Better than an IPod, in my opinion
Written: Jan 12 '06
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Pros: Feels solid, minimal firmware glitches, better overall than most of the rest
Cons: Scroll/select button a little awkward, can't swap batteries, very little aftermarket support
The Bottom Line: All things considered, I'd call it best in class. Totally functional, and very durable. Some room for improvement though.
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| Suburban's Full Review: Dell DJ (15 GB) MP3 Player |
Hits:
Feels solid and well built. Moreso that the Ipods.
You can make temporary and saved playlists without needing to hook up to a computer.
Organizes your music by artist, album, and genre... if you labeled them all properly.
Loads files pretty fricken quick via USB 2.0.
Sounds like CD quality music to me. The vast majority of my music is 128kb, which is pretty much the standard, or was the standard anyway.
You'd have to be legally deaf to run out of volume. I like my music pretty loud, but rarely go more than half way. Even in a noisy manufacturing factory, I haven’t run out of volume.
It has way more than enough storage for my music.
Battery will last plenty long for even a long work shift.
Misses:
Heavier than Ipod (though it weighs practically nothing anyway)
The scroller which doubles as the select button is a little awkward.
Can’t plug it into a car stereo, and control it with the head unit like you could with an Ipod.
Software included to load MP3s doesn't work on Win98SE machines.
Software for loading MP3s is much more time-consuming than dumping them all in as if it was a removable hard drive.
Can't organize music yourself with folders and subfolders.
File transfers via USB 1.1 seem really slow compared to USB 2.0 transfers, if you are running Win98.
Built in rechargable battery. I would be nice to swap in a fresh battery when the first one runs out of juice. All rechargable batteries will eventually wear out, and Lithium Ion batteries seem to be particularly failure prone. I have one Dell Li-ion laptop battery that won't charge, and one that won't hold a charge for very long.
Included earphones are uncomfortable. This is pretty much a given with portable audio equipment; you get junk and/or uncomfortable junk.
Although you can record to the device, you can't save what you recorded to your computer.
No radio tuner.
The wired remote for this player won't do you much good without a display screen on it.
Unless money is no object to you, just buy the Dell DJ, and I think you'll probably like it too. Just pick up a descent pair of headphones; Sony makes descent ones.
I had one of the first hard drive MP3 players, a NEO 25. This player is way better than the NEO, and a lot of the hard drive players currently on the market for that matter. Its lack of popularity and peripheral equipment is more due to overwhelming Apple advertising and sheeple buying habits than a lack of quality by Dell.
Having to go into Windows Media Player and label most of my music by artist, title, album, and genre was time consuming and a little annoying, but at least it’s done properly now.
I really torn on what rating to give it. If it were as widely accomodated for as the IPod, it would be an easy 5 stars. I have tried out a lot of these hard drive based mp3 players, and these are really what I consider the best. Would give 4.75 stars if I could, but I guess I have to round down.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 249
Recommended for: Music Lovers - High Capacity Storage for an Entire Album Collection
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Epinions.com ID:
Suburban
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Member: Robert W. Atkinson
Location: Aston, PA 19014
Reviews written: 70
Trusted by: 4 members
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