Nike 256 MB MP3 Player

Rating:
Summary: Nice device, bad software. Perfect for runners.
Review:
It is really made for runners:

-- You may attach it to your arm or waist with the included bands and holder.
-- It has a bultin stopwatch, which however only offers start and stop; no lap timers or anything advanced.
-- A builtin flashlight (can be switched off) makes you visible during night runs.

The device plays MP3 (even VBR) and WMA files with good quality.

If you switch it off during play, it resumes at exactly the same position, within the piece (which is nice).

All in all I really like it.

However, I really dislike the included software; you dont even have a chance to assign a name to your playlists.
Probably the situation will improve, if (and when) Windows Media Player 10 gets support for the device ...

In the meantime I have written a free linux software to load this player, that can be downloaded under

www.yabasic.de/toPSA220.htm

(This is possible, because the device usese the free and well documented database sqlite to store its playlists.)


regards, Marc-Oliver Ihm



Rating:
Summary: MAC users beware
Review: First of all let me say that the design of this MP3 player is very nice - the hardware is thoughtfully designed and the built in stopwatch and strobe light are great for running.

The 1 star rating is because of the software - MAC users beware! The box clearly states support for MAC OS 10 but the software that ships with this player is archaic! It is very non-intuitive and extremely buggy. I had multiple software freezes, system freezes and never successfully downloaded a song. I'm baffled as to how Nike/Phillips actually released this to the public. After 4 hours of fighting I finally gave up - NO gadget should be this frustrating to get up and running. Returned the item and got an iRiver instead and had it fully up and working with downloaded songs in <20 mins

Sorry Nike/Philips, I really wanted to like this product but you need to go back to the drawing board on your software.

Rating:
Summary: Very good product by philips
Review: Its better than the ipod. I had the first generation ipod but the battery died on me. I had to spend about $50 to replace it. A few months ago i lost it. I wanted a cheapper mp3 player and this was one that met my category. Its durable strong and easy to use. It also comes with good headphones