TrekStor i.Beat xtension 1 GB MP3 Player with FM Radio (Black)
See it at Amazon.com for $17.99Average Customer Rating
(4.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First (4 out of 5)Excellent so far two minor flaws
Exchanged a COBY at $35 for this at at $49.99 at J and R and after a few hitches everything checks out very well. Sound is very good and the phones provided are excellent. The Trekstor 2GB can be booted with an SD Card in the slot provided in the side.
The Trekstor iBeat Extension is a class above the COBY for only $15 more - 2 GB instead of 1GB, SD Card slot, and the mike and voice recording very good. The FM seems good too.
Two tiny problems though. The Mike hole is too small and on the side not front so it does not record the person opposite you very well unless aimed intentionally at them. And, the FM seems so far not to be able to distinguish between 89.9 (WKCR) and 90.0 MHz (WKCR with occasional hisses), though perhaps I will find out how to correct this.
The TrekStor is German but made in China and the pleasing texture of the surface material is suede. Good appearance except for two slightly cheap looking metal controls. The earphones are excellent. They also provide a neck strap.
This is quality for a bargain price if it continues to perform well. Smaller and less liable to be snatched than an iPod. Was going to buy a Sandisk but would have been without a card slot if I had. The mike is muffled if not pointed at the source which is a big drawback since casual recording from it hanging around your neck looks as if it will not work very well.
Update after three months: Works fine as an MP3 player, except for oddity that sometimes it just stops in midstream even with a newish battery, so you just have to take the battery out briefly and replace, then it works OK. Nice surface feel and black satin looks still please. With unlimited expansion through SD cards it seems to be a very good answer to the MP3 expansion problem for a low price. But whether it will mike any good recordings remains unknown, since the menu offers difficulties of navigation and the mike trouble with orientation that I cant be bothered to deal with.
(5 out of 5)USB Mass Storage SDHC card MP3 Player/thumb drive w/AAA battery
First, this MP3 player is USB mass storage class compliant. So you plug it in and drag and drop your music files like any other device. This means you can use it as a thumb drive as well and store whatever you like. It will just play the mp3s and leave the rest be. It keeps the files in the folders you put them in and allows you to pick the folder you want to play. This makes it easy to keep things organized if you don't want to set up the ID3 tags. Navigating the folders isn't complicated once you get the hang of what button does what.
I've had other mp3 players that conflicted with my mouse when I plugged them in but this had no problems. Also, it plugs in straight without any cables to connect it up. There's a cover for the USB connector which fits on snugly. You remove this also to change the AAA battery. Another nice aspect as you can bring extras with you.
The other big thing is that in addition to the internal memory, you can plug an SD card in. This means you can bring as many as you want and just swap. I tried out both a 2GB SD card and an 8GB SDHC card and both worked fine! Since I already had the 8GB card for my camera I got a 9 GB capacity mp3 player for quite a nice price!
When you slide the SD card in, it switches to it immediately and starts to play. You can switch back though fairly quickly. There's a short delay but its not like with other mp3 players when you add new songs and you have to wait a minute or so before it will play. When you plug it into your computer it shows up as TWO drives: one for the internal memory and one for the SD card (whether you have one installed or not). You can thus use this to transfer your SD card data to your computer without the need for any wires if you wanted. I will say that the SD card does stick out a tiny bit so it could catch on something but I don't think its that big a deal.
Over the years I've had several mp3 players but this is by far the best.
(2 out of 5)Not for me
I bought this wanting an inexpensive (5 stars for that) mp3 player. I'm returning it for a more expensive Creative Muvo, (which this was meant to replace after I broke the Muvo.)
Pros: features; mp3's, voice recordings for lectures (although I didn't try out this feature), fm radio, additional storage capacity with memory card.
Cons: battery runs out when the unit is off, even when the "hold" button is activated. There's also a delay when you press a button before the screen shows your selection, so you don't know if the screen isn't changing because you didn't press the button hard enough, if you press it a second time, the first hit is registered along with the next and you end up passing your desired selection. For a crowded train or walking around town, having to stop, stare at the screen, press the button, wait for it to register, press again and wait again to scroll to your song or folder, is not worth the trouble.
If you're not "on the go", this is a fine product.
(4 out of 5)A good bargain, with a couple of niggles.
This MP3 player is a pretty good deal for the price ($20 in May 2008). It is rather larger than it looks - I expected it to be the size of a typical USB travel drive, but in fact it's around twice as big. It has a good, rubberised outside, and the buttons in general are easy to use and accessible.
I HIGHLY recommend purchasing additional storage. This MP3 player will accept up to 2GB of external memory. I say this for two reasons - 1) 1 GB is fairly limited these days, and 2) the internal memory is very slow to write to (VERY slow - one megabyte every two minutes or so). I don't know if this is because I have a faulty product, or because I'm using it on a Linux system, or this is just the way it is. An extra SD card will set you back ~$5. A worthwhile investment!
The quality of sound is good, the FM radio gets good reception, the earphones are of decent quality, too. The MP3 player comes with a lanyard for hanging around the neck, but doesn't have any clip or attachment for use with a belt or strapping around the arm. In general, a good product, with a couple of little niggles.
(5 out of 5)Very small, light and sounds great
Small, has internal memory of 2GB and can add a memory card. Don't have to recharge, just add another battery. Easy to add more songs, just use built in USB. Easy to use forward or back buttons to find songs. Good sound.