Samsung YP-U2JZW MP3 player

I realize this is slightly off topic, but being people mention speakers, headphones, etc., thought I'd mention this MP3 player.

If you're looking for an excellent, reasonably priced MP3 player (approx. $80), I've found this 1gb player to be a pleasure to use.

Priced comparable to the iPod Shuffle, which comes with no display, this unit has a three line display, FM radio with 20 presets, multiple EQ settings, Samsung's 3D technology (some like it, I find it o.k.), and a voice recorder (haven't tried it, don't really need it)

The player also allows you to select music by album, music type, artist or select user defined "favorites"... you can also import playlists.

Uses WMP 10 or above (works great with WMP 11) to transfer music, or you can simply access the MP3 player as an external drive, and use Windows Explorer to load your music files. Simple.

Has a built in USB so charging and importing music doesn't require any additional cables or USB connector.

Great sound, small package, good battery life... thought I'd mention this if others might be interested!

Also comes in 512 MB size, as well as 2 GB.

 

How long would you say the battery lasts on it? And how good is the sound quality. All the samsungs I've used seemed to have good sound quality but I didn't really like they way their menus were. Oh, and when it goes into 'hibernate' or when you don't touch any buttons for a while, do you have to press one button to wake it up then another for it to follow a command? or will it do your command touching a button only once?

 

Sound quality is excellent!

Battery life is rated for 20 hours, but CNET says they tested it, and found it got about 13 hours... same as the iPod Shuffle. I've used mine for about a week, using it extensively and haven't found battery life to be an issue. I ususally insert it into my laptop's USB to transfer songs before it needs to be charged, which charges it at the same time. Bottom line is, if I were to be flying across the country on a six, eight hour flight, this device would easily last the entire day.

As for the menu structure... tap the center button (which has an M on it), and you're taken to music selection area, which has "Favorites", "Artist", "Album" and "Music Type"... push the top or bottom of the four-way buttons which surround the center M button to scroll to the type of search you want to do. Once there, press the M button again, then push either the up or down button above/below the M (center) button, to select either the artist or album. You can then either pick an entire album, for example, or pick a specific song from the album.

Volume up or down, simply press the top or botton buttons surrounding the center button (with the M). Skip to the next song? Simpply press the right button, play the current song agan? Simply press the left button... all very intuitive. Wanna search to a specific point within a song? Simply press and hold the right or left button, and keep them held down.... the music plays at faster then normal speed.

VERY easy to navigate! One person posted on Amazon that they can easily naviage while the device is in their pocket, and I can believe it.

There is also a HOLD switch at the bottom of the device, which is activated by sliding it to the left, but I really haven't had an issue of accidently pressing any buttons while listening to music.

Minor annoyance, and I'm not sure how this compares to other devices, when you press and hold the on/off button, to turn on device, it does take about six or seven seconds until it comes on, longer if you've added/removed music since the last time you turned it on. Not too annoying...

By the way, tapping the on/off button pauses or unpauses the music.

You can also choose the volume level the device should start with, if the device, when first turned on, should continue where it left off, in the middle of a song, or if it should start from the beginning of the song, etc. Alot of user definable options.

There is also a blue light at the top of the device, where the USB connector is. The user can define if he want's the blue light on all of the tme, off all of the time, or to turn on only when buttons are pressed. It's kind of a cool blue light, but I could see how some people may feel it's too flashy and not want it to turn on.

 

I like Samsung's players because they play ogg. Very few other mp3 players will do so. I'd forget about WMA if I were you. It's a good way to get your music locked down so you can't use it (even if you rip your own CD's).

 

Does WMP 11 convert to OGG?

I've loaded all of my songs onto the YP-U2JZW using MP3 format, and I've been able to load 130 songs. However, if I could convert to OGG, and fit more songs on the device without losing sound quality, I would do it.

Thanks!

 

No. WMP11 will only convert to WMA, and it'll lock down most everything about them if I remember correctly. See this. You don't want to convert a song from say, MP3 to OGG. That just loses quality all around. I'd re-rip the music using a program like EAC, then encode it with LAME (mp3) or OGGENC (ogg). But I use Linux primarily, so ogg is my default. You may be able to load a few more songs in ogg without losing quality, but I'm more concerned with just being able to use my music as I want and not having retarded DRM restrictions on it. I'm not touching WMP11 with a 10' pole.

 

Sounds pretty nice, alot like iAudio's little player which looks alot like it(Not sure of the model name/number) but you still didn't answer my question, when you don't touch it for a while and it goes into sleep mode, if it does, which is when the screen turns off but it still plays your music. To skip a song when its like that do you have to press one button to wake it up, then another to skip the song, or will it wake up and skip with just one touch of a button?

 

samsung makes great mp3 players. i have the 1 gig samsung z5. i get probably over 12 hours with a normal charge...but apparently if i charge it with wmp 10 on in the background i can get around 20ish. it's supposed to get 35 hrs though...without head phones in.

 

Syndrome
If the display turns off, you can still simply hit the buttons to the right or left of the center button (the one with the M) to skip to the next song. In fact, it's a reverse display, meaning it displays white text against black background, so if you're outdoors in bright sunlight, you can actually see the display pretty well, and can change settings, even if the backlighting is off. However, the display does turn on once you press any button.

This one doesn't really have a "sleep" mode, when it's on, you can change volume, change songs, skip forward/reverse, etc. Tap any button, and it will turn on the display's backlilghting, and perform the operation that button is set to perform. When it turns off, after playing all of your songs, you'll need to turn it back on to play anything.

By the way, slightly off topic, there is a SLEEP mode, where you can program the device to turn off after 30 minutes, an hour, whatever, if you want to listen to it while you're lying in bed going to sleep. It will then turn the device off after the pre-selected time you've chosen for it to turn off, if set to Sleep Mode (I realize this is NOT the Sleep mode you are talking about)

Hope that helps...

 

Yes it does, I just bought a 4 gig from Samsung and I had to press a button twice, once to get it out of the sleep mode and then again to get it to do my command. And I'm to impatient for that.