Rating: 
Summary: Not perfect, but does what it claims!!
Review: I just got this 256MB Gateway mp3 player today, and put into excercise for half of the day!First of all, let's talk about design. I love it! What a snap! It is a USB plug and play interface, no cable required between the PC and the player itself. The body seems easy to break, but gateway is very thoughtful to include a very nice leather belt case, designed specifically for this player! The size? With in the case, It is a little bit smaller and shorter than the new tiny erricsson t616 cellphone, conveniently fits into regular size or tiny pocket! The weight? Very light!! I placed it on my palm, and i could barely feel any weight at all! Gateway also includes a thoughtful neck-strap, which you can wear the player, and make it likes a biotech-pendant! Gateway also includes a nice designed earphone, curving around the earlob, preventing from falling for active music lisiners. Well, i guess we all are, aren't we? Then, you might ask what about the sound quality? Secondly, the sound quality is impressively good, considering how small and compact the unit is! There is no background noice detected other than the smooth beautiful music that i freshly recorded. Navigation is quite at ease, but somewhat limited. I am not able to change the song order, so whatever order you recorded, that's what you got! Display area is nice, wide with background light, make it easy to navigate. Alright, what about FM radio and voice recording feature? Thirdly, let's talk about FM radio. It is impressively great, considering the size of the device! The same goes for the sound quality! It has 10 pre-set stations!
The first time you start the FM radio, it will automatically detect for channels, and set itself! Very impressively easy! Fouthly, the cretical feature of this device is voice recording, at least cretical to me( (i don't know about you!) Recorded voice quality is digitally good, with clear recorded voice. There is no background noice like the tape recorder of yours! How long can you record voice? Well, don't quote me, but generally, i would say about 18hrs with the full of 256mb-free. Remember, there is only 256mb in the player to spare. Precisely, there is only 250MB for you to play around because the device itself uses up 6MB. So, the more music files you have, the less time you have for voice recording! Get it? What about the battery? How long could it last for voice recording? Well, i use the battery that gateway includes. And, i tested the voice recording for 5hr and 30minutes. For this period, the battery signal begins to flickering, meaning low! I would say roughly 6 hours for the typical AAA type of battery. However, i believe there are different kind of battery out there, that could last longer, and rechargable too! Highly recommend to look for those type if you are a voice recording audiance like me! Overall, this is a fairly good mp3 player, designed by the well-known Gateway brand. It is nicely impact 4 in 1 features, easy USB plug and play, and very thoughful accessaries included in one package deal. However, nothing is perfect in this planet, is it? As professional as it looks, I think the body or case of the unit should be made off a better material including the buttons, so that it's not look like a dummy model or toys! The sound quality should be louder i think! How much louder? You can argue how much louder i want to have for this little device? I don't know! That's why i use the word "should", but it might be loud enough for you! Finally, i would have given 6 stars out of 5 if it is SD-memory expandable! But, it is not! You've got 256MB, and that is it! Thanks for your time to read my review. I hope it's helpful, so that you can make your decision, just a little bit wiser! By: Sorithea
December 24,2003
Rating: 
Summary: Gateway MP3 - A great buy!
Review: I purchased Gateway's 256mb MP3/WMA player, model DMP-300, which is similar to the DMP-310, but without the radio. Connection to my computer is provided via a USB cable, (included in the purchased package), and downloading an MP3 music file is a simple drag and drop function, from my computer to the MP3 player. For me, that's great. I want to listen to music, not reengineer the technology. Sound quality was a great surprise. It is very clear, given the size of the headphones that come with the player. The DMP-300 is a 3-1 device that gives you the ability to listen to music, store data files, or use as a voice recorder. Dimentions: 1.53" x 3.39" x .52" and weight: (without the AAA battery) is 1.13 oz. Very compact and light! And the number one reason I chose this Gateway MP3 player. Capacity of the model DMP-300 is 256mb, and I've been able to store about 52 of my favorite songs. Can't say for sure how much time total that is... but it's nearly 3 1/2 hours. Menu functions are straight forward. Some of my favorites are the ability to set the player to repeat all, or as much of a song that you want to hear. There's also the Random play, which mixes up the listening order, and an intro feature that plays the first 10 seconds of each track. There is also a feature that allows you to adjust the units 10-band equalizer to your preference. Buttons are easy. Play, stop, Rewind/Previous, FFwd/Next.
Two obvious volume control buttons, + and -. I wish the unit allowed programed play, but it does play the songs in the order that they are recorded. A little forethought, programed play is easily accomplised in the order I record my music. The unit has adjustable contrast for the disply. A blue backlight is also provided and can be turned off, or the duration of backlighting can be set for a shorter or longer period, depending on your preference. It's just a great unit. The sound is clear with no background noise. Simple and straight forward to use, with some features that make playing your music a pleasure. Not a task.
Rating:
Summary: I love this player, but have a questions!
Review: So far I love this player! I bought it for recording shows of my favorite band (YES, I have permission!). The sound quality is excellent, the menus are easy to work with. I have also downloaded music to it, etc. and it works wonderfully with great sound quality. I did not realize it has no external speaker (my own ignorance!) - the Sony versions do! The following 2 items are my only "complaints" - or maybe I dont know how to use it correctly! OR,If someone else who owns this reads this review - could you help me by any chance....?
1. How come it records only in .wav format? Can you change that? I have looked in record settings and it does not give you an option!
2. Under recording setting you CAN choose the Hz you want it to record at - 8000 and up - what is best, a higher # or lower? This may come in handy for potential buyers to know that even though there is only one record setting (vs those who have SP, LP, EP) you can still change the Hz which may affect sound quality. When I hit record, it tells me that it will record for 17 hours!
red_tractor@yahoo.com
Rating: 
Summary: 3 stars for my first MP3 player
Review: The CONs:
- it does drain a battery. I feel like I have to change it often, but its a AAA to thats probably why
- the navigation button doesnt always work as well as it should. I feel like its difficult to skip to the next song...forget this if at all if you are working out doing something high impact....you need a steady hand to do it and several attempts
- volume level doesnt go that high
- radio doesnt pick up stations and its not easy to set them
- cant do your own playlist in the the order you want. It sorts it alphabetically. You can do random but sometimes w hen working out i want to put songs in a certain order PRO's:
- so small and lightweight!!! this is a great feature.
- i have the 256 mb capcity and sometimes i fit 90 songs on it.
- its really easy to plug and play into a computer!
- great for a commuter I got this as a gift and as its my first one I have to say overall I love it as its much smaller and easier than a cd player when working out and commutting. However when I really think about it when I do get another one I probably will be checking out other ones unless they improve the navigation buttons and battery life. But seeing as how I have no experience with other MP3 players I dont know if this is a norm or not.
Rating:
Summary: 3 stars for my first MP3 player
Review: The CONs:
- it does drain a battery. I feel like I have to change it often, but its a AAA to thats probably why
- the navigation button doesnt always work as well as it should. I feel like its difficult to skip to the next song...forget this if at all if you are working out doing something high impact....you need a steady hand to do it and several attempts
- volume level doesnt go that high
- radio doesnt pick up stations and its not easy to set them
- cant do your own playlist in the the order you want. It sorts it alphabetically. You can do random but sometimes w hen working out i want to put songs in a certain order PRO's:
- so small and lightweight!!! this is a great feature.
- i have the 256 mb capcity and sometimes i fit 90 songs on it.
- its really easy to plug and play into a computer!
- great for a commuter I got this as a gift and as its my first one I have to say overall I love it as its much smaller and easier than a cd player when working out and commutting. However when I really think about it when I do get another one I probably will be checking out other ones unless they improve the navigation buttons and battery life. But seeing as how I have no experience with other MP3 players I dont know if this is a norm or not.
Rating: 
Summary: One Viable Function
Review: The DMP-310 really has only one viable function: playback of MP3's, for which it works very well for the price.
The problems unfold from there: the control wheel is extremely difficult to use (believe it or not) and has a very slow response to touch.
The radio function is useless, as it picks up barely any stations and mysteriously begins recording if one hits the control wheel in a wrong fashion. The Gateway website attributes this to hitting the "Next" button on the control wheel...which is how you change the channel in the first place.
The voice recording function is just plain bad, picking up a multitude of fuzz and static on even the calmest recording.
USB connectivity was nice--it connects directly to the computer so it's very simple to use and then drag-and-drop songs onto it.
The earphones are of extremely low quality. Upon adjustment to fit my ear, the right earphone actually broke on the first use.
Another thing that really bothered me was the "feel" of the product. It is made of very lightweight plastic--it doesn't feel very sturdy and I was afraid it would crack easily upon dropping.
Rating:
Summary: a mixed pakage
Review: the mp3 player is ok in general when you first get the DMP310 it works great but over time and a little abuse and i do mean a little abuse it starts to randomly freaze, freaze when the batteries are low, or when you bump into something. for something that has no moving parts why does it freaze? the good aspects to the DMP310 is that it has a good battery life and good audio quality, but these things dont fully make up for the draw backs and flaws that i previusly stated.
Rating:
Summary: another terrible gateway product...
Review: this won't be a very professional review but it is one that i think needs to be written. I recieved the gateway 4in1 256mb mp3 player for christmas to replace my recently lost iPod. I figured that it would tide me over until i could get the money to buy the $300 iPod. To say that this product is unreliable is the largest understatement that is possible. After plugging in the player using the supplied usb cord i loaded the cd onto my computer. When that was done i got into my musicmatch library and loaded it onto the player. When that was done i tried to unplug the device from computer and the cord that connected the player to my computer wouldn't release the device. I pulled and tugged and it wouldn't budge. I squeezed and jostled until the rubber cover of the cord started to peel back. Finally i loosened it enough that it was disconnected and then i plugged in some headphones and tried turning it on. After five minutes of repeatedly tapping, holding, and exhaustedly waiting the Gateway logo flashed on the poorly lit screen and started playing my music. The player itself is pretty good. I can't make my own playlists nor can i control what order stuff is played in. I can only scan through my list of fifty-odd songs (a terrible count), having to listen to each one as i searched for the song i wanted to hear. I set the player on my knee and left it there for a while and when my dog ran into my leg the player tumbled onto the carpeted floor. I picked it up and saw in shock that the fall had caused it to freeze-up. Now i have to return it to the store to get a refund and i will use the money towards a new iPod (2000 songs, musicmatch plus included, large screen). this player is the worst peripheral i have ever used and i am glad to be rid of it.
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