GO VIDEO AMP128 Sport Rave-MP MP3/WMA Player, 128 MB

Rating:
Summary: Not too bad for $58 (AMP128 at Wally World)
Review: Got this just before Christmas and it does have all the features I wanted. Pretty easy navigation for playing songs and FM tuner. No need to load any crappy adware/spyware software since XP immediately recognizes it as a drive. RAVE-MP.com is promising flash updates when available. The unit has locked up occasionally but always recovers after pulling the battery. It's now having trouble turning on, but pulling the battery (sometimes several times) gets it back to ??normal?? (may be related to battery life). High volume could be greater and in some cases the eqaulizer settings can help a little. The unit is a little slow when powering up and this seems to be directly related to the number of files it has to read from memory. The $58 Walmart price was hard to beat, just glad I didn't spend $100. I recommend it mostly because it seems that all of these devices exhibit the 'Windows' syndrome (unexplained lock-ups and quirky operation). Its got all the 'right stuff' but it's operation needs to be a bit more consistant

Rating:
Summary: Good entry level Flash player
Review: I got this mp3 player for Christmas and having used it for a few days now, I can say I am pretty happy with my first mp3 player. I have been looking at getting one for a few months now and was doing a lot of research on all mp3 players in general.

I wanted to shy away from any hard drive players because, well, they cost a lot of money and other than Apple..... So that left flash players and they can be expensive as well. So when I say this item at a certain big box retailers web site I liked what I saw and what few reviews I could find.

For under a hundred bucks you get a mp3/wma (including protected files), fm tuner, fm/voice recorder. Not bad, the controls are pretty straight forward and easy to use, once you play with it a bit. It was so simple that within 5 minutes I was transfering music onto the player. One of the best features is that it shows up as an USB drive and NO music manager software in site. On mp3 files you can use your windows explorer to transfer the files over just drop and drag. For your protected files you can use Windows Media Player 9 or 10 (if you don't have WMP 9 it comes on the included disk) and select copy to cd or device and transfer away. Simple, Simple, Simple that is how I like my stuff, I am tired of having to be an electronics expert. I want to plug and go and with this you can.

It also have a slot for extra memory (it includes 128 mb worth) you can go up to a 1 gig secure didital card which is a lot of music. I am using a 128 mb card now and that with the built in memory gives me 58 songs (about 3-4 hours worth). Which is not a problem with the battery, one AAA batery gives you about 14-16 hours of music. (buy rechargeable batterys)

The only real complaint I have is the volume, I like my ears to burst, if you are in an area with a lot of noise, they may be a bit hard to hear but in my office cube, they are just fine.

Bottem line I would recomend this to anyone who is looking for a good entry level mp3 player that is easy to use and does not cost a lot.

Rating:
Summary: first portable MP3 player so far a winner
Review: I got this MP3 player for christmas as a present from my wife. I knew she had gotten it from Wal-Mart and I was at first a little leary of the quality. From day one though I was highly impressed with the bang you get for the bucks. Mp3/wma player - voice recorder-fm tuner - and you can also record from the radio, which is great when recording the early morning mix. I love the compact size and the headphones and armband it comes with for running.I run about 30 miles a week and this is a great companion for me. Im not a young buck and the sound is plenty loud for me. I also have expereienced the lock ups that can only be resolved by removing the battery. I have however found the manufacturers web site to be very helpful. Originally I was a bit disturbed because I could only get about 23 or 24 MP3 songs on it. But Ive found that using Windows Media Player 9 I was able to compress those MP3 songs each time I record them to the player into WMA format which has allowed me to get roughly 65 songs on it which has made me very happy. Next I will try a memory card to increase that even more. I love this lil MP3 player thus far and hope it lasts. I recommend it to all.

PROS:
- small, portable size
- ease of use
- compatability with windows media player
- accessories included (earbuds, armband, battery included)
- battery life seems to be longer than advertised
- full function display

Cons:
- Lock ups requiring battery removal reboots
- occassional crash
- display could be more vibrant
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