Philips/Nike 256 MB Solid State MP3 Player

Rating:
Summary: Difficult but nifty
Review: I purchased this for my wife for Christmas. She'd had her eye on it for a while and was thrilled to tell me that I would be the one who would program it and load the music. Oh Joy! This was my first foray into the world of digital music players and I can only hope that there are easier systems to load. It took me a few hours to get music files transferred over. But other than the set up problems, this has proven to be a neat little gadget. I'm very satisfied with the sound quality and my wife loves the combined funcionality of the MP3 player and the speed/disctance/pace monitor. I just don't look forward to the next time I have to load music or create a playlist...

Rating:
Summary: Overpriced and overhyped
Review: I'm sorry, but this is a piece of crap. A very expensive piece of crap at that. I have had this for two weeks now and have only used it once. I can't get anything on it to work properly. First - the radio doesn't work with the pedometer, since the pedometer communicates with the headset via radio waves, that was a big disappointment. Second, the music manager they supply is rediculously terrible. It won't download MP3s!!! I kid you not. The MP3 player doesn't play MP3s. Nice. It is also supposed to play WMAs and it won't do that either. It is possible there is a way to do this, I just haven't figured it out yet. Other music managers, Windows Media, RealPlayer, don't work with it either. It also won't download WMA's onto the player. It will only play songs ripped from CDs. So I have to burn all my WMA that I downloaded (LEGALLY) onto a new CD and transfer them to the player. That is WAY to much trouble. The media manager is so crappy, its "Help" won't even open. I sat down this morning to gear the player up and try to put more music on it, and the player was discharged. I used it once. I apparently discharged it while I was trying for HOURS to download music onto it. I have 10 miles to run today, and it looks like I'll be heading out with my good ol' Rio. Which was wise investment of money.

I give this two stars because, if I can ever get it to work properly it will have some neat features. BOOOOOO to Nike for creating such a hard to use product, and supplying it with SUCH terrible software. If you are thinking about buying this... Caveat Emptor.

Rating:
Summary: THE BEST MP3 PLAYER FOR RUNNERS & ATHLETES
Review: NIKE AND PHILIPS HAVE FINALLY MADE THE PERFECT MP3 PLAYER!!!

If you want an MP3 player that is more than just an MP3 player...than this is the player for you. Not only can you play 4+ hours worth of MP3 music, but you get FM radio, 12 hours of battery life (i wish my mini iPod would give me that, haha), a strobelight for when I run at night, and on top of all that...a SPEED/DISTANCE/PACE monitor that hooks onto your shoe and is 100% accurate!!! This device has taken the thinking out of my running. No more calculating in my head how fast I need to go to maintain my pace or wondering how far I have actually run, because this player tells me in my ear as I'm running. SO COOL! All this, and I haven't even mentioned the form-fitting headphones that connect around your ear COMFORTABLY, or the 100% shock proof (not my iPod either), cool design that fits onto your arm (and doesn't move) and only weighs 2 ounces!!! Only complaint is that it's USB 1.1 and not 2.0, but this is by far the best MP3 player on the market right now for athletes who run, BY FAR!!! EVERY RUNNER SHOULD HAVE ONE OF THESE TO RUN WITH!!!