Ion Audio USB Portable Tape-to-MP3 Player with Headphones

• USB tape player turns music on cassette tapes into MP3s
• Portable design fits in virtually any bag and enables you to play and transfer anywhere
• Flexible battery or USB-powered operation
• Comes with EZ Tape Converter software to guide you through transfer
• Plays Chrome or Normal cassette tapes

I needed to convert my tape collection, and we tired of using headphone jacks. This thing is fantastic.

In response to other reviews:

1) The unit is plenty loud enough even with the cheapo included headphones

2) it's not meant to be used as a walkman. Don't try and you won't be disappointed.

3) The included software has good intentions. Poor execution. Use Audacity, not iTunes.

Pros:

1) It's the right price

2) Easy operation

3) True plug and play on Vista. Just plug it into a USB port and it worked instantly with Audacity. Did you hear that? No driver problems! Very unexpected, very welcome. This gets ignored when it works well, but people complain about it when it doesn't work.

4) Loop feature. Turn on the tape, walk away, come back when it has done both sides.

5) Auto volume for recording. Don't have to mess with it.

6) No batteries, no power cords

Cons:

1) Plastic body. It'll hold up for my tape collection, but I would never take it outside.

2) Hum during recording. Don't know if it's the tape or the player, but it happened on both cassettes so far.

3) No auto-stop. When it has played both sides of the tape, it should know that it is done, right? It doesn't.

How to use it (or how it works for me):

Plugged in the USB cable (no battery needed, none used). Put in a tape. Pressed play.

I have used the included software option and the Audacity option. Audacity is better. Here's why: the included software has a feature. It auto-detects when a song ends and another song begins. But it is not 100% (it missed 3 breaks in the tape I just did, and it was a commercial music tape). And it does not have a noise reduction function, which it desperately needs.

Using Audacity, download it for free. Then follow the links on the Audacity site and download the lame MP3 encoder. That's the name, not a description. It works great. Using this setup is simple:

1) start Audacity

2) click record

3) press the play button on the unit

4) when you are done recording, click stop in Audacity

5) stop the player

6) select a small section of "silence" in the recording.

7) in the Effect drop-down menu, select Noise Removal

8) Click Get Noise Profile

9) Select the entire recording (all 90 minutes at once if you have a recording that long)

10) in the Effect drop-down menu, select Noise Removal

11) Click Remove Noise. Wait for it to finish.

12) You can easily see where songs start and finish, so highlight 1 song, go to file-->Export selection as MP3, and save it. Do this for each song. You now have the songs saved, named, and noise is removed. You don't need that tape any more. You win!

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After reading some of the reviews, you would swear that this was a piece of junk, however it was exactly what I needed to get these old recordings off of tape and into my iTunes! Granted, the player is made of plastic (chromed plastic). It's not something you'd want to abuse or tote around with you, but sitting on my desk it does the job it is intended to do. I just transferred a 20 year old musical recording of a friend of mine and now it's off of that old tape and into my system where I can back it up for the future.

If you're looking for a cheap way to turn your tapes into MP3s, this is a great way to go. It was super simple. I loaded the software in about 2 minutes, plugged it into my Mac's USB port and pressed record and play...It's as easy as that! The only drawback is that if you want to separate your tape into separate songs, you do have to sit through the song and press "new track" on your screen. Otherwise, it's pretty great. If you want a super high-end system, this isn't it, but I'm very satisfied with my results so far.

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I spent several hours trying to copy a tape to my HD using the software that came with this unit. It was a NIGHTMARE!

First of all, the software REQUIRES that you download and install iTunes (200+Mb.) or IT WILL NOT RUN. Second, the ion software lets you input the artist and titles, then switches you to iTunes where all the titles and artist info disappears. Thirdly, you can not go back to a previous screen without losing everything.

The iTunes requirement was not divulged in the item description, in the advertising or on the box. This would be a deal-breaker for me if I had not purchased it on E-Bay. iTunes may be a great program for those who need it's features but, on my netbook, it is pure and simple bloatware. The program has many features I will never use and it sops up over 200 Mb of hard-drive space. In the end, I deleted the Ion software and iTunes and installed Audacity (about 2.0 Mb). Audacity was easier to use and required less than 1% of the hard-drive space of the Ion software plus iTunes.

The hardware, in my opinion, is quite adequate for it's intended purpose. It is intended to allow you to convert your tapes to digital format on your computer. It is plenty robust enough for that purpose. After copying your music to your computer, it would be reasonable to assume you would listen to the digital copy from then on, and never have a need to play the tapes again.

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Wanted to transfer my cassettes especially my holiday collection to MP3s and my laptop doesn't have an audio input (which is different from a headphone input) to accomplish this properly; even with downloadable software from the net. I didn't want to invest in a whole conversion receiver system, so I went with this. Despite some unfavorable reviews, I was hoping that the software, the USB cable input, and the cassette system itself would do the job. Boy was I right. The thing works perfectly. I have already transferred some treasured cassettes to MP3 and they sound better than ever. The software works seamlessly with Itunes. I just loaded the software and started recording immediately. The only things you have to play with are the record level and if you want the software to split into tracks. You can just let your tape play, if you chose, and it WILL automatically split the songs into different tracks very cool. If you're like me and you're a little bit concerned about some of the negative reviews don't be. If you have Windows XP or above, Itunes, a USB input, and a CD player to install the software you'll be fine. I picture the unfavorable reviewers as people with very low computer saviness, very old operating systems, or those too stubborn to use Itunes. Great product.

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Pros:

Nice simple way to convert your old audio cassette tapes to MP3 for your portable music device or burning to CD.

Can be powered via the included USB Cable.

Doubles a portable audio cassette player.

Cons:

The included software needs a lot of improvement and requires iTunes to work.

Needs to include a power cable.

The side hinged cassette door seems a little flimsy.

Review:

ION Tape Express+ is packaged with the device, a pair of cheep behind the neck headphones, a Mini-USB to USB cable, and the ION CD containing EZ Vinyl/Tape Converter.

The first thing I noticed upon unboxing the ION Tape Express+ was the that it didn't include a power cable even though it does have a port for for one. According to the ION website it takes a 3V DC, 500mA, Pin-Positive. Connector dimensions: outer diameter 3.4mm, inner diameter 1.3mm. Its common enough that you can pick it one up at most electronic stores though.

The next thing I noticed was that the USB connection cable was Mini-USB rather then the MIco-USB that is now pretty much standard on cell phones as well as many other devices. It's not a deal breaker but not having to keep another cable laying around would be nice. The USB cable will also power the device and seems to do the job just fine but if you have a weak power supply on your computer I would recommend picking up a power cord for the device or even using batteries with it.

The device itself looks like any other standard portable audio cassette player except that the cassette door hinge is on the side and seems a little flimsy but a side hinge is probably necessary as the 2AA battery compartment is on the inside.

Windows and Apple computers recognizes the ION Tape Express+ a Universal Plug and Play device, so it connects to your computer easily. It might take a little more work to install it on Linux, you will also have to use 3rd party software to use it.

EZ Vinyl/Tape Converter has a simple graphical interface that allows for recording from vinyl records or cassette tapes. In Tape mode you can select from either normal audio tapes or chrome/metal tapes, I personally couldn't notice a difference no matter what type of media the original recording was on.

EZ Vinyl/Tape Converter also allows for either a manual recoding process or splitting the tapes into tracks. However the software isn't intuitive enough to split the tracks with any sort of consistency. Sometimes it will split in the middle of a recording when there is a long pause and you'll want to use a manual recording process to record the whole thing. More often then not though it will run multiple tracks together and you either have to re-record the tracks manually or use a third party tool such as Audacity to split the song tracks. However you wont even notice if the tracks recorded properly until you've finished the process as there are no playback and editing features in EZ Vinyl/Tape Converter.

Once the recording process is finished EZ Vinyl/Tape Converter gives you the opportunity add tags for Artist, Album, Song Title, and Track number. If allowing the software to split the recording into tracks and you know how many tracks were on the original recording this will be your first chance to notice if the tracks were split properly.

After that EZ Vinyl/Tape Converter will export your tracks to iTunes where they show up as MP3's and you can play back your tunes, get album art, and everything else you would normally in iTunes.

After converting a few tapes I just wound up setting up Audacity use the ION Tape Express+ as a recording device and manually edited everything from there. It saves you a couple of steps if the tracks weren't split correctly and it doesn't require iTunes. Audacity uses much less space on your hard drive then EZ Vinyl/Tape Converter and iTunes combined as well.

Over all I am quite impressed with the ION Tape Express+. Your recordings will sound just as good as they did on the original tape and some 3rd party software will allow you clean up the audio a little but I doubt it will ever sound as good as a purchased CD.

I would recommend to ION, dump the headphones, include a power supply, change the USB connection on the device from Mini to Micro, and drastically improve the included software.

That said, if you have a bunch of old cassette tapes laying around that you either cant find or afford to replace on CD or MP3, want to convert your old Mix Tapes to CD or MP3, or have other old personal recordings on audio cassette that you want to digitize... Even with the caveats listed in this review the ION Tape Express+ is well worth the 50 to 60 bucks it's currently selling for.

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BLUE MP3 Metal Mini Clip Player Supports 8GB Micro SD Card

• Supports Up To 8GB Micro SD Memory Card (Not Included)
• Comes Complete With USB Charger + Earphones
• Lightweight Metal Build
• Clips To Just About Anything
• Can Be Used As A USB Drive

I bought the mini clip mp3 player as a Christmas gift, as when I saw the price, I thought I couldn't go wrong. And I am very glad I made this purchase, because it was certainly well worth it. The mp3 player arrived in the mail before the estimated arrival date, but it didn't come in any type of casing. It was just in the shipping package, and included the music player, a pair of headphones (cheap pair), usb cable, and instruction manual. I had to test it myself before giving it as a gift and it seems to work great. It seems to be built nice and solid, as it has already been dropped a few times and still works fine. It even has a nice, bright led light at the bottom of it when it's turned on, which I did not expect to see. Yes, you do need to buy a micro sd card to be able to use it, but they are really cheap (I bought a 4gb for $2). It is sleek, small, and stylish, and I feel I made an excellent purchase. But it isn't a perfect mp3 player, but is any? One of my biggest complaints would have to be the fact that when you turn on the mp3 and start at song 1, you can't go backwards to the end of the list. To access your last songs, you'd have to go all the way around skipping forward, which can take some time and be a pain. Also, the instructions aren't clear on how long the mp3 player takes to charge or how long the battery lasts until it needs charging again. But otherwise, I don't see any other major problems. The person who received it as a gift is very happy with it, and I would definitely recommend purchasing this mp3 player.

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I got one of these off of eBay, and I've discovered why everyone else is having problems.

The unit has no way to indicate low battery. When the battery is low, it will attach/detach from the computer repeatedly, or reboot while playing, or show noise in the output.

Transferring files from the computer to the unit drains the battery, even though the unit is plugged into the computer. Moving lots of music onto the device will drain the battery in an hour or two filling a 4GB card can easily take this long.

Completely charge the battery *first* by leaving it plugged into the computer (and turned off) overnight.

Then only move 3 or 4 albums at a time into the unit, letting the unit charge the battery between times. Yes, this is a pain.

Knowing this, I've had no further problems with the unit. It seems to work fine.

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Player arrived promptly, but with minimalist China/English instructions. No mention of how long it takes to charge nor any indication of when it's charged (seems it's internal LED flashes while charging and is solid when charged, several hours from flat dead), or how long it will play on a charge ( so far seems 3-4 hours ).

The supplied USB cable was bad, luckily I had one on hand that fit. No mention is made of how the controls work, but the unit will fast-forward if the 'next song' button is held down while playing. No audio indication of progress.

I find the sound quality acceptable and it has very adequate volume output.

The supplied headphones actually don't sound too bad, but are very inefficient with low volume (better than I expected)...

I do wish the unit offered a shuffle mode as it always starts up on the same song...

The major disappointment for me (again, I didn't expect much in the first place) was that the unit will not PLAY while it is hooked up to a USB port to charge....

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For the price I couldn't resist trying out this MP3 player. An 8GB micro flash memory card can be so cheap (which I bought from Amazon.com) that it's still a good deal. The player is small and light enough to be inconsequential to carry. It feels sturdy enough and conveniently clips to my shirt or jacket. After making sure it was fully charged (if I remember correctly, the blue light stops flashing) I tried it out over a few days on the way to work. So far so go. The sound is clear and clean, and the volume is quite adequate (I'm using the Sony MDR-W08L headphones which I also purchased from Amazon.com).

As other people have pointed out the player defaults to the first song every time you turn it on. Also the volume control seems to respond slowly. The biggest downside is how slowly it transfers data (go do something else while it downloads). But as a second (or third) MP3 player that also doubles as a flash memory stick (remember to take the USB cable with you) I'm very pleased with it. For the money I will not really be bothered if it breaks, and I'll still have the micro flash memory card I can use elsewhere.

Perfect. I ordered it in December, got my item as promised. It works. Thank you very much, I greatly appreciate it.

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Car Kit Mp3 Player Wireless Fm Transmitter Modulator USB Sd MMC Slot

• Car MP3 WMA Player/ FM transmitter, compact and fashional design.
• Support SD/MMC memory card(Max 8GB) and USB flash drive (not included)
• Charge your USB device through the USB port (Charging cable is not included)
• Volume rotating button and power switch in one botton.
• 7 built-in EQ: Normal, ROCK, POP, CLASSIC, Country, JAZZ, DBB.

This FM transmitter/modulator is a great tool with better looks and features than your average overpriced name brand transmitter. Its a bit smaller than it looks in the pictures which is a + to me. As far as the material, the plastic is not the most rugged but it's not easy to break either. The overall sound quality of both songs on the SD card and manual playback via my phone with the provided cable is superb, there is a minimal ammount of static or interference. I didn't test the USB option but I dont see why it would differ from SD card. The option to transmit the frequency of your choosing unlike other devices which offer only a few stations was very impressive to me. This is a sleek, performance device for the price and am very happy to own it.

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First thing to do: Unscrew end of connector. Take rubber piece and toss in trash then replace fuse with one in bag. The rubber piece will make it impossible to remove from car and can damage the connection of the FM transmitter. I'm tellin ya it was almost impossible to remove! If for some reason it's really lose in your car when plugged in then dig out of trash. :P However I have never seen any car device have a rubber piece like that though and it plugs in nice and tight without it.

I use it with my phone. You just plug the 3.5mm audio cable into the audio jacks and you're good to go. The USB port keeps the phone juiced too. All you do is pick a clear station on your Stereo and device. Simple as that. Press the Volume Knob to turn the on screen display on and off. That's all there is to it if you're using it with your phone.

On the downsize you can't use the remote or controls on the unit to change stations on your phone. Or use just the usb cable for audio playback like some Stereos support. These are minor nitpicks though. I could be wrong. I will play with it some more and if anything changes I will update this review.

If you do have MP3s on your phone you can play them though the FM Transmitter by enabling mass storage on your phone. However since I mainly stream audio I haven't tried this but I'm sure it will work as once enabled it has your phone act as a usb storage device.

All in all this is a solid FM Transmitter. It looks good and works well. Of course it would be awesome if it had other wiz bang features like using the remote to skip songs (Course this is a IR remote and not RF so it might not be a good idea anyways while driving since you'd have to point it at the FM Transmitter.) and maybe Blue-Tooth support but it's still better than some of the other FM Transmitters I have seen for sale and the price for what you get is great!

Lack of documentation is kinda lame but the back of the box shows the basic features and it's simple enough to use. I'd also suggest a retractable 3.5mm audio cable for less clutter.

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This FM Transmitter acts as both an FM transmitter for your MP3 player to radio, as well as acting as an MP3 player in itself. It is basically offers 3 way compatibility with an external source via 1/8" input jack (i.e. iPod or any other MP3 player) or acts as an MP3 player itself by reading an SD card or a flash drive (has a usb input and an input for a standard SD card). The player comes with a very handy remote and if you are using the SD or USB/flash drive you can easily toggle through folders. It has its own volume control, and also emits a fairly powerful signal to reduce static and has a digital selection from 88-108 on the FM dial. It is easy to use, has a nice display that shows the song and other info.

To me, the most important feature of an FM transmitter for playing MP3s in a car is signal strength. There are lots of other quality transmitters available from near the price of this model upwards to 50 dollars and more, however they generally have the same functionality, perhaps maybe a larger display or a flexible extension from the input base, but for the expensive ones you are generally paying more for the brand and not the most important things, first being more signal strength (which tops out at a certain level anyway due to FCC regulations) and then being functionality like the SD card and usb options, remote, etc. Again this has all of that for a low price.

You'll be hard pressed to find another FM transmitter with this functionality and reliability for ANY cheaper, I've done tons of research and owned several. This is by far the best especially for the value. I use a 16 gig micro san disk SD card inside a standard adapter (I paid 12 dollars for the sandisk on amazon, bulk packaging) which holds A LOT of music and am always adding more from my PC. I can always hookup my iPhone, other MP3 player, or even a flash drive if I want and play music off of that.

If you don't have an auxillary jack on your car stereo, BUY THIS. It's by far the best FM transmitter for ten bucks and is practically as intuitive and multi-use as they get.

Other reviews claiming this is hard to use must be written by people who completely lack any tech savvy. It is very easy to use.

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it looks nice,works better and the sound is really clear. I purchased this FM transmiter for my Audi and I never expected this clear sound from a small thing I use it everyday and I use it with a USB memory I got all my music in it and I change the songs using the control remote sometime I use the buttons on it but it is easier to use the control remote when you are driving. great deal.

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This car kit was a little hard to figure out at first but once I got it working it was great. The rubber seal that goes around the lighter seems very tight and with the cheap, lightweight plastic, I was afraid the device would brake on me.

Maybe it should be easy for "normal" people to figure out, But I think it should come with some kind of instructions for operation.

The best feature is the usb plug. I put music on the flash drive and just plug it in the player. It plays my music great.

The worst feature is the wires that come with it,, They are to short. They need to be at least 6 inches longer so your zune player can sit on the seat. (I velcrowed my player so I can just stick it on my dash.

All in All, It's a darn good gadget and you won't be sorry.

HERE IS AN UPDATE after using this product for a month.

It does still work, but I have found it's difficult to set and adjust.

There is just way to many things I have found that makes this product NOT WORTH BUYING.

I would never buy again due to; IT HAS NO MANUAL so you know what your doing. The USB does NOT shuffle, (or if it does, I haven't figured out how).

After playing for an hour, I notice the "static" come's in bad. Maybe the product is getting to hot to play right?

After a month, I would NOT recommend buying this until the company encloses an owners manual.

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SanDisk Sansa Clip Zip 4GB MP3 Player (Orange)

• Plays music, audiobooks, and podcasts
• FM radio and Voice Recording
• New stopwatch feature
• Plays content from nearly every source (MP3, WMA, secure WMA, Ogg Vorbis, and FLAC)
• AAC for DRM-free iTunes compatibility

I am a big old fat geek that recently got into doing...(GASP!)...exercising.

I have many MP3 capable products and reasons why I am very fond of this little one for my new found effort. I have the following list of products and have tried my:

Nexus S (too big and heavy for running, no physical buttons)

iPod touch 4th Gen (Big, expensive at the storage size i wanted and no buttons for music controls)

iPod Nano 4thGen (little, has a clip, but why the hell can't they include buttons?)

iPod shuffle (not enough storage and I don't want to mix in my metal songs from lifting weights into my up beat running songs...)

Likes:

The clip Zip sounds great, is very small, has a clip and has physical buttons.

It fits every need i want. The bonus is the MicroSD slot, I can not stress this enough. Skip the 8GB version and get the 4GB and pair it with a 16 or 32GB card. Bam 20-36GB of storage, insanely small and still clocks in under $100.

FLAC support.

Low rez color screen does what it needs to. Won't knock people over but tells you whats playing with album art.

As for the other areas, the stop watch works like a stop watch...It keeps time and does splits. Not a huge thing and if you are using a polar watch or at a gym, the machine you are on will do just as well and be more convenient. In a pinch it works.

The FM radio works fine. I live in a rural area, so my station choices are limited. From my experience, it works just fine if you are in an area with good recption.

Dislikes:

*UPDATE* MM works on updated firmware...still broken on stock firmware. Drag and drop also works, so you have that going for you.

General gripe: The included headphones are perfect for giving to people you hate. You can use them, i guess, if you want to torture yourself, but like any MP3 player, Apple or otherwise, get some better phones...your ears and your music will appreciate it.

Considering you would need to pay twice as much for an iPod with fewer features, no physical buttons and no storage expansion, just to run in a hampster wheel, save your scratch and get this guy. You will be glad you did, as it looks good, sounds good and does a it in a small package that just screams to be used in your fitness routine.

Update of an update: A new firmware patch was released, make sure to update your new Clip Zip or you will experience the "Static Blast" between some of your songs...not fun, but it has been addressed, so make sure to update right away.

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The pros:

- all the benefits of the Clip+: great sound; small; microSD card support; FM radio (with record capability); recorder; gapless play; optional folder navigation; multiple formats support (mp3, wma, ogg vorbis, flac); file drag-and-drop capability; ad hoc playlist creation; cute and appealing

- new: aac file support for DRM-free aac format files; small color screen with album art display; time-of-day indication; "sports mode" with timer and lap time; fast alphabet scrolling in lists; menu customizability; enhanced contemporary feel and, perhaps, sturdiness; improved microSD card fit; improved EQ

The limited cons:

- internal memory maxes out at 8GB; limited what's playing screen information; underlying folder art can make screen readability harder; missing some play-all options; for some users: battery life remains rated at 15 hours; no video capability; greater functionality could be provided to the user (could be handled in future firmware upgrades)

The Clip Zip, the latest in the SanDisk Sansa Clip line, is firmly committed to the Clip line's proven success: a small, cute and attractive, easy-to-use player with great sound. Not much more can be said about the sound: SanDisk got it right with the original Clip and wisely has not tinkered with that, keeping the Clip line at the top of the audio player field. With one exception: while the Clip Zip's EQ options sound improved to my ears, they still can sound harsh--as a general matter, best to leave the EQ options alone.

Physically, the Clip Zip is only a trifle larger than its predecessor, in its long dimension. As before, the body is an attractive, sturdy 2-piece plastic shell that angles out, with a large, permanently attached, sturdy plastic clip occupying its back. The one-piece directional pad on the front of the Clip Zip has been reduced in size to the bottom third of the player's face, with a thin, rectangular select button in its center--some larger-fingered users may have to exercise some care. An inset postage stamp-sized screen occupies the top half of the face of the player. Available in a variety of pleasing colors, my player is an attractive platinum color with a silver-colored directional pad and silver volume rocker and power switches at the left and top sides. The headphone jack remains on the top right side of the player, with a microSD card slot below that, at the bottom; an inserted microSD card now sits totally flush with the player, helping to avoid any inadvertent ejection (although this could make removing the card a trifle more difficult for some). The Clip Zip adopts the micro USB standard for its data and power port at the top left of the player, and comes with a handy short USB/micro USB cable.

In the end, the Clip Zip has a perhaps slightly more contemporary, and sturdy, feel than before, including with its modernized screen graphics and opening and closing exploding screen logo. SanDisk includes with the player a pair of its standard earbud headphones, which many users like--I swap them out for audiophile in-ear phones that complement the player's well-tuned sound.

Beyond these basics, the Clip Zip, like the earlier Clip+, includes microSD card support, making it possible to increase the player's storage five-fold from its maximum 8GB internal storage to a total of 40GB, with a 32GB microSD card. Amazing, for something so small; microSD card slots should be standard in all audio players. All content nicely is seamlessly merged in the Clip Zip's database, or separately can be accessed by folder, as on a computer. The Clip Zip also includes a well-functioning FM radio, with presets and recording capability; new, the display automatically shows the currently-selected radio station's call letters. As before, the Clip Zip has a recorder; gapless play between files--a necessity for live performance recordings; simple drag-and-drop file transfer capability as well as compatibility with music players and aggregators like Windows Media Player; and ad hoc playlist creation (limited to a current, temporary playlist). The Clip Zip also continues Replaygain support to equalize volume between files, and speed control (slow, normal, fast) for podcasts and audiobooks (but, unfortunately, without pitch adjustment, which would be a welcome addition).

With this pedigree in hand, the Clip Zip then takes off. Firmly inviting iTunes users in, the Clip Zip now is compatible with DRM-free aac files (the iTunes standard), in addition to, as before, mp3, wma, protected wma, ogg vorbis and flac formats; iTunes users no longer need convert their aac files (hurting it in the process) to mp3 format. Reflecting the visual age, the Clip Zip trades in the mostly monochrome, text-oriented small screen of its predecessors for a full (albeit postage stamp-sized), well-functioning color screen with album art display and muted album art backgrounds; where album art is not available, the Clip Zip substitutes varying tasteful designs rather than a dry, static picture (no more pictures of a music note for album art-less files). And then, perhaps listening to its audience's earlier suggestions, SanDisk adds in the time-of-day to the player's what's playing screen (many thanks!); a "sports mode" with timer and lap time; fast alphabetical scrolling for content lists--very welcome for those users with lots of content; and the (limited) ability to customize the Clip Zip's top menu to show or exclude function categories (Music, Radio, Books, Voice, Card, Sport).

Users of earlier Clip players will find the operation of the Clip Zip familiar, and largely instinctual. Newcomers will adapt in minutes.

All of this is done in an evolutionary manner, still within the Clip lineage; this is not a new player line. Some users will be disappointed by the 8GB internal memory ceiling; 16GB and 32GB models would be appreciated at this point in time--as well as beyond that for us jukebox users. The player's battery remains rated at 15-hours, typically enough for a full day, but some users would like more; the battery is not user replaceable, given the player's size (some users would prefer otherwise). And there is no video capability (although this only would be minimally useful, given the small screen--but it still would be welcome).

Seemingly as a result of the adoption of album art display, some informational functionality has been lessened on the Clip Zip's what's playing screen: there is no current track number and total tracks information; the current song/file time position is only indicated by a progress bar--there are no elapsed or remaining time indicators; and some of the on-screen information can be a bit harder to see, depending on underlying album art. Also, for some reason, a play-all option, apart from in shuffled mode, has gone missing from most of the playback options--album aficionados will be limited to choosing 1 album at a time or creating playlists. These issues are important for many users--perhaps (hopefully) SanDisk will consider them for future firmware upgrades. (Speaking of which: how about a separate time screen with a clock face, with a few style options?) And the database hindrance from earlier Clip models remains: when files are added to or removed from the microSD card or the card is removed and replaced, the Clip Zip needs to refresh its database, which can take many minutes, depending on the size of the card's contents, during which the player cannot otherwise be used.

In the end, despite some limitations (some of which could be addressed in the future), the Clip Zip is an attractive successor in the Clip line, with enhanced functionality especially of note for those with a library of aac files and for those wanting album art or timing capabilities.

9-12-11 UPDATE as to Audible compatibility with the Clip Zip:

Apparently, people have been finding it impossible to transfer Audible audiobooks to the Clip Zip. In trying myself, I found the same thing--frustrating! In following up, it turns out that Audible needs to update its Audible Manager software, used to transfer Audible audiobooks, etc. to a device, and is working on it. In the meanwhile, see the comments section below for a couple of easy ways to transfer Audible content to the Clip Zip: simple drag-and-drop/copy-and-paste; or using Windows Media Player. In fact, personally, I actually prefer using the drag-and-drop method to having to fire up the Audible Manager just to transfer content over--simpler.

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The Sansa Clip Zip sounded like just what I wanted -a small, inexpensive, clip-on mp3 player to use while I exercise. I was wrong. I listen to audiobooks while I exercise, and despite Sansa's product description the Clip Zip doesn't do that.

When I manually load audiobook mp3 files on the Clip Zip, it classifies them as songs on different albums by one artist. If I select "artist" it plays all the 'track #1s' in sequence and then all the 'track #2s', etc. If I choose "album" it plays that set of files but then I have to search around for the next cryptically-named "album" in the book. That works, sort of, but who wants to stop exercising to fiddle around with an mp3 player for 10 minutes searching for the next section of a book?

When I use Windows Media Player to make a playlist of an audiobook's tracks and then sync them with the Sansa, the process fails -no playlist is on the Sansa and the book is organized exactly as it was using drag-and-drop.

Same thing happens with iTunes, except iTunes itself crashes half the time too.

Audible.com books? Sorry, the audible format is not supported.

If you want to listen to music on a cheap mp3 player, buy the Clip Zip. If you want to play an audiobook, forget about it -it's useless.

Addendum:

Several people have offered comments and work-arounds that have been very helpful. First of all, the problem with Audible compatibility apparently belongs to Audible.com, not SanDisk. Second, Windows Media Player does work with the Clip Zip. Third, even without built-in Audible support, you can manually add Audible books to the Clip Zip.

I've added one star to my rating. It's OK as it is now and when Audible.com (an Amazon subsidiary, BTW) changes the Audible Manager it should move up to "pretty good" rating -actually a "good for the price" rating.

Second addendum (December 15, 2011):

1) I'm told that Audible.com now supports this device.

2) There's a workaround for the problem I had with playing mp3 audiobooks. Both Andy Sexton and John R. Ridley came up with the workaround and posted it in the comments to this review. Quoting Mr. Ridley: "If you put audiobooks into the audiobook folder, or set the genre in the MP3 tags as "AUDIOBOOK" the Clip Zip will handle them properly, with proper resume points and no need to make playlists or anything." Thank you Andy and John!

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I bought this little guy to replace a 6th Gen iPad Nano. My main complaints about the Nano:

1. No buttons, difficult to work with it when you are running or working out. Difficult to pause when a co-worker arrives at your desk.

2. I'm a Linux guy. The 6th gen iPod nano is not compatible with any Linux drivers. Will not work with gtk-pod. Running a VM just for an iPod is a drag.

3. You're stuck with the storage size you buy.

Don't get me wrong, I really did like the Nano, but for my usage patterns it was not ideal. The Zip Clip takes care of the above problems and then some.

1. Buttons are easy to find and navigate, even when you are not using your eyes.

2. You can load it just using your raw MP3's or MTP mode using Rhythmbox on Linux, and lots of other music managers on other platforms.

3. Stick a microSD card in it and bam, you now have a 36 GB portable music player.

4. Bonus, the Zip Clip has a custom EQ mode as well as presets, so you can make your music sound just the way you want.

5. Bonus, the Zip Clip supports the leveling encoded in your MP3's or albums. Yes, the iPod has sound check but that's all secret voodoo stuff and only works with their own files.

The size is a bit bigger than the nano but it's made of plastic and is nearly the same weight (Zip Clip is 25 grams, nano is 20.) I clip it on my watchband when I'm working out. It also dangles from my lanyard when I'm working. My RSA fob and badge weigh way more than the Zip Clip.

I'm really happy with this thing, it does exactly what I want it to do. Dealing with the iPod was becoming rather frustrating to a non-Apple guy and I find that the Zip Clip has a couple added features that make it work and sound better than the iPod. Me like.

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Let me start off with the bottom line. Buy this player. Period.

Ok,with that out of the way let me tell you why. I am a complete tech geek. I built my own computer AND server and have the usual assortment of laptops, mobile phones, netbooks, and other assorted tech items. I decided I wanted a compact music player because there are times I don't want to use my mobile phone as a music player. Sometimes I want something really small and light. With my tech background my standards were pretty high for what I wanted out of an MP3 player and of everything I looked at, including the various iPods, this was the ONLY player that met all my criteria.

PROs: Super small and light. In fact, if it had been any smaller it would have been TOO small. One complaint some people have with the newest generation iPod is that it's so small they have a hard time manipulating the controls. The Clip Zip has actual buttons you can press which makes control very easy. And don't worry about accidentally hitting a button and screwing up your music. If you tap the power button on top it locks all the buttons except the volume control so that won't happen.

Has a small screen so you can actually select what you want to hear and displays album art if you have it installed.

All the usual music selection options. You can search by artist, album, song, genera, or even by folder or playlist.

SD CARD SLOT!!! This was the most important feature to me. It will take up to a 32 GB MicroSD card. 32 Gigs. Do you understand how much music will fit on that? I have every CD I own installed to an SD card, over 7500 songs, and it only takes 18.5 GB using Windows Media format. Even better, when you pop in an SD card the player takes only a few seconds to scan it and update its internal database. So even if you have 50,000 songs you could just copy them all to a couple of different SD cards and switch them in and out. There are only a small handful of players on the market with this feature and it gives you AMAZING flexibility in using your player. Want to just cram a ton of music on there? Go for it. Want to use a lossless, high quality format like FLAC so your music sounds perfect but don't want to be stuck with only a handful of songs on your player? No problem, grab a few cards and take as much as you like.

When you first get a blank card install it in the player and go to "system settings". Chose "format" and select "external card". The player will format your card for you and install a folder titled "MUSIC" on it. Just drag and drop any music folders you have saved on your computer here and install it in your player. The player reads the card, organizes the files, and you're ready to listen to music.

File Options. It accepts an amazingly wide range of file formats. MP3, WMA, Flac, even the various iTunes formats.

Built in FM radio. Less important these days but still a nice option to have sometimes. And it even does autoscan for stations.

SANSA Updater. If you go to the Sandisk website to the clip zip page you can download their installer. First, it upgrades the firmware on the player. DO THAT. But more important it also installs a small updater program. When you connect your player it pops open and gives you different options including syncing with different folders or just dragging music onto your player. You can use it to create playlists right on the player. Or, if you already have playlists on your windows media player you can sync with those instead.

CONs: Nothing is perfect and this is no exception. First, it is a very light plastic player. If you step on it or sit on it you WILL break it. Duh.

It seems to have a problems with songs recorded in iTunes format. Checking on line it has to do with the way iTunes tags certain songs. A few years ago iTunes adjusted the way they tag songs based on if they were DRM protected. I had a mix of old and new songs in my iTunes folder and if I tried to install them the player would hang up. Deleting the music from the player solved the problem. There is no such problem with ANY windows based format. Personally, I have seen this as yet another problem with Apple being not quite compatible with everything else and not a player problem.

Slow file transfer. Dragging music onto your player is kinda slow. Not a huge deal since you are unlikely to do it very often. It's even less of a big deal because you can take the SD card out and copy music directly to the card, then just pop it back in. In truth, even burning directly to an SD card can take a while if you have a lot of music. I copied 12 GB at once at it took almost an hour. But again, how often are you going to need to do that?

CONCLUSION: The bottom line here is this is an amazingly good MP3 player. Is it perfect? No, obviously not. But there are a lot of players on the market with fewer options for a lot more money. I spent several days researching every player on the market and the Clip Zip has the best combination of options at the best price, hands down.

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PYLE PLCD3MR AM/FM-MPX In-Dash Marine CD/MP3 Player/USB and SD Card Function

• AM/FM Radio, CD-DA, CD-R/RW, MP3/WMA, USB, SD/MMC marine receiver
• 40 Watts x 4 internal amplifier with single preamp output for system expansion
• Attractive multi-color LCD display with "dancing spectrum" visual
• Features USB port and SD/MMC slot for MP3/WMA playback; 3.5mm auxiliary input
• One-year manufacturer's warranty

I was looking for a replacement unit for my 1996 Bayliner boat. The factory unit stopped working and needed to be upgraded anyway. I was going to buy the "mechless" version of this unit, but decided to spend the extra few dollars to have the CD player as well.

The radio has good reception using the built in antenna on the boat. No static or fading. Works as expected.

I used a couple of different SD cards to test it. I filled up a 2GB and a 1GB card, both formatted to FAT32. Popped them in and hit the shuffle button. No issues, both played just fine. One card I set up with directories and was able to skip from one directory to another.

CD Player worked fine, although I will probably never use it.

Sound was better than expected in a boat at normal volume. Although when volume was high, it did get a lot of distortion. That may possibly be the fault of the speakers as they are 14 years old and have been exposed to the elements. I will be installing new speakers soon and will update this review if it sounds any better.

*UPDATE*

Added new speakers. Sounds much better. The old speakers were shot. Volume on this unit is still not great, but in a boat it is more than enough.

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The term "marine" was not explained well on site. It means white, permanent undetachable face plate. Other than that, it fits perfectly into a standard in dash mount for your car. I replaced another after market CD player and wire configuration was identical. So pushing the same wires back into the same tight spot was the only real challenge. No holes to cut.

The 160 watts are more than adequate power. But the ability to handle SD Flash chips and USB and CD is extremely handy.

This is the 2nd Pyle in dash unit I have owned. The other car died before the Pyle did.

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the radio is an excellent buy. it is hard to find a usb radio in the market worth its price, and this one was well made and sounds great

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Unit arrived quickly and in perfect condition. Very easy installation and all functions tested (radio, cd, ipod) worked perfectly. Attractive display and decent sound quality, especially for the price paid. Very satisfied with this product.

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Great sound and nice features! Really like the different types of input ports on the front of the tuner. Plenty of watts to push 4 boat speakers. Only a few down falls screen is hard to read in really bright enviroment, the remote has to be pretty close to the radio to work (kinda pointless) and the connection harness in the back of the radio is to loose so it will cut in and out if you dont secure it.

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Coby MP620-8GBLU 8 GB 1.8-Inch Video MP3 Player (Blue)

• 1.8-inch color LCD screen
• Integrated flash memory
• Plays music, video, photos, and text
• Integrated FM radio
• ID3 and LRC support for song and lyric information display

Sound quality is great. Good battery life. Very light and thin. Has a nice little screen, and rubber backing. Loads of features for bucks (normally retails for rightly so), and nice 4 gigs of capacity! Obviously it's not an ipod touch, but I'd take this over a classic ipod or ipod shuffle/nano ANY DAY.. I also like that I don't have to feel like I'm handling glass when I use it. I owned an ipod touch, and I was almost afraid to handle it because it felt so delicate. This product actually feels light and durable. Also, it makes for a great flash drive, as well as having excellent reception in the FM tuner.. I highly recommend this product for anyone who wants a good mp3 player at a great price.

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I have been using ths device for about 3 weeks already, and the following are the pro's and con's I encountered while using this device:

Pros:

-Cheap

-looks good, nice sleek and proffessional design

-nice UI interface

-radio

-battery life (all day non-stop playing and quick charge)

-light and slim

Cons:

horrible headphones (no ear bud broke within an hour of first using it, the other 3 weeks after), but average sound quality. Recommend buying separate durable ear buds.

Takes a few seconds too load and shut down, but this is a minor inconvenience.

-Organization, if you are looking for a specific song, you must either know the album, or know the order. Haven't tried other mp3 players before, but it is not that fluid. Feels like you are looking at your songs folder in your computer. (no search function)

-Video ( can only accept a really low quality format (.MTV), which you need a video converter for 99% of all of your video files, which is nearly impossible to find a good one. At the end, it will not be worth it converting.

-Pictures, really low quality, looks like something out of an old cellphone or gif.

Conclusion: If you are looking for a simple, cheap, straight forward mp3 player, I recommend getting this. If you want something extra, look for something else.

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I bought this to replace my other coby. I like it. Very light wich surprised me and good picture and i just dropped it and it still works which is a plus.

Pros

-easy to read

-easy music transfer

-portable

-sounds awsome especially with skull candies

puts your music in order and even has album/artist order as well

Cons (nothing big)

hard to find music when you have alot since you only have a push button but just hold it and it goes by kinda fast

when you want to search for a new song you have to start from the beginning everytime which sucks but o well

takes a few seconds to turn on and shut off but aging no biggie

Over all, good player and is well recomended

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I was definitely not up with the times. I finally decided to get an MP3 player. I honestly knew nothing about them. I didn't want to spend a lot of money and make a mistake so I chose this one. For $30, if it didn't work well, it wouldn't be too much of a big deal. To tell you the truth I didn't really have much faith in this player's quality, because it wasn't an expensive brand or an Apple Ipod. I really wasn't expecting much.

When it arrived I have to admit I was excited to get started. I had loads of songs I wanted to hear that I didn't have on cd. I felt like a kid in a candy store. At first, I found a site I could buy MP3's from and tried to get my songs on the device. Since this was my first time uploading songs on an MP3 player I didn't know what I was doing and had lots of trouble. The directions it came with were not very helpful to me because of my ignorance with technological things. Finally after fiddling around for over an hour I finally figured it out. I bet a lot of you are thinking I am a real dummy, lol!

All I can say is I am thrilled!! This little piece of machinery is amazing to say the least. Once you get the knack, it is so easy to download your songs and add them to the playlist. When I saw how easy it was to upload songs from my computer to the device, I felt stupid for not figuring out how to do it sooner.

I bought a mini stereo cable and connected it to the headphone jack and the other end to my stereo's audio jack and I was pleasantly surprised at how loud and clear it sounds with my stereo system. The earbuds it comes with are a little uncomfortable and hurt my ears, so I am using my Sony Walkman's head phones and it is much more comfortable. My husband and 9 year old daughter liked this device so much, they want their own too. I will buy two more and highly recommend this item. It is well made and looks expensive too.

Thank you Coby for making a high quality, great sounding, good looking device for such a low price.

This review is meant to be helpful for potential buyers. I aimed to get an MP3 player that would play mp3s and audio books, while I was traveling; I was not making an investment in buying a showy new mobile device. The product first arrived on time. The packaging was great. Tightly sealed and protected. Most importantly the product did what I wanted it to do. The sound quality was decent. I didn't have much of a problem uploading audio tracks onto the device, but then again that might vary depending on one's familiarity with technology. It's fairly easy, taking about 4 steps. Any concerns about not getting what one pays for: this would have to include the radio function. It didn't work very well in doors for me. It's antenna must not be that big. For me that's fine since I don't plan on using it much. I think that the functionality and price match the product. I do not feel as though I was gipped in any way when making this purchase.

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