Customer Reviews

Virgin Electronics VM-500 5 GB MP3/WMA Player with FM Tuner

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

 

 

I was so excited to get this MP3 player, but have had several problems with it. It keeps freezing up on me which once caused it to overheat and then I LOST all the songs I had painstakingly put on it. I have used it two times since I purchased it at the beginning of January 2006. I did not have a hard time putting the music on, it is just time consuming. When it works, it works well.

Well, it's small, has reasonable battery life and sound quality, and it's low-priced. And it often works correctly for me. But it has some major disadvantages:

1. Virgin Electronics is defunct, so there is no tech support for their products, and no updates of any kind will be offered. And this thing could USE some updates...

2. It doesn't support playlists. It has some kind of stupid "DJ" function that you'll find mostly useless.

3. The FM radio is also useless. For the first few seconds it's used, while the backlight is on, it sounds fine. Then, when the backlight turns off, a continuous, very noticeable hiss overlays the audio.

4. You can't just copy files to it - you have to sync it through Media Player or some other software. It's very picky, and sometimes the synced songs don't play correctly. Other software often doesn't work with it.

True, it's a 5GB player for a low price, but in the end you'll find yourself just that much farther, financially, from something you would have really liked.

Ok.... I bought one of these as a refurb thinking that it was a great bargain... hey 5GB for less than $100 what a deal. Once you get the hang of loading and working with the Windows Media Player its not a big deal to load. Unfortunately after it begins locking up and not recognizing songs (which requires a drive reformat and reinstallation of the songs) you get really good at it. Had it for about 4 months before it stopped even recognizing the HD and no longer worked at all. I thought maybe the reason was that I had bought a refurb so a new one had to be better... right?

So I stupidly bought a brand new one.. again less than $100. This one has now begun the lock up and reload problem within 2 months of reciept and I just recently got the "not recognizing the HD" message. I am in hopes of getting it to work but for right now its just an expensive paperweight. I am 0/2 with these players so I don't believe that they are worth the shipping it takes to send them back. Beware of this product!

I bought two,one for me,one for my son. He is so disappointed, and I'm very upset. I'm happy I only opened one. I guess you really have to be computer saavy to use this thing. The instructions are useless, the software didn't upload, and I have Windows XP so I know that wasn't the issue. Unless you are a computer whiz, save your money. I wanted one for the both of us. Guess, my son will only have one because now I have to go find a more expensive and user friendly one.

This is the worst pice of electronics I ever bought. Started falling apart after few days only. Battery life is a joke.

Software that comes with it is totally unfriendly and even if you manage to install that thing on your computer it won't work with OS prior to XP. You will find that out after you're done installing it. Mediocre performance. Don't waste your money on this one.

I bought this for my husband, and the software wouldn't download on either of our computers. Definitely do not buy!

GOOD:
1. Very cheap for a 5GB storage MP3 player.
2. FM (at least 8 Presets)
3. AC Adaptor to recharge.
4 Dual headset connectors (Bonus)
5. Clock

BAD:
1. Hard to setup the software installation. (Must use Windows Media) and update your firmware.
2. Can not create folders for you mp3 songs (Organize).
3. Can not transfer stuff from MP3 player to computer.

Overall, it's a good deal if you know what you're doing (Able to transfer MP3 files to your player without any problem).
It's a lot cheaper than other brand such as iPod and Creative.

HINTS: How to transfer MP3 files to your player with ease...
1) Update firmware and intall the desktop software from [Virgin Electronics Website]

2) Make sure your Windows Media Player is version 10 on WinXP.
I don't know whether V9 works or not.

3)Run Windows Media Player V10
4) Connect the bundled cable from your MP3 Player to your computer. (WinXP will detect it)

5) Open your Windows Explorer (Right-click "START" button on your desktop, and select "EXLORER".

6) Open up the folder on your computer drive, CD ROM, etc. where you have your MP3 files to be tranferred to your Virgin player.

7) Select 1 file, multiple files [Hold on your Control Key and mouse-click your file(s)], or all files (Control-A), and then right-click your selected files, and choose "Add to Sync List" or the like. (This will put all your selected files to your Sync List on Windows Media Software.

8) Go back to your Windows Media Player, Click on "Start to Sync" (This will transfer the files to your Virgin Player).

9) Push and hold on the "HOME" key on your Virgin Player for about 2-3 seconds, this will automatically disconnect your player from computer. This is the exception that you don't need to disconnect the USB device from your computer taskbar to disconnect. For most of others using USB devices such as Creative Zen Nano Plus, USB WebCam, etc., it's highly recommend to do that first before unplugging it.

PLEASE DISREGARD INSTRUCTIONS AFTER STEP 8 FROM OTHER POSTS.

Good Luck! I wish I have this instructions from Virgin Website.
It took me about 30 minutes to find this method of transferring.
Using Windows Media Player alone to transfer is very confusing and erratic. Hope this will help for those who have a hard time tranferring files to your Virgin Player.

This player holds 5GB of storage for anything from MP3 to regular files, I got it last week for $80 and can be considered happy with it, BUT you have to be computer savy in some fashion to use this, this player has to be synced with Windows Media player to load the songs, you can't just drag and drop because the software on the player doesn't see just files on the storage drive. It's like giving the cab driver $20 and not telling him where to take you, they just don't know.

So the good: It's 5GB, it's cheap, it has a RECHARGABLE battery that last a long time, it has a menu system for songs, it's a 5GB flash drive not harddrive, it's ipod sized, FM tuner works well & also has presets. Dual headphone jacks, & clock.

The bad: It's HAS to be synced with a program to get songs to it, the DOCUMENTATION is worthless it doesn't say anything about having to syncronize the songs. UPDATE the BIOS & SOFTWARE first. The volume works well but doesn't go up to ear blasting which might be good or bad :-) You can't unplug the player without manually disconnecting the player software from the USB, if you do just unplug it you can corrupt the software and it will lose track of your songs. The worst part.

MAIN CONCERN: UPDATE the SOFTWARE on the drive and the BIOS before you put songs on it, you can get the download at http://www.virginelectronics.com/downloads.htm (thier site is slow) if you don't update first you will lose your songs on the drive after your update. The bios update is just putting the new bios in the SYSTEM folder on the drive. I suggest when you make a windows media player playlist that you save your list just in case you want to reload them again for some reason in the future. I don't know if losing the songs radomly is true yet as some say but I think it's because people unplug from the USB without unloading the software mode first. I EVEN DID IT ONCE AT FIRST.

I buy alot of stuff online, the player is worth the money & it's even worth a tad more in my oppinion if you know how to use it.

I hope this helped. It's really worth it you just gotta know what to do.

Please save yourself from this crap. This is not worth even a penny. I recvd it a couple of days back and opened the box today for the first use. Connected to the PC , completed that really tough installation and started transferring the files... and guess what .. it crashes all of a sudden !!! I follow all the instructions in the FAQ section of Virgin Electronics, but none works. All the time it has only this piece of info to display

Oh dear! This hard drive isn't working properly !!!........

Decided to return it. Do not even for a second think of taking this product. Save your hard earned money for some other worthy product !!!

I don't quite understand all the negative reviews. It is a little tricky at first to figure out, I think. There seem to be a few holes in the instruction manual, and things should have probably been explained better. I don't know why that is the case, but it seems to be. Also, you really do need to look at the online instructions as well. You cannot just go by what is in the paper instructions that come with it.

However, just a little monkeying around with it and you should be able to figure it out easily. It has worked just fine for me, and was so cheap. I bought two more, one for my brother and one for my dad, and they both love them. Mine has frozen up twice, with a lot of use. Upon resetting, one time the music was lost. So, keep everything backed up on yr computer. But, honestly, with just a small amount of patience you should really not have much problem with this thing. And, it is so cheap, the small added effort should easily be worth it for most people. If you are among the economic elite and also don't like to spend any time with small technical challenges, I would recommend putting out more cash for something a little easier, maybe. For the rest of us, I think it is very hard to beat this deal.