Customer Reviews

Philips KEY006 128MB MP3/WMA Player/Thumb Drive with Neck Strap Remote

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.

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).

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.

The problem is, as many of us have pointed out, there is no fast-forward button associated with the device. Thus, when you wanna find a position in the middle of a very long podcast or story, you'll need to let the player play for a very long time before you can find the position. It's been driving us crazy, hasn't it?

The problem can be more or less solved by using MP3-file splitter software. Split your, say, 1-hour long file into 10 or 20 files so that you can jump to different parts of the recordings. You can basically find the software for free. I am using "Fast File Saw & Joiner".

I got the unit from Microdirect for 20 pounds. It's cheap and memory is enough for me because I don't really mind changing music with my laptop everyday.

I specifically purchased this unit because it was wearable. The controls are limited to volume adjustment (+,-), Skip song (forward,backward), super skip (skip multiple tracks in either direction) and on/off. If you want more than this don't buy it. I use it for my commute to work and since the internal Battery can be charged by connecting the unit to a PC USB port, I can charge it at work or home without any special software or proprietary cables. The player also comes with an external battery pack for a single "AAA" battery. 256 MB means it will hold about 50 songs. You don't need any special software to load songs just drag and drop. I did experience a software problem when I hooked it up to an office PC but this was because the necessary driver was outdated. To correct, just download an updated driver. This is a basic MP3 player that is worn around your neck. Is that does not appeal to you look elsewhere.

I have been using this unit for about two years now. I had the neck strap go on me after I accidently pulled on it while carrying it. Philips replaced it within a few days! The first thing that you need to know is that it is not a PDA or a Juke box. There is not display or fancy EQ features etc. It is however, a great unit for those who wish to keep a low profile while listening to MP3's or WMA's. The sound quality is excellent. This can be improved upon by using a higher grade headphone then the pair supplied with the unit. I use full over ear style when bike riding in the fall. As far as usage, it wins over other units hands down. By simply touching the right spot on my shirt, the unit allows me to control track selection, volume or start/stop features. I often wear it while shopping. I can set volume levels so that I am jamming, and still able to talk with store assistants. If you need alot of bells and whistles, skip this player. If you want portability, a very cool design, and ease of use, this is the game right here. Pro: light weight, easy to wear under clothing. Neck strap provides good control features. Easy to download from PC Cons: no expandability, but new units have 256 meg capacity.

I like the Philips Wearable mp3 player. Its very small and lightweight. So lightweight that on my first use I kept checking to see if it was there. It comes with a neckstrap with controls built into it. It RECHARGES via USB and doesn't need batteries! I usually recharge it every night like my cell phone but I think it runs for at least 6 hours. The drag and drop interface in windows is fine. I haven't yet figured out the order that songs are played in, might have something to do with first song copied=last song played. It also comes with a battery pack for an AAA battery. The headphones also fit very comfortably in the ears and block out outside sounds to the point where its almost dangerous to wear it on the road. The sound quality is great.

The only drawbacks that I saw were the fact that its not upgradeable, but I knew that when I bought it.

Overall its a very nice product, very cool, cute, cool looking, no hassle and easy to use.

Ease of use is best to describe the player. It has a drag and drop interface so there is no need to use a program to transfer music. There is no copy protection on the player so music can be copied to another computer with ease. The remote on the player controls play/pause, skip to forward, skip backward, volume up and volume down. The player resumes playback at the start of the last song played. As for the controls on the player, it's simple as there is one switch. The off/charge position and the playback.download position. I never worry about batteries as I leave it charging in the USB port and when I flip the switch it shows up as a removable storage device. It comes with an external AAA battery pack the provides 10 hours of music and when attached looks like it was built as one and not an attachment. I don't mind the omission of the lcd screen on the player because it really is liberating to not worry about renaming songs. I use this player for the gym over my ipod as it is so much lighter and I put my top 25-30 songs on it and don't worry about changing artists, albums, etc. The sound from the player is amazing. It doesn't have an equalizer and it still sounds better than my 3rd gen 20gb ipod and my old samsung yp-30sh (the key ring replaced this unit). I really was shocked by the sound quality. In terms of looks it is top notch. Everyone comments on how great it looks when they see it. Having said that I bought the KEY005 and not the KEY006 because I would never where one around my neck cause I think it looks stupid to do so. It is also rugged as I have dropped it on the treadmill and there were no chips or dents. In the office if I need to take a file home I just delete a track from the player and drag and drop the document. The only minus is there is no ability to scan through songs. I don't mind this anymore as I just turn on the player and forget about it. The only item I replaced was the headphones. Here is a link of the ones I got with a short cord and work perfectly for me: ..... In summary, I have owned this player for 3 weeks and this is the perfect player for the gym, office and short commutes.

Philips have come out with an awesome product here! It is really small, and looks really cool, the style almost at the iPod level. So far i have hardly turned it off (and havent needed to charge the batteries yet either) It connects to your computer like a normal usb flash drive, and all u need to do is drag and drop files in.The 128 mb allows to hold about 25 songs or so, so almost 3 hours of music. ANd the batteries last for 5-6 hours. You charge the device using the usb port, just leave it in till the led turns off, and u r sorted. THere is also a way to charge via a triple a battery which fits into the device and looks like it is part of the player itself. THere is no screen on the device, which is a small pity, but i knew that when i bought it, but it is nice in a way as u no longer need to worry about naming tracks etc. THere is an led which is useful, but not quite as good as a lcd.
You control via a neckstrap with the controls built into the fabric, which looks cool, and works well. The earphones plug into the back of the strap, on your neck with a short wire so everything looks neat. THe head phones give out a good volume and high quality.
A suggestion to any one who gets this mp3 player, dont bother with music match it is useless, just use windows explorer adn your old mp3 converter.
Overall, highly recommended
but there are a few nitpicks that philips shud fix for their next version: Put at least a play button and volume buttons on the actual device. Get rid of music match, its useless. Shuffle and repeat would be nice as well.

Also, if u have read any of the other reviews that there is no volume, or fast forward, dont bother reading further, as these customers evidently have a brain the size of a rather small pea, the controls are easy to find on the neck strap.

I bought this MP3 player (specifically the 128Mb Key006 model) a year or two ago. Even though I consider myself to be quite knowledgeable with consumer electronics, it took my son to tell me that you could indeed change the volume and skip tracks!

Its quite handy, but it is very basic. I should imagine you could buy a better player for the same money these days though.

I have a strange problem with this player though. When I put it into charge mode and plug it into my USB port on my PC, the indicator doesn't go green. I can only assume that it isn't charging, and I have used up many AAA batteries. One of the things that attracted me to the player in the first place was the fact that it could be charged via USB, therefore cutting down on the need for batteries. Alas, that feature doesn't work for me. I'm currently trying to install the up to date firmware, though I suspect I won't have any luck as the thing is supposed to turn green and doesn't. Anyone who knows anything about this problem, please feel free to email me.

Other than that, the player sounds great, includes the great MusicMatch software for free and has a handy neck strap with those controls. Had it been a year ago, and the recharge facility worked for me, I might have given this a score of 4/5. As it is, I'm being generous with the score I've given it.