Customer Reviews

Samsung P3 Palm Theatre Plus 32 GB MP3 Player (Silver)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Unlike the other reviewer's experiences - I have been using the P3 for the last few months without any problems. I do use the Samsung Emodio application to manage my mp3 and video files (instead of Windows Media Player) as well as directly copying and deleting files on the P3 as it shows up on my computer as just another disk drive - Windows XP, may behave differently on Vista or Windows 7. This includes converting various movie file formats to *.svi for the player. Speaking of which - I've downloaded both movies and soccer games - the screen is actually just big enough to watch movies and sports programs fine - great for traveling. With 32Gb - I can load all my mp3s and 3-4 videos.

I also used the bluetooth feature - paired with 2 different Motorola bluetooth headsets fine and kept it listed for easy switching and reconnections. I don't know if it is the P3 or headset, but I get drop-outs periodically - only for a fraction of a second.

The vibrate feature of this player - tactile feedback - seemed a bit unecesary but I got used to it.

The built-in speaker is nice, but not really that useful since the volume is rather low. I just use headphones.

I also changed skins and explored other apps that comes with the player - nothing spectacular.

Lastly - the sound on this player is excellent, pair it with an Ultimate Ear Pro 5 w/ extended base and it really sounds great.

I purchased this item as an upgrade to my Samsung P2 8gb because I needed more storage capacity. Overall the P3 has many of the functions of the P2 so I was familiar with set-up and functions. Or so I thought. When I first plugged the player into my PC, the player started to transfer all of the photos and music files from the PC. I have over 32gb of this stuff so it crashed the player. Nowhere did I see that in order to select the items you want to load, you need to deselect the "sync when connected" box in the options tab. Once I reset the player and deleting the files I didn't want I was good to go. After I downloaded my files I noticed that very little of the album art was showing up for the music files even though the album art is displayed in the Library. It seems that this is a known problem using Windows Media Player 11 for those who rip CD's because the album art is not embedded in the file and does not transfer to MP3 player. So now I need to research on the internet for a resolution. Overall I still think this is a good product with great sound and applications. But beware of some of the minor glitches found.

I bought this as a replacement to my old Creative Zen 32GB, which experienced the end of its service life, so I could use it with my JayBird Bluetooth headphones. This is a great product! However, I did not like the Emodio music player software that came with it because it was very user unfriendly. Instead, I used either the drag-and-drop method to transfer music files to the device, or I used Windows Media player. Then, I got a membership to Rhapsody (no iTunes for me) and started using that to transfer music to the player. Rhapsody had a hard time connecting with the player and so the Rhapsody program would lock up. Otherwise, the music sound quality has been great. it has a built-in speaker which gets pretty loud. That feature was great for using at work. The Bluetooth capability is fantastic in that it seemed to be a first-generation Bluetooth-capable mp3 player, which connected with ease to multiple brands of bluetooth headphones, as well as the hands-free link in my Acura TSX. The battery life has been great, and charging doesn't take long. There was one point where I had to do a hard reset and wipe the device because it kept locking up on me, but re-setting the device was easy. I noticed after the reset that the games and a few other features did not restore, so I emailed Samsung customer service and they sent me the software for the missing applications with no issues. They even gave me a few items I didn't have before! The thing I like most about this player is how thin and light it is. When I am working out, I can barely feel it on my arm. This product met all my expectations! The only thing that could have been any better would be if it were a phone too.

This player is lacking in certain features that I consider to be essential. Perhaps I am spoiled by Apple, but I believe that when you play everything by a certain artist, the tracks should have an album hierarchy and not a an alphabetical one. This means that if I want to listen to everything by a certain artist throughout their career (especially if I want it in order), I have to create a playlist.

Additionally, a major source of irritation for me was that the player will never be at more than half-volume when you turn it on. In other words, if I have the volume at 75% when I turn the player off, when I turn it on again it will be at 50%. If, however, I have the player at 10% volume then turn it off, it will be at 10% again when I turn it on. This is ostensibly to protect your ears, but I need all of the volume that I can get from the player when attaching it to my car's stereo through the headphone jack.

Finally, though this product boasts the ability to add applications, Samsung has not provided a useful interface for doing so. It also does not have an accelerometer, so if you turn the player on its side when watching a video (of which many types claim to be supported, but few are), nothing happens.

Great basic player for the price, but I am willing to pay more for better features.

Bought this because of the reported audio quality and file support capabilities. What a mistake. Many YP-P3 owners, including myself, are experiencing dead touchscreens. Many of the touchscreens fail while under warranty, but many users are experiencing failures shortly (sometmes within days) after the warranty expires. Samsung, of course, refuses to acknowledge the problem.

I paid $244.00 for a 32gb unit. Its very compact. It looks bigger then it is in the advertisement on Amazon. "Wheres the apps or widgets???" there aren't any. Maybe there will be some in the future, but you get what comes on the unit. The review on Amazon said it used Divx, so I bought the Divx program, and converted my movies to Divx to store on the Samsung P3. The movies wouldn't play. I experimented with all sorts of conversion programs, and found out that avi & windows media are the ones that work. Maybe if I wanted an Ipod I should have bought an Ipod. I thought this was an Ipod clone, but its not.

The volume leaves a lot to be desired. I had to buy a "Boostaroo" to amplify it to play the headphones, and to plug in to the accessory plug on my 2008 Burgman Scooters radio.

The widgets that are on the Samsung P3, and the menu's have to be tapped a couple of times to get it to work.

All in all, its not a bad unit and the reason for the 4 stars is the lack of widgets available.

Everett G Lundberg

This mp3 player crashed the second time I used it, after I started using the included Emodio software. At first, I was impressed with the customer service, since I was emailed a shipping label immediately to send the product in for service. According to the tracking number provided by UPS, Samsung's repairs department received the item on January 27th. On January 30th, I received an email stating that the item had not been received at the repairs department, and if it was not received in 48 hours, my service request would be cancelled. A new service request was placed on February 1st, and I have yet to hear back any update about my mp3 player. Several phone calls to Samsung's "Executive Customer Relations" department (and I use the phrase loosely) have yielded 4 dropped calls, 1 extremely rude customer relations employee, and 2 promises of "as soon as I hear anything, I will let you know." Needless to say, I am less than thrilled with this product, but especially with Samsung's idea of what it is to serve your customers. The best advice I can give anyone who is considering this product is to save your time and buy something that actually works.

When I first received the Samsung P3, I thought it was cool and would be great. After I started using it I found out that it wasn't any good at all for playing music. Didn't have it long enough to try anything else, but music is what I got it for.

It setup ok connecting to Rhapsody, and received the 16gb of files fine, though it took 5 hours to complete.

The problem it's faulty operations, and lack of options for play of music. On the Creative Zen 32gb I had been using (have another one now), you get all sorts of playback options. I like to play all at random. The Samsung doesn't give this option, though it does have playlists. Also like to see the cover art. No cover art when playing the songs, only if you view the albums available. During play you see an equalizer display, like anyone is going to be looking at bouncing lights anyway. You want to see the album cover...at least I do.

The really frustrating thing is the display light is always shutting off, rather than dimming...and there's no way I could find to change that, only to turn up the brightness. For driving in the car I like to just pick the thing up and glance to see what's playing without touching the screen. That's another thing...touch screens on these devices. You have to look at it, and that's not safe in the car. With the Zen, it was by intuitive feel switching songs. This one you have to look at the screen, bring up the player options, and find next which is tiny on the screen.

Then....the topper. The OS crashes often. Won't come on even with a paperclip reset until around 5 minutes or so. Had to resort to playing CDs which is a pain in the neck.

Not a good way to shut it off so you see it shutting down the device. You can lock it with the tab at the top, then after a minute the screen goes off, but they you find out later the battery is run down, which makes me thing it was still using power. It provides a built in speaker, for what reason I don't know except it gives sound effects when you select options on the touchscreen, and vibrates which just uses more battery power.

Anyway....don't buy it. Get a Zen for $130 on Amazon for a good reliable MP3 device. The only reason I traded in my last one is I had a two year replacement plan with Best Buy, which doesn't carry Creative Zen players anymore, so Amazon is the place!