Is that a lippy in your pocket? (Netac C 620 MP3 Player)

Member Name: sirg0508

Product:	Netac C 620 MP3 Player
Date:	21/07/05 (602 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brilliant quality and quite cheap. Good voice recorder too.

Disadvantages: Heart Attack when battery runs low

The Netac C620 was the cheapest MP3 player on Amazon so the whole reason I bought it. There are two different players, one with 256MB of space and the one I bought with 128MB meaning I am able to hold around 50 songs depending on their file type and size. Compared to my very first MP3 player I received about 3 years ago, there have been amazing advancements in technology.

My original MP3 player was bulky and only had 32 MB of space which meant I could only hold 8 songs! A Smart card could be bought (it’s like a big SIM card) but when the MP3 player crashed, all memory external and internal were deleted… not good!

At £34.99 there wasn’t I was hoping for – I just wanted something to relieve boredom on buses for an hour or two so I didn’t require a lot of space and knowing my luck I’d lose it so I wasn’t willing to spend three times that amount to store 5,000 songs (do I even have that many?!).

The Netac MP3 player was ideal. I’d never heard of the make but considering my first didn’t even have a brand it had to be better. About a third of the size of my original, this one came in a nicely presented box with earphones, battery, and USB cable to transfer the songs, drivers and instructions.

The connection to the MP3 player is one I haven’t seen before so it will probably be hard to find a replacement cable. It’s tiny but the other end of the cable has a USB so I knew I was safe. I only have USB 1.1 so it isn’t high speed yet still transfers songs within around 7 seconds each. When the cable is connected to the MP3 and the computer, it will automatically set itself to transfer mode so nothing else is able to be done. I am using Windows XP which meant no drivers were required so when connected, the instruction to open the file popped up. To transfer songs onto the player, just drag and drop into the folder for the player. Not sure if they can be dragged instantly from a CD as I had to download all the tracks to the computer first (didn’t take that long).

I don’t think any software is provided on the disk but I have not had to install anything to find out. I tend to use Windows Media Player which has a section to ‘Copy from CD.’ The only thing that needs to be remembered before dragging the songs into the MP3 player is they may not have names so if using 2 different albums and uploading track 1 from each, it will think you are trying to overwrite the first. Right click and change the file names so you know what you are listening to or it will just say ‘Track 1’ etc.

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE:
The player itself is very small – just a little bigger than a lipstick, larger at one end than the other. The face and back are blue but the rest is silver so quite a fashionable little item. Compared to my first unbranded MP3 player which was about the size of a credit card but quite thick with almost exactly the same colouring, I can only think of how mobile phones have evolved in a very similar way… bricks to razor thin. At one end there is a hole to plug in the earphones and a little loop like a key ring to attach anywhere you want. The other end has the strange connection for the cable.

SCREEN:
The screen itself is quite small but the font can easily be read. It’s an LCD and will light up blue when the light comes on. Pushing hard on the screen doesn’t cause damage but obviously pressing with a lot of force could cause it to smash.

There are very few buttons so is not confusing in the slightest to use:
• Play (press once) / Stop (hold down for a few seconds) / Pause (press once when something is playing) / Power on (hold down) / Power off (hold down for a few seconds – if already stopped).
• Volume – a long button simply pressed at either side to turn the volume up or down
• Hold – an invaluable button which means you can lock or unlock the player so if placed in your pocket and press buttons accidentally, it won’t turn the player on and run down the battery, change the volume or even change the song you are listening to.
• Mode – A wheel type button which can be used to skip to the next song or fast-forward/rewind by turning from side to side. It can also be pressed in when no songs are being played to look at the full menu.

The menu again is almost as simple as the buttons:

MUSIC SECTION:
When nothing is being played, the player should be, by default, on Music… This shows all the songs you have saved onto the player. It shows the track number, track name, Artist and Album – all of which scroll when being played. There is a music symbol to show that the file is a music file, the counter for song length (shows full time when stopped), the number of the track being played from the MP3 player as well as how many tracks there are on the player in total. There is a little graph symbol showing the volume level. A folder shows at the bottom right of the screen to show which folder you are listening to – e.g. you may have albums in different folders and this helps to distinguish between songs if they have no names. At the top right, the battery bar will show when the life begins to fade. When at a critical level, it will flash.

Repeat – One/All/INT – If you have quite a few songs on, you might just want to repeat one over and over, or when the player gets to the end of the tracks, can start again. INT stands for introduction and will play 10 seconds of the song. These can be done by pushing the mode in once and then moving the mode from side to side to choose the appropriate setting.

When listening to a song it is possible to change the sound – i.e. when listening to certain songs, you can place emphasis on certain types like Jazz, Natural (NATU), Rock, Pop, Classical (CLAS), Soft and DDB (Double Bass Boost). Some provide things like echoes, more bass, sharper sound etc. Changing the sound can be done by pushing in the mode button twice and if left, will set itself whatever the sound shows at the time. NATU won’t show anything as that is seen as normal.

A-B – this allows you to select a part of the song to be repeated which can be done in the middle, end, start… anywhere in the song. This is especially good for learning lyrics to songs as it allows you to concentrate on one area.

VOICE RECORDER:
By pushing in the mode button twice while nothing is being played, you will see the voice recorder section. To record something, just press the play button once. Again these can be placed into folders and it shows the timers for length of recording.

The quality of voice recording is good but not brilliant. The files are saved as .ACT files and I always seem to have a loud background noise which disappears after 10 seconds or so.

VOICE RECORDER PLAYER:
By pressing the mode button for a third time, the MP3 player will take you to the area to listen to those songs that have been recorded. A little graphic bar will then grow from the middle – just to make it look pretty. Like the Music Section, the Repeat and A-B functions can be used. I found this particularly helpful when practicing for presentations or learning French as items were able to be repeated and I find it easier to learn things like this from listening to it over and over and by speaking along with it.

The recordings can be saved onto the computer but are .ACT files and I couldn’t get anything to play them – even by changing them to .MP3 files.

SYSTEM:
I find this is one of the most important areas of the MP3 player because it is where it is controlled from.

• The first action is to decide how long the player should be idle before it automatically switches itself off. The number of seconds can be increased / decreased by pressing the volume buttons from 0 seconds to 60 seconds.
• Memory – The bar shows how much space has been used with the number 1 and 128 at the top for Megabytes and the percentage at the bottom. In the middle at the bottom is also the actual percentage used and I can see I have 43 songs saved taking up 85% of space.
• Backlight – like the Auto OFF section, you can choose how many seconds before the LCD turns off – from 0 to 30 seconds (0 will turn it off right then).
• Font – Not really sure about this one as there only seems to be one font available – Chinese GB or Chinese BIG5 – it doesn’t matter what is chosen as nothing changes!
• Contrast – this will set the contrast of the screen – going up will darken the screen making it impossible to see the text and going down will lighten the screen but a faint text can still be seen. (My normal is 13)
• Version – just details about the MP3 player… 0S2.4.07 F/W 1.0.8 2003/10/11


EARPHONES:
I quite like these earphones – they seem to be good quality because of the weight of the metal. The silver metal piece plugs straight into the player and doesn’t have a 90 degree angle. A single line then reaches another silver tube where the earphones then part. There is a little ball which can easily be moved up and down to help told the wires together if not used. There was a loop on the separator tube which was apparently to loop onto clothing but when I went jogging and had the played in my pocket I seemed to have lost it so it obviously isn’t safe!! The wires on the earphones are quite stylish – silver snake chain with a clear plastic covering. They can easily be manipulated into any direction and are not heavy (except for those other metal parts).

The earpieces are like most other in ear phones you get – just the round flat blobs which come with the foam coverings (these easily fall off and I’m getting tempted to glue them on!). The earphones are useless for even just walking with in ears – might just be my ears but I keep stuffing them back in my ears every 2 minutes! When I have the player in my pocket, I also seem to have the problem of the wires to the earphones not being quite long enough. I wouldn’t say I have a long body and my pockets on my top are at my waist – just means I can’t make any sudden movements or hold my head high.

Sound: Brilliant! There have been absolutely no problems at all with sound (except when battery runs out – see below). Sound quality is crystal clear and when the player is set to full blast… it really is loud. I suppose a disadvantage with the earphones is not having the separate volume control on the earphones as well but it isn’t much trouble changing volume on the player itself.

BATTERY:
Having read the reviews written on Amazon where people complain about lack of battery life, I have to say I had no trouble with it at all. The manufacturers claim battery life of up to 10 hours and when I first got the MP3 player, it did last this long with the battery they provided (not sure of make). Using half used batteries from remote controls etc. meant life was dramatically reduced but I was desperate but they still worked even if only for a short while.

The only problem I have with the player is when the battery gets very low on power. At first the noise is only obvious between tracks – a faint buzzing / purring noise which gradually builds up as life goes down (surely that is using more power!). The shocking part is right at the point of death… a high pitched continuous noise which doesn’t even allow you to hear the song being played. This could cause a heart attack in the faint hearted as I have certainly had quite a few shocks from it!

A second life from the battery can easily be gained though. When battery life does become low and the bar begins to flash, just turn the player off for a few hours and when switched back on again, it’s like a new battery – no flashing bar and it normally doesn’t come back on for about an hour. The only thing I am afraid of is it erasing the memory – I have not heard of that happening on this player so I’m hoping there is nothing to worry about.

INSTRUCTIONS:
I didn’t use these at all when I was setting this up so it can be done without but if you are unsure, the instructions are quite useful but are instructions for all of the same player – ranging from 32MB to 256MB – it also includes details about an FM receiver but this is not a function of the 128MB player.

Specs:

Computer: IBM compatible PC, Notebook with USB
OS: 98/ME/2000/XP (drivers on disk for 98)
File Formats: MP3/WMA
Record Format: ADPCM
LCD: 128 x 32 Pixels
Read/Write Speed: 400 KB/s
Power: USB bus-powered / AAA alkaline battery x 1
Battery Life: About 10 hours
Dimensions: 76mm x 25mm x 25mm
Weight (without battery): 20g
Colours: Blue / Red / Black…I didn’t get a choice and got a blue one.


Overall for £34.99 I am a happy bunny. I have so far 43 of my favourite songs saved to the player and normally have several days’ enjoyment from one battery by only listening to it for a few hours at a time. Songs are quick to transfer with a 1.1 USB port and it provides excellent sound. Annoying earphones and heart attack when the battery is low obviously a couple of bad points to take into consideration but this MP3 player is so easy to use and much less expensive than others on the market so would not be so much of a gamble if given to young teens. Technological advancements have come far so it is possible to have a lot more space on something not much bigger than a lipstick. The one mode I would like to see on the player that doesn’t exist is ‘random’ – sometimes it is nicer to have a surprise to hear what the next song is going to be – I’m starting to sing the next song just as the others finish even though they are not even in the same language!

4/5 – I would recommend this if you are not willing to splash out a lot of money or fancy trying it for the first time.

**** The price is going down – now only £32.99 on Amazon! **** Some for sale in the Marketplace though for £28.99 / £29.99

Summary: Cheap, good quality and good features

Processing/Quality:
Reliability:
Ease of use:
Features:
Sound quality:
Download speed: