. The controls are more than adequate at this price point and I only experience minor ear pain if I wear the unit for longer than two hours. The pain is from the ear bud size. IPOD's are nice but based on the cost of this item, I don't have to worry about babying it and I simply don't need more than one hour of music at a time. You won't regret purchasing this!
Rating: 
Summary: Good player, but discourages reuse/sharing of MMC's...
Review: You would think enough has been written about this player, and maybe someone else has pointed out the same flaw, but I didn't see it after looking for awhile. So in case there are any other technophiles out there who have multiple MMC-expandable mp3 players (or who are considering purchasing this as a 2nd player), and/or who want to be able to share a pre-recorded MMC (favorite mix, etc.) with a friend with a non-Intel MMC mp3 player, BEWARE! This player uses what I would call a proprietary format for encoding the data on the expansion MMC's. The drawbacks of this fact are:1. Can't use a "generic" MMC reader/writer to record and/or share your music - must use the PAP 3000 player to record.
2. The other MMC mp3 player I own is the Evolution "wireless" IM-600B (which I love). It uses the standard format for MMC encoding, which is readable by Windows (Explorer), etc. I can be listening to this player while at the same time I'm recording music on another MMC. Can't do this with PAP 3000.
3. I can't share MMC's between my 2 players, without having to re-record them (even with the exact same music)! Again, this is due to the incompatible format the PAP 3000 uses to encode MMC's.
4. Since you can't use a "generic" MMC reader/writer, if you're short on free USB ports, you'll find this drawback a pain, as you HAVE to use Intel's included USB cable in order to record to this device. (i.e. might mean a lot of cable swapping - especially rough without the convenient front side USB ports...)
Hope this helps shed a little more light. I still like the player overall a lot, as evidenced by the "4" rating. I especially like the fact I got mine for seventy-nine dollars at a Best Buy on a closeout sale last spring! (yeah-baby!) Think they closed them out when Intel announced...
A plus that I didn't see explicitly mentioned is the fact it works fine with 1.2V rechargable NiMH AA batteries!
I agree with others that the volume can be deficient at times, e.g. when mowing the lawn, etc!
Rating:
Summary: Good for exercise
Review: This is an excellent device for someone who wants to put an hours worth of exercise music, this is the device. I have personally gotten 20 hours worth if I use a good battery. In addition, I use it with a cassette adapter to play music in the car.
Rating: 
Summary: Sweet little player
Review: Got this a few months ago,and have not had a single problem with it.Effortless installation of software,and transfers are so simple to do.I immediately trashed the supplied earbuds,as I have never found them to be anything but painful.Bought myself a pair of "real" headphones,and the sound I get from them and the player is so sweet.And,even though some here have found the personalized faceplate to be cheesy or silly,I have had a lot of fun fooling around with it.At least I can be assured that I am the only owner of this mp3 player who has a picture of a parrot named Desmond on it!That's what makes it special. That and the fact that the little thing performs exceptionally well for me. Couldn't be happier.
Rating:
Summary: Convenient, durable player
Review: I chose this player after reading all the reviews. I was not disappointed. The batteries last for at least 20 miles of running, the sound is fine and I did not have any problems with the ear buds (though I wear regular headphones when I run).
I've dropped the player more times than I can remember and despite the scratches, it's survived. It also survived an encounter with a leaky sunscreen spray bottle (unfortunately, my cell phone wasn't so sturdy).
Best purchase I've made all year!
Fast forward to 2003:
Unfortunately I discovered recently that my little player was not indestructible...despite all evidence to the contrary.
I will have to replace it and wanted to give one suggestion for design improvement: roller wheels would be a lot better for volume and track control (a la old fashioned portable radios) than the little buttons.
Rating:
Summary: Big things come in small packages
Review: I just bought Intel Personal Audio Player 3000 MP3 for my Daughter to upload her fav songs from the computer. I listened to the music & Was amazed the quality of the sound is crystal clear, no static,& Ease of opperation. It's so compact, Big things do come in small packages. I ordered an extra MMC64 64MB multimedia card for uploading more songs. There's not one problem I could find at all With Intel Personal Audio Player 3000 MP3. All I ask is read the Instructions book first before use. Buy one today & see for yourself. I Garuntee You'll fall in love with MP3s', especially with this little number.
Rating:
Summary: Good value
Review: I got a really good deal on this MP3 player (one of the other reviews mentioned how) and jumped at the chance, and I haven't regretted it.
The internal memory is enough for about 2 hours of music, which is plenty for me. Of course, it's expandable, too, for those who want more tunes. The battery life is pretty good, too--invest in a good rechargable set (like Rayovac's 1-hour charger), though.
The main complaint I have, like everybody else, is the uncomfortable, nearly painful, ear buds it comes with. You will definately want new earphones.
Another minor complaint is the low power output. The max. volume is just barely enough if you have "earmuff" headphones. If you have ear buds, it's not a problem.
One minor complaint about the software: it changes your PC's music defaults to the included program--which is great for downloading music to the player, but horrible for anything else. It took a little effort to get it changed back.
I haven't tried the faceplate designer, and don't plan to.
These complaints are MINOR. The player is really great, and I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: High Quality MP3 Player
Review: I bought this MP3 Player after reading the reviews on Amazon and other areas of the internet. Its a well built, high quality unit with exceptional sound quality. Earphones may be uncomfortable for some, but they have excellent sound quality. Although I do play music on this player, my main use was for audio files with bit rates far below CD quality. The nice thing is that this player supports most of the lower bit rates of old radio files, and audio books. CD quality is generally 128 bit, and the files I have been playing are 32 bit and as low as 16 bit. All sound great.
I turn out the lights, get into bed and turn on the MP3 player and listen to some old time radio mystery theaters and BBC Science fiction. Its really a neat experience. Since there is no light on this unit, you either have to know where the buttons are, which you can, or turn it on before the lights go out. You can play audio books also.
One nice thing that is included with the MP3 player is MUSIC MATCH software. It has many features. One feature will allow you to input old audio tapes you may have and convert them to MP3 files. Another is a conversion feature which allows you to change the bit rate on MP3 files, or convert WAV files to MP3. It even has active signal enhancement, which gets rid of hiss from tapes and other unwanted interference on old tapes. I use the conversion feature to convert from high bit rate to lower, so that I can fit more time on the player. With 32 bit rate you can fit about 4 hours of audio books, radio shows, etc with the 64 mb built in memory.
I purchased a viking 64mb MMC memory card and put it into the player. Now I have 128 mb to play with. Battery life with the card appears to be in the 8-10 hour range. If I am playing at 32 bit mode, I can now fit about 7-8 hours of programming. CD quality about 2 hours. Player will also support WMA (windows media) files which take up less room than MP3 for more play time of music.
The only thing the player does not have is a light, and text information about the track that is playing. But I have not found that to be a problem.
If you are playing a long file such as an audio book (say 45 minutes per chapter), you can restart the player later where you left off, simply by pausing the player, and either waiting 2 minutes (player turns off automatically), or pausing and then manually turning it off. That is a nice feature that is not in the documentation.
Shop around for price. Extra 64mb MMC VIKING card goes for ...more. The Apple IPOD looks interesting too. When price comes down some more. I like the Intel 3000 player because it is solid state (no moving parts) and can take AA batteries.
