Customer Reviews

320 8GB Flash MP3 Player

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

PROS:
-Just plug in via USB and manipulate the files on it like its a flash drive and even set up the order and rename stuff via Windows Explorer (it shows up as a Removable Disk). So yeah, truly plug-n-play no software required, and works on a Mac.
-OLED 2 color display + the face has a mirror finish and weighing only 29grams its really light (like a flash drive) so thought has been put into design/aesthetics and that is much appreciated.
-8 gbs of memory is more than I hoped for and wonderful for dumping all my audiophileness onto this thing. You can even dump non-audio files onto this thing like a...flash drive.
-radio feature + 20 presets + recording what you hear on the radio = a victory for user functionality.
-also appreciated the voice-recorder for my classes and further adding to its indiscreetness.

CONS:
-plays only MP3 & WAV and WMA files. COME ON TRANSCEND! WOULD IT HAVE BEEN THAT HARD TO PUT SUPPORT FOR AUDIBLE AND OGG VORBIS FOR THE MP320 IF YOU HAD THOUGHT OUT THE OTHER STUFF WELL? GET WITH THE TIMES! AUDIO BOOK LISTENERS LIVE OUT THERE like the reviewer before this one. Now you have to force me to CONVERT my audible and ogg vorbis and AAC files to MP3 using...oh just Google it:/
-front having a mirror finish means...smudgy fingerprints on it that are noticeable in bright light
-manipulating the navigation keys you see to the right of the OLED screen isn't too bad but if u got fat fingers like me well it can get annoying sometimes and feels a little sticky-clickety...but then again maybe its cause mine is new and hasn't been broken into yet.
-15 hour battery life...is adequate, as long as I remember to plug in every now and then. But I expect MORE battery life given today's technology and because I can compare it to that Philips GoGearMix that boasts 25 hours. You also face competition from Sony Walkman's NWZB133F that boasts 16 hours (and 90 minutes playtime on just a 3 minute charge!)

Truly a wonderful product Transcend, and I do enjoy my 8gb black model, but like your namesake please step up your game and address my cons with your next model/iteration of your line of USB-stick mp3 players.

I was turned on by the idea of a minimalistic player: a flash drive with an audio port, basically.

You canNOT use this as a flash drive since it's marginally faster than a floppy disk. I'm exaggerating of course but not by much.

The battery life is nice but nor 15 hours, more like 8. Still good.

Sound quality is ok, if you pay attention there's a constant soft whisper noise, which turns louder and squeaky when the music falls silent. Very noticeable when playing quiet music in a quiet setting, but noticeable if you pay attention when not quiet (windy bicycling for example).

Scratches super easy. After a week of accumulating scratches I put a piece of tape over the screen, because it turns out that tape is much more scratch resistant than whatever this thing is made of.

Everything is slow. No need to elaborate on that. Except the clock, fastest clock ever, I don't think a pendulum clock played with a cat can be faster.


Other than that it's ok. I've been using it for a couple months, want to get something better but decent minimalistic players don't seem to exist. Oh well. It's not that terrible. You'd think Transcend would do better since they're flash cards are so awesome. Then, you take apart a flash card and see "Samsung" printed on the chip and it makes sense.

To reemphasize: the idea is great. The mindset of this thing is perfect but the execution is two star.

I bought this about a couple of years ago and have been very happy with it. Very easy to use. The battery life is more than adequate for me. I use the FM radio nearly as much as the music player.

About the only thing I didn't like was scratching the screen within a few days of getting it, but it has held up fairly well since.

I bought one of these as a convenient knock around MP3 player for having in my pocket while doing yard work, etc. Learned my lesson after realizing my iPod touch was way too expensive and poorly engineered (the headphone jack specifically) to be rattling around in my pocket, even with a case on it --- but that's another story.

In this review, I'm going to compare this thing to the Sandisk Sansa Express --- which on the surface it seems to be absolutely identical to. I owned and used a Sansa Express for at least 2 years and loved it with the quirks it had before the battery stopped holding its charge a little bit. Like the Sansa Express (which is discontinued), the Transcend MP320 is basically a thumb drive with a built in MP3 player with a very nice 2 color OLED display.

I find it very convenient to have a regular flash drive with built in USB jack to copy MP3s from whatever computer I happen to have available from my network storage unit, or from podcast downloads. If I wanted the hassle of an extra cable, or to have to marry it to a particular computer and/or OS I wouldn't looking at this particular unit. I continue to be surprised that there aren't more MP3 players comparable to this unit, but I guess it speaks to the success of the various companies in establishing lock-in to their particular online music stores.

Pros of MP320 vs. Sansa Express:
- holding down fast forward eventually makes the fast forward scan quite quickly, which is great for listening to podcasts (Sansa Express frustratingly didn't do this)
- properly mounts and unmounts on a Mac (again, Sansa Express would unmount, and then immediately remount)

Cons of MP320 vs. Sansa Express
- Body of unit is too wide or USB plug is not close enough to the edge, and as a result plugging into USB port on the side of my monitor requires the unit be slightly at an angle. This will eventually cause damage to the unit, or the monitor. I'm sure this will be a problem plugging into other USB ports as well. Sansa Express was nicely asymmetrically flat on one side so it had great clearance when plugging in to the side of a monitor, etc.
- The volume controls are on the face of the unit along with the navigation buttons. This can lead to accidentally changing tracks when trying to raise and lower volume, or changing the volume when trying to fast forward, etc. What should be the volume buttons on the side of the unit are assigned as the record button (which I've ever only used a handful of times on the Sansa Express) and menu home button.
- The headphones that come with the MP320 are lower quality than what you'd get on an airplane for $5 (same price as a beer). You can get a decent pair of Sony earbuds for about $20 on here, so why this comes bundled with junk earbuds is a mystery to me. The Sansa Express earbuds were definitely of better quality.
- Copying files to this thing is unbelievably slow --- I had to check my calendar to make sure I was in 2010 and not 2001. Coming from a company that makes thumb drives, this is just embarrassing for them that they'd put a product like this out with the brand name right on the front of it. The convenience of the thumb drive MP3 copying is almost negated by how painfully slow the copy process is. Speed was never an issue copying to the Sansa Express.
- In general, the MP320 has a much less refined and cheaper look to it than the Sansa Express. This applies to the look of the menus as well, and especially the fonts.

What I'd really like to see is a company produce a product like this, but not treat it as a throwaway. In the case of the Sansa Express, just a little bit of firmware tweaking would have made a fantastic product. The Transcend MP320 makes up for some of the flaws in the Sansa Express, but brings a whole other level of ghetto style to the equation. I can't account for the ridiculously slow write speed of this thing either given what year this is, and how cheap flash memory has gotten.

But, for the price I've got an MP3 player that if it lasts me a year or two I won't be as burned as I have been by Apple, and I guess that's OK. I've given it 4 stars for all the usability categories, because for the price it does its job. But overall, I'm giving it 3 stars, because again, it does half its job surprisingly slow.

UPDATE
After using this product for a few weeks now, I can confirm what other reviewers have said about the face on this thing scratching easily. I've had it in my pocket under 10 times now and it's already acquired a deep scratch on the face, presumably from my keys. My 4 year old Sansa Express had the silver paint wear off a bit on its body, but the face was flawless until the day it was retired. The Transcend MP320 is just cheaply made overall; just know that's what you're getting.

It is an excellent item. It is easy to use. Totally portable and the sound quality is the best. It is an excellent choice.

I got this because it's part flash drive, part mp3 player; it's small, easy to transport, and if I want to share music with a friend, I can plug it into their computer and share. I think it is great for all of these purposes. It is a little confusing to use. Because the screen is so small and there are only a few buttons, it takes a while to get the hang of navigating it. But if I could do it all again, I would not have chosen a different mp3 player. I have had fancier ones in the past, and I just wanted something that was easy to load music onto and easy to transport; easy to not break. With this mp3 player, there are no cords and it is very durable. No programs to use to load music. You just transfer files like you would if using a regular flash drive. I love it! The only reason I give it 4 stars is because of the navigation.

Overall, I like this MP3 player.

PROs:
8GB for $55 (I don't like the big players like ipod or zune that play videos etc. I just wanted a small player that would allow me to load many songs on it.)

It's a flashdrive, small and convenient, although I'm a bit worried about losing the cap. I prefer the slide out kind.

It doesn't require additional software. Just use Windows.

CONs:

I don't like the file manager feature as well as others. When listening to an album, if you want to change to another album, you need to move through the list of songs until you find the back arrow to take you away from the album you're listening to. Also, once you find a different album to listen to, the menu starts with the back button. So if you hit that once you reach the album you want to hear, then it takes you back to the main menu. I know this will take me some time to get used to.

I like listening to whole albums in the order that they were placed on the CD. I think they usually flow better that way. Most of the MP3 players I've had list the songs in alphabetical order. I try to place them in order by track, but it doesn't save it, it just reverts back to alphabetical order. This player also doesn't seem to allow me to play the songs in order of track.

The start up time is a bit long.

I bought this product planning to play audiobooks with it. It has a great warranty & long battery life..and probably is a great MP3 music player...however I could not transfer audiobooks from Overdrive Media Console or Windows Media Player. So it was useless to me...

If you listen to audiobooks, this is NOT the device for you.