Customer Reviews

Samsung YPNDU28EF Techno Yepp 128MB Digital Audio Player with FM Tuner

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a decent MP3 player and only a few flaws kept it from earning a four-star rating.

PROS:

Great Sound Overall: I'm ready to shelve both my cassette and CD
player portables. The 3D effect is cool but only when listening to MP3s encoded at 96kbs or higher.

Decent Memory Capacity: 128MB (64MB built in and 64MB in the form of a Smart Media card) is more than adequate for listening to a couple of hours worth of near cd quality music.

Skip Free: 'nuff said
Attractive, hi-tech design: Drew lots of envious and inquisitive
looks from friends and strangers alike.

Very compact and lightweight: A caveat...After wearing a bulky cassette type walkman at the gym, I couldn't believe how light this player felt. Be careful. At first, you can forget
that you're wearing it.

Easy to use software: The Mac version for encoding and downloading MP3s is a breeze to use.

COMPLAINTS:

1)The Headphones: Unless your ear canals are humongous, you'll find the one-size-fits-all earbud style headphones included with the Yepp very uncomfortable. These ill-fitting earbuds constantly popped out of my ears which made listening to the Yepp while engaged in physical activity an exercise in frustration. Like me, you'll give these to a big-eared friend (or a small-eared enemy) and get the more secure headband style headphones.

2)Needs More Ooomph: Volume was adequate for listening while indoors but I would have liked more volume for higher than average noise environments (the gym, the subway, etc.) and to compensate for lower volume music tracks.

3)Controls: The eject button (for removing and replacing the Smart Media card) broke and I had to have my unit replaced. I hope the new one is not so fragile. Also the button which opens the door to the Smart Media card slot is too easily tripped.

4)Battery Life: Jiminy Cricket! The Yepp eats batteries for breakfast! This is especially true when the remote control/fm receiver is connected to the unit. Tip: If you really don't need the convenience of the remote, leave it home. It'll save you a couple hours' worth of battery life.

This is my second player and in comparison to my first this is a dream machine! My old machine was an audiovox MPDJ 1000. I didn't have any problems with the old player (which after reading the reviews of that player I was probably lucky!), but it didn't have enough memory and the audiovox player does not take non proprietary memory cards.

I just got the player today, and still haven't filled it up yet!(Considering my MP3 and CD collection, I'm surprised I didn't fill it up completely in 15 minutes!) It was easy to set up, I love having the FM tuner and unlike the previous reviews can't really complain about the headphones. I found them quite comfortable.

How I ended up not really paying anything for this player is a long story, but with the sale price, free shipping, gift certificate, free extra viking 32 mb smart media card, and paid for on a webcertificate this deal could not be beat. ... I basically got paid to buy this player!

I would offer the following recommendations:

1) I would just transfer the files via drag and drop, and bypass the real jukebox. I only see the real jukebox as helpful if you need to listen to the file before putting into the player as a refresher. Transferring the files directly into the player and bypassing Real Jukebox saves a TREMENDOUS amount of time.

2) The fm radio/tuner does sometime depend on the way you are situated and on where the antennae is facing. Point the LCD screen AWAY from you, preferably toward a window and you should get excellent sound. As a remote it's great. For all urban dwellers it's totally convenient to be able to hide your player in your pocket and have only the tiny remote visible. If you ride the subway once the subway goes into the tunnel you merely switch from FM to MP3 with the click of a button. This is great lightweight but solid player.

Those are the only two warnings, this is a GREAT player and a wonderful buy for the price!

I am a pretty informed shopper and comparison shop extensively before buying, and I would highly recommend this player without hesitation.

-t.

The Samsung Techno Yepp (STY) is my first MP3 player so I do not have anything to compare it with. With that in mind I offer the following comments:

Positive Features:

o The STY provides good audio quality. The sound is strong and clean, although the bass is a bit weak.

o The STY provides good audio quality. The sound is strong and clean, although the bass is a bit weak. Yes, I just wrote that. I want to stress the point that the sound quality is good. The primary feature of any audio player should be sound quality. The STY delivers good sound quality.

o The STY is very convenient. The MP3 player is quite small, easy to carry/wear, and it does not skip. These characteristics make it very useful while exercising or working.

o The STY has a built-in sound equalizer that helps to improve the playback sound quality. I often play recordings of classic American radio programs from the 30's, 40's, and 50's. This feature reduces the hiss, pops, and other flaws that are common in old radio programs. It is also useful with modern hi-fidelity recordings as well. Depending on the type of music the different equalizer modes can restore some of the warmth and depth that is lost in the MP3 format.

Negative Features:

o I would recommend using different headphones than the ones that are supplied. They sound a bit tinny and they are uncomfortable.

o The STY requires use of Samsung's provided software for loading and unloading recordings. Unforutunately they do not support the Linux computer operating system. Macintosh or Windows computers are well supported though.

o The FM radio tuner that comes with the STY is not integrated with the MP3 player. It is a seperate "remote control" that is part of the headphone cable. The tuner works well and sounds fine, but it is a bit cumbersome. It acts as a lead weight on the headphone cable making the headphones pull on your ears when you are moving about.

I recommend this product as it provides you with good sound quality in a small, convenient player that does not skip.

Best regards,

Joe Kotran

I got this product (...) two days ago, and I haven't put it down since. It has an equalizer with 3D sound, and it is capable of voice recording. But the main reason I got this product is that it can play mp3 files. This product, with the 64 mb internal memory and a 64mb smart media card, can hold up to 30 to 35 songs that can be erased and replaced if you want to. This product (...) is a very good bargin. I wouls recommend this product to everyone.

I told myself that I would finally drag myself to the gym if, and only if, I finally had a decent mp3 player to entice me. After extensive researching and saving my pennies, I decided to go with the Techno Yepp. The call of the 128MB and tuner for a comparatively low price was too much to resist. Initially, I had been eyeballing the Intel Pocket Concert that has a similar configuration, but it was significantly higher in price at the time. Here are a few comments I have to make in addition to what other reviewers have already posted.

AESTHETICS
Okay, I can't help it but I expect products that I purchase to be visually pleasing--call it the curse of being a gadget designer/monger.
Firstly, when the Yepp arrived, I'll admit I was a little dismayed to see that it was slightly larger than I expected it to be. Having seen the Mini Yepp (and having previously tried out the Sony MP3 stick player), somehow I was under the impression that the Yepp would be smaller, more svelte, more...desireable. Instead, it appears to be a dorky looking box which I guess is some geek's idea of cool (to be fair, the Intel model is pretty geeky looking as well. Guess companies are unwilling to invest in design). However, this fact is offset by the fact that the player still remains quite light. I guess pragmatics wins out over aesthetics in this case, but that doesn't keep me from hiding it under my t-shirt when I use it at the gym. I've also chucked the tuner portion (something that had actually factored into my decision of buying the Techno Yepp!) since it's not only a battery hog but the tangle of lengthy wires and tuner unit flying around on one's chest are distracting to say the least.

BUTTON LAYOUT
Okay, yes, the buttons are easy to use...but do they make one iota of sense if you're not actually looking at the thing? The layout is seemingly arbitrary. Some buttons are stuck on the front side, some near the LED, some on the right side, some on the left side...and perhaps most infuriating, some buttons need to be lightly tapped, and others need to be held down for a long time to make them work. I often find myself with the player strapped to my running shorts, my fingers fumbling around and randomly punching buttons hoping that one of them will do what I want it to do, as I simultaneously try to concentrate not falling off of the stairmaster. Also, if you forget to hit the "lock" feature, the power buttons is very easy to engage simply by just pressing up against something. I've accidentally turned it off mid-favorite song many times.

VOLUME
I would have to concur with others about the volume control--the maximum volume level is just enough to hear your music at a "normal" level if there is background noise (I thought perhaps I was having hearing problems until I read other people's comments). Sometimes you just want to rock out a bit to your favorite part, but if the Yepp is competing with any other noise, you'll just have to shout out the words if you want raise the volume anymore.

OVERALL
I have to agree with other reviewers who say that the software and loading up music is easy. Also, the sound quality is decent, though the 3D effect is nothing special. Having 128MB is dreamy...and the Yepp has made my workout experience a lot more pleasant. I hope the next model improves upon this one though.

I'd give this 3-1/2 stars.

I purchased this MP3 player in mid November and got a great deal from .... So, for a... I figured I could not go wrong. And after reading Customer Report's review, who's overall rating was good, I decided to finally get an MP3 player. The player is small and light and does everything you need it to do. I installed the software on WinXP and the USB driver worked fine (even though Windows warned me that it was not XP certified). It comes with everything you need, but I never even attempted to use the headphones that came with it. Get yourself some of the behind the ear headphones since you can move around with this player on (does not skip since it uses memory cards) and you don't want your headphones falling off. I would also recommend a battery charger and two sets of re-chargeable AAA batteries. Since you're going to be using this player a lot.

Pros: Price, easy to use, holds 2 hrs of music (128Mb RAM ~30-35 songs - depends on size of course), I also like the small size and it's practically weightless (which means it is less likely to fall off). I have not crashed tested mine, so I don't know how much abuse it can take. The belt clip seems fairly secure.

Cons: My LCD screen is not very clear, the "3D sound" feature is not very good (it sounds all distorted), I would prefer Firewire instead of USB for faster transfer between the player and your PC (but a lot people don't have this), and the program for transferring files does not allow you to "maximize" or "resize" it (instead you have a little 4x4 inch interface).

I would recommend this to anyone wanting a decent entry-level system. It sounds great and is easy to use. For those of you who want to store hundreds of MP3 files on your player, get the players with the hard drive - though they are much heaver and cost more - I'd think you be happier.

I liked the unit until I tried to interface it with my IMac. You have to have the outdated version of ITunes (version 1.0) and It
isn't compatible with the latest operating system - OSX.
This I found out after going through an awful customer service hotline at Samsung. Very difficult to get through.
So in all reality it is not Mac compatible. Even the service tech finally admitted It.

I bought this MP3 player after looking around for a long time and being skeptical, given that many of the players on the market have inherent functionality flaws or defects. I settled on this one after a friend bought it and was happy with it; so far I have been using it myself for several weeks, and recommended it to other friends who have acquired it.

I have experienced no problems with any of the features -- the installation went smoothly, and transfers of files from the computer to the player go quite fast (there is an animation of dots that shows the progress, which is quite handy.) It is easy to add new songs, re-arrange orders of the songs being loaded, and so on. The playback is great -- very high sound quality (CD-like) and the equalizer also does wonders in enhancing the sound. Several equalizer modes are available (such as classic, jazz, rock), and each one comes with an additional 3D mode which adds awesome effects to some songs. The volume *could* go higher (some of the other reviews complain about volume), however it is not really a problem -- it is loud enough to outdo the loudness of city streets/the subway/etc. The buttons are conveniently located to be able to adjust volume and skip tracks "by feel" without taking the player out of my pocket. The additional "remote control" unit serves as an FM radio and a playback control, however I disconnected it since it seemed unnecessary -- I just plug in the headphones directly into the player.

Overall, a great value and excellent functionality. Main advantage over other digital mp3 players: it actually works. MP3 CD players, on the other hand, have skipping problems and eat batteries rather quickly. The batteries with this player give certainly more than 5 hours of playback -- also, the player automatically turns off if you don't use it for a few minutes. I can go on and on about this -- I am extremely happy with the purchase!

Well, as stated in the other reviews the sound quality is great. There are only two things wrong with this player. No bass boost and not enough volume. My sons YP-30S has more of both....but no memory expansion.

Get new headphones, the stock ones don't cut it. Overall, a very nice player. Nice ergonomics, weight, and feel.

Sound: Great sound quality, with decent headphones. Even though new headphones help a lot, not enough bass at higher volumes. I listen to music on the subway and trains a lot, and it just doesn't quite cut it with too much background noise. With less background noise, the sound is great, and the equalizer really can adjust to your liking with the 4 presets. I would have preferred seperate bass and treble settings however. The "3D" button can be used with any of the 4 settings, and is great for something accoustical(Sarah McLachlan - Adia), but useless for anything heavy(Pantera - Shedding Skin). It boosts the sound slightly, but distorts anything too heavy. It really just enhances the stereo effect by seperating the sounds more.
A little more volume and this player would get 5 stars. My friends have listened to it, and say it's plenty of volume, but I like my bass really loud. It's on that fine line of how loud you like your music.

I work in IT, so I may not be much help with the software "ease of use", but it seemed problem free to me. As long as your machine is configured correctly(USB), the software is "dummy proof". I installed it all with no manual on the default settings, and was up and running within 15 minutes. I was already using Realjukebox, so there was no learning curve. Only thing I can think of was that the player needs to be on for the Yepp Explorer software to see it. Transfer rate is about what you would expect from a USB 1.0 transfer rate. I didn't enable the Secumax security stuff, so I don't know if that slows it down any. I imagine it would if it involed any encryption.

The 128 MB of memory is really nice, I get approximately 30 decent length songs at 128kbps. My only gripe is the memory is not seamless, meaning you have to keep your songs in 64MB sections. That only makes sense though, since the 64MB smartmedia cards can be swapped out. That really expands what you can carry around, since they give you a little plastic case to carry 2 more cards.

The FM tuner is kind of useless unless you are standing facing the transmitter, or have a strong signal. Weaker signals just can't quite cut it with any moving around. The remote is ok as far as button placement, but the play button gets in the way when trying to clip it to things, or situate it. Other than that, it's pretty nifty. The display is about the size of a wristwatch digial diplay. The unit itself has a bigger diplay that scrolls track info across the screen, but has no backlight. The remote has an indiglo backlight.

The belt clip is good if you are wearing something with a decent waistband. Great for walking around Manhatten, but I would be hesitent to work out with it using the clip alone. It is easily small enough for a waistpak, Yakpak, or pocket though.

The batteries do get eaten up, especially using the tuner/remote constantly, but I listen to it at full volume normally, so that's expected.

One thing to watch out for. Although it works flawlessly with my current MP3 library, it doesn't state anything about compatibility with future audio file formats.