows to run, and is vastly inferior to my existing media solution (Amarok).
I can access the device with Ubuntu (the latest version, Gutsy Gibbon), but Samsung worked hard to spoil my experience. They feel they are 'protecting their rights,' but really, they're just shilling for Microsoft and spoiling my experience.