Home > Consumer Reviews > Philips SA30 2 GB Flash Video MP3 Player with FM Radio and 1.5-Inch Color Screen (Black)

The player looks good, well made, good size. But its MAJOR DOWNFALL, you can not make playlist!!! So it will put all hundreds of your songs in one giant playlist. You can not create sub folders or anything. I called customer service and they basically said I was SOL. Im going to try to return this to the store I bought it from.

I purchased this player at a good price from Wal-Mart just under a year ago. The price makes it a great first player, however there are some drawbacks to this one. It's a fairly basic player and does not support playlists, however you can play music by artist, album or genre or a mix of all the music stored on the player. This is fine for my needs, but not for everyone.

The reason behind my 2 star rating is the fact that I've had some major issues with my particular device. At one point while traveling, my player refused to turn on at all (or would turn on and give an error and turn itself off). The "reset" button on the device did nothing. I was able to reboot the device two weeks later with my home computer and software that came with the device. It has not completely frozen up again at this point, but it does have issues sometimes with turning on, often taking several tries before it actually turns on and I have had to hook it up to my laptop's USB to get it to come on several times. Once on, the device has functioned properly and battery life has been more than adequate for my needs - I think mine averages about 12 hrs playback time per charge. The radio receiver feature is a wonderful addition to this device! It's definitely not the worst mp3 player out there, but it's not the greatest either.

I suppose I've gotten my $40 worth out of this device, but I would not buy this device again and would not recommend anyone else do so. Go for something of better quality and at least a bit more storage capacity.

I received the Philips 3025/37 brand new as a gift, and initially I liked it. It played mp3s OK, had a decent FM radio, and a video player, which I did not try. After a little over a month, it went dead. D-E-A-D; would not respond at all. Sort of like the built-in battery had been removed, except that it hadn't been. And no amount of charging made any difference. I called Philips Tech Support. They suggested I reset the player by using the Philips Device Manager software, but their instructions did not work, as the Device Manager failed to recognize the player. Next they asked for the serial number of the device, which is totally illegible because of it's extremely small size. I seriously don't believe there is a human being alive who could read the serial number from the device without a microscope, and I don't have one. Maybe someone with extremely sharp eyesight, using a magnifying glass in bright light would have a chance, but not me. The player is totally useless. And now for the postscript: Because this player went dead, I made the mistake of getting another Philips mp3 player, the SA018102K/37. It didn't have the exact same problem, but it is extremely counter-intuitive to use and refuses to play mp3s, although the FM radio does work. Tech support's answer: It should play the mp3s. In two months, I got 2 Philips mp3 players, and neither one of them will play mp3s. Buy any Philips product at your own risk.

I got this mp3 player because I had been using my palm tx and it was getting a little bulky to carry around. It take 3 hours to charge. I use Vista Media Player. I didn't have to load the software. Vista excepted it right off the bat. It's real easy to program. I don't know about the others that had problems. Maybe should try reading the directions. I loaded all my playlists. When it plays songs it shows the album art. Radio reception is awesome. Haven't tried out the microphone, doubt I ever will. The Video function is alright considering it is a 1 inch screen. I don't see myself using this feature much either. I had no problem turning the devise off just hold down the left side button till it says "bye".

The Player does not come with any type of case. There is a split hole at the bottom where you could run some form of necklace. Although I worry that the player could pop out of the case. I'll be taking this on disney trip, I think I'll tape it inside.

Phillips makes rubber case that you can wear it on your arm, as a clip for your belt, or a necklace. it cost $10.00.

This was my fisrt MP3 player and for that it was a good introductory model....for a short while.
I bought it in early March and it worked fine until about a month ago. For no appearent reason, the LCD screen turned yellow and thus, I could no longer read anything...I had to literally guess my way through the menu to adjust the eq or play mode. Forget about finding a specific track.
Then, I noticed that the battery life was getting shorter and shorter. At first it would hold a good 8-10hour charge, maybe more if I didn't turn it off and on too much but lately it's been down to maybe 4 hours.
Finally, the thing just died mid-song while I was working out. It literally stopped working from one second to the next. I tried charging it and resetting it but there was no life left in it....black screen all the way.

That being said, do NOT buy this for the simple reason that, with heavy usage as was the case with me, it will not last very long and you'll find yourself looking for a better product anyway.

If it weren't for the p**s poor quality this would be a great little unit for those who don't require a lot of extras and playlist capabilities and with this major downside, it's actually not even that cheap...considering that you'll need to replace it every 6 months or so.