Home > Consumer Reviews > Transcend T.sonic 850 8 GB Video MP3 Player (Black)

This is the feedback I received from my 15 year old son to whom I gave this little baby to put it to the test, might I add that by the time my sons were done playing with it, my other son, whom had just received a brand new 8gb ipod nano from his grandmother 2 weeks prior, wanted to trade it for this one!

Soooooo, I reiterate:

AWESOME MP3 PLAYER!!!

The 8GB T Sonic MP3 Player is a very good product for the price. You can EASILY put songs, pictures, text documents, download full length movies, and even listen to a FM radio on this little mp3 player! (I've downloaded, Shooter, Pirates of the Caribbean 2, Shrek, The Dark Night, and a few YouTube videos without even using half of its memory capacity!)

You can also use this as a giant flash drive to transfer files up to 8GB, (depending your model) from computer to computer.

My brother has an ipod and he has to use iTunes which can be a real hassle when you want to transfer files and songs quickly to your Ipod or mp3 player. With this device you simply drag you mp3 file(s) onto the device in "My Computer". You can also do the same with videos, text files, and pictures! It's that easy! The only thing I wished that the manufacture would change in future models is the ability to customize the layout of the mp3 player without it having to be connected to the computer...

The sound on this is mp3 player is great, but the screen is a little small to view videos for long periods of time...

The battery will last FOREVER! Its says in the users manual that it will last for 22 hours playing a song or listening to the radio... I watched videos nonstop on a 4 hour road trip with the battery icon never leaving 99% Wow!!!

Overall I give this mp3 player a rating of 5 stars... it also has a cool recorder & FM radio to boot!!
I really, REALLY like it! :-) ......me happy!

The Transcend 8G MP3 player has a decent simplistic design. Most people are familiar with the sleeker nanos, but the price difference is almost half. As expected, files are easy as drag and drop. Read & write transfer rate at USB 2.0 is fairly fast. The extra stuff that you get is the FM radio, the ability to record both voice and FM radios and to read e-books (Although it will be difficult to read books in this size of a screen). It also comes with a protective silicone cover. The matching black ear buds sounds OK. It is bigger than most earphones and for smaller ears like me may not fit properly.

The mic surprisingly has a strong pick up. I used to have one of the early Creative MP3 players with a horrible voice recorder that you need to really ramp up the volume to listen to your recordings.

Recording from FM radio is fantastic. It has a simple one button operation. I recorded a 3:12 second sample for a 6.3 MB of wav file using the highest quality.

Slideshow photos work a tad slow on a 640 x 480 resolution. Decreasing the resolution to 320 x 240 makes it a lot faster. Interestingly there is no option to select transitions. I would prefer the dissolve transition than the default wipe.

For screen comparison, the nano has a 2" (320 by 240 pixels at 204 ppi) screen compared to its 1.8" 320 by 240 pixels at 204 ppi.

My biggest gripe about the player is the extra step you need to do to convert videos so it can be played on the player. I regularly subscribe to many different videocasts. It would be nice if it can play multiple formats like avi, flv, mov, etc. at the bat.

Of all places, while wandering around a Walgreens, which is the equivalent of a Rite-Aid, Sav-on or Thrifty, I saw a bunch of these against a back wall not getting much attention. So, I scratched my head and headed over to read the packaging.

I saw several different models of this and they were all on sale for at least twenty-percent off.

The drag and drop feature of all file types is a great feature. Being able to use it without any additional software was also cool. I didn't bother with the cheap headphones that come with it nor did I even mess with the lanyard which hit the trash, so I definitely have no complaints.

8 GB's is a lot of space for the value, especially when so many companies are vying for your money for the next biggest thing.

This is no iPod killer, but I'm not ashamed to use it by any means and navigating the menus are a breeze. I bought several of these and gave them away as presents which every one loved.

Fantastic and very simple MP3 player.

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If you are a PC person like me, this player has some nice qualities. Nothing against Apple (I even own their stock), but iTunes is not where I shop for music, mainly because I want the ability to drag and drop music onto a player or sync it with a program. If you rip a lot of tracks from your CD collection, your gonna like this player.

Right after I checked to see if everything worked, I started off my test of the player by updating the firmware. A firmware upgrade will erase everything you have stored or settings you have changed on the player; hence, it is a good idea to knock it out before you poke around too much. The first thing I really liked about the player is that as soon as I plugged it in to my PC via mini-USB, it showed up as a mass storage device in Windows and I could drag and drop to the device without any additional software. I both created folders on the device and dragged nested folders with music and picture files. They all showed up in the interface (music player or picture viewer) without a hitch no matter where I placed them in the file tree. The file tree is displayed one level at a time but, as long as you don't get too carried away, navigation is straight forward and easy. Then, I used Windows Media Player to sync the device with all of my music files. Once again, everything went off without a hitch. The device showed up in the player and I hit the sync button. It was that easy.

Next, I converted and loaded some AVI files to check the video playback. The unit only plays MTV files so you will need to convert everything to play it. The conversion interface is simple and easy. Loading the player is drag and drop. But, lets face it, watching anything on a screen less than two inches has limitations. It is fun for showing baby footage or something from your cell phone camera from the last hockey game you went to. That is about it for me.

Finally, I took it to the gym for a test drive to see how well it held up in real life.

In a nut shell, I liked:
- The drag and drop capability from any PC without additional software
- The easy sync with Windows Media Player (if you choose to)
- The ability to use it as a BIG portable storage device for any file type
- The in recorder function has good quality and records from the FM receiver built into the player. It is also voice activated
- It comes with a protective silicon cover
- It is very light
- The display is well laid out and easy to read
- Navigation is easy, even while exercising
- The supplied headphones are good. I have never heard really good headphones supplied standard with a player, though

I did not like:
- The only supplied charging option is via your PC
- The supplied neck strap is not very practical. An arm band would be better
- The supplied headphones could not compete with the sound at the gym. The excessive ambient noise ruined the listening experience

All in all, the player is not perfect. However, the good qualities combined with the price make it a compelling buy.

Just received this and will give first impressions with more details as I keep using it. Overall, 3.5 star.

It lists, MP3 player (mp3 & wma), radio (20 pre-set FM stations), voice activated recorder, video (mtv), photo (JPG & BMP) and e-book (text) as options. It contains: basic earphones, neck strap, mini USB, and software CD. It has a 2 year warranty which is nice. It notes 22 hours of music and 2.5 hours of video - I will verify this and let you know.

It is a decent player for the budget minded. The internal graphics look dated but a great place to cut costs. Once connected to your PC, it lets you drop and drag files to the device. It also provides for a neat feature that makes it a digital lock for your notebook once unplugged and set to the USB mode. If someone else tries to use it, "busted" flashes on screen. You can set this feature to a time release just in case you lose the T.sonc 850 or it breaks.

The video only allows for mtv format but the included software allows for avi and wmv file conversion. Just be prepared for a wait while it does the job.

The photo allows for popular formats and easy to use. The quality is not top grade but good enough.

The screen is 1.8" so I'm crossing e-book of the list. There is no way this feature will be functional for me.

My major complaint is the lack of expanded memory. You can get a Scandisk player in the same price range which would be a better option. This player is great if you are looking for a lot of bang for your buck and don't mind a drop in quality.