This review is from: Coby 4GB Flash MP3 Player with FM and Color Display (Black) (Electronics)
Let me begin by admitting that I am "downgrading" to a Coby 610 from an ipod Nano which broke (mysteriously) a few months ago. I needed an MP3 player, and I could not afford to invest in a new Nano. The Coby was my compromise: at a fraction of the price and apparently with far greater capabilities, this machine had the contest hands down.
Well, sort of. My principal need was a machine that would play music WELL and hold a lot of it. I got what I paid for: the Coby 610 has copious memory (more than enough for my needs) and seems to be able to play my music just fine. So my complaints here are technically superficial. But I think they are worth considering.
First, if you get a Coby 610, you will be amazed at how light and chintzy the plastic case seems. My Nano had a sturdy, flashy, beautiful metal case-- this one FEELS ready to crack in my hands (note: actual cracks have yet to appear). Second, you will notice that the font used on the display screen is a blocky system font-- easy enough to read, I guess, but far from sleek or stylish. Next, you will discover that the "fly wheel" on the lower half of the front panel does not "fly" at all: the Nano had a wheel that actually "swirled" allowing me to scroll and navigate through the Nano's various menus: here, it is just a directional up/ down/ left/ right button placed on a silver wheel.
Okay, more good things: I was blown away by the fact that, for about $30, I could watch a full-length movie on the [tiny] display screen. I mean, it's really, really small, and the practicality of watching ANY movie on a screen so small must be considered questionable, but there it was, right there: a movie on the LCD display. My Nano could never do that.
Am I happy with my purchase? I guess so. I do not feel like I was ripped off, certainly, nor do I feel like I walked in blind. I guess I was, just, well, disappointed... When I got it out of the box and started working with it I was disappointed. I didn't feel like I had gotten an amazing new thing for a bargain price. But I am glad I have it. Rihanna just isn't the same unless you can hear her sing.
UPDATE: it has been a year and nine months now since I wrote the above review. I continue to own and operate my Copy MP3 player, but I wanted to report a new problem: occasionally the machine simply "hangs"-- it freezes up tight, and getting it to "unfreeze" means inserting a pin into the back of the case where there is a USB restart button of some kind. If you have a pin handy. Which, when I am walking about, I seldom find I do. Yesterday I wore the Coby while on a long walk to a friend's house. I had just loaded a new batch of albums onto it, and was ready for a musically enhanced walk. After the third song, it froze. I had no pin. I had to finish my walk listening to the sounds of Santa Monica Blvd., which is way too full of cars and trucks for my taste. My Nano never "hung" like this and I am mystified as to why the Coby does. But hey, at least they planned for it by having an impossible-to-access restart button in the back. Near the bottom.
Technical Details
* 1.8-Inch color LCD
* Media Format Support; Music: MP3, WMA, Video: MTV, Photo: JPG, E-Book: TXT
* Plug-and-Play OS Support; Windows 98SE/2000/ME/XP or newer, Macintosh OS X or newer
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