Cons: Finicky and temperamental, not plug and play, requires WMP10 and its concurring bloatware.
The Bottom Line: Budget-priced device ruined by bloated, unnecessary software and somewhat confusing technical quirks. Comes with neat armband which doubles as jockstrap (Note: do not attempt in front of parents).
SpookyMonkey's Full Review: Memorex MMP8595 (4 GB) MP3 Player
What happened to your old mp3 player? Eaten by wolverines. Or dogs. Maybe cows. Perhaps all of them at once in a giant menagerie of electronic-ruining conspiracy.
Lost it. Yes, and I don't feel like rifling through manure to find out if I was right.
The mp3 player market is chock-a-block full of useless and shiny trinkets. What made you settle for the MMP8595 by Memorex? The price. $49 with an armband. Even though the price of digital music players is dropping, it's tough to find one below $60, especially with the price point of iPod nanos and Zunes being nearly twice that. Plus I bought it at Target so if I keep my receipt, I can return it even if it passes through the gastrointestinal tract of aforementioned cows for a full refund.
Target must hate you. Well I hate Target. Neener neener neener.
Then this review must be a testament to your brilliant shopping savoir-faire and cunning ingenuity to find such a fantastic device at a dollar-stomping price? No. So I take it you're jamming out to the latest Rick Springfield/Kenny G music on your oh-so-sporty musical reproduction device right now? Well, not exactly. Then you're sitting at the computer, loading up your spiffy and economically-priced mp3 player with all the awesome music that makes you edgy and cool to the young ladies? No, not quite. Then what are you writing this for? I can't figure out how to get the bloody thing to work.
What? Every mp3 player I've owned in the last seven years has been as simple as plug crap into USB port, mp3 player pops up as external drive or device, drag music into player and then listen to music. Not so with this. What happened? I pulled it out of the box, plugged it in and it said 'device detected' then proceeded to not tell me where. So rather than blame myself as a respectable and normal gentleman would do, I'm blaming this infernal piece of electronic offal. I unplugged it, plugged it back in and was met with similar results.
I see. I didn't. So I pulled out the circular ninjitsu disc and used it to lacerate the resident technical supporter's throat...
By that, you mean you put the CD-ROM into the drive? Yes, and let it attempt to do the automatic software install. Which it didn't.
No? Rather, it prompted me to install Windows Media Player 10 - or face not having any appropriate software to upload music! I already -had- Media Player 9, but noooooo - Mister Memorex MMP8595's too ultra-modern and chic to hang out with the likes of 9 - it has to have a 10 or nothing!
Is that a problem? On thirty levels! I don't -want- Media Player 10! I fear and loathe change! I am inertia incarnate! I fight off the laws of evolution and entropy with apathetic sighs and groans of displeasure! I learned how to plug and play in my electronically-challenged infancy and I'll be damned if I have to progress into the future of required software...
And MyDJ? Yes, an---- YES! Can you believe they also want you to install MyDJ? I don't even know what it does, aside from chew up my valuable disk space (better used for the storage of lewd videos and pictures of those silly cats with bad grammar) - all for the sake of having a customizable playlist? Isn't that what I'd be doing by putting music on it in the first place?
You're cranky and have the ill-temperament of an eighty-year old man. Well I'm not done so take a seat, sparky. Once I grumbled my way through the installation of WMP10, I had to restart my computer (as directed) and then let WMP10 detect my music for me. Why? I don't know. I guess the Mp3 player thinks I'm too stupid to know where it is. Perhaps that folder on my desktop labeled 'music'. Perhaps in the recycling bin. Perhaps in the toilet. So it finds your music, then it lets you upload it? Again, not bloody exactly. You have to run the Sync option in WMP10 to upload the music which you can, finally, drag and drop into your mp3 player. Provided they don't have a DRM 9 or 10.
DRM? Stands for Digital Rights management. It's a form of electronic copy protection, so to speak. It's a way of encoding music to play back on portable devices.
So what happens if I try to something on the MMP8595 that isn't DRM 10? The Mp3 player will punch you in the bollocks.
It will not! It might. I haven't tried it yet. Oncemusic is on the player, any subsequent plugging in will prompt the user to play the device through winamp/WMP10 or open the folder to view files.
So you can add them manually? No. So you can see the External Storage window pop-up, devoid of music. So you ever want to use your mp3 player as storage for mp3s you really don't want to listen to, then that could come in useful. So with the software squared away, the music loaded, the armband secured firmly around your girly biceps... The armband is quite possibly the best thing in the whole package. Fits the player snugly, has a stitched image of the buttons on the player so you can adjust volume/track while moving and a clear vinyl screen so you can read what's playing. The battery life isn't too bad, clocking in at around 8 hours. There's no replacement batteries available - the device charges through the USB port which seems to be stanadard for most players. Which brings me to my final issue...
Which is? Anything brighter than an ignited mosquito fart produces more glare than the mp3 player can handle. Unless you're listening to music in the cave with Gollum, you'll have a hard time reading and using the device when you're outside.
So what's the final verdict? This device will too find its way into a cow's guts. But I don't feel entirely gypped considering I only spent $49.
You talk a lot about cows. Have you ever been to Alabama?
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 49 Recommended for: Athletes - Lightweight and Portable, Perfect for the Gym
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