This Colby 4GB with FM and color display is great value of the price. Very compatible with Windows Media Player, making synching easy and efficient. Great sound, both with music and audio books. Color display is clear and does not distort the pictures I carry on the player. Comparing it to the Sandisk I previously purcahsed for my wife, I would say I got the better of the two players. Coby 4GB Flash MP3 Player with FM and Color Display (Black)
Let me begin by admitting that I am "downgrading" to a Coby 610 from an ipod Nano which broke (mysteriously) a few months ago. I needed an MP3 player, and I could not afford to invest in a new Nano. The Coby was my compromise: at a fraction of the price and apparently with far greater capabilities, this machine had the contest hands down.
Well, sort of. My principal need was a machine that would play music WELL and hold a lot of it. I got what I paid for: the Coby 610 has copious memory (more than enough for my needs) and seems to be able to play my music just fine. So my complaints here are technically superficial. But I think they are worth considering.
First, if you get a Coby 610, you will be amazed at how light and chintzy the plastic case seems. My Nano had a sturdy, flashy, beautiful metal case-- this one FEELS ready to crack in my hands (note: actual cracks have yet to appear). Second, you will notice that the font used on the display screen is a blocky system font-- easy enough to read, I guess, but far from sleek or stylish. Next, you will discover that the "fly wheel" on the lower half of the front panel does not "fly" at all: the Nano had a wheel that actually "swirled" allowing me to scroll and navigate through the Nano's various menus: here, it is just a directional up/ down/ left/ right button placed on a silver wheel.
Okay, more good things: I was blown away by the fact that, for about $30, I could watch a full-length movie on the [tiny] display screen. I mean, it's really, really small, and the practicality of watching ANY movie on a screen so small must be considered questionable, but there it was, right there: a movie on the LCD display. My Nano could never do that.
Am I happy with my purchase? I guess so. I do not feel like I was ripped off, certainly, nor do I feel like I walked in blind. I guess I was, just, well, disappointed... When I got it out of the box and started working with it I was disappointed. I didn't feel like I had gotten an amazing new thing for a bargain price. But I am glad I have it. Rihanna just isn't the same unless you can hear her sing.
UPDATE: it has been a year and nine months now since I wrote the above review. I continue to own and operate my Copy MP3 player, but I wanted to report a new problem: occasionally the machine simply "hangs"-- it freezes up tight, and getting it to "unfreeze" means inserting a pin into the back of the case where there is a USB restart button of some kind. If you have a pin handy. Which, when I am walking about, I seldom find I do. Yesterday I wore the Coby while on a long walk to a friend's house. I had just loaded a new batch of albums onto it, and was ready for a musically enhanced walk. After the third song, it froze. I had no pin. I had to finish my walk listening to the sounds of Santa Monica Blvd., which is way too full of cars and trucks for my taste. My Nano never "hung" like this and I am mystified as to why the Coby does. But hey, at least they planned for it by having an impossible-to-access restart button in the back. Near the bottom.
When I considered an MP3/FM player for purchase, I was looking for the cheapest, halfways decent unit I could afford, and after research, chose this, and have not been disappointed.
This small, inexpensive device that features an equalizable Mp3 player, with a capacity of up to about 4 GIGS of songs/music, depending on what else you might throw onto it file-wise, along with a good FM radio receiver (with the ability to set pre-sets), was something I thoroughly did my research on, before parting with my bread. And I cannot say I was/am disappointed too much, except for the cheap earbud headphones included, but this is easily solved by using a better set of headphones. In fact, in some ways, it has and does exceed what I expected for the money. Besides a good Mp3 & FM radio player/receiver, other things I looked at before buying such a unit was whether it had some sort of rechargeable energy source (besides non-rechargeable batteries), as well as something which could perhaps exhibit photos, videos, text, and so forth. Ease of setup and use were also primary. According to expectations, this was and is, a nice purchase. Again however, I have been using it with a set of better headphones than what is included here.
While I can't say this product is totally five star, it does almost everything, almost perfectly, for which I bought it, and so I have to give it at least five stars, though it's closer to a four and a half rating than five. The GIG limits level may be well below requirements of some, or they may be looking for something a bit more substantial with a larger view screen, but I think for most casual users, and for the price, this is a pretty fantastic buy. My only real complaint overall is that the cheap and short-in-length earbud headphones included, are really crap, as almost all "earbud" types are to me, and if you buy this, I hope you have a much better non-earbud set of headphones, whether over or against the ear type. While the included short-sized earbuds may be tolerable, and useful where on-the-go use is concerned, one really should use something better than the earbuds set included with this for best effect.
While I primarily suggest one needs to use better headphones with this than those inexpensive earbuds supplied to get the full value here, that nitpick is minor compared to what this product actually does overall, which I find amazing, again for the cost. This includes being able to basically use it out-of-the-packaging, without reading too much initial instruction. I say this mainly because of my fading eyesight, but what was a pleasure and continues to remain so in my enjoyment of this was that it all really is highly intuitive, from initial charging of the included rechargeable lithium cell battery to the very simple button/wheel operations to get from uploaded Mp3 to FM to pictures, text, etc. While the nice color display is small, too small for this blind bat to get much out of reading text or looking at pictures and/or videos, I'm sure it would be fine for those with basically normal eyesight. What it does best however, is why I got it, and why I really like it, and that is the ability to easily upload tons of saved Mp3's to it for listening, as well as the ability to listen to local FM radio, both functions which it does wonderfully.
Please, all possible buyers, note that this unit REQUIRES one have a computer. One with a free USB connection slot. Whether one has an older USB 1 connection (like my computer dinosaur) or better yet a (faster) 2.0 USB hook-up, to recharge the battery here, you need to plug it in to a computer to use this. That is how you recharge the battery, period. A small USB to COBY cable is included. A computer (with folders/directories of saved Mp3's) is also required because if you have no saved computer Mp3's upon which to upload to this device, what's the point?
Fortunately for me, and why I bought this, is that over about a decade of downloading Mp3's and in addition to ripping Mp3 versions of already owned music CD albums and tracks, I easily filled nearly 4 gigs right away and only dented my overall Mp3/CD music collection actually. This is an important point however that I can't emphasize strongly enough. If you have a computer, you are half-way there, a substantial collection of Mp3's (or ripped ones from already owned CD's), the other half. If you don't own a lot of computer Mp3 files, but a lot of CD's from which you want to rip from and save as Mp3 files (included is such a program but there are many programs to do this with, a few freeware), it's rather easy. Other audio formats can be played as well. As for pictures, it primarily likes JPEG's, but that's the most commonly worked with picture application for most digital cameras, and this will also accept BMP files for visual media. AVI movie files are the fave here, but it accepts other video app types as well. I mention the visual aspects only for the better-sighted than I, but since the menus on the screen allow for easy Mp3 and FM playback, I have no real beefs there. Besides, really, if one wants to look at pictures and watch videos, there are better ways to do it than on the tiny screen here.
The basics however? This wise, imho for me, purchase, does almost everything as well as I had hoped for. I find that the larger text visible in the main menus, with my bad eyes, even I can see okay. And once one learns to get the hang of it all button pushing wise, and again, with a better set of headphones, why carp? It has great sound, an equalizer of sorts, plays for a long time on a single charge, is pretty simple to use, and plays Mp3's really well in addition to offering a great FM radio feature.
If one is at least semi-computer literate, and knows their way around "windows explorer," it's very easy to just drag and drop here, which I found helpful. Anyone looking for an Mp3 player would know a lot of the basics I've mentioned however and have a good collection to upload to this, so all in all, this does just what it should do really, plays Mp3's great, as well as offering a pretty good FM radio receiver. Along with the ability to view pictures and video. For the cost, this is probably more than anyone desiring an Mp3 player/FM radio receiver really needs. Just get or use a better set of headphones than supplied, that's all. I'm amazed at the full rich sound quality overall.
This is a really nice, inexpensive toy which will do the job for almost all users, without the added expense of going with overrated alternatives. Just be sure to ask yourself what you really want and really need, but for the basics of ease of use, rechargeability, and excellent Mp3/FM sound playback, you can't really go wrong here.
If you have a lot of music CD's you'd like to rip to MP3 with the included program, as well as a general knowledge of Windows and Explorer and how to connect simple USB from computer to this unit, for uploads of music, pictures, video, text, and more, you can't go wrong here. While a bit quirky, once one gets used to how to use it all properly (which I did without really reading any manuals or instructions, it's THAT intuitive), this was much more than I expected for the price, and there really is no need to spend anything more than to buy this gem.
Just remember to have a good set of alternative headphones to use with this because frankly, the cheapo earbuds that come with this are really bad. I'm using a pair of $15 over-ear Panasonic RP-HT227 with this (reviewed elsewhere on Amazon), and I couldn't be more pleased. This holds a charge (via USB/computer) really well and lasts a long time, the FM radio has presets and operates fine, and if one creates playlists of Mp3's (linear) from artists or albums before uploading to this unit, I can't see any real problems.
This was and is, everything promised and more. If you have a bunch of Mp3's you want to listen to (as well as FM radio presets), or even if you have a bunch of purchased CD's from which you wish to rip to MP3 format for playback later on this unit, you can't go wrong. If you even have the most primitive understanding of files and formats and how to transfer such to a truly amazingly portable unit, you can't go wrong for the money here.
I had been waiting for a while to purchase a truly portable unit to play Mp3 files, and this was money well spent. It not only plays Mp3's, but can rip same from your CD's with the included program (though I've used another cd-mp3 rip app). It also gives great FM and can display pictures, movies, and text. Why carp? For the price, this is without a doubt, one of the best buys I've ever made from Amazon. Just have a better set of headphones available, and you, like me, will have no complaints. Easily rechargeable via USB connection with your computer (you do NEED a computer of some sort, even the dinosaur I use), but after only a few hours of charging, I have hours of use and music/picture/video/text enjoyment.
I really have no major complaints. Tech sure has come a long way, and this is about the least expensive unit of its intent out there these days. For the price, for what it does, it's really excellent. - Fm Radio - Cheap Mp3 Player - Coby - 4gb'
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