Customer Reviews

Nike Sport 128 MB MP3 Player

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(20)
1 star:		(40)

 

 

I love the looks of this player and as a runner, its a joy to use. The headphones work for me, but they do come out of your ears easily if you turn your head abruptly. Im glad the remote was not hardwired into the headphones, because I found the buttons too small to use while running, and the "wire management system" (via clever magnets), totally unnecessary. The biggest disadvantage of this unit is the reliance on 3rd party software. The more contemporary players today simply plug into a Firewire port and allow you to drag and drop music on an icon. Clean, fast and brainless, no drivers or extensions to load. As a publishing professional I use both Macintosh and Windows, but I prefer Mac and that's what I use at home. From the Mac users point of view, I feel deceived. This is hard for me to write because Ive been a runner and Nike loyalist for years.

In Nike's owners manual (which I read before purchase), it states "software upgradeable and will support future playback formats and software extensions will be made available on www.nike-philips.com," and under system requirements it stated Mac OS9.X. I thought cool; my OS of choice is supported so I purchased the unit. During the install the software automatically took me to the Musicmatch web site, (the software that interfaces with the unit), which informed me that they were no longer supporting Macintosh. "We apologize for any incontinence." Shouldn't this apology come from Nike? And why are they still selling this unit with such claims? I guess Mac users constitute such a small customer base, a class action suit is not likely.

Bottom line for Mac users, this unit is not supported by any version of iTunes, the software shipped with the unit (musicmatch) is no longer supported, the MP4 format is not suppored; which means music downloaded from Apple's music store can not be used, and needless to say OSX uses need not apply because the musicmatch software will not run properly in the classic environment.

The Nike-Philips psa[128 mp3 player is perfect to use while running or working out. It's sweatproof, straps comfortably onto your arm, doesn't get in the way, holds about 2 hours of near CD-quality music, and plays back music skip-free like a charm.

The headphones are a compromise between great quality sound versus letting you hear that car coming up behind you. If this compromise doesn't suit you, you can always use a different set headphones you like better.

The player uses flash memory for the firmware, which means the player is upgradeable. As with any flash-memory device, if you are not careful about how you connect or disconnect the player to your computer, you can corrupt the flash memory and the player will stop working. The Nike-Philips website ... provides detailed instructions on how to restore the flash memory if this happens.

The reason I rated this player a 4 instead of a 5 is because it doesn't have a couple of features that might surprise you. First, there is no shuffle playback option. Second, while you can change tracks before the music starts to play, you can't skip tracks once playing has begun. I understand that Nike-Philips opted to omit these features in order to keep the unit simple and reliable. In any case, neither of these limitations is a problem for me, but some people might wish that these features were available.

The MusicMatch software that comes with the player is a decent MP3 music manager. Not everyone likes it, but the upgrade available for purchase is quite a bit better than the older, limited version that comes on the installation CD.

Bottom line: This MP3 player is perfect for use at the gym or while running. I personally use it every day and absolutely love it.

I love Nike products. I love Philips products. When the two collaborated on this MP3 player, I was in heaven. I checked through the feedback and noticed many people saying they were dissatisfied, that the product broke easily, that it was hard to get Phillips to honor their guarantee, but I was enchanted by the player, and, as many of you will after reading this review, I rationalized the situation by telling myself that even if some players are bad, I certainly would get a functioning one. I made my purchase and for the two months, everything was great. Then, when I was five weeks away from a 10K I had been training for, the player stopped working. I called the Philips help line and the gentleman worked with me for about an hour before determining the player needed to be replaced. I asked him how long it would take, and he said it would be inside of two weeks. I told him that I was in training and that I would really appreciate it if he could do everything in his power to get me a new player as soon as possible. After all, I had paid $$$ for a piece of machinery that had broken irreparably inside of two months. He told me he would speak with his managers and have a letter of return and pre-paid postage sent to me immediately.

After a week I called back. I spoke to a different gentleman who told me that there was a note on my account about the call, but that nothing had been sent out. I asked to speak to a manager. I explained the situation to her, and, while somewhat dismissive of the angst I was feeling about getting a replacement, she promised me she would have the letter sent out immediately. I told her I would happily pay the postage myself if she could fax me the letter. She agreed. Nothing the first day. Nothing the second day. I called back, spoke to her again, and she told me their fax machine was down. We are talking about Philips, so why wouldn't they have only a single fax machine, and, without question, allow it to sit in a state of disrepair for several days? She told me she would send me the letter instead via post. I agreed, genuinely frustrated for the first time.

After another week, I called back. The letter had gone out, they assured me, but it had mysteriously disappeared in the mail. I asked for the address of the president and told them I expect a letter, even if it was just one of a taunting face with a cartoon bubble reading "We hate you," in my mailbox within a week. It never came. So I purchased an identical player from the same store where I bought the first one, waited three weeks, and took the broken one back to collect the refund (thank goodness it turned on briefly when they probed it). When the second one broke (completely different problem), I didn't even bother calling Philips. I just pulled the same trick at the store to get my most current player, which is nearing its third month of use (a personal record!).

Sadly, I have one other complaint. On the cord to the headphones, you get a magnetic "snap" that you can use to adhere a section of cord to your clothing, and, hence, reduce how much the wire bounces. The problem is that if you sweat, the magnets start to rust almost immediately. I had noticed a reddish splotch in the same place on a couple of my running shirts that I couldn't wash out. It was then that it occurred to me that this was because of the rusty metal. I cut the "snap" off immediately. If you do buy this product, well, first of all, may God have mercy on your soul, but, also, please make sure to monitor the condition of the magnets so you don't ruin any of your shirts.

Good luck.

Update (October 10th): my headphones started to malfunction this morning. I can no longer plug them in all the way and have sound in both earphones. Instead, I have to pull the plug out slightly from the player to hear music on the right side. Fortunately, while I'm running, the plug often slips, necessitating me to slow down and adjust it. It is very convenient. Thanks again, Nike!

I bought this player recently to have a dependable, durable digital audio player for working out or running. I was using a Sony MiniDisc Net MD player for the task, but was looking for something a little more "weather and exercise" resistant. I had to return the first psa 128 unit within a few days since it is pretty strict how you transfer music. I tried using a software other than the Music Match software (which is a horrible product in my mind) and the unit froze up. I replaced the unit and it worked decent as long as you follow the protocol to the T. Problems with the player: NO SHUFFLE (this is not good for working out since you sometimes want to mix things up), NO EXPANSION CAPABILITY (the 128 mb is plenty of capacity for a work out, but you get bored of 25-30 songs quickly and have to download more to the player), NO ABILITY TO JUST REMOVE ONE OR TWO SONGS FROM PLAYLIST (in order to add more songs to replace others, you have to erase the entire memory and re-format the player)...

This is truly an amazing little gizmo. It stores approximately 6 CD's worth of music (by my estimation) with no-skip playback. Putting music onto it is as simple as plugging in a USB cable to your computer and into the device, then dragging and dropping the wanted songs or entire albumns into the machine. I used it this morning for a 70 minute run, and it worked perfectly. The unit is weatherproof, and seems fairly rugged. The attachable arm band works quite well.

It comes with a lot of stuff including a remote (haven't quite figured out why I would want this, as it's not hard to reach over to my arm to adjust things), and a battery charger + nickel/Cd battery to use.

Set-up was straightforward, though the actual printed instructions were not enough to understand the process. Everything you need is on the computer CD supplied with the player, but you have to run it and Adobe open the manual. Also, I run XP and it kept telling me that the drivers and other software had not been tested for XP. The literature with the player says XP, however, and my system didn't crash, so it seems ok.

I have multiple CD's already stored in my computer in the "my music" folder, and placing them on the player was complicated per the instructions, but after some experimenting it was obvious you could just drag and drop the music into the player.

It's a fairly steep price... but I think it's worth it; great little piece of hardware!

If you want an MP3 player primarily for running and working out, this is THE player to get. I got the YEPP MP3 player for X-mas and returned it for this. The YEPP player scratches easily, has an unfriendly interface, has a short battery life, and doesn't have a rechargable battery. The Nike player fits very snugly into the extremely comfortable arm band and you hardly even notice it's there. When the battery runs out you just pop it into the recharger and in 4 hours it's good to go again. The interface is extremely easy and it holds a lot of music. Definitely go for the 128MB player, it's worth the extra money. The YEPP player that I had returned was only 64MB and couldn't even hold an entire CD that I tried. The headphones stay on fine, but the best part is they don't have to go way into your ear like other headphones do. The magnets work great. I was confused by this at first, so here's an explanation: The remote control (which is on a cord) is attached to the MP3 player, and the headphones are attached to the remote control cord. The headphone cord goes INTO your shirt and has a magnet on it. The remote control cord also has a magnet and attaches to the magnet on the headphone cord from the OUTSIDE of your shirt. So thanks to the magnets attached to your shirt the wires are very taut and not in the way. The only slack is from your shirt to the arm, which has to be slack so your arm can move. So you can run without any bouncing wires, which is great. You can even lock it so no buttons can be accidentally pressed while you're working out. Highly recommended.

This product is great (minus a few minor problems). Once you figure out how to get it to work with your computer anyway. I couldn't get how to make the software to work with the device and then the mp3 files on my computer. Luckily, the tech support is VERY good. I had to hold for awhile but once someone answered, they walked me through the process very well.

As for the functionality of this device, it's great for people who have active workouts (running, lifting, etc). I like wearing it on my arm because it's out of the way but you can still listen to your music without lugging around some bulky device. It holds about 35 (?) songs, which makes for a good variety, perfect for a long workout.

I only have two complaints about this device: first the earphones really are quite awful-they pop out and the plastic rims around the headphones fall off. Second, (and perhaps this is a personal issue?!?!), I wish that the software was easier to use. I consider myself pretty tech-savvy and it's very hard to figure out how the hell to take music off of the thing and put something else on. In fact, I've given up on the whole ordeal for now (until I have a few hours to devote to figuring this out), so I guess I'll be listening to that damn 50 cent song for my next few workouts!

I bought this because the SonicBlue Rio Sport 128 was out of stock. No big deal. The Nike 128 is the same price so it should be similar, right?

Wrong!

The SonicBlue Rio Sport has FM tuner, Clock, Stopwatch and can be upgraded to 256mb, FOR THE SAME PRICE AS THE NIKE! It also has a belt clip.

The Nike 128 is tiny (good) but the buttons are too small to be useful. The head phones are too flimsy which makes it uncomfortable to wear.

Over all this player is a waste of money.. Get the SonicBlue Rio Sport 128 instead.

The

I had the Nike PSA 120. I traded up for this model. Smaller, lighter and 128mb internal memory for the same cost. Expansion slot no longer needed. Probably the best workout MP3 available. Customizable equalizer for better sound. Add the Sony MDR-ED268LP fontopia ear bud headphones and you have the best sound and setup...

Okay, don't use the included MusicMatch software. Install it like the directions say, and then use Windows Media Player to transfer files to the player. THis is 100 times easier, and you can use existing playlists without doing anything or using your brain at all. Just plug it in, click "Send to Device", and you're done.
The build quality impressed me. Usually little tiny electronics feel cheap and like they will break quickly. I played with some mp3 players in the store and they felt really cheap (like the creative muVo). This one feels like it is a quality product. It sounds great. The headphones aren't for everyone, same story for the magnets.
The armband is fantastic. Very comfy and quality materials ensure maximum life.
I would definitely recommend this player for anyone who exercises. I also recommend using WMA files instead of MP3, the files are way smaller. I have all my files in WMA format, 128 kbps, and I can fit 30 songs on the player with no problem.
The only negative I have found so far is the difficulty in setting the player EQ, the buttons are smaller and the menus go back to battery save mode in like 2 seconds, so you have very little time to remember which button does what. But you really only need to set it once.
Buy it. It is worth the extra $$$ over the sonicblue player, unless you need to expand the capacity, in which case, you probably are looking for something to use outside of working out. If that is the case, you shouldn't be shopping for this kind of product.
This product is easily the best of it's type.