Philips 20 GB MP3 Jukebox 2.0 USB

[Archived in $200 - $300, 11 to 20 GB Jukeboxes, MP3 Players, Other Devices, Philips Consumer Electronics, Products]

Manufacturer: Philips Consumer Electronics
Price at amazon.com: Used & new from $225.00

List price $329.99



Product Features:

• 20 GB Memory
• In-line remote
• USB 2.0 connect
• Playlist creation
• Hold up to 4500 tracks

Product Description:

Philips small hand held 20 GB Hard Drive, Juke Box, USB 2.0 connection, head phones, In-line remote, and carrying case.

Average Customer Rating:

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Comment: What a beatiful piece of Junk!! Rating:
I got this unit today from Amazon.com. Connected to the computer with USB 2,0 WinXP Pro. Unit not recognized by computer, then software, the Digital Music Manager fails to read my existing MP3 Library (Application encountered problems needs to close message), 30 minutes later unit is back into box with printed UPS Label from Amazon.com (Terrific Service, by the way) to be shipped back next day for a REFUND. The unit, I have to agree, is the best looking MP3 Player (wants to be) I've seen. You make your own conclusions!!

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Comment: Come On Now...It's no contest. Philips Wins! Rating:
Okay I want to start off being extremely honest. I have bought about 6 portable mp3 players so far, all with large hard drives. I have resell 5 of them so far because either it was not good, too big or not compatible for my computer. My list of mp3 players includes 2 different Nomad Jukeboxes (6 gb), Classic MP3 XP3 player (10 gb), Nomad Jukebox Zen (20gb) and the all time infamous IPOD by apple (10 gb). SO I assure you I know what the hell I'm talking about.

First off, the Philips Jukebox is beautiful. I have literally had friends of mine who own Ipods, ask if they can trade me for their mp3 player based on its look alone. Now honestly, you can't set the equalizer settings unless you are on the computer at the time, so if you are a custom person this may be a problem. Now... at first I admit, I have to call Philips because I encountered a problem with track loading. However the everwonderful Philips team helped me.

When I load my songs, there is this very simple program called DMM by Philips. You load the tracks onto the computer locate them through this program and do a quick drag and drop. You disconnect it from the computer and all your tracks are loaded! The start up screen is very easy and simple to read. First there's playlists, then artists, albums, tracks, genres and recordings, all subjects that you can go under. And um oh yeah, did I mention the BUILT IN RECORDER, its fabulous and everything comes in crisp and clear I stood away from it and I could literally pick up the conversation perfectly.

The superSCROLL is awesome. Simply press down half way for normal scroll and down all the way for Super Scroll. And there is also this wonderful equilizer that appears when playing songs.

Hands Down I would definetly buy a Philips Jukebox HDD120.

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Comment: Nice if it wasn't crippled. Get the Rio Karma instead Rating:
I got this device and was impressed by its specs and its looks. And most of its functionality is good and is covered by other reviews. The problem is, this device is crippled.

In an effort to appease the music industry, Philips introduced limitations on this device that, 1) are annoying for the end users and, 2) don't actually stop any illegal copying. So why did they do it? For show I guess. Here's the problem...

The transfer software Philips packages with this device is terrible-- I mean awful. It looks like something for Windows 3.1. It doesn't have any organization or music management features to speak of either. But YOU MUST USE IT to get your files onto the device. Files you transfer over using Explorer won't play once they're on the device. This means you can't use any of the GREAT software apps out there to manage your music (like MusicMatch Jukebox, Windows Media Plater, dbPowerAmp, Mood Logic, etc.)

Also, once you get music onto the device, there's no copying it back to your computer! So forget about having a backup of all of that music data on your hard drive. You can't copy music from the HDD to your hard drive. The manual implies that this is to stop people from illegally sharing music. But this is rediculous ofcourse, because you could still use any portable hard drive, USB drive, etc. to do this.

On the other hand, the RIO KARMA has exactly this device's features plus more (ethernet connection, RCA output to your stereo from the CRADLE), and costs the same. And it isn't artificially limited in any way. I returned my Philips HSS120 to the store and wrote Philips to tell them why. Now I'm thrilled with my 20GB Rio Karma.

Joe

Posted at November 11, 2003 07:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)