Philips 512 MB MP3 Player Key Ring

by Philips

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0001KC67E
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #437,455 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)

Product Description

Philips Key Ring, MP3 Solid State, 512 meg, neckband remote, MP3 and WMA, USB transfer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Neckstrap is a piece of garbage, August 5, 2004

By 

J. Chen "yoyofella" (Urbana, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Philips KEY014 Wearable 256 MB MP3 Player (Electronics)

I've been a MP3 enthusiast since about 1998, when it first started becoming popular. I've owned 3 previous MP3 players, 2 flash based (Samsung yepp and visual land), and 1 hard drive based (Ipod). I tend to use the flash based player for exercising, since they are more rugged and can tolerate the constant movement. I got this player because it has a larger storage space and I like the fact that you can charge this on any computer through the USB port. The built-in lith-ion battery is also a major bonus.

However, after using it for about 1 month, I encountered several design flaws that renders the player virtually useless for my purpose. Most of the flaws revolve around the neckstrap control, and some revolve around the player itself.


Here are my lists of complaints:
1. The player WILL NOT WORK unless you have the neckstrap. The neckstrap serves two purposes: it acts as the controller and pipes the sound to a mini connector at the top. You can't turn it on/off, no control of volume, and the connector on the mp3player is a specialized 3/32" connector instead of a standard 1/8". This prevents you from plugging a headphone directly to the player.

2. The neckstrap is very large, containing a huge button for play/pause/on/off, and another connector for the mini plug. In addition to (#1) it makes the player useless without the neckstrap. This completely defeats the purpose of purchasing a small player if the control is about 2x volume of the player.

3. MAJOR DESIGN FLAW: the neckstrap is NOT WATERPROOF. I took it out to do some jogging, and basically the sweat from my neck will soak through the nylon strap and cause some electrical shortage. This causes two malfunctions: a) the controls will start acting crazy as though they are constantly being pressed, meaning the volume could get very loud/soft and you constantly skip songs, b) the audio connection eventually degrades and you start hearing strange stuff coming out. Now, if you read through the manual very carefully, Philips does admit at the end of each language section that the neckstrap is not designed to be waterproof (which also means it's not sweat proof). What is the point of getting an expensive flash-based mp3p layer if you can't even sweat in it? I admit, it only failed when I went jogging for 2 hours on an 85-degree day, so if you are just going through some light walks it's probably fine.

4. Controls are lacking: you can skip songs forward/backward (to the next file), turn volume up/down, and play/pause. That is ALL. I have loaded songs into the player several times, and to date I still can't figure out how it arranges them. This is fine if you just listen to music, but I enjoy listening to audio books and NPR programming. The player completely screws up the order of the audio file, and the inability to fast-forward within a file makes it useless for listening to long programming. For example, I often listen to 1 hr long program. Sometimes in the middle of the program I would be interrupted and have to press pause. This causes the player to shut off after about 10 seconds of inactivity. When I finally restart the file, it would play from the beginning of the file, and there'd be no way for me to fast-forward to the part when I pressed pause.

5. The USB protector cap is very flimsy and fragile. I cracked it after about 1 week of pulling it out and popping it back in.

The good:
This player is not all bad, although the problems with the neckstrap and controls totally overshadows the good.

1. Recharges extremely quickly, I'd say in about 1 hour. The battery last for about 4-5 hr of continuous listening.

2. Relatively small and light.

3. Ease of use: no program required if you are using win2000 or winxp, just plug it in and it shows up as a disk drive.

4. Besides the USB cap, the magnesium shell makes the mp3 player seem very rugged. I think the material is the same as the exterior used by IBM ThinkPad.

All in all, I would not recommend this to anyone. The novelty of the neckstrap wears off when you realize that it doesn't really work all that well. If you only use it to play music in the office or during light workout, you might be able to get away with it. If you want to use it for audio books, listen to long programming, do any form of aerobic exercise that induce sweating, THIS IS NOT THE PLAYER FOR YOU.

The price you pay ($159 retail) and the limitations, you might as well get a hard-disk based mp3 player. You get a bigger drive, and you can't go exercising with either players.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars tiny, wearable, rechargable, magnesium, but some glitches, July 22, 2004

By 

Michael James - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Philips KEY006 128MB MP3/WMA Player/Thumb Drive with Neck Strap Remote (Electronics)

Unfortunately the photo doesn't show the neck strap for this device
with the woven-in volume controls and forward/reverse selectors.
The back of the neck strap has the earphone connector. So the
earphones come with short wires that are less prone too tangling.
I use different earphones which fit better under my motorcycle
helmet, so I still have the tangling problem conventional players have.

This is the only wearable player I know of that recharges from the
USB port (forget the hassle of AAA batteries) and can be operated
while wearing motorcycle gloves (check your local laws).

A couple glitches which may be issues for you:
1) On some classical music I notice the very first note is cut off.
2) If you pause for too long, it shuts off and loses your place in
the music.
3) My headphone connector went bad. Philips sent me a waranty
replacement right away though.
4) File transfer over USB isn't as fast as Firewire (like the IPods have).

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Battery life is terrible, August 13, 2004

By 

K. Kolman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Philips KEY006 128MB MP3/WMA Player/Thumb Drive with Neck Strap Remote (Electronics)

I purchased this item a month ago and if you only need to listen to audio for 3 hours at a time, it's OK. I guess my sour attitude is related to the disappointment; the unit is really well built...both light and sturdy. The concept is interesting, but is executed poorly. If you take the time to fully charge the internal battery, you might get an hour out of it. Then take a newly charged battery and place it in the battery pack and you might get another two (this is far shy of the 6.5 and 10 hours promised). And if you want the unit to listen to audio books, it will prove frustrating. If you pause for more than a few seconds, it will turn off; leaving you to start the chapter or the book over. Whatever...I'm moving on to something else. You might think twice before wasting your time on this one.

2115|RFHRWMCUVR0WB;2115|R36W33ISAEWSIT;2115|R3N6KHM77U8NDQ;