Adorable and impressive! (Philips GoGear Spark SA2945 4 GB)

Member Name: crazyminx

Product:	Philips GoGear Spark SA2945 4 GB
Date:	19/08/09 (149 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good screen, great sound quality, cheap, cute

Disadvantages: Can't specify types of slideshow; menus a bit long winded

When I received this mp3 player in its clear plastic cube packaging I was over the moon. The little player is adorable - it fits right in the palm of your hand and is cute, chunky and seemingly impossibly small for something that does so much! It is mostly black with silver edging and I think it looks really stylish.

The mp3 player comes with an instruction book which explains the basics, and a much more extensive set of instructions is available online on the Philips website. Also offered on the website are some firmware upgrades, but I didn't know how to add these so have left them well alone.

Music is very easy to put onto the player - just plug the player into your USB port with the provided connecting lead and drag your music files over to the folder which represents the player. You may need to change the properties of your music files if they are downloaded rather than ripped straight from CD, if you want the names to be correct, but this is easily done.

Photos can also be dragged into the folder without any problem at all, and once on the player they show up very well and look very sharp and true in colour, due to the screen's high resolution.

The player is easy to operate too, using the few unobtrusive buttons on the sides, plus pressing the rocking screen from side to side. The player can also be personalised, with different background themes, colours and pictures. You can even have your photos playing as a slideshow whilst listening to your music.

The sound that the player emits is excellent. Comparable to more expensive players, easily, and despite the complaints on here about the earphones I actually think they're fine - they give a good sound without too much bass and they fit firmly in my ears, unlike the ones provided with Ipods which are not quite as good.

Included in the box is also a flexible plastic case which protects the back and sides of your mp3 player to help prevent scratches (though doesn't cover the screen). This is a nice extra as with most electronic gadgets you have to pay extra for a case.

I only have two real complaints: the menus for the music are not the quickest to use or clearest to see and it seems you have to go through quite a few screens before you can select your song. The other complaint is that if you select to have a slideshow as your screensaver, then the player will only use all your photos, rather than allowing you to select one folder and have, for example, separate `family', `friends' or `pets' slideshows.

Still these are small complaints and I think this player is an excellent addition to the market. An Ipod nano may give you more street cred, have clearer menus and a bit more storage, but it's also twice the price. And the cheaper Ipod shuffle has far less features than this player (it doesn't even have a screen!). So for the price, I think this is a great mp3 player which I highly recommend.

This mp3 player costs £48.09 from Amazon.co.uk.

(updated from my review on Amazon.co.uk)

Summary: Awesome for this price

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