Technology

MP3 players of today part 1

We live in a world were we take technology around even on a walk. MP3 players or mobile music players as they are not bound just to MP3 formats any more. Have been around for a few years now. I will take a look at some of the more recent ones and give my opinion of them and list some of the features.

I will try to be unbiased

Firstly I will take a look at one of my favourite company’s product.

The Samsung YP-P2

It is a bit obvious what the designers were looking at when they come up with the YP-P2. Largish touch screen, a button like thing at the bottom (It is not even a button. It is an activity light). It’s the Ipod Touch, with volume buttons.

What differs from the Touch is the interface, the touch screen is not multi-touch, it will sometimes require multiple attempts to select something. The noise it makes when you select something needs to be off by default. What is nice about the interface is that you can change the menu system from the default scroll method to what is called “Matrix” which shows all the icons at once, which is preferable really.

It excels at music quality, rich, deep, bassy sounds can be gotten from the default DNS settings, it has about a dozen different pre-set DNZ settings which makes the sound…well sound differently or you can edit it your self if you just want more bass or a different sound range to be exaggerated or reduced.

The software that comes with it is okay, it is not all that good, you don’t need it and WMP does about the same job as it does. What it does do is automatically downloads the firmware patches for the unit, which seem to come out every few months. Adding new functionality, like custom themes and custom DNS settings, which can be gotten through the software or the samsung’s website.
I did have some troubles with firefox rejecting the certificates from the devices website, which seems a little dodgy.

The yp-p2 special features include syncing to your phone via Bluetooth, so if you get a call you can actually use the unit to talk through as a hands free unit. Quite handy I would say. Also you can send via bluetooth and receive files as well. I was able to get a song off a friends phone while in a cinema quite easily and was able to play it from the yp-p2 in minutes. There is also an FM tuner, voice recorder, pin code start up security, Bluetooth games with other yp-p2 owners, subway maps of random cities, and video playback which is actually decent. Though I noticed some of the audio was out of time with larger video files that the software converted for me.

The IPod Touch, the Iphone, but without the phone.
I have had a go on one of these after a relative bought one. The interface is incredibly smooth and easy to use. It is really something everyone should have a play with at least. Browsing the internet was fun and fast with its Wi-Fi support. Took a bit of fiddling to get it to accept WPA but it worked in the end. Google have done a terrific job in mapping google applications to the Touches display. Sending an email from with in the browser was really easy.

Ipod Touches gets updates, that you need to pay for (£5 I think is the latest update). Not much considering it add everything new to the Touch till now. Though the high cost just for the unit should really entail free updates. It is a bit dodgy that Apple really want that £5 just so you can send an email without going into the browser Though it unlocks the App store, tho that seems half full of useless applications.

Music is below par, it sounds a bit dull and really requires a decent pair of headphones to get a decent sound out of it. There is not many options on the audio side. Tho flipping through albums is quite fun, especially if you have an old library and half the albums have no covers, as far as I know you can not set your own. Though there is probably ways of doing so.

Finally the software, Itunes. Everyone should at least know of it. It is easy to use in some regards. Podcast subscriptions automatically download to the Touch when it is “docked” into the pc through its usb cable.

Next time : The Zune, Sony Walkman and the Creative Zen

Ipod Touch image from apple.com/ipod
YP-P2 image taken by me (I own one )

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