Customer Reviews

Samsung YP-55V 256 MB Digital Audio Player with FM Tuner

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is one solid gadget. Unlike most portables in this size range, it's made largely of aluminum and feels more resilient. The overall form-factor is much more rounded (and snag-free), and though the controls seem a bit odd at first, they become second nature after a bit.

Other reviews have mentioned problems with loose controls, but I've been using mine actively for awhile now, and have not seen these problems. It could have been that there were issues with the first round out of the factory.

So, why get this instead of the iRiver? First off, the general construction is alot more sturdy. Second, this one runs on a AAA battery and still gets better battery life. Including alot of time draining power by transferring files, one battery lasted me roughly 14 hours. Not shabby at all, especially considering that I had the surround-sound and bass boost on the whole time.

On that subject, this unit has a surround-sound emulator called SRS which actually *does* provide nice spatialization, and the bass-boost is firm but not overpowering. Do yourself a favor and throw out the included headphones-they stink, but then again so do the ones included with *every* other portable out there. Even the Creative NJB3, which is the paragon of sound-quality came with dreadful phones. That said, even 128kBs files sound good through this thing, and more than adequate for portable use.

As far as the included software, blah. It wouldn't even install correctly on a stock WinME box, so I ended up skipping it, and lo and behold, this player doesn't need it anyway! Plug it in, and it's immediately recognized as a generic USB drive. Same goes (thank goodness!) for Linux. No special steps needed to transfer files or mp3s, and no DRM hurdles. Unlike the iRiver, this player will accept mp3s from any source and gladly upload them back to the computer without problems and without the extra layer of software, which makes it great as a portable drive. It also includes a nifty USB plug in addition to the cord so it can be plugged directly into a computer ala the MuVo.

The player reads Id3 tags to some extent. It'll pick up and display Artist and Song Title (as well as time), but it won't read track numbers or albums from the tags. The easy workaround is to simply transfer each album in its own folder. The player will separate out the folders as individual albums. There's no "Music Library" of any sort, so just make sure your filenames have numbers at the beginning or it'll play them alphabetically. Shuffle and repeat features work just fine. The player adds a *slight* gap between files, though it's not as bad as some, and if there's not a gap between tracks, the player simply adds a split-second of silence rather than the annoying "crack" that many players do.

Practically speaking, the unit seems to hold 254.9Mb. Just under 1 meg is for the settings file, but with 128kBs files, I can get 3:49:22 worth of music on here at once with a bit of space to spare.

As far as the controls, the unit only has four actual buttons, with a novel twist-cap mechanism at the top, so each of the buttons has to perform several functions. It's not the most intuitive thing at first, but with time, it becomes second nature. A word of warning, though: some of the more advanced functions have to be accessed through menus three layers down, which can be a hassle while walking. Forward and rewind functions are handled by the twist-cap and really aren't confusing as long as you remember that clockwise is forward. They work especially well for track-seek operations with one hand.

For $, not a bad deal at all, and I'm very happy with mine. The Nomad Jukebox 3 has replaced my home stereo, and now this has replaced my Walkman. Be sure to factor in the cost of better headphones when considering this (or any other portable), though. I've got a pair of Sony Ex-71s that sound great, but they'll set you back another $. One last caveat: I don't know where the orange-themed one pictured here came from, but all the units I've seen for the US market are a simple nondescript silver-and-black deal.

Great MP3's. This will encode on its own. Plug the cable in to your headpone jack on your computer, CD player, ANYTHING with a hwadphone jack and it will record it as MP3. Even gameboy or your TV. This means stuff that streams on realplayer or WMP can be MP3.
Windows XP sees it as a letter drive via USB so you can move files easily.
USES BATTERIES fast when making MP3 though, 1-2 hours. Get rechargeables.

Before reading my review, if you already got one of this, get the new 5.7 firmware for folder navigation, playlists and lyrics support. Just go to google.com and search for "YP-55 firmware"

This is the third MP3 player I own and I must say I love it. I researched a lot of MP3 players before buying it and I'm confident it must be one of the best flash based players on the market.

Sound is amazing and loud, and the YP-55 feels like a quality executive item, it is not a flimsy toy like mi previous iRiver. The WOW function is incredible, it nicely spatializes the sound in your head making it sound pretty amazing. You must hear it to believe it.

You can configure everything from the menus. USB transfers are quite speedy, a lot faster than my previous players and my digital camera. Battery life is quite good, too. May be because it doesn't consume power from the battery when downloading songs, it is powered by the USB port when doing this.

Package includes a nice and small USB adapter for direct connect for those times you don't want to carry around the USB cable.

Out of the box it does not support playlists or folder navigation, but it does with the new firmware 5.7.

Overall I am pretty happy with the YP-55 and the only con I can find is the included headphones. Like every other MP3 player, it comes with low-cost earbuds. Sound is adequate but not great. Once you get better earphones, there is a HUGE difference in sound.

When I buy something, I bought it for a reason...I liked it. So I always
notice first all the things I don't like. So that's how I present to you:
Cons:
1) The cyndrical 'jog switch' which you twist to fastforward and rewind at
one end of this cylindrical unit takes some getting used to. Mine felt
loose, but I think it's supposed to be that way.
2) Flawed accompanying case. Because of this twisty switch, once you put
unit into the case, you can not fastforward or rewind because the

fasteners in the case 'fasten' onto this switch.
3) Because of this 'jog' switch, You need to be a lefty to use it
comfortably. If you hold it in your right hand to use your thumb and
forfinger to operate the fastforward/rewind, display will be upside down.
Plus, the volume then would be uncomfortably unreachable by your thumb,
unless you want to use your middle-ring-pinky fingers to operate volume.
4) Controls felt clumsy even when using two hands. Trying to use the tiny
menu button needs a fair push with your fingernail, especially if you have
soft fingertips. The volume switch also served as a menu selector,
although it too felt awkward. I often found myself skipping over two
options when I only wanted to move to the next one. There's a sensitivity
setting in the menu, but that did not help. It was the physical operation
of this control, not it's electronic sensitivy that had to be adjusted.
5) Accompanying earphones/plugs suck. Never used them. I hate these

kinds that have one short cable, and one long cable to reach to the other
side of your head. The weight of the hanging cable is then all put on the
one plug in your left ear, which would always pop out first. Don't know
how they sound; did not test them.
6) The rubber USB-port cover was loose on mine. I plugged in the USB
cable to upload songs, then when I tried to close it, it would not right
away. It was bent into a position to stay open, and had no 'snug' fitting
to keep hold it closed. After a few minutes of trying to get it to stay
closed, it finally did, but I could tell it would be a future situation to
really bother me. Maybe it was only my unit.
7) Voice recording was so so. At arms length, my voice was audible, but
muffled sounding. I turned on the TV to a regular volume to record it
(for me, my sis always complains the TV is a little too loud), and the
playback was muffled as well, but hearable. You would just have to turn
up the volume on the unit to hear recorded voice better.
8) Can't give you specific details, but just for me, I did not like the
way the menus were arranged. Maybe with time I could get a handle on it,
or maybe it was just the clumsy-ness of the controls that made me cringe
internally when I had to access the menu. I'm pretty quick at catching
onto how menus are arranged, but just something kept me from doing so with
this.
9) FM tuner reception was just okay. From where I was sitting my concrete
walled apartment, I turned the unit one way, and it lost reception, turned
it another way, and got it back. Auto set picked up some static as
actual stations...hmmfh...
10) Like all highly portable (pocketable?) flash players, no expansion
slots to add additional memory.

PROS:
1) Size. AAA batteries are small, AA a little larger. If there was such
a thing as single A battery, this would probably be it! I mean, really,
it is such a great size for all the neat features/functionaltities it has.
2) Solid! The I-River, feels like if you drop it, bye bye player. The
plastic on the I-River felt way cheap. The Creative Muvo is a nice solid
player, but little to no additional features. This Yepp felt solidly
built, like I did not have to baby it at all.
3) Battery charge display. It's divided into thirds and is tiny, but at
least you have some indication of battery life!
4) 256 megs! Good. Can store a lot of music!
5) Snug USB connection! I bought the I-River, and returned it because the
connection on the unit to the USB cable was not so deep and was LOOSE! I
nudged it while it was connected, and then my computer reported that the
I-River device "went away/lost connection". No problems with this unit.
It looks like it actually uses the same USB cable that Sony uses.
5a) Comes with a USB cable, but ALSO with a tiny USB connector so you
don't always have to carry your cable around with you! Reminds me of the
ease of use with the Creative Muvo.
6) Sound settings! GREAT! Read the specs online.
7) Voice recorder. Has one, but read my CONS above.
8) FM tuner. Has one, but read my CONS above.
9) You can capture output from someone else's player into an MP3 file on
your player with the accompanied line-in cable! COOL! AND, you can just
let play/record, because if you use the "autosync" setting, the unit will
detect gaps in the music and create separate MP3 files for each of the
songs being recorded...AWESOME! AND you can select the bit rate at which
you want to make your recordings (feeling faint right now...whew!)
10) Supports WAV/MP3/WMA, maybe others, but I did not care. Check
the specs...Every player should at least support these 3
formats! My Muvo can only play one format at a time. That is, if you
start off playing WMA, it will skip all other formats and only play the
WMA files. This will play them all one after the other.
11) You can easily use Windows Explorer to drag and drop files!

12) Music can go in the root directory. On a whim, I created two
miscellaneously named folders, and copied music into them. The player
found them and played them.
13) Line in MP3 recordings are kept in one specially named folder. Voice
WAV recordings are kept in another specially named folder. FM MP3
recordings in another specially named folder. Great thing is
you don't have to stick to these formats in these folders. You can mix
and match different formats, and actually use these folders like 'albums'.
Like stick rock music in one, house music in another, mellow music in the
next. Through the menu settings, you can set which folder will be the
default folder to play music from. A bit clunky way to do things, but it
works.
14) If you need space in a pinch, menu options allow you to delete files,
or format unit altogether, wiping it all clean.
15) Has a display! Blue lighted even! You can set up to 10 seconds the
display light time.
16) You can also set the amount of time, up to 25 secs, to leave the unit
on while doing nothing. Otherwise it shuts down. Set to 0 means leave on
regardless.
17) 20 FM presets. It has auto FM tuning. Can auto set the first 20 FM
stations it finds. Unfortunately, it picks up on some stray signals and
thinks those are stations. Better to do it manually.
18) Easy one switch recording anytime with a dedicated switch! Just
remember that if you are on radio, you will be recording the radio and not
voice.

Why I returned mine:

The loose USB cover was why I returned mine. I wanted to exchange it and
get another, but they were out. If next one is still loose, then maybe I
can add some "shoe goo" to add some "rubber" to its end to make it more
snug, or something. Or get a Circuit City/CompUSA extended warranty and
get the unit replaced once the cover becomes too loose.

This is one fine fine fine player!

The clumsiness of the controls, I could adapt to.
I could also adapt to the menu arrangment. Just takes time.
I don't plan on using the case except to just transport the unit.
I won't record lectures or people far away, and if I do, I could always
pump up the volume during playback, or use some audio editing tool.
FM is not a make or break thing with me.

I give it a 4 out of 5. Not perfect, but awesome nonetheless!

After reading all of the reviews for the Samsung YP-55V, I decided that I had to get one for myself. And I must admit, I was not disappointed in the least.

This player is everything that everyone here has raved about... and much, much more! Everything that I have used so far, except for the [bad] headphones (which all MP3 players come with regardless of how high-quality they are), has worked flawlessly and wonderfully! I still can't believe how far technology has come as to allow me to fit so many songs on such a tiny player! The sound quality is excellent, the design and layout of the unit is so cool-looking and innovative, and the battery-life is unprecendented. Most of all, loading songs onto the player is as simple as transfering documents onto a floppy disk - you just copy and paste, or drag-click, all of the songs you want onto the screen that opens for the USB connection you just enabled (mine was labelled drive F:) and let it do its magic - I was able to transfer 23 songs in less than three minutes! This player is by far the best portable sound unit by dollar that I have ever seen!

To tell you truth, a lot of the problems that other reviewers were experiencing didn't happen to me: The USB cover on my player wasn't loose in the least; I found the case for the player to be really great (and yes, you can still changes tracks while the player is in the case, by simply twisting the body of the player while holding the top still); the buttons for the player, while a little confusing and bizarre at first, actually became very intuitive and second-nature for me quickly (although I still hate using the volume button, but it's no big deal); finally, I tested the radio feature (haven't tried the mike out yet, though) and it worked great, nearly flawlessly actually. I guess some of the reviewers' players had small defects, but mine seems to work perfectly!

Anyway, to summarize: GET THIS PLAYER! NOW! Seriously, it is an unbelievable little piece of technology, and man, is it ever little! I was in the exact same position as most of you readers a couple of days ago, trying to buy the best MP3 player out there, and being overwhelmed by the huge number of choices available! Even after doing extensive research, and reading tons of user reviews for all of the players from numerous websites, I still wasn't too sure if buying this player would be the right choice, since for every single player out there, there are literally at least 5 reviewers who give it the full 5 stars and rave about it like morons (ironically, the same could be said of me), whether it's actually good or not. So I basically had to look at all of the 1 star reviews and see which player truly had the most flaws. And even still, there wasn't a clear winner, but I went with my gut instinct, and bought the Samsung Yepp 55 player, and I can honestly say that it was one of the best purchases I've made in years!

Note: I actually got the Samsung Yp-55i, which has 192 MB memory instead of the 256 MB of the Yp-55V model, since it was significantly cheaper, and I figured that 192 MB, although not upgradeable, was enough memory for me. So if any of you are looking to spend a little less cash to get a player with exactly the same features and design, but that can hold a little bit less songs, go for the Yp-55i (although it isn't listed here on Amazon or Samsung's Yepp site itself - I bought mine "in-store" from Best Buy, since it isn't even listed on their website!).

I spent months researching mp3 players so that I might request one from my family for Christmas. With so many products and different options on the market it was a difficult task at first to try and sort through them all. I figured out early on that a jukebox or hardrive mp3 player was both out of my budget and probably too much storage for what I needed. I finally decided on the YP-55v and I couldn't be happier because it packs a lot of features at a high quality, especially for the price.

First of the all the thing is small and lightweight so if you're looking for something extrememly portable this fits the bill. It comes with a case that can be used like a belt clip, and it also has a neckstrap.
Secondly, it puts out a lot of sound at a high quality.
The FM tuner (which was not a necessity of mine) gets good reception and is easy to program with your favorite channels. I haven't experimented much with the voice recorder but from what I can tell it works well.
The blue backlight is also a neat feature. Also, it seems really well made and especially with the aluminum case it avoids feeling flimsy.
The (nonupgradeable) 256mb of storage is great too. You can store about 50 songs (give or take a few, depending on length) which is roughly 8 hours of music. The absolute best part of this product is the extreme simplicity of it all. It has great features, unique design, and the easiest music transfer you can imagine. Plug into your computer with the USB cable and it shows up as a removable drive on your computer (the window pops right up on the screen). Then just click and drag or copy/paste and it very quickly transfers the songs you've selected. It comes with a software CD but this is a music manager and is not necessary to transfer music. You could be anywhere, say a friend's place, just plug it in and transfer files without needing to install anything.
Overall, amazing product at a fantastic price and I would recommend without hesitation.

The top reason I bought this player was because of its feature. I wanted both player and FM tuner. The reviews I found in Amazon.com were very helpful.
If you don't like the orange color, it also comes in all silver which I have.
After using this player for a week, I am very happy with what I got. I use it when I go rollerblading as well as when I work at home. I just hook up the player with my speakers and it's ready to go. FM reception is not bad either.
It comes with a installation CD, but with my Windows ME, I found that I don't need to use the CD. Just connect a USB cable - or a direct USB adaper, to the player and turn it on. Then insert it to my USB port and my PC took care of the rest.
One tiny grumble. I have some Japanese songs and when I download them to Yepp, it didn't recognize the Japanese font, of course. I'd be happier if they upgrade the firmware to be Japanese compatible so that I don't have to rewrite songs' tab information.
Overall, I recommend this product.

This player rocks. I use it in the gym....walking the kid, etc. 256MB is a ton of music and this thing is so small (and cool) that it gives me over 2 hours of tunes when working out. I love the FM recording funtion too. Cool aluminum case.

ALso, I stored some powerpoint presentations and was able to leave the laptop at home on my last trip. I like hte mini USB adapter. Great for file storage. Just drag and drop the files in windows. But make sure you bring the insall disk or you will have to go to samsungusa.com to download the USB drivers (which I had to do in a hotel with a 28k connection).

All in all, best 256 piece with all of its cool funtions out there for the price.

This Samsung yepp player is the real deal so i just had to opine-

if you have a pc - the ipod is not for you. it requires high speed usb ports and several costly accessories for a trendy and bulky item.

i've owned this YEPP for almost a year and thought the IPOD with eye tunes was supposed to be great - so needless to say i bought one and the first wouldn't charge; the second charged and let me download songs - then would not stay charged for more than a couple hrs.

the third one just shut down one day after i disconnected it during a DO NOT DISCONNECT phase. it would not even do a hard reset.

stick with the yepp - it works with media players (yeah - i know WMP can be funky sometimes) but if you have a late model PC and want to copy files quickly...run to this and don let the Apple fall on your head. I have NEVER written a review before so I hope that this at least helps someone. My wife won't beleive me because she is SAVING UP for an IPOD.

disgusted in DC

Okay. Here is a write up, that I did, on the comparisons/contrasts on MP3 players. Mainly, the Harddrive versions (I.E. Rio Riot/Apple IPOD -both of which I own) and the flash memory type... (I.E. Memorex 3642 Mp3 Player, of which I own as well).
What prompted this little jaunt (of which you may send to as many people as you like) My (expensive) Apple IPOD died during a sync last month. Just me copying files over to it, and the battery ran out of juice. I would have not attempted to copy music had I known the battery was low, but the battery read FULL STRENGTH. Anyhoo, I called Apple, they said return it for maintenance.
I did. Sent it back.
They returned it, still broke.

To my suprise, there is only a TEN DAY return policy.

TEN DAYS.

I did not realize this at all... and will not ever buy another apple product.

So, after a month or so of messing around trying to find another MP3 player... I decided to go with a flash memory MP3 player, the ones that use memory sticks.

SO, here are the pro and cons of these devices.

Pro's for the Memory Stick Mp3 players

-Cheaper. WAY CHEAPER than Hard drive types.

-If you go into music match and file convert to MP3 Pro and shrink the size of your MP3 to like, say 3o percent... you can really make a good Kompression. Example. My Memorex MP3 player has 32mbs of memory on board. It is expandable to 256mb. 32 mb will basically let you put one cd's worth of music. It is easy to put music on and off of them, due to your computer reading the USB as just another hard drive, so you drag and drop to put on, delete them to take them off. But, after you shrink your files to MP3 Pro 30 percent, you can put twice as many. So, basically a 256mb chip will allow me to put 208 songs on my little less than palm size MP3 player. And it wieghs like 3 ounces.

- More on memory. These little chips are the size of the upper part of your thumb, at least my thumb anyway. They come in 128mb, 256mb, 512mb and even though there aren't any MP3 machines out there to handle them YET, you can even buy a 1.5gig thumb size chip thingy. Considering the size of the chips and the shrinking kompression I told you about earlier, I could shrink my whole KOLLEKTION down to 10 of those 1.5gig chips. At the current shrink rate I am at 5 DVD's, which are way bigger and more fragile than these little chips.

- Not as fragile as hard drive type. You can drop one of these chips and not scratch it. I wouldn't stomp on one with my foot, nor get one in water, but they are encased in plastic. Ruggedish.

- Batteries last for like two days. There isn't much going on here, no moving parts, no laser or hard drive to put power to. Most of these flash Memory types have a single AA battery. I use a rechargeable type, so we are talking very low cost here.
In comparison to the hard drive types, where you will get a solid 8 hours of playing, this really whupps up.

- Size. Small. Very small. Mine is three inches by three inches. A square. But, you can get smaller ones. And the memory chips that go in them are the same ones you use for your camera. And you can put files on them. If you want to put a word doc on your memory chip, you can. Your Mp3 won't recognize it, but it is nifty storage.

COMPARISON/CONTRAST

- Size does matter. In the case of hard drive Mp3 players... lets face it, you can, if you so chose to, put a library of congress on these monsters. They are the caddilacs of the hand held devices, and guzzle batteries like gasoline. But when it comes down to it, size is the only thing they have going for them. I don't mean to downplay the hard drive types, but don't drop them, don't shake them, and after shelling out $499 to Apple you might consider insurance. Apple doesn't care about you or your apple after 10 days of ownership.

- Price/Komparison. IPOD ran me $499 bucks. My memorex MP3 player ran me 45 dollars. The 128 memory chip runs you 50 bucks. Owch. There really isn't a comparison to the two. The memory stick Mp3 players just kick ? on this issue. And, you get MORE than a ten day return policy, since you buy these things at Target/Wal Mart etc...

So, that is my review in a nutshell