Coby MP-C683 MP3 Player with 1 GB Flash Memory & FM Radio

by Coby

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 2 x 2.8 x 0.6 inches ; 7.2 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000PL3YFW
• Item model number: MP-C683
• Batteries: 1 AAA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand but loaded with features, the Coby MP-C683 MP3 player lets you listen to your favorite tunes on the bus, at the park, and just about anywhere else. The device measures a mere 2.04 by 2.83 by 0.58 inches (W x H x D), with an attractive pendant-style body that's easy to carry. More significantly, the MP-C683 offers 1 GB of flash memory, so you can store roughly 16 hours of MP3 music or 32 hours of WMA music--more than enough for a marathon training run or a cross-country flight. And should that prove insufficient, the MP3 player also includes an SD/MMC card slot for easy memory upgrades (card sold separately). Simply slide a 1 GB card into the slot and you can enjoy an additional 16 hours of MP3 music without erasing the original content. The MP-C683 even offers mobile data storage capability, letting you transport business documents across the country or store overflow JPEGs from a digital camera.

It's easy to navigate through the audio player's contents thanks to the high-contrast LCD display, which displays the song title and artist information. And as with the best MP3 players, the MP-C683 offers a number of handy extras, such as easy-to-use thumb navigation, a built-in FM radio and recorder, support for Windows Media DRM-10 online subscription services, an integrated microphone for digital voice recording, ID3 and LRC support for song and synchronized lyric information display, and a high-speed USB 2.0 interface (up to 40x faster than USB 1.0). The MP-C683, which runs on a single AAA battery (included), works with Windows 98 SE, Me, 2000, and XP and Mac OS X operating systems and carries a 90-day warranty.

What's in the Box
MP-C683 MP3 player, professional stereo earphones, USB extension cable, installation CD, AAA battery, user's manual.

Product Description

Pendant MP3 Player with 1 GB Flash Memory, High Contrast LCD Display with Backlight, SD/MMC Card Slot for Easy Memory Capacity Upgrades, and FM Radio

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Currently the best MP3 player!, December 24, 2007

By 

Xin Feng - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Coby MP-C683 MP3 Player with 1 GB Flash Memory & FM Radio (Electronics)

My requirements for a MP3 player are:

1) Use normal AA or AAA batteries. This way my music never stop.
2) A good FM radio included. So I'm never bored by my MP3 collection.
3) SD card slot. Copying files to internal memory is way too slow.
4) File folder interface. Database based like iPod cannot continue playing the next album.
5) Resume after power off or empty battery. A must feature for 15 minutes long classic music and audio book.

Right now, this Coby MP-C683 is the only one fits all above. Before, the MPIO FL100 was the only one meeting my needs, but it was a PIA to copy files as it uses a special format on SD cards. My MPIO is dying; I searched hard for a better replacement, fortunately found this Coby. It is even much better than my expectations:

1) Much better sound than earlier generations of MP3 players. All current low-price players made from China are all very similar, they must be using the same hardware and firmware with some slight tweaking. This Coby has the best sound among others I've tried including GPX and Lasonic. The included earbuds are not bad.

2) Its firmware is also tweaked a little better than the GPX and Lasonic. The stupid thing is: the default screen color is set to red. If people don't realize that they can change it to 6 other colors, they may return this great unit right way just because of this.

3) FM tuner is so far the best, better than the MPIO FL100 that used to be the very best, reception and sound quality wise. I love iRiver and iAudio players, except that their FM tuners always go to mono mode - what I cannot live with. FM recording is not for music though - mono only.

4) The battery spring is much less strong than the earlier generation (C704?), making it no pain to take the battery out. The battery door should be improved in the next generation.

5) Display many languages including east Asian such as Chinese.

6) Decent battery life. A 1000mAh AAA NiMH will last for a day; then I just swap another AAA and my music goes and goes forever.

7) Generous screen. Neat and flat buttons, easy to operate, no confusion and few chance for accident pressing. There is even a light for the buttons!

A tip: once you connect it to your computer, press/hold the side Menu button to change its mode from MTP to Folder. MTP sucks, it is Microsoft's version of Apple database management for music. As another reviewer pointed out: resume feature my not work with MTP mode. As long as you know how to drag and drop files/folders on your computer, you really should never use MTP to manage your music.

This is currently the only MP3 player I can accept. Target is getting Trekstor i.Beat Xtension in few weeks, which seems very similar to this Coby. As it is made from Germany, it might have better quality but it might not support east Asian languages though.

In terms of MP3 players, you pay less for better, unless you are one of those who care brand more than music. Not all the low-price players are good, you need to find out a good one like this Coby. But I can tell you: the very best one is not found from the big brand names such as Apple, Creative, Phillips, Sony, Samsung, Sandisk...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost all the features a gadget geek would want, December 28, 2007

By 

Patrick Henry - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Coby MP-C683 MP3 Player with 1 GB Flash Memory & FM Radio (Electronics)

Here are some good features of this player (the first 3 were absolutely essential for me):
* It shows up as a USB disk drive (as does the SD/MMC card) and understands long filenames and directories so you can just drag and drop files in any modern OS. Additionally, you can swap the SD/MMC card between this player and many others (e.g. some car stereos) without having to reformat the whole thing.
* It can take large SD/MMC cards - I've heard 4GB, and it certainly works with my 2G cards.
* It runs on AAA batteries, so if you run out of charge you don't need to wait for hours before you can use it again. If you get a pack of the NiMH rechargables you get the best compromise.
* If you turn it off, when you turn it on it will have remembered the track and position.
* You can record both voice and FM radio to WAV files.
* Sound quality is good, even with the headphones it comes with - which seem to have been designed more for style than comfort.
* It has a clear backlit LCD screen. The backlight can be set to any of 7 colors, so you can change it according to lighting conditions (green works for me in most places).

Some not so impressive features:
* The hold switch is a little tricky - if it is even slightly towards the lock symbol then the USB access becomes read-only (as other reviewers have noticed). This is easily fixed, however, and to be fair the manual does mention it.
* It shows you time elapsed, but there is no option for time remaining - this is a pain with audiobooks.
* The play/pause button is in the middle, and it's easy to select the next/previous track by mistake. Likewise sometimes it doesn't turn on because you accidentally have two buttons depressed instead of just one.
* If fast-forwarding/rewinding a long file, it moves very slowly at first, and then suddenly you jump 10 minutes in half a second.
* While USB access to the SD/MMC card is as fast as that SD/MMC card is normally, write access to the internal 1G flash is pretty slow.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Than Just a GREAT Gift, October 23, 2007

By 

Timothy T. (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Coby MP-C683 MP3 Player with 1 GB Flash Memory & FM Radio (Electronics)

This player has many features than just Playing all of your MP3 and WMA files. The screen has 7 selectable colors, it accepts 4gb SD cards, has enough power to blast in any headphones you choose... This unit is perfect. It has simple navigation through files (sorry no album covers) One reviewer said it doesn't continue after powering off... They are wrong - I have been playing MP3s from my SD card and after pausing and powering down...even after changing the battery it begins where it left off; I didn't even read the manual to find that it does that - I'm sure if I read the manual that I will discover many more functions I have yet to utilize. I'm not really a radio listener, but the radio recorder works. It records to a WAV format. also voice files record to a WAV format. The reason why I selected this product, not only because of the price but the ability to use SD cards for upgrading the memory. Also it uses AAA batteries so there are no proprietary batteries to worry about charging. If the battery dies, get AAA rechargeables grab another from the charger and recharge the dead one. I purchased a pair of Jensen JHB-821 that match the unit cosmetically, sound great and don't fall out of my ears while jogging. The headphones that come with the unit are not that special and I recommend replacing them. There is a few EQ sets that are perfect from Jazz, Rock...even an EXTRA Bass setting. Sound is terrific. If you need something that will get the job done.. this is definitely it. and it is small - I've had no lock-up problems with files that other brands have had; this unit is light weight, only thing that would be cool and useful is if it had a clock. The LCD screen is easy to read and transferring the files from your computer to the unit is a breeze.