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CNET editors' rating:
3.5
stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating - Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 36 reviews
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Product summary
The
good: Superior AA battery life; solid sound quality; compact and durable; highly readable display for such a small player; FM radio; voice, radio, and line-in recording; next-track readout; MP3, DRM WMA, and OGG playback.
The
bad: Too many operational instructions to remember; FM radio and voice recordings placed in random play queue; line-in encoding requires uncommon 2.5mm plug.
The
bottom
line: If you're a Windows user, the Samsung YEPP YP-MT6 is a superior choice to the Apple iPod Shuffle, thanks to its compact design, its good sound quality, and its many useful features and functions.
Specifications: Device type: Digital player ; Flash memory installed: 1 GB ; Digital player supported digital audio standards: WMA , ASF , MP3 ; ; See full specs
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 07/25/2005
- Released on: 01/01/2005
Vaguely resembling a prop microwave oven from Attack of the 50-Foot Woman, this keychain-sided rectangular player, available in black (256MB), blue (512MB), or silver (1GB), measures a pocket-friendly 1.0 by 2.4 by 0.9 inches and weighs 2.2 ounces with its AA battery installed. It looks nearly identical to the older YEPP YP-T5 and the YEPP YP-T6. All boast similar features in a cute and tiny form factor, but the MT6 has better sound quality, thanks to an 89dB signal-to-noise ratio, and a much better rated battery life of 42 hours.
The four-line, powder-blue backlit screen is eminently readable and displays EQ mode, play mode, the battery meter, scrolling track info, the play-progress bar, the elapsed time, and the number of the track playing (out of how many are stored). Most pleasing is the preview; the next track is always shown on the bottom line, making it easy to skip past a song you don't like. Next to the screen is the multifunctional five-way skip/volume/menu access toggle. In addition to the mic, up top are buttons for record, play, and the A-B multipurpose function used primarily to set FM station presets or to loop playback selections. On the underside is the hold switch. The USB 2.0 and audio input connections are on one end, while the other houses a headphone jack and a lanyard loop. Overall, it looks and feels like the lighter Cowon iAudio U2. While it may not have a photo-friendly color screen like the equally miniscule YEPP YP-T7 series, the MT6 flaunts useful extra features.
Since it supports DRM-protected WMA files, the MT6 is compatible with all the major online music stores (except, of course, Apple's iTunes and Sony Connect), but it won't ever be work with subscription-based services. Those looking for an OGG-compatible player will be happy with the MT6. Samsung supplies its own software, but the MT6 plays equally well with Windows Media Player 10.0. Neither program, however, offers the Shuffle's handy autofill function; you'll have to laboriously transfer tracks yourself. You can also rip CDs or any other audio source directly to the player using a supplied minijack-to-even-smaller-minijack cable, with encoding choices ranging from 32Kbps to 128Kbps. But without a PC and a CDDB connection, there's no way of attaching names to the ripped MP3s--or any recorded voice or FM radio file--besides the MT6's automatic sequential alphanumeric assignments. Equally unfortunate is that these recorded files get mixed in with your music. For instance, we couldn't figure out how to segregate our voice memos from our random music playback. And those accustomed to a music library broken down by artist, album, track, and so on will have to get used to old-school folder-tree navigation.
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User reviews
- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 36 reviews
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