Push my buttons (Samsung YP-Z5ZB 1 GB)

Member Name: Ovetta2001

Product:	Samsung YP-Z5ZB 1 GB
Date:	17/04/07 (391 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Small, Cuteeeeee, reliable old Samsung

Disadvantages: Battery Life, freezing

Now I have never been one to conform, and getting into the media hype about the latest and greatest I-Pod always left me on the verge of tears. My mum has one, my sister has one and so does my partner - granted they are all different types but they all bear the apple logo. Every time they have one out, within seconds there is something better, an upgrade, 500 accessories (of course in 12 different colours) and before long I found my head exploding. Therefore when I finally decided to get my own MP3 player (humming tunes during an hour long bus journey 5 times a week created several funny looks) I stuck with a name I loved and trusted. I have been getting Samsung phones for 7 years now. They are so easy to use and I was hoping the MP3 would be the same. I wasn't disappointed

What you get
You can purchase this particular model in three colours: Silver, black and pink. All of the colours are good, now you may think that sounds silly but some of you must have seen it when they get pink wrong on one of those small MP3's - Yes that's right, the one that looks like a tampax. Well Samsung hit the mark on this one and it is girly but just right.
The MP3 itself is very small and sleek. It weighs a tiny 56g which can be a pain (queue video of me panicking that I have lost it to only find it seconds later in my back pocket) but then on the same note I'm glad it's not a brick. Its width is 4.2cm, Height 9cm and Depth 1.1cm. So as you can imagine it could quite easily slip into a small pocket or a purse. Perfect for if you want some music to get you started before you go clubbing. This could also be a plus if you don't like advertising that you are carrying something of value on you (of course hiding your headphones under your hair/hat). I was mugged once in London because my old MP3 was easily visible. My mum blames that I was wearing jeans tight enough to cut of my circulation, I blame that it was so big it added an extra size to my jeans. Either way, its gone now and I'm happy knowing that my new one doesn't have its own entry song and stage lights saying "I AM HERE-STEALLLLLLLL ME".
The main thing I loved was the screen. A diagonal size of 1.8inchs, the little LCD colours screen light up in your face. It is bright and clear (Resolution 128 x 160). Very easy to read and provides a smooth guild through the menus.
The buttons are both touch and press. Below the screen lines a small black box with an outlined button all the way around it in silver. The outside box is a push button. Top: Go back one
Left: Skip back one, rewind
Right: Skip forward one, fast forward
Bottom: Power, play, pause
The inside box is both. Up and down is how you scroll though the menus and this is a touch button system. To 'accept' an action you need to press firmly into the centre of the square (where 9 small dots lay). You will then enter what you wish.
There is also one long button on the left side of the device enabling you to turn the volume up or down. (Note: Please do not put your MP3 on so loud I can hear your fascination with the spice girls. Just. Don't. Do. It.)
You also get a USB so that you can connect your MP3 to the computer, add music and charge it. It is also possible to get a charger that links directly into the wall but that would be a separate purchase.
The headphones are very basic (Inset onto top left of device). One for each ear and I found that I hated them very quickly as even with extra added ear wax they just kept escaping. However the cord is quite long which was nice instead of having to hunch down for the first 3 days I struggled with them.
The other two things are your manual (self explanatory) and a software disk with a driver on it. Now I had some serious problems with this as I have used both mine and my friend's disc but neither of them will work. We contacted Samsung and they promised to send some more…still waiting.

I think the main problem people encounter with this particular MP3 is the lack of space. You only get 1GB. As an average song is approximately 4mb which means you will get about 256 songs. For me this is more than enough as I constantly change my songs. However some people prefer to have a huge selection of music ranging from artist to genre. In this case, the Samsung would not be suitable for you.

Let's Play
The Samsung is pretty basic, it does two things. Plays music and can show of your photos. The main menu has 6 titles which break down into smaller groups getting you exactly what you want:
Music - This then spins off to what you want. You can pick from play lists, artists, albums, genres, composers, shuffle, all songs and browse files. After picking which one takes your fancy you can then start to roll though your titles of music. To be honest, there is no need to have so many menus as they all lead into the same blooming place but I guess the variety is nice.
Pictures (JPEG Photos) - This goes into a menu of your photo album names. Simply pick the album of choice and you will see the photos for that selection. On the screen, 12 thumb clips will show at once but if you click onto one photo it will enlarge and you also have the ability to zoom in X4 - even though why you would want to I don't know (Maybe spot a pimple?!?)
Play lists - Now this is what gets my goat. When you think play lists, you think a little monster of music you have created. But NOOOOOOO, they have to play it their way. You have to pick from 'play lists' including recently added, stars rated, played the most, played in past 24hours and rated 4 and above stars. Very annoying, this is the one thing that I really dislike about the Samsung.
Shuffle All - Simple, you press play and it shuffles every single song you own and plays them at its sick little discretion (which meant in my case the fray followed by the Mickey Mouse club song…OK)
Settings - This enables you to personalise your MP3. You can pick your favourite photo as a back ground picture, timer and sleep (up to 60min), select from several languages (Including English, French, German, Chinese and Italian - despite the box saying it only hosts 4), change the time and date, set your albums to repeat, backlight timer, change audio and if you wish watch a slide show of all your photos (which yes can be done whilst listening to music)
Now playing - Simply takes you back to the current playing song, so if you have been messing with the menus, looking at songs etc then you can find your way back easy.

Getting music onto it
Now this is where I found things difficult. I quickly found out two things, the software disc that comes with it is useless and I couldn't use my sisters' I-pod loader (expected to be honest). I ended up using my windows media player and using the sync section. This is mainly easy to use but the main problem is if you forget to put information in for all the different parts of each song like artist, album, genre etc then you soon find when you turn on the MP3 that your song is in several different places.
Apart form that it's a piece of cake. Copy your songs from a disc or purchase them online then transfer them onto the MP3 (remembering to do this all legally of course).

Battery life
The Samsung boasts a 35 hour battery life which in my opinion is a total lie. I use it on the bus ever day for 2 hours (Longgggg journey to work and back), my sister uses too to play with photos and within a week I need to recharge it. Now this could be for many reasons, I like to go through my menus, I can't listen to a whole song, I look at my photos at the same time etc etc. But there is a dramatic fall from 35 hours to around 20 which wouldn't be annoying if they said that its only 20 - but they don't.
The second problem I have is the Samsungs need to fool you. One min you have half a battery and the next you still have 30 min of a journey and the battery is doing that scary red, flashing thing. NOOOOOOOOOO :( I would prefer it that I had a fair amount of warning so I could charge it the night before.

Reliability
The main issue I have with my Samsung is that on occasion it turns on, displays its logo and then freezes. It will only switch off two ways, you connect it to your laptop or its battery runs out. Now I only turn mine on once I get on the bus and if it freezes I am stuffed all day. And to be frank, it's rather annoying. It is a rare thing but even so, very inconvenient.
Apart from that it is brilliant. Its made out of Aluminium and has a great finish meaning that if you have the silver version, it is hard to come by a scratch (black and pink, paint can come off but still difficult). It's so small I have on many occasions put my sister butt weight on it but the monster still battles on.
The sound quality is fantastic too and if you get decent headphones you can lose yourself in your little world of music.

My Opinion
I love my little Samsung, she is my precious baby. Apart from having the occasional hissy fit she never lets me down. I can easily carry my music around and even watch my slide show which is always cool when you are in a memories mood whilst in weird places. The main let down for a lot of people would be the lack of space but it is something that has never bothered me and wouldn't other people if they also change their music on a regular basis. Not to mention that Samsung has a good 2 year warranty and when my friends broke she had a brand new one, delivery charges paid back and a lovely letter to say sorry for the inconvenience.

Tech Stuff
Average Price: £69
Storage: 1GB
Colours: Black, Silver, Pink (Limited Edition)
Built in Display: LCD Colour
Resolution: 128 x 160
Diagonal Size: 1.8
Width: 4.2cm
Height: 9cm
Depth: 1.1cm
Weight: 56g
Battery: lithium polymer - Rechargeable
Battery Life: 'officially' 35 hours. Really 20

Summary: My cute lil baby :D

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