




Samsung Yepp YP-55V Review 268
daanger0us writes "RAM based MP3 players are still pretty popular. As hard drive based MP3 players get larger storage capacity, the RAM based MP3 players have to add new features to keep themselves compelling to customers. The Samsung Yepp YP-55V is one of the RAM based MP3 players that's added some pretty cool features at a reasonable price. 256MB of RAM, FM Tuner, ability to record from a line-in, from the FM Tuner and voice recording, USB Drive capabilities, upgradeable firmware, weighing in at 2.2 ounces all for around $160. Designtechnica has a full review. How many people still consider a RAM based audio player when shopping?" Update: 09/03 22:11 GMT by T : That should be "MB," not "MG" as it originally read.
CD based MP3 players (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:CD based MP3 players (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:CD based MP3 players (Score:2)
Re:CD based MP3 players (Score:5, Insightful)
This works great on my Rio Volt, which lets you easily move up and down through the directories, and even has neat things like "directory shuffle" or "Album shuffle" where it randomly selects a directory and plays the songs in order. The track#-name.mp3 keeps the name short so it mostly shows up on the small LCD display when scanning tracks quickly, and fixes problems I had with really long filenames.
Anyway, organizing a CD shouldn't be any harder than organizing a lot of mp3s on your computer's hard disk.
Re:CD based MP3 players (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:CD based MP3 players (Score:4, Funny)
Then I thought... Oh wait, this is slashdot. Never mind.
Re:CD based MP3 players (Score:2)
Re:CD based MP3 players (Score:2)
Re:CD based MP3 players (Score:2)
Rus
Re:CD based MP3 players (Score:2)
Re:CD based MP3 players (Score:3, Interesting)
But I've never tried to use it while jogging. That's what I've got my Yepp (old-skool "Hip Hop" model, which is damn near indestructable) for.
Re:CD based MP3 players (Score:2)
I think the CD based players are great! Only about $70, runs incredibly long on 2 AAs (roughly 70 hrs), stores more on one disc than you can take in a single sitting (~ 10 hrs for 128kbps). Instant loading of 600 MB
Re:CD based MP3 players (Score:2)
Re:CD based MP3 players (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:CD based MP3 players (Score:3, Interesting)
The guy above who said 'they can't hardly take much shaking' doesn't know what he was talking about.
Re:CD based MP3 players (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:CD based MP3 players (Score:3, Informative)
It is also pretty small (fit on the back pocket of my jeans).
Media is
I would buy the same one again if I had to buy one. Oh, and I got it for $50 at Fry's Electronics. Try and b
Jogging (Score:5, Informative)
Also RAM based can have quicker access although there is the obvious loss of storage. Now if there was a CF based player...
Rus
Re:Jogging (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, well (Score:2)
I happen to be one of those too. In fact, I'm a personal trainer.
iPods don't (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Jogging (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Jogging (Score:2, Informative)
I have an older Samsung YP-33 that's RAM-based, and I adore it. It's very small, leight-weight, and came with a handful of accessories like a cradle/arm band, and short headphone wires. I'll admit, that at only 64MB (it's ~2 years old, now), I often wish I had more memory, but to be honest, I have over 300 CDs, and while I could easily have 20 gigs worth of MP3s, there are only a few hundred songs I actua
Re:Jogging (Score:5, Informative)
Uhhh...
Did you even try looking on compactflash.org?
Re:Jogging (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Jogging (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Jogging (Score:2)
Re:Jogging (Score:2)
Re:Jogging (Score:2)
Re:loss (Score:2)
Frontier Labs NEX II (Score:2)
Check it out [frontierlabs.com]
Don't knock it.... (Score:5, Insightful)
I know, a geek that goes to they gym. Amazing, huh? No, I don't have a girlfriend. I still don't think that those mythical girl-creatures exist. I think it's just a dirty trick those jocks play on us.
Re:Don't knock it.... (Score:2)
Wait till this baby or it's siblings come out with more features [com.com]
Re:Don't knock it.... (Score:2)
Re:Don't knock it.... (Score:2)
First, $ex means it's something you pay for.
Second, since this is
Re:Don't knock it.... (Score:2)
iPod Looms (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm in the market right now, and the Rio SP250 wins over this one too. CD Based, larger, but with integrated FM and 700 megabyte CDR capacity.
Shake Rattle and Roll (Score:2)
Re:Shake Rattle and Roll (Score:2)
Re:iPod Looms (Score:2, Insightful)
How many people still consider a FLASH player? (Score:3, Interesting)
My Creative Labs MuVo is not only a good mp3/wma player, but was also one of the first to function as a convenient USB drive. Why the hell would I have paid $75 for a 128MB flash drive a year back when I could have both for $150?
Obviously, this concept is catching on and prices are dropping, so anyone who is even considering USB drive who doesn't already own a portable music player should be interested.
Re:How many people still consider a FLASH player? (Score:2)
I would like to make another point, obviously in general terms the more storage space the better. However a little does go a long way, my muvo is the 64 MB variety which can barely hold one album at 192 Kbs or above. But there are programs that can downsample an mp3 on the fly as you copy the songs over, the one I use is called DBC PowerAmp [dbpoweramp.com]. If your listening on a cheap pair of headphones then it really is overkill to have a bitrate of
Re:How many people still consider a FLASH player? (Score:2)
Re:How many people still consider a FLASH player? (Score:2)
whohoo, a fellow one-working-ear slashdotter: don't you just hate it when records have instruments panned hard on the side you don't hear? This happens a -LOT- on jazz records and it blows unbelievably...
A Mega-Gyte (Score:4, Funny)
Yes, this product certainly does distinguish itself. I've never seen a product containing 256 Megagytes of memory!
Re:A Mega-Gyte (Score:3, Funny)
256 MB is enough for anybody! (Score:3, Insightful)
For RAM based players too be tempting, they're going to have to get way cheaper and sexier. $160 for 256 MB is not hot at all.
RAM! (Score:2)
It's light, relatively good sound quality, and outside the fact it doesn't have USB connectivity (that parallel port sucks!) it's one of the few portable electronics that I still use from the 90's.
I don't want features, I want reliability!
Re:RAM! (Score:2)
Re:RAM! (Score:2)
If you set your Parallel port to ECP or EPP it should have the same bandwith as USB.
Meh (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Meh (Score:2)
sound quality at the gym really shouodn't be a primary concern. The background noise kills it, unless you get really nice headphones, but then you look like a dork.
Re:Meh (Score:2)
Me! Me! (Score:2, Funny)
You bet your ass someone will consider that for $160!
Minidisc is the way to go. (Score:5, Interesting)
Jason
ProfQuotes [profquotes.com]
I'll tell you what the problem is: (Score:4, Insightful)
Also I dunno about that capacity you quoted. I remember getting CD-comparable storage, with PERHAPS the option to lower quality for slightly more time (I really dont remember), but nowhere NEAR what you could put on 256MB.
MDs were great when they were first available. But with RELIABLE mini-hd based units, and cheap often-expandable RAM based systems (flash cards anyone?), MDs are past their prime in terms of usefulness
Re:I'll tell you what the problem is: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Minidisc is the way to go. (Score:2)
Really? (Score:2, Interesting)
I have to occasionally make a hard decision on what to include on my iPod. But usually it's between keeping every Magnetic Fields' song or switching to carrying every Beatles song. Ever.
I get bored to easily to ever carry around a player that only has 256 megs.
Neuros (Score:2, Insightful)
Size! Weight! (Score:2)
Anything that plays off CDs, well, is bigger than a CD, and that's too big for me.
Re:Size! Weight! (Score:2)
That's why I keep insisting they implement an MP3/CD player that's smaller than a CD! I want to set it on top of a CD, then watch it run around in circles as it reads the CD! There's no technical reason you couldn't make a CD player whose longest dimension was about equal to the radius of a CD! Of course, keeping the earphone cable from tangling might be a problem! It would probably require a bluetooth headset and InfraRed re
RAM? (Score:5, Informative)
More likely, the submitter meant "flash memory" which is typically used to store mostly static data over long periods of time.
I wouldn't nitpick, but he repeated the word "RAM" so many times that I was forced to post this.
Re:RAM? (Score:3, Informative)
No, it's not DRAM or SRAM, or any other volatile memory, but it's still a random-access memory, is it not?
Re:RAM? (Score:2)
The usage of RAM is probably not misleading as the alternatives are CDs and tiny harddrives which makes the RAM category pretty clear. The original nitpick was exactly that, a nitpick.
RAM vs ROM (Score:2)
Yes kids, we all know that ROMs are random access as well. So's a hard drive, a CD-ROM, or for that matter, a book. The terminology has been around for decades to distinguish between the read-only kind and the read/write kind, and ever since EPROMs came out, which are read/write (in a sense), we generally use RAM to describe vol
No moving parts (Score:2, Insightful)
No moving parts = wont break or wear out (yeah they will but not on the scale that their mechanical cousins will).
Now an FM tuner has always been, to me, one of those useless electronic things that gets integrated into everything because it's easy to do so. FM reception on old-school tape-based walkmans has always been terrible - unless you
Re:No moving parts (Score:2)
They still break (Score:3, Informative)
I wind up disassembling them to figure out what went wrong when they start shorting out.. Its usually one of the following:
-Moisture damage (I'm a heavy gym and running user, sweat drips down the headphone cord)
-Breakage from repetitive tweaking of the he
Why go with a drive? (Score:2)
Well, I think a better question is how many people consider a hard drive based system when MP3 shopping? A big clunky iPOD might be okay if all you want is music during your commute. But I use my MP3 player in a variety of situations (jogging, at work, etc.), and prefer the small size, better battery life, and ruggedness of the solid state storage based approaches.
You can get a pure Compact Flash based player like the NEX [frontierlabs.com] for aroun
Agreed on working out and jogging.. however... (Score:2)
My ipod is like, the size of a pack of colts. Slightly thinner, and slightly longer than a deck of playing cards... it fits in a shirt pocket just fine. It's not heavy, either.
Now, I'm not saying it is as rugged or tiny as a solid state player, as I said.. but "big and clunky" is definately not a word I'd use to describe it.
Let's face it t
Re:Why go with a drive? (Score:2)
All those features... (Score:5, Funny)
All those features and 256 milligrams of RAM!
and I thought my cigarettes with 8mg tar were strong.
Re:All those features... (Score:2)
Talk about a ton of RAM.
Re:All those features... (Score:2)
M is "mega", not MG. There is no "G" in byte. As well, capital B for byte, small b for bit.
HD Alternative... (Score:2)
It is pretty sweet. (Score:5, Informative)
I know this one. I just bought it as a present for my girlfriend. It is pretty cool. And she likes it a lot.
I was considering getting an iPod for her. But every time when I decide to deal with Apple I always come to painful realisation that I just hate their attitude. They have this dumbass business strategy that only they know what you really need and they determined to shove it down your throat. I don't want to troll on them. Apple has really cool products, they have good engineers and designers. But at the same time they always try to sell you the most expensive one. Here in Bay Area it is impossible to find 10 GB version of iPod. All BestBuys and Fried electronics have only 30 GB versions (for extra $200) and I don't have 30 GB of mp3s even on my home computer (which is also a home entertainment center). Come to think of it I don't even have that many CDs yet to rip to fill this much space.
So I settled on Yepp. And I'm pretty happy. It is very sleek. Very good sound. You can actually change sound modes. Plus FM radio. Plus record your own stuff. 256 MB is almost enough for my gf. I guess when there will be version with more memory outhere. I'll get new one for her and take the old one.
Re:It is pretty sweet. (Score:2)
Go buy it from the Apple online store if you want the 10GB model.
Re:It is pretty sweet. (Score:4, Insightful)
That's unfair. Its the retailers that decide which models to carry, not the manufacturer. I'd guess that the retailer margin is higher on the larger models, which is why Best Buy et al. don't stock the low end models. Don't blame Apple, blame the retailers.
You could always order a 10GB model online [apple.com] if your local store doesn't stock them. I bought my wife an iPod at CompUSA in San Francisco- they stock all three models.
I have an older yepp 32 player (Score:2)
After rediculous rebates I got it 3 years ago for $50. Its also really small, less than half the size of a pack of cigarettes. I've got 5 cards, so if you include the on board 32, that makes 192 MB of music.
Is it worth it?
Yes, but only because I super-compress my MP3's (60 kbps MONO) since I only listen to it in noisy environm
Who cares about 'MG' of mem, look at the size! (Score:2)
Net Dimensions
8.3"(W) x 8.3"(H) x 3.1"(D)
Yow! I could put an entire general purpose computer in that space!
Not even the box it comes in is THAT big (Score:2)
http://www.aaaprice.com/saypmp3pl.html even claims it weights 9 lbs while one of the 'Supplied Accessories' is a neck strap.
how many of you... (Score:2)
OK, I'm going to burn some of my karma here.
How many of you are not in the slightest bit fooled into thinking this is a legitimate ad, posted probably by the same likes as the geniuses who did that Gateway adver..I mean, uh, story, a few weeks back?
This is FLASH, not RAM (Score:2)
RAM based mp3 (Score:2)
There are a few reasons I would still consider buying a RAM based player...
*the size (smaller, lighter)
*doesn't skip/take a beating while running (vs HD based players)
*ability to act as portable drive (just handy)
*cost (cheaper than the HD based players)
Granted it is handy to have your entire collection with you (HD players)- but I generally use a portable device like
Frontier Labs (Score:2)
Their latest player is the Nex ia [frontierlabs.com]:
Compact Flash Storage
Plays MP3 and WMA
FM Radio Player
FM Radio & Voice Recording
Can be used as USB Hard Drive
And several other very nice things
I really like my Nex II. If it broke tomorrow I'd get a Nex ia rather than an iPod. Honestly. It's smaller, lighter, holds as much music as I want, and is just as stylish (if not more so) than the iPod.
Just
Mountain biking requires a RAM-based player,right? (Score:2)
Minimal features for minimal price? (Score:2)
I'm looking for the cheapest CF-based mp3 player on the market.
Small, light, long-life, all pluses. Don't need a fancy display, lotsa controls, or other snazzy features. Just something I can load an hour or two of music into for the train or the gym. The market seems going baroque in features and 'additionial value', how about just "plays mp3s - cheap, long, reliable"?
MPIO's Got Linux Support (Score:2)
You iPod lovers should take a look at the new HD-100 [mpio.com].
let's see more record from tuner features (Score:2)
The lack of USB2.0 support would prevent me from buying this item, but I really like the record from tuner option. I listen to a lot of college radio and some of the music can be really hard to locate digital copies of, or the obscure band names can be difficult to remember. The ability to record on the fly to mp3 format would be awesome.
I'd really like to see this in a mp3 CDRW player. Anyone know of such a beast?
RAM vs HD (Score:2)
You're not supposed to shake around a hard drive too much or else there will be a head crash on it. Ram based mp3 players do not have this problem, obviously.
Inaccuracy pissing me off (Score:3)
Or, the article submitter is too ignorant to know the difference between RAM and FLASH. Like those older newbies who ask "how much memory" does a computer have, and they mean disk space. I mean, yeah, disk, RAM, flash, cache, are all forms of "memory" if you mean generic computer storage, but that's just not how we talk about these things.
The Slashdot maintainer who let this drivel through should be modded down. Damnit, I have mod points. How can I mod the story down?!?
</rant>
Re:Light... (Score:2)
I don't know, 256 megagrams sounds pretty heavy to me. That's about the same mass as a loaded and fueled 757. If this thing is supposed to fit on a key ring it has to be made out of neutron star material.
Google thinks they exist... (Score:2)
Re:I am in the market for one... (Score:2)
Oh, but there are. Check out the Nex II [mp3playerstore.com], Nex IIe [mp3playerstore.com] and Nex Ia [mp3playerstore.com]. If you check usenet, you'll see that these are quite popular, though only available online I believe.
Re:I am in the market for one... (Score:2)
Re:I am in the market for one... (Score:2)
Re:2.2 ounces = 60 grams! (Score:2)
Messed up specs (Score:2)
Some other sources state the same dimensions, but a very different weight. http://www.aaaprice.com/saypmp3pl.html for example claims this portable weights in at a wopping 9 lbs. I tried, but I can't seem to find the correct weight.
Re:ipods (Score:2)