When I recently found myself shopping for MP3 players, I was rather overwhelmed with the vast variety of choices that I had. I knew I wanted something small, but I also wanted the ability to record voice memos (because while having a Sony Clie comes in handy quite often – such as when you’re at a book fair with ample waiting time to write a few blogs – the ability to record your voice is handier still…)
I really liked the idea of the iPod Mini, being a Mac man, and they made it all the more tempting when the new models came out, with a whopping 4 gig hard drive AND the ability to import my numerous playlists (Downtempo Bliss, Cinematic, Piano & Guitar Chicks, Pop Rocks, etc…). Unfortunately, even in mini form the iPod is a bit large, and the proprietary battery (read: not user replaceable) combined with the need to buy extra stuff to record your voice, and it was a no-go for me.
After toying with the iRiver iFP-799 for a while, I soon found couldn’t lean that way, either. The size was right, but when reading the reviews and various forums on it, it became clear they have serious firmware issues. As in, when you upgrade the firmware to allow you to use the player as a stand-alone USB drive, it cripples the in-line recording capabilities, limiting it from 128kbps to an unacceptable 96bps. Granted, I’d mainly be using it for audio blogs and voice notes, but I just don’t like a company to assume I’m a high-flyin’, music pirating criminal even before I buy their product.
I finally settled on the Samsung YP-MT6Z. With a pleasing 1GB of memory, dinky size (see photo below), and voice recording capabilities, it was a no-brainer. I was all the more pleased to find it works as a simple plug-and-play USB drive AND comes with the astoundingly effective WOW! audio technology. If you haven’t heard of the WOW! Thing for desktop computer speakers, it’s a great investment. Adding extra punch to anything that streams through it, WOW! Technology will make all your old songs sound new again, enhancing subtle elements and nuances you never knew existed. Yes, I said nuance. And I meant it. (This is even more true when you have a silent player without moving parts and a good set of earphones.)
Other bells and whistles include running on a single AA battery (which provides 40 hours of use), FM Radio tuner (with recording capabilities), a small but legible LCD display, and an included pair if earphones that sound fantastic, even if they’re incredibly uncomfortable.
If there’s one thing I wish it could do that it doesn’t, would be the ability to shuffle single folders, instead of using the entire storage space. It’s rather jolting to go from the Thievery Corporation’s blissful “Holographic Universe” to the relaxing yet hoarse musings of your own voice. Bleech…
All in all, I’m extremely satisfied with the Samsung YP-MT6Z. A great player at a great price, with little to complain about. I hope and expect it will provide me with years of musical enjoyment. And if not? Well, it’s a good thing I got the 2-year Best Buy warranty for a mere $30 more… (I’m not gonna take chances with something this small… especially with a toddler and his sticky fingers running around the house… there are just too many trash cans available…)
Anonymous says:
Hi Kevin. I have one of these little guys sitting in front of me, still in it’s packaging. I’ve been searching about, trying to figure out if it’ll work with my Mac. You mention being a Mac man. Are you able to use the Samsung YP-MT6Z as a regular USB device on your Mac? –Mike
Kevin says:
Mike,
It works perfectly with my iMac DV+ running OS 10.2.8 (Jaguar). When plugged in, it shows up as an external drive and then I just drag and drop to load folders of MP3′s. I should note that it can only read MP3′s like 2-3 folders deep, but after that you’ll get a “No Entry” error. So I have mine set up with “New Tunes” and then I slap in my individual artist folders into that, and it’ll still read the Album name & songs in the NEXT folder. But beyond that: error. Samsung has excellent customer support, too. I’m constantly impressed with this player. You have a huge winner on your hands!
Anonymous says:
Kevin. Thanks for your reply. Of course I couldn’t just leave it in the pkg so I’ve been experimenting. Overall I’ve had good success, just as you describe. I haven’t run into the problem w/nested folders yet, but I think I did have a problem w/a folder w/an odd name — S.C.I.E.N.C.E_. With this folder in place, I got the “No Entry” error all over and couldn’t even recorded multiple voice snippets.
I removed all the folders I’d dragged over, and put everything back but named this folder just plain Science. All seems good. It’s amazing how much functionality they’ve packed into this little player / recorder. FM reception is pretty good, I recorded from FM too, just to try it out. Voice recording, one of my main intended uses, seems just fine, plenty of space.
Now I want to do some investigation to see if I can smooth the process of managing music in iTunes (MP3 format) and copying it to the Samsung player. I’d like to trxfer entire playlists from iTunes onto the MT6Z. Sure I can do it, even if I need to export the playlist data and then read this via a script to do the actual copy.
Again, thanks for your original posting and reply to my question. –Mike