Power up your music with the Intel Personal Audio Player 3000, a compact, lightweight digital audio player you can take anywhere. It comes with 64 MB of built-in flash memory, providing you two hours of clear, skip-free music. Create your own mixes and design your own faceplates with the easy-to-use included software.
The PAP 3000 supports both MP3 and Windows Media Audio (WMA) out of the box, and is firmware-upgradable to support changing digital audio standards. It's expandable using MultiMediaCards (MMCs), enabling you to increase the memory up to 172 MB (with a 128 MB MMC card).
Featuring an LCD display, the 3000 also has such functions as bass and treble adjustment, repeat, shuffle, and control lock. Jump from track to track, or move forward or backward within a song.
The Personal Audio Player 3000 comes with software for your PC to help you create, organize, and enjoy your own digital audio library. The Intel Audio Manager 2.0 quickly and easily transfers audio files from your PC to the player. You'll also get a copy of MusicMatch Jukebox 6.1 with an upgrade key, enabling you to rip digital audio from your own CDs.
Customize the look of your player with the Intel Faceplate Designer. Just add a picture or design to the easy-to-use template and print it out, then remove the player's faceplate and insert your new look.
Carry your tunes with you with the handy removable belt clip. The Personal Audio Player 3000 also includes a USB cable and one alkaline AA battery, which lasts up to 10 hours.
got this 3 years ago. very happy with the 10 hours of use on 1 AA. i have dropped it a couple of times, cover comes off which helps lessen the impact and i put the cover back on and all is well. software is musicmatch which works well and it supports all the formats i am aware of WMA, MP3,MP3Pro and WAV. small and light enough i take it when i travel and run. my only quip is the memory size, but it offers expansion with the MMC which is cheap enough these days. overall, excellent product.
I am an endurance athlete, and my Intel Audio player has joined me for hundreds of miles on trails, roads, trainers, and gyms. I am very pleased with the performance, durability, ruggedness, and easy of use. When compared to many other MP3 players, this was by far the most robust. I clip it to my waistband and onward I go. The life expectancy of most of my running radios are less than a year, so I was nervous about the investment. A typical failuer is the headphone jack, or getting wet, or dropped too many times. For well over a year, training for 4 marathons and an Ironman, it has stood all the punhishment I can deliver it.
Overall, if you want an MP3 player capable of keeping up with an active lifestyle. This is a great choice.
I have had this player for a year or two, and it is one of the best players out there (or used to be out there) for the price. I have dropped mine more than once, on hardwood floors, even asphalt, and it still plays like brand new. Another good feature of this player is that it supports WMA's (unlike iPod) which is essential if you subscribe to music services like Napster 2.0, Liquid Audio, MusicMatch etc. It also includes something that many big memory players (and all hard-drive players) don't include which is expandable memory w/ MMC chips. But the fact that they have discontinued almost all support and you cant buy replacement parts ANYMORE is a down side. But I have not needed to use their online help almost ever. Another thing that makes this player unique is the abbility to change the appearance, and the program included to make your own face plates. All in all, a very good player.
I have been using my PAP3K virtually every day at the gym for the last 18 months and it has always worked reliably. The belt clip sucks, but I just took a lanyard from a trade show badge and clipped it to that. I can walk/jog/run, bike, row, use the nautilus equipment, and a whole variety of other equipment without fear of the thing getting damaged. Heck, it's even water resitant enough to take out to the local water park during the summer and float around the tube pool. I added an extra 64Meg when I bought mine and used it this past summer for a 15K walk-a-thon. Using WMAs at 96KBit, I loaded enough music to see me through the walk without any repeats.
It is really ashamed that Intel decided to get out of the end-consumer products. If this is an example of what they could do the first time out, I'd really love to see what they could have done given time to improve upon it.
In less than one year I have now had two of these break!!!!!!! Intel is sending my third one to me this week. First one broke inexplicably after maybe 5 months of moderate use. Second one broke after no more than ten uses. It's important to note that I DO NOT use the player during excercise so the players have obviously been faulty. Intel was super nice the first time this happened. The second time, I spoke with the same person, and he said they can't keep sending me a new player everytime I break one. How's that for customer service! The player is great when it works and I love it. However, I would stay away from this product based on my experience.
Sadly, I just lost this beauty of a player three weeks ago. I'd purchased her (yes, she was a person to me) over a year ago, and I never had one single problem. The sound quality was unmatched, the ease of use was passable, but the DURABILITY of this thing was what stood out to me. I dropped her at least 100 times from the treadmill, and she just kept on working! Sure the size could have been smaller, and the belt clip really didn't serve a purpose other than to get in the way, but it was the most SOUNDLY built piece of electronics I'd ever seen. Really an unfortunate thing that Intel dropped this line... they had a really, really, really good thing here. I miss her.
I got this player about 1 year ago and I still love it. It is great if you like to listen to only one or two songs on one of your CDs. It comes with 64mb and you can expand it as much as you want. Another thing that is really nice is that it durable;I've dropped it many times and nothing has happened to it. The player it self is abot 3 inches tall an 2 inches across so you can keep it anywhere. The player also comes with software that is sooooooo easy to use it not even funny how easy it is,it comes with about 5 more face plates that you change by taking the cover off and slipping the plate in, and if 5 face plates isn't enough it also comes with software on a seperate disc so you can make your own face plate. The only thing you need to use this product is Windows98 or higher(It also works on XP and ME)and a USB connection cable wich connects to the back of the computer( THE USB CONNECTION IS INCLUDE IN THE BOX) I hope you found this review helpful...
This is my second MP3 player. Frankly, I don't see why anyone need more than one, but I only got it because my first one which is a Samsung [wasn't any good]... For one thing it was using up my batteries while the darn thing was off! I am sure they made alot of fixes, but definitely read the reviews before you buy a Samsung MP3 player. As for my Intel player, it's the best. Very reliable. Haven't had any problems with it. Very easy to use. Comes with nice software. Sound is great, but I think the sound on the Samsung was better. There are some minor things which are matters of personal taste. The back of the player is soft and rubbery like one of those soft-grip pens. I hate that feeling. Personally, I like the hard, cold metallic feel of your everyday electronics. You have to press the buttons really hard for it to work. This is done on purpose so you won't accidentally hit the buttons when you put it in your pocket, although there is a button-lock. Also, the display is not lighted and does not show the title of the song. But the thing I found most annoying about this player is that it's damn ugly. Very ugly to be exact. I can't bare to look at it. It claims you can customize the face. I tried, but worst...just when you think it can't get any uglier, by putting in one of their selection of faces or your own creation, you actually made it the ugliest MP3 player known to mankind. I'm not even kidding. I am a professional artist and there is nothing I can do to make it look better. I just left the face blank. The only reason why I am still using it is because it is very reliable and it's not a battery hog. And lastly, the headphones [are terrible]. But from what I read in the reviews, all the MP3 players come with inferior headphones. You start wondering whether they worked out some deal with the headphone manufacturers to increase profit for everyone? With the headphones this player gives you, not only is the sound bad, but the plugs are so big that you start to experience pain after a few minutes of listening. Could you imagine that? You are enjoying easy-listening music and your ears start hurting? Ironic. But my grandmaster once said, "Don't worry about the pain, it will go away" So you can heed his advice or just use better headphones.
I did a great deal of research before buying this player back in January of this year. The only concern I had was Intel sold this division of the company and some said they would not support the product. They do. I actually just had my unit replaced and Intel did a great job and turned around a new player in two days. DO NOT USE the player in a tanning bed. I had no problems for 9 months after a lot of use and then one day, in the tanning bed, it just simply quit working. I give the player 4 stars simply b/c I want to make sure this was an isolated event created by the tanning bed. I use this product while working out and never have any problems. Some say there are not enough controls and the ear buds
. The controls are more than adequate at this price point and I only experience minor ear pain if I wear the unit for longer than two hours. The pain is from the ear bud size. IPOD's are nice but based on the cost of this item, I don't have to worry about babying it and I simply don't need more than one hour of music at a time. You won't regret purchasing this!
10 Good player, but discourages reuse/sharing of MMC's...
You would think enough has been written about this player, and maybe someone else has pointed out the same flaw, but I didn't see it after looking for awhile. So in case there are any other technophiles out there who have multiple MMC-expandable mp3 players (or who are considering purchasing this as a 2nd player), and/or who want to be able to share a pre-recorded MMC (favorite mix, etc.) with a friend with a non-Intel MMC mp3 player, BEWARE! This player uses what I would call a proprietary format for encoding the data on the expansion MMC's. The drawbacks of this fact are:1. Can't use a "generic" MMC reader/writer to record and/or share your music - must use the PAP 3000 player to record.
2. The other MMC mp3 player I own is the Evolution "wireless" IM-600B (which I love). It uses the standard format for MMC encoding, which is readable by Windows (Explorer), etc. I can be listening to this player while at the same time I'm recording music on another MMC. Can't do this with PAP 3000.
3. I can't share MMC's between my 2 players, without having to re-record them (even with the exact same music)! Again, this is due to the incompatible format the PAP 3000 uses to encode MMC's.
4. Since you can't use a "generic" MMC reader/writer, if you're short on free USB ports, you'll find this drawback a pain, as you HAVE to use Intel's included USB cable in order to record to this device. (i.e. might mean a lot of cable swapping - especially rough without the convenient front side USB ports...)
Hope this helps shed a little more light. I still like the player overall a lot, as evidenced by the "4" rating. I especially like the fact I got mine for seventy-nine dollars at a Best Buy on a closeout sale last spring! (yeah-baby!) Think they closed them out when Intel announced...
A plus that I didn't see explicitly mentioned is the fact it works fine with 1.2V rechargable NiMH AA batteries!
I agree with others that the volume can be deficient at times, e.g. when mowing the lawn, etc!
11 Good for exercise
This is an excellent device for someone who wants to put an hours worth of exercise music, this is the device. I have personally gotten 20 hours worth if I use a good battery. In addition, I use it with a cassette adapter to play music in the car.
12 Sweet little player
Got this a few months ago,and have not had a single problem with it.Effortless installation of software,and transfers are so simple to do.I immediately trashed the supplied earbuds,as I have never found them to be anything but painful.Bought myself a pair of "real" headphones,and the sound I get from them and the player is so sweet.And,even though some here have found the personalized faceplate to be cheesy or silly,I have had a lot of fun fooling around with it.At least I can be assured that I am the only owner of this mp3 player who has a picture of a parrot named Desmond on it!That's what makes it special. That and the fact that the little thing performs exceptionally well for me. Couldn't be happier.
13 Convenient, durable player
I chose this player after reading all the reviews. I was not disappointed. The batteries last for at least 20 miles of running, the sound is fine and I did not have any problems with the ear buds (though I wear regular headphones when I run). I've dropped the player more times than I can remember and despite the scratches, it's survived. It also survived an encounter with a leaky sunscreen spray bottle (unfortunately, my cell phone wasn't so sturdy).
Best purchase I've made all year!
Fast forward to 2003:
Unfortunately I discovered recently that my little player was not indestructible...despite all evidence to the contrary.
I will have to replace it and wanted to give one suggestion for design improvement: roller wheels would be a lot better for volume and track control (a la old fashioned portable radios) than the little buttons.
14 Big things come in small packages
I just bought Intel Personal Audio Player 3000 MP3 for my Daughter to upload her fav songs from the computer. I listened to the music & Was amazed the quality of the sound is crystal clear, no static,& Ease of opperation. It's so compact, Big things do come in small packages. I ordered an extra MMC64 64MB multimedia card for uploading more songs. There's not one problem I could find at all With Intel Personal Audio Player 3000 MP3. All I ask is read the Instructions book first before use. Buy one today & see for yourself. I Garuntee You'll fall in love with MP3s', especially with this little number.
15 Good value
I got a really good deal on this MP3 player (one of the other reviews mentioned how) and jumped at the chance, and I haven't regretted it.The internal memory is enough for about 2 hours of music, which is plenty for me. Of course, it's expandable, too, for those who want more tunes. The battery life is pretty good, too--invest in a good rechargable set (like Rayovac's 1-hour charger), though.
The main complaint I have, like everybody else, is the uncomfortable, nearly painful, ear buds it comes with. You will definately want new earphones.
Another minor complaint is the low power output. The max. volume is just barely enough if you have "earmuff" headphones. If you have ear buds, it's not a problem.
One minor complaint about the software: it changes your PC's music defaults to the included program--which is great for downloading music to the player, but horrible for anything else. It took a little effort to get it changed back.
I haven't tried the faceplate designer, and don't plan to.
These complaints are MINOR. The player is really great, and I highly recommend it.
16 High Quality MP3 Player
I bought this MP3 Player after reading the reviews on Amazon and other areas of the internet. Its a well built, high quality unit with exceptional sound quality. Earphones may be uncomfortable for some, but they have excellent sound quality. Although I do play music on this player, my main use was for audio files with bit rates far below CD quality. The nice thing is that this player supports most of the lower bit rates of old radio files, and audio books. CD quality is generally 128 bit, and the files I have been playing are 32 bit and as low as 16 bit. All sound great. I turn out the lights, get into bed and turn on the MP3 player and listen to some old time radio mystery theaters and BBC Science fiction. Its really a neat experience. Since there is no light on this unit, you either have to know where the buttons are, which you can, or turn it on before the lights go out. You can play audio books also.
One nice thing that is included with the MP3 player is MUSIC MATCH software. It has many features. One feature will allow you to input old audio tapes you may have and convert them to MP3 files. Another is a conversion feature which allows you to change the bit rate on MP3 files, or convert WAV files to MP3. It even has active signal enhancement, which gets rid of hiss from tapes and other unwanted interference on old tapes. I use the conversion feature to convert from high bit rate to lower, so that I can fit more time on the player. With 32 bit rate you can fit about 4 hours of audio books, radio shows, etc with the 64 mb built in memory.
I purchased a viking 64mb MMC memory card and put it into the player. Now I have 128 mb to play with. Battery life with the card appears to be in the 8-10 hour range. If I am playing at 32 bit mode, I can now fit about 7-8 hours of programming. CD quality about 2 hours. Player will also support WMA (windows media) files which take up less room than MP3 for more play time of music.
The only thing the player does not have is a light, and text information about the track that is playing. But I have not found that to be a problem.
If you are playing a long file such as an audio book (say 45 minutes per chapter), you can restart the player later where you left off, simply by pausing the player, and either waiting 2 minutes (player turns off automatically), or pausing and then manually turning it off. That is a nice feature that is not in the documentation.
Shop around for price. Extra 64mb MMC VIKING card goes for ...more. The Apple IPOD looks interesting too. When price comes down some more. I like the Intel 3000 player because it is solid state (no moving parts) and can take AA batteries.
17 I love it
I'm using mine with a Sandisk 64meg MMC card. On the Intel website, there are warnings about certain Sandisk MMC cards. Mine did not have the model numbers listed on the website, fortunately, and mine worked fine. My 64 meg Sandisk card has completely different model numbers than those listed ... Mine works fine. I added lots of songs to the external card, then deleted some (making holes in memory, sometimes a problem with MMC cards), then copied more songs. I haven't had any skipping, and the card reports the proper memory size.With an inexpensive 64meg MMC card, this becomes the lowest cost 128 meg flash MP3 player around. I have over 1:45 of music, and most of my MP3s are 160kbps, and I still have 12 meg free.
The "cons" for this unit ... The buttons are indeed hard to press. A poor design means when you squeeze the player to change the volume, your other fingers are squeezing the next/previous buttons. That's a poor design.
The screen doesn't show much information.
HOWEVER, that being said, if you plan on putting an mp3 player in your back pocket and just letting it run for 2 hours, This inexpensive player can be easily expanded to 128 (and beyond, if anyone ever makes a 128 meg MMC card), and runs for a decent amount of time on one AA battery.
I use my player for working out and skiing. In both those cases, I turn it on, set it for infinite repeat, and just let it run until the battery stops, or I stop. For those cases, this is probably the best deal available now.
I'd love to see a flash MP3 player with 256 meg and USB2.0. But until then, this player really fits the bill.
Some more info: I now own 4 mp3 players, inluding the original Nomad I, 2 cheapo players, and this Intel 3000. The 3000 is the best, because it works with Windows XP, is USB, holds 128 economically, lasts for 10 hours on a single AA, is small, and does exactly what it's supposed to do. The other players either can only go to 64 meg, the battery lasts 4 hours, they skip songs on the MMC card, etc. The 3000 finally does what a player should do, and for a good price.
The other pluses, again repeating other reviews, include a full license key for Music Match Pro, the software includes both a plug-in for MM to transfer to the player from within MM (my preferred method), as well as a very nice Intel Audio Manager program, which is pretty nice to look at by itself. (In the MM plugin, you can't delete music on the player, so you do that in Intel Audio Manager). I'm picky about software, and Intel Audio Manager is well written, with a nice looking interface, and is extremely easy to use (a pleasure to use, actually).
The reason the price is so low is that Intel has stopped support and manufacturing of personal gadgets. It's a shame, because I think they did a very professional job...
18 This product has a tendency to lock up with electrostatics
This digital player uses very little current. An AA battery will last many hours. The audio gain is somewhat low.
The sound level is not sufficient in a noisy environment such as a train even with the gain set at maximum of 40.
I experienced lockup in two different players of the same model. The only way to reset the lockup is to remove the battery. Intel technician has no recommendation on how to effectively prevent this from happening. I finally gave up and requested a refund.
19 Great Buy
I found the MP3 player easy to install and easy to use. It was a gift for my computer illiterate brother. He loves it.
20 This thing is awesome! A great new technological toy!
This mp3 player is the best value I could find. It holds up to two hours without a memory card, and of course has a slot for the card. One reveiwer commented on the painful earbuds; it's true. They are painful. But what is not painful is the fact that it is lightweight, has a belt clip, comes with five extra very cool inserts for the faceplate and an amazing program to print out one of like 25 loaded faceplates or the capability to create your own personal faceplate insert. VERY COOL. The software is user friendly, the whole package is the best. I am in love with my Intel mp3 player!
21 Kick Butt MP3 Player
I am a picky person when it comes to gadgets and electronic good. TV's stereos, Computer's and Accessories... whatever
I always buy the best... if I can afford itI researched the MP3 market and decided on this one.
It's a hidden jewel... totally kick....
I never even knew Intel made these. Like some others said.. too bad they are phasing these out. This supports MP3 and WMF so you'll have all the formats you need even if they never update the firmware.
Awesome sound quality, great design, and great battery life are the best features.
I ordered a 128 MMC card... They do make 128 in MMC BTW.. ya just have to look around. It hasn't showed up yet so I cant say anything about it yet. BTW .. these memory cards are literally the size of postage stamps. Very cool... all the rage in Japan and Europe becase they are so tiny and use so little power.
This player also looks way better than any pictures your gonna see of it and it is pretty tough.
If you dont need a hard drive player with tons of space and song titles on the LCD this is the one to get.
All the cons of this player dont even bother me because any features it lacks shouldnt be there anyway. It's meant to be portable, have great sound quality and good battery life.
Buy this and you will not be disappointed.
This is so cool that I am ordering some more from Intel to give away to my friends.
Order some koss fold up headphones. They make a world of difference. Amazon sells em for 30.00.
BTW.. this works on my XP and Win 2000 machines with no problems and they also give you MusicMatch software with a real license. You can use musicmatch to transfer files to the player as well because there is a plug in to download songs to the Inter Player..
Chris Williams
...
22 Good little MP3 player
I just bought this a month ago and I do really enjoy it. I am having trouble with the software as it won't read my cd's, but it tranfers from my harddrive which is fine. I switched out the earphones. It has great sound, stays clipped to my belt, and doesn't let me down. Be careful you don't lose the plastic top if you drop it. It comes off easily.One question if anyone could be so kind to answer..what is the BEST memory card to buy? I bought a lexmark that was supposed to be compatible and it didn't even fit into the player.
23 Awesome Player; Cheesy ear buds
This is a solid player. It performs great, the software works flawlessly, I can't say enough about this player, provided you throw the ear buds in the trash and purchase a new set of headphones. I have only 1 dissapointment; Intel is going out of the MP3 Player business next year, and I believe these are the last model produced. bummer, I hate to see a company stop making a great product. Prior to purchaseing this player, I purchased a Rio. I returned the Rio after having problems with the pair that I purchased and picked a pair of these- no problems with either.. Great Product-Buy it....
24 great and affordable price
very easy to install, great sound, easy to tranfer music, look no further dont waste your money on other 64mb mp3 player ive tried others and this one rocks
25 I love this thing!
Perhaps I'm not as savvy as most of the reviewers, but I had trouble with the software. I didn't think it was as straightforward as some others did, and there are no written instructions on how to transfer music from CDs to the player. For example, it was not plain for all to see that you can download the music so that you have different levels of quality.However, once I figured it out, downloading went quickly. The ear buds are awful, so I am using the earphones from my portable CD player (which won't be used very much anymore). And, even with the full 2 hours of music downloaded, it still sounds great. I love the fact that I have 2 hours of music without having to lug a CD wallet with me, and that I can change tunes pretty quickly. The additional memory is my next purchase.
This is a terrific product, and shop-intel (where I got mine) is offering it at a great price. Amazon's price is on a par with other vendors' prices.
26 This is a SWEET mp3 player...
Listen, I'm not going to beat you over the head for several paragraphs on every detail. The sound quality is great, the 64mb included/extra memory slot is great. I'm a little worried about the way the volume button feels when I'm pressing it, but so far the player (as a whole) seems pretty durable. The software is idiot-proof.
27 This is a SWEET mp3 player...
Listen, I'm not going to beat you over the head for several paragraphs on every detail. The sound quality is great, the 64mb included/extra memory slot is great. I'm a little worried about the way the volume button feels when I'm pressing it, but so far the player (as a whole) seems pretty durable. The software is idiot-proof.
28 Personal Audio Player is jammin and easy to use!
I bought my personal audio player on shop-intel.com last week. They are phasing out the division that makes them so you can get some great deals on them now. I got mine for 89.95 - free shipping.After I opened the box it took me 3-4 minutes to get everything up and running. I already had the software installed (downloaded from intel.com)so i just plugged in the USB cable, and presto! I was listening to songs like that. The earphones were very uncomfortable, just like was mentioned on here, so I bought some sony excercise earphones which make it a complete package.
I would definitely recommend this product to anyone looking for an mp3 player. Its small, has good memory, and even after bouncing on a trampoline with it, it didn't fall off my belt.
29 Personal Audio Player is jammin and easy to use!
I bought my personal audio player on shop-intel.com last week. They are phasing out the division that makes them so you can get some great deals on them now. I got mine for 89.95 - free shipping.After I opened the box it took me 3-4 minutes to get everything up and running. I already had the software installed (downloaded from intel.com)so i just plugged in the USB cable, and presto! I was listening to songs like that. The earphones were very uncomfortable, just like was mentioned on here, so I bought some sony excercise earphones which make it a complete package.
I would definitely recommend this product to anyone looking for an mp3 player. Its small, has good memory, and even after bouncing on a trampoline with it, it didn't fall off my belt.
30 Did not work on PC with Rio software installed
My roommate had a Nike/Sonicblue PSA 120 already installed on my PC (uses RioPort sofware). Intel AudioManager and the included version of MusicMatch simply did not work due to some conflict with the Rio software, so I was out of luck. Since I knew the Rio player and software worked, I returned the Intel player and picked up a Nike PSA, which works well. Be forewarned that Intel has stopped supporting this product. On the style side, I thought the included faceplates were ugly, and the whole faceplate attachment felt flimsy, one more small plastic piece to break the first time you drop it.
31 Almost perfect...
I'd been looking for a small, durable mp3 player with a decent song capacity for a pretty long time, and after a lot of looking around, I finally settled on the Intel Personal Audio Player 3000. I do not regret it. Set-up was simple right out of the box: I just installed the programs they gave me, found my mp3's on my computer with the Intel Audio Manager (included), and started installing right away. Within a few minutes, I'd figured out how to design my own covers with the Intel Face Plate Designer (also included), and I was printing & cutting out my own covers. Everything was very simple from the beginning. As for my needs: I needed something to take to school that I could put in my pocket, that didn't need to be charged all the time, and could play around an hour of music. I also needed it for jogging, so I wanted to make sure that it was durable. Well, it is pretty small--small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. Charging it up isn't a problem because it only takes 1 AA Battery, which lasts a few weeks. However, even though it is made of rubber and plastic, I didn't think it was that durable--sometimes when I dropped it, the plastic cover snapped off, which worries me because the hinges are pretty flimsy. After consideration, I have concluded that it is otherwise very durable (I have dropped it plenty of times by accident, and despite my worries, it has not broken). My other complaint is that the song titles do not appear on the screen when you are playing them, just the number of the track, which can sometimes be frustrating.
As for the ergonomics of the player, they are very intuitive-- the buttons are all are set around the top of the player on the sides (a play/pause button, bass/treble adjustment, fast forward/rewind which also double asd skip forward/skip backward, a stop button which also acts as a power off button when held down longer, a lock/unlock button and a volume up/down button). I think that the highest volume is more than loud enough, and I am satisfied with the bass -- I have no problems as far as sound quality goes. As for the buttons, I feel that they are very intuitive and easy to get the hang of.
Despite the minor flaws that I have pointed out, I would definitely recommend the Intel 3000 to anybody looking for a reasonably priced, light, durable player to play around 1 hour of mp3's on the go. It fits my needs perfectly, so if your needs are similar to mine, I can assure you that you will be satisfied.
32 Stop looking, this is the one!
I searched far and wide and read every review and bought $ [money] worth of MP3 players from Amazon for side by side testing. This was the winner for these reasons: Great sound; easy to use; good battery life; lightweight; can add memory simply for other listeners or for your different moods; dependable operation and excellent free support by Intel for 90 days; comes with Musicmatch and lets you rip CD's onto your player easily; adjustable bass and treble; comfortable shape and ergonomics for controlling while in use. I ran with this on the beach and use it daily in the gym. Volume is adequate to compensate for gym noise and quality is soothing to the ears for finer selections. It was a huge hit on my vacation. I recorded several chips for my mom and wife and mother in law and simply swapped them out each time a different user took the player. Everyone loved it!
33 Buy This Player
My wife often gives me a hard time for all the research I do before I buy a product. And with the purchase of the Intel PAP, nothing changed. But as always she agrees with me after she sees what I buy. I have compared the Intel PAP to players nearly 3 times the price and have still concluded that the Intel PAP is the best player on the market. It is attractive, feels good in your hand,light on your waist if attached, durable, incredible sound and very very easy to use. Great for marathon training (never skips), or in the gym.
I do wish it had a rechargable battery, but in the past I have found rechargable batteries don't have the life-span of good quality batteries.
The Intel MP3 Player is the best on the market!
34 nice player that developed a battery bay defect in 1 week
I bought this player for my son and we both thought it was a nice unit. But after a week the battery and smart media bay would not secure after opening. Amazon processed the return to my satisfaction.
35 This thing KICKS BUTT!!!
I received my Intel Personal Audio Player 3000 in the mail not more than an hour ago. I was able to install the software, transfer MP3's & rock & roll with my new MP3 player in less than 15 minutes. It is absolutely brainless to setup/use. 1 Problem Though... After less than 20 minutes of listening to music, the ear buds hurt so badly that it was literaly unberable. It took me longer to recover from the pain of the ear buds than it did for me to set up. They stretch your ear canal and cause major headaches. THAT IS MY ONLY COMPLAINT. I'm heading to the store after work to purchase some decent comfortable headphones. I was hesitant at first to buy this thing, since the picture was not to appealing to me. It looked uglier than sin, but I was pleasantly surprised after opening the box. This thing is TINY w/ HUGE SOUND! Absolutely perfect for using at the Gym, which is what I intended to use it for in the first place. I'm sick of listening to 24 Hour Fitness "Music O' The Day", which (If on the right day) pumps you up, or puts you to sleep. If your thinking twice about getting this guy, DON'T. I'm a hard sell & I'm very pleased. It's only been an hour or so of me owning it, but it's just THAT DARN GOOD. Thanks everyone for all the good reviews. It definitely helped in my decision making to purchase the excellent product.
36 Excellent
I don't usually take the time to endorse a product, but this mp3 player is slick. Intel should do a better job of advertising this product as it is really cool. I was impressed in the ease of use and the quality of sound. The buttons took a little time to get used to, but the rubber casing will probably be more protective in the long run. I am so glad I bought this player.
37 Great product, very good price
I just bought this player after looking at a number of other models, and I am very happy with it. The memory is not the most, but with a multimedia card that should not be a problem. It's pretty light, has good sound quality and is attractively priced. The installation software is very easy to use as well. The only issue is the headphones that come with the player -- they are not very good and you would probably want a better set. All in all, this is a very good product at a great price
38 A first rate player...
After conducting exhaustive web research on Flash Memory-based Media players, I chose the Intel PAP 3000 based upon the overwhelmingly positive user opinions
(as opposed to some overwhelmingly negative user opinions referring to other "name brand" players).
I was not disappointed!
This neat little player appears to be exceptionally well-constructed, boasts a competent feature set, performs without skipping in a physical environment and truly sounds great.
The supplied Intel Audio Manager software was a bit unstable following the initial installation, however, it has functioned quite well after a quick reinstallation.
As other users have recommended, it would suit one to replace the supplied earbuds with a better pair to fully realize the sound quality the unit is capable of producing
(the Sony Fontopia earbuds w/Bass Tube are a very compatible choice for [price]).
As for the lack of a backlit LCD that many speak of, one should consider this minor inconvenience as a contribution to the exceptional battery life the player achieves on a single AA cell.
I have had success using a Lexar 64MB expansion MMC (refer to Intel Product Support for recommended cards, many available on Amazon),
but would caution users that an issue has been identified with some SanDisk 64MB MMCs (again, refer to Intel Product Support).
All in all, a superb value.
I would recommend that you not hesitate to purchase this first rate player!
39 GET ONE !
i am the worst customer a company could ask for, im picky, distrustful, and and overly critical. this has made the mark for me. i have been reviewing mp3 players for about a month and finally chose this one from 100's of reviews. it is simple to setup , use, and understand. i love it, and thats saying alot. for the money you cant go wrong.
40 Absolutely awesome product
The size and the sound output are absolutely outstanding. The only gripe that I may have is that it only holds about an hour's worth of songs, therefore an upgrade is needed. However this is perfect to fit in your purse for plane trips or working out. Fantastic bargain too.
41 Great little player!
This is a great player! Easy to use, great for the gym and it is expandable. For a basic MP3 player...what more could you want?I definitely recommend this player!
42 I couldn't be happier - almost...
I've never written a review on anything I've purchased online before, but I felt I should add my thoughts on this mp3 player. First, I'll mention what isn't so hot about the Personal Audio Player 3000... if you go below 128bits on your files (mp3 or wma), you're going to get noticable crackling and loss of fidelity. You really have to use files that are at 128bits or higher in order to retain full sounding music. The only other problem I have is that it seems like Intel is going to phase this product out and I can't see why... just doesn't seem to make sense. Aside from that, this is a great player. I also purchased a SanDisk 64meg MMC card, and with the total of about 122megs of memory (the player itself uses some megs and takes away a little bit from the storage capacity) I was able to get 2:30 hours of 128bit mp3's...not bad at all. Without the extra memory, I got around 75 mins. of music. Finally, it has a nice overall package... small, durable, comfortable to hold, nice belt clip, and the ear buds are decent too... not the best, but not as bad as some of the reviews make them out to be! Considering what every other mp3 player goes for these days, this is an excellent value and I'm glad I bought this little thang.
43 Good, but incomplete
This player is good for my gardening job because it was light and didn't get in my way. My main complaint is that despite the claim that it could hold over 2 hours of music, I only got about and hour and seven minutes with the base 64 mb of memory filled up. Because of this, I'm going to have to buy a memory expansion card (another 50 or so bucks). You don't want to use the included ear buds for a long time either, as they make your ears hurt after a while.
44 I read them all, buy this one.
DON'T BUY THE RIO, DON'T BUY THE RIO, DON'T BUY THE RIO.Listen: You can thru all the reviews, they all say basically the same thing, the Intel is the best.
Yes, the headphones are annoying, so what, go buy another pair for $15 bucks.
Yes, it's an hour or so of playback, I don't know about you but I'm happy if I can get 10 mins of uniterupted time to listen to music, all these complaints about needing more memory - whatever. Get a job, then you won't care, an hour is enough.
Someone said the buttons are a little mushy, yeah, they are but you know what, when it's in your bag it won't turn on by accident if you press up against something, so again some say that's a negative, I disagree.
Battery power is good, I don't know how much you get but it's not a problem. It takes one AA and it lasts long enough. I've had mine 3 months and I'm on my second one.
Software: can you operate MS Word ? OK, shouldn't be a problem. I'm no techie and I had it rolling 15-20 mins after I took it out of the box. Some guy wrote he had problems with something software related, I don't remember what but I going with user error there, I had no problems.
The display doesn't give the song titles, it only lists them by #. True. IT'S $150 ! If you need song titles go spend twice the money and then you can see song titles, OK ?
Sound is good / digital quality. Not much more or less to say there.
Overall this is a very good little unit and will suffice nicely for 90% of the people out there who want one of these. I can't think of one bad thing to say about mine. Besides, in a year they'll have one that does twice as much for half the money. Save your cash, buy this and be done with it.
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45 Best of the Bunch
Like other reviewers, I found this audio player easy to use, intuitive, and fun. The physical size is terrific -- it's about the size of a deck of cards -- making it convenient to put in a purse, briefcase or backpack. Great sound quality (if you replace the supplied headphones). I also purchased a memory card which allowed even more recording space -- around 40 songs. Battery life is excellent -- I took the unit on a trip from the East Coast to Hawaii and did not have to replace the battery. If I were still a road warrior, this would be an essential part of my traveling equipment. I thought the faceplate gimmick was too much. I solved that problem by not using any faceplate at all! This is an outstanding product at a very good price. It is a category leader and I recommend it highly.
46 After a long search through the internet...
I've been looking for about 6 months for an MP3 player that I could take to the gym and have it be portable enough that I can wear it while I run. Size was important. The dimensions said this player was 1.5" deep. That one thing alone almost prevented me from buying it. My guess was they included the thickness of the battery clip. They did. It's slim enough for me. Within a half an hour of getting it, I had cleared the propaganda that comes with it and loaded it with 15 of my own songs on it. I played with the face plates a little. Neat idea. My kids pictures will be in there soon.It works with MusicMatch but I think it's own audio manager is fine. The reviews I read were right, the 'ear buds' really stink. No big deal there though because I ordered Aiwa Swoops when I ordered the player. Smart move on my part. I really like them, but I guess this isn't a review for them.
So, I went to the gym with it and it turns out I bought exactly what I wanted. I won't compare it to others because I don't own others. If you purchase this one, you'll be happy. Now I don't have to keep burning CDs over and over again when I get bored with the songs. I can just erase and replace now. And when I'm at the gym, the treadmill won't skip it like my CD player, which I can now give back to my 5 yr old.
47 Good player, Headphone woes
I really like this player. It doesnt totally eat batteries, it has a good internal memory and serves the purpose i bought it for well (i use it for entertainment while running adn lifting weights). there are some features others may want, but they arent important to me. no FM tuner. I live inthe boonies and couldnt pick up a signal anyways. no voice recoding capablities, again, i wouldnt use this anyway. So why did I only give it 4 stars? The headphones are honestly the most uncomfortable things I have ever tried to use. Honestly. they are so huge i am not sure who they were developed for. When you get a good pair that fit you will find that the player has great sound. Its very lightweight w/ good belt clip. If you want a good player for working out or walking around, you will love this one for the $$$$$
48 Good Player for athletes
I really like this player. It does not have the features that the technoYepp my brother has, but i do not need them. #1, it has no FM tuner. I live in the boonies, and couldnt pick up a signal anyway #2,doesnt show song title, etc. This also doenst bother me, I know what I downloaded #3 no voice recording capabilities like some higher end models. Again, I would not use this feature anyway.I use my player for entertainment while I run or lift weights. it has excellent sound, is fairly simple to use and is compatible w/ XP, stores enough music for me to run 7 miles without listening to the same songs (even without memory card) and doesnt seem to be HORRIBLE with the batteries. why didnt I give it 5 stars? the headphones are the most uncomfortable things I have ever put in my ears.No kidding. good sound, but they are huge and uncomfortable. Overall, great player for the [money]
49 Good Player for athletes
I really like this player. It does not have the features that the technoYepp my brother has, but i do not need them. #1, it has no FM tuner. I live in the boonies, and couldnt pick up a signal anyway #2,doesnt show song title, etc. This also doenst bother me, I know what I downloaded #3 no voice recording capabilities like some higher end models. Again, I would not use this feature anyway.I use my player for entertainment while I run or lift weights. it has excellent sound, is fairly simple to use and is compatible w/ XP, stores enough music for me to run 7 miles without listening to the same songs (even without memory card) and doesnt seem to be HORRIBLE with the batteries. why didnt I give it 5 stars? the headphones are the most uncomfortable things I have ever put in my ears.No kidding. good sound, but they are huge and uncomfortable. Overall, great player for the $$$$$$
50 Good Player for athletes
I really like this player. It does not have the features that the technoYepp my brother has, but i do not need them. #1, it has no FM tuner. I live in the boonies, and couldnt pick up a signal anyway #2,doesnt show song title, etc. This also doenst bother me, I know what I downloaded #3 no voice recording capabilities like some higher end models. Again, I would not use this feature anyway.I use my player for entertainment... it has excellent sound, is fairly simple to use and is compatible w/ XP, stores enough music for me to run 7 miles without listening to the same songs (even without memory card) and doesnt seem to be HORRIBLE with the batteries. why didnt I give it 5 stars? the headphones are the most uncomfortable things I have ever put in my ears.No kidding. good sound, but they are huge and uncomfortable. Overall, great player for the $$$$$$
51 Good Player for athletes
I really like this player. It does not have the features that the technoYepp my brother has, but i do not need them. #1, it has no FM tuner. I live in the boonies, and couldnt pick up a signal anyway #2,doesnt show song title, etc. This also doenst bother me, I know what I downloaded #3 no voice recording capabilities like some higher end models. Again, I would not use this feature anyway.I use my player for entertainment while I run or lift weights. it has excellent sound, is fairly simple to use and is compatible w/ XP, stores enough music for me to run 7 miles without listening to the same songs (even without memory card) and doesnt seem to be HORRIBLE with the batteries. why didnt I give it 5 stars? the headphones are the most uncomfortable things I have ever put in my ears.No kidding. good sound, but they are huge and uncomfortable. Overall, great player for the $$$$$$
52 Good Player, Bad Earphones, Ugly faceplate
Player and software seem to work fine, although musicmatch jukebox is oddly written. Earphones were PAINFUL to wear, but inexpensive to replace. I just removed the 'designer' faceplates and left it blank.
53 Excellent Player!
This is a wonderful MP3 player! It is easy to use and it is Windows XP compatiable. This is my first MP3 player and it is great to use at the gym or jogging. I ripped songs from my own CDs and it was a bit difficult to figure out first but now it is very easy to do. As everyone says the ear buds are kind of big but I just used the pair from my own walkman. I am going to buy another for my husband's birthday.
54 Best of three so far
This is the third mp3 player I've owned. This one takes the cake so far--it does all of the most important things well. As with most other players, the headphones won't deliver good quality sound, but the player sure does. It's small, well-constructed, and has good battery life. The only disadvantages are secondary--no FM tuner, no track information displayed. It's plain and simple, but works well. I like the computer interface better than the one that previously came with the Pocket concert, too.
55 Good but not Great
I purchased the unit mainly for working out and running and for the most part it works great. It is very compact and lightweight as opposed to many portable cd players. If you buy the extra memory, it has enough space for a couple hours of music. And I have to say the software that it comes with is easy to use and has many other capabilities.
My main complaint is that the player will simply stop playing in mid-somg or for some reason right at the end of a song. The when you push play to get it started again it will either start from the first song on the list or arbitrarily from another song, but not where it left off.
56 Worth the $$$
My wife and I just began working out in January. After searching long and hard for the right MP3 player, we picked the Personal Audio Player 3000. It has been great for both of us. We both take it on 3+ mile runs with NO problems. The sound is excelent, the controls are intuitive, it is light weight, has a good battery life span, and has a belt clip. The included MusicMatch software used to rip MP3s and organize your play lists is also top notch. We both love this player so much, I am getting a second one for myself. The only down side is the ear phones are a bit uncomfortable. If you buy it you will love it!
57 This is a solid player!
This is my first mp3 player, and so far I'm impressed with it. I read quite a few reviews on this player, and they were right. Great sound, when you buy another pair of headphones. The buttons could be a little easier to push, but that could make it less durable, so no big deal. No backlit lcd, this doesn't bother me at the price. Intel's manager software was a snap to install and begin using. Click and drag baby! This player makes all the others seem very overpriced.
58 Intel MP3 player review
Sound quality: excellent
Ease of use: excellent
Software: Musicmatch is state of the art, transfer software is good, transfer time for 64 MB of MP3 music can be several minutes. Use of USB cable is now universal, but future design with "firewire" could really speed transfer rates.
Battery Life: My son had previosly purchased CD/MP3 player from different company, and battery life was only 1-2 hours. This solid state device has roughly 10 hr on single AA battery.
Family acceptance: originally purchased by techie Dad, now fully appreciated by my wife and two teenagers, (four thumbs up).
Worst feature: supplied headphones, while sound quality is OK, comfort and fit were not acceptable. Purchased 4 different styles of Sony headphones (earbuds, open air, h-ear, and street-style) all which were superior, more comfortable, but no family concensus on specific model.
Best feature: Combination of built in 64 MB memory and use of multimedia card memory. I was on-line to purchase 64 MB sandisk cards today..., which will double music capacity, and allow for music library collection for longer trips.
59 Excellent Product
I spent hours researching MP3 players and decided on this one and I am very happy with my decision. I wanted something for jogging and cycling and this fits the bill perfect. Small, good belt-clip, light-weight, durable and it rocks! I did buy some sport headphones to use because the earbuds fall out when running but sound great for casual use. Excellent product, excellent value!
60 great price, great features, great individuality
This Mp3/Wma MP3 player is awsome. The sound quality is 100% perfect and with wma files I can fit 26 songs on the 64mb. It is perfect for anyone. Another great feature is the faceplate designer. The intel plates are corny but you can make your own. I reccomend you pick up a pack of picture paper, looks great and then get going. The software is excelent. No need for case because it is very durable and everything else is great. BUY IT NOW
61 Let's put it this way -- it's adequate
I bought my first portable MP3 player almost two years ago. It was a Diamond Rio. It was by far the best player that I ever had. I have owned three other since then (since these players are pretty fragile). None of them have been as good. Isn't technology supposed to make things better and not worse?Since then, I have been struggling to find a good player, so I decided to try out the Intel Personal Audio Player 3000. It gets the job done, but it was certainly not designed with the jogger (like me) in mind. The belt clip is weak. There is no battery juice bar to alert you when the battery is about to die (MP3 players used to have that. Like I said -- isn't technology supposed to make things better?) Transfer speed to the player is relatively slow. The buttons aren't really placed in a user-friendly manner. There is no separate "power off" button. In order to turn the thing off, you have to press the "stop" button and hold it down for a few seconds (who came up with that bright idea?)
The one improvement that I like is in the transfer software. You can transfer songs and peruse your song list at the same time (unlike previous versions of the transfer software). Still, I am not overwhelmed with this player. If you have never owned one before, then this version might impress you, but if you have been playing with these things for a couple of years, then it definitely won't.
62 Great Playa
Great player for such little dough!! Software is easy to install and a breeze to use. With an extra 64MB MMC card, I got about 1:40 of 192Kbps quality mp3's, which is more than enough for my workouts. I did not experience any problems loading previously ripped mp3's onto the player, as was stated by another review. The earbud phones aren't the greatest, but who cares?? I got a pair of behind-the-head Awia headphones for little $'s and the sound is great. If you are in the market for a mp3 player this is the one to get!!!
63 PAP3k
This is a great player. I installed a 64k MMCard soon after purchasing the unit. I usually get about 160 min. of music on the player. It works great for mountain biking, snowboarding and hiking. No skips, the buttons work well, player buttons are thoughtfully placed and the software package is adequate but could use an upgrade. The headphones are cheesy and work best when not moving around much. Compared with the Rio and Nike players, it is a large step above. I highly recommend this player.
64 Five stars!
I got this as a present, and I absolutely love it. One battery lasts longer than most mp3 players, excellent sound quality and overall a great product.
65 Excellent Quality to the Extreme
I was started to use Intel Audio Manager to transfer music soons as I got my PAP 3000,and they sound excellence around my ears. Then I found Out I got the Musicmatch CD Key and I installed Musicmatch and upgraded to 7.x . One thing I found out is that you can add volume leveling changes and digital enchanment such as DFX Sounds to your mp3 songs and upgrade the quality when during transfering mp3 to your player, and the sounds I notice became BEYOND THE EXCELLENT QUALITY, DANG! IT'S COOL, IT SOUNDS LIKE SILICON SOUNDS BUT IT'S XTRMEEEEMMMMLLY SMOOTH! AND I CAN'T HEAR ANY DISTORTION RIGHT NOW. The thing some people thing that this player has memory flaws because is 61.50 mb of total free 64.00mb space when your player is empty, they didn't know that there is a firmware inside the player that makes the player work. There is nothing wrong with your memory, don't think there is a corrupted file inside, players works fine. Take advantages of your player by using Musicmatch other than Intel's own audio manager! I would have give this not just more than a 5 star, but I would say this player is the Dominant one among all the Portable MP3 and BEYOND! THE BIGGEST ADVANTAGES OF THIS PLAYER IS THAT:
THE AUDIO QUALITY ONLY DEPENDS ON THE MP3 SONGS' AND THE EARBUDS' QUALITY, BUT IT CAN BE SOUND EXTREMELLY EXCELLENT IF DIGITALLY ENCHANCED! AND REPLACE IT WITH ANOTHER GOOD QUALITY EARBUD SUCH AS SONY FONTOPIA.
THIS IS A ONLY FEW PLAYER THAT IS SMALL AND PROVIDE A VERY GOOD EXTREME SMOOTH QUALITY. YOU CAN HARDLY FIND ANOTHER PLAYER LIKE THIS!
THE DISAVANTAGES IS TAHT:
THIS PLAYER HAS NO BACKLIGHT, DOESN'T PROVIDE A RECHARGING DECK AND A RECHARGABLE NiMH BATTERY. THE FACEPLATE MIGHT BE CHEESEY CORNY TO SOME OF YOU BUT YOU CAN CREATE A BETTER FACE PLATE BY USING PHOTO EDITING PROGRAM OTHER THAN THE SAMPLE PRINTING FACEPLATE THEY GAVE YOU ON YOUR SOFTWARE!
66 Intel Audio Player 3000
I purchased this MP3 player for running and working out. It has performed flawlessly. The sound is great. Although, I had to substitute my old sony walkman headphones for the earbuds, as they are not very functional.
The size is great too. It basically looks like the size of a large pager. It has a clip on the back that allows you to wear it on your shorts, and, unlike a walkman or CD player, you can actually run with it on without the fear of your pants falling down around your ankles. It is so light, that you will forget it is there.
The display and interface are minimal, but it gives me all the information that I need. I never actually look at the display while I'm working out, so this is not a problem. The buttons are located on the side that let you easily skip songs and adjust the volume.
Technologically speaking, the software is rock-solid. I have never ripped CD's before, but in no time, I was able to transform my CD library into an MP3 library and download a good mix to the player. Never a problem downloading or ripping CD's (much unlike my friend who has a RIO which he finds troublesome). The player holds about 15 songs with the included 64MB of memory. This is about an entire CD, but with the advantage that you can customize the songs. The battery life is great too. One AA lasts quite a long time (10ish hours). Very impressive.
Overall, solid engineering, simplicity, quality of sound, and ease of use make this a great pick. A perfect replacement for a CD player, and perfect for working out. Never skips a beat. I lucked out with this choice.
67 the Excellent sound Quality has gotten Extreme
I brough this player 2 weeks ago and I love it, where ever it takes you you wouldn't resist to take it off your ears even when you are in school and you weren't suppose allow to wear headphones. when I started using this player. I was using the intel audio manager to dl music to the player, but when I found out musicmatch could do that, and then I upgraded my musicmatch 7.x plus. I found out that musicmatch 7.x plus not just could copy songs but can enhance the audio and leveling the volume and the Sound Quality I heard this time has never been better :-).
68 Exceeded my expectations!
I love this little guy! After reading the reviews, I felt pretty confident, but what I liked best, I haven't read much about. This was SO easy to install and use. I was listening to music within about 10 minutes of opening the box.The sound is good, it is small, affordable, convenient, easy to use. Yea, the headphones (...) a bit, but those are easy to replace. I just used the ones I had from my Walkman.
I am very happy with this product. I've had mine about one month.
69 A quality, no-frills player that's a great value!
Intel did a really good job with this player. Had the software installed, tunes tranferred, and a new CD ripping on the included, full-featured MusicMatch software within minutes. Really pleased with this purchase. Intel transfer software is functional, reliable, and does not lock up or crash my PC (unlike some others I've tried.) Form factor is ideal for the gym and the construction seems pretty sturdy.
70 Good player
Very good sound coming from this unit. However, it would benefit from a larger internal memory capacity and smaller size. Ear buds are too big and feel uncomfortable after prolonged time.
71 WOW A Great MP3 player for all!!!!!
I am totally satisfied with this player. The memory is a little low, but that can be fixed by just buying more memory. With a 64 Meg upgrade i put about 25-28 songs on this player. It would be much higher, but i use all 192 KBS quality. If you use radio quality 64 or 128 you can easily fit 50 songs, which is way too much for my purposes. I cant believe the price of this player. almost all other mp3 players with this amount of memory sell for much more, and they arent near the quality. Just look, this is the only player on Amazon.com that averages a 5 star rating and it shows.
Who cares that the screen isnt backlit, or that song titles dont show. They are useless features anyways. What really matters is sound and reliability...which is incredible. The headphones that come with it arent my style, but with an mp3 player you dont pay really for headphones. I still use the default headphones with my cd walkman for when i fall asleep. Otherwise spend a few bucks to get some better headphones.
Battery life is incredible. I dont know why it advertises 8-10 hours, i have gotten over 15 hours per battery...with the sound up and bass etc.
Finally the software is very easy to use. The musicmatch upgrade is well worth it. I havent experienced any of the copyright or any other problems that i read about and i can only attribute them to user mistakes, not in the software itself. Uploads take about 20 seconds per song, which is quite quick compared to other players i've seen.
All in all this is a great MP3 player that everyone can use and love. Get em quick because 2 of my local stores have sold out of them.
Thanks for reading
Hope this helps.
72 Great buy for a basic mp3 player
After reading the reviews and seeing that it was on sale at a large electronic store chain last week for [a good price], I decided to purchase the PAP 3000. At that price, it is an excellent buy! The only problem I encountered is with the software (Audio Manager 2.0). I can't seem to get the program to open; this worries me, as the only way I'll be able to format the MMC with my player is through this particular program--at least from what I've read. I am currently using MusicMatch Jukebox 6.1 (included) to DL songs onto the player.-Expandable memory; the 64mb internal memory is already sufficient for most people.
-I bought an mp3 player, due to the fact that I was tired of lugging a cd player wherever I went. The size and ease of use is another plus with the PAP 3000.
-Fast transfer of songs from computer --> mp3 player.
-Battery usage: 1 AA battery--probably lasts longer than my cd player (which uses 2 AA).
As many have already mentioned the headphones, I can't comment personally on them; I haven't even tried them out yet, but I think most people replace these anyway when headphones come with any electronic product. As for the faceplates (haha), I'm not too fond of them, but you can create your own, or go without one! (I'll take plain ol' navy blue over teeny bopper hologram orange any day, thanks.)
If you're looking for a decent mp3 player, this is well worth it!
73 Great MP3 Player, Poor Software
...Having researched my product carefully...I couldn't find any flaws, so I decided to buy the Intel 3000 player with high hopes. Initial thoughts were great, the player is light weight (great for running, which I bought it for), small, and quite simple in most aspects. I did read from other critics that the headphones were painfull and poorly designed, so I opted to buy another set during the time of purchase of the MP3 player and I was glad I did. I see what everyone ment by the earbuds being annoying and oversized (at least for my ears.)
The USB cable uploads into the player were quite speedy, faster than I expected. I would say the average was less than 10 seconds for each song to upload.
Overall, the design is very sturdy, like what other reviewers mentioned. Although, I did notice that the removable face plate has the potential to break off easily if dropped. The only thing keeping it together is a spring loaded clip. I also noticed that the buttons are rather hard to push because of its rubber moldings. I finally got the chance to run with this thing and to tell you the truth you don't even notice it's there. I thought it would bounce around and have the potential to fall off my waist--not once! It really stay put and is light weight.
Onto the software! At first I wasn't happy with the software because I was having problems uploading songs to the player. I overcame this when I realized that it was not the players fault, but of the operator (learn something new everyday!) I played around with the MusicMatch software that came with it and I uninstalled it within days. MusicMatch is more complicated to use than I wanted to deal with. I still didn't figure out how to copy songs and upload them to the player after awhile. On the other hand, the Intel Audio manager software proved better. It is very simple to use. Look at the availiable songs on your list and one click uploads them to your player. Very easy to use and am still using it.
Overall, the player is great, the MusicMatch software falls flat. By the way, I was able to upload on average around 15-18 songs of about 1 hours worth of music on the 64 Meg of memory that comes standard with the player. Hope this helps!
74 Quality MP3 player at an affordable price.
I just purchased the Intel PAP 3000 and it's great. Here are my pros and cons.
Pros:
-Internal 64MB of memory with built in expansion slot
-Cost just as much as other MP3 players w/32MB
-Sound quality
-Durable design, great for people on the go
-Compact size
-Uses 1 AA battery
-Longer battery life, does not drain battery when downloading
-Very user friendly software (Intel Audio Manager)
-Works with MP3 and WMA files
-Unlike other brands, this supports Windows XP
-Bass and treble controls
-Belt clipCons:
-No back light on display
-Rubber buttons may be hard to push for some people.
-Does not show title of song while playing (not a big deal)
-Intel dropped consumer electronics products division - possible support issues
Overall this is a great name brand player without the name brand price. The design is not as flashy as others but it gets the job done. I considered others but the fact that it supports Windows XP, has 64MB of internal memory, is expandable, and of course price was a big factor in my decision.
I highly recommend this player!
75 Great product for the price
Good points:
-Size: It's tiny! Fits in a hand, jean pocket, etc. So light, great for exercising. Perfect for plane travel. Sounds great with my Aiwa noise cancelling travel headphones.
-Expandable: Uses MMC cards to add another 64 MB of space. Sadly, MMC cards don't go higher than that yet.
-... For the price, it's a great deal.
-Face plates: OK, so it isn't crucial, but I had fun making my own face plates to customize the player.Bad points:
-Earbuds are big and painful. I scoffed at a reviewer who wrote this, but it's true. But those are easily replaced.
-Buttons are hard to push. But that way you don't accidentally turn it off while exercising, I guess.
-Software: Audio manager that transfers files is slightly buggy. Not fatal, still workable. The MisicMatch software that comes with it is great -- I already had a full version of it anyway.
Some people are annoyed by it's small display screen that doesn't show titles. I don't care -- I loaded the songs, why do I need to see the titles again when only 13 fit on the player anyway?
Overall, I love it. It's cute, it's small, and it works. I get comments on it where ever I go. I'd buy it again.
76 Great affordable player
I just got this player , very affordable for a 64mb
...fitted 17 songs of an average of 4 min but some of 5 min. try to download files with less space, see ,if you have an mp3 of 4.5 mb of space, it will take 4.5 mb out of the 64mb leaving you with 59.5mb.........enough space so you can stock it with your favorite songs...
....quick transfer to the player about 10-20 seconds.
....you can connect the player to the pc open up the software and change the order of the songs, but it has to be connected...
....easy to use software......
....jukebox that comes with it...don't install it(it's the musicmatch jukebox)...instead download the real jukebox from real player its faster, see the jukebox lets you copy the songs from your cd and turn them into an mp3 file in the computer.
....great sound, cool earphones, im ok with them but they're uncomfortable for some people...
...lightweight...easy to get used to...
...buy it...
77 GREAT PLAYER
I got this player yesterday and i luv it. Since with its limited memory (didnt upgrade yet), all i had to do were to convert my songs into wma format and now i can fit 30+ songs. The only thing that could be better was more bass. Highly reconmmend this.
78 Very Good!
After shopping around for about 3 months for an MP3 player, I finally made the decision of getting this one today! I got it as a Valentine's gift for my wife, and after I thought about it....I got back into the store and got another one for myself. I read a lot of reviews about MP3 players, and especially about the Intel, and it did help me make a decision; although almost everybody agrees on the fact that the earbuds are very unconfortable, I don't; my only observation would be the memory capacity, which would be easily solved with an extra memory card. The built in one gave me 55 minutes of music, so 68MB should allow me to download at least 1 hour and 45 minutes of hard rockin' tunes (about an old 90 minutes tape!!!), just enough for my workout, since that will probably be its main use. So here I am with my new toy and ready to blast those Zeppelin tunes!!! The sound is crystal clear and the volume level is perfect! The EQ adds a wonderful feature and all around is very easy to use. It took me, that don't know much about computers, 5 minutes to open it and have it up and running. If only I could figure out how to convert regular CD's to MP3 files....
79 Great product but be advised of potential sotware problems
I purchased this player and the initial set-up worked well but I later ran into problems with the software conflicting with other programs. The computer media search started crashing and then eventually the software would not recognize the player. Since everything worked initially, this may not be the fault of the player software but could reside with other programs. The support from Intel is "just ok". I feel I should just warn any purchaser up-front that MP3-players have a considerable "fiddle factor" associated with them relative to other forms of media. There's a lot that can go wrong. Also, the headphones seem to be mentioned a lot by other reviewers. I found them to sound good and work well. However, they are the kind that you stick in your ears so they fall out easily if your doing any high impact exercise. Not a big deal and you may want to use a different set. Overall, I think this is a great product especially for the price. I would just advise caution to those who don't like to "tinker" too much with their computer.
80 A very cool toy
This digital audio player is great. Very easy to learn software which helps you transfer songs quickly to your player and rip cd's on to your computer. Very light in weight so you don't look like an idiot with a huge cd player or walkman on your hip when you're walking or what not.Downsides to this - No AC adapter, only gives you 64 megabytes of memory, but this can be upgraded, so basically - you can only fit about 1 cd of songs on this when you first get it. And lastly, there is no way to play the songs on a car stereo. Unless of course you get a car stereo adapter tape. So that is why I gave it four stars. If you're looking for a digital audio player, I would give this one a try - it's great.
81 Love it!
I looked for a long time and read all the reviews before I picked my MP3 player. I love this one. It's easy to use, lightweight and the buttons are intuitive. Other people who reviewed it didn't like the face plates but I think they're fine and I'm not a teenager. The earbuds do hurt my little ears but better earbuds are under $$$.... I also ordered 64 extra MG for those long airplane rides or runs.
82 great battery power
after hearing of all these "batter drainage" issues on mp3 players, I must say that this little bad boy hasn't given me any troubles yet. I have used about 12 to 15 hrs, and the battery is still good. Sound quality is excellent. I have nothing bad to say about this player
83 SWEET!
I've been holding off on an MP3 player, waiting for a better price point. This Intel 3000 player is all that I have been waiting for. Up and running in just a few minutes. Downloading my own MP3's in a few more. Battery life is good. Sound quality is excellent. My wife is complaining about walking around the house with headphones on, but... The buttons are a little squishy (sometimes hard to feel confirmation of control & the volume could be rated as a little difficult) however an outstanding MP3 player, no problems, just many MP3's to listen to while working out, etc...
84 Keep in mind
At the time of my writing this (1/15/2001) it is currently next to impossible to obtain a 128MB flash card unless you have internal connections to the people working inside the memory chip-making plants.So if you are looking at this player, expect to wait a while until 128MB MMC cards become more profitable in production (meaning less errors per chips produced). Until then you can use the 64MB onboard memory.
Intel itself doesn't seem to even make anything higher than 64MB, which goes to say that the advertisement for being able to expand 64+128 is a total lie. 128MB MMC cards were announced back as early as 05/2001 by memory manufacturers, such as SimpleTech and Toshiba. However, it's now 01/2002 and they still haven't perfected the production process of the memory. The memory itself isn't even 128MB--it's actually two-64MB chips miniaturized into a single chip. This along with the delay of the commercial release of 128MB chips could mean that they have had reliability problems at the production plants. Keep yourself updated on this if you plan on getting this player. Also, keep in mind that MMC is fairly new technology. It's newer than smartmedia and compactflash. It was developed by SanDisk and each chip is about the size of a postage stamp. The fact that Intel has adopted it is probably a good sign of the technology's progress, however, as all new things in the computer industry are by nature, watch out for possible scams and reliability hazards early on.
Until (and if) they actually release 128MB cards, you're just going to be stuck with the 64MB onboard memory and possibly another 64MB MMC card for about [amt] extra, making the total about [amt] not including shipping ([amt] for player + [amt] for memory).
85 This is a great MP3 player for a runner! (Intel 3000)
I agree with most of the reviews I have read about this product; basically that it is a good, no-frills design.I wanted to write a separate review since I use my player only when running. I love it! I have had the player a couple of weeks, and it has worked flawlessly. The design is much sturdier than the other MP3 players that I have seen; this is the only one that looks like you could drop it and not break it. It is lightweight, and is about the size of an alpha-pager.
I bought a couple of accessories to go with my new player. First of all, the ear-buds that come with the player are not comfortable, so I replaced those with some Sony headphones that are geared towards "workouts". Next I bought a battery charger and batteries. Finally I got a Case Logic "belt" that is simply a pouch on a neoprene (spelling?) belt. This was advertised as a cassette player belt, but it works fine for me.
Anyway, the player hasn't skipped, and there is nothing about the player that I am worried about breaking since it will have a "tough" life as a runner's MP3 player.
I personally like the MusicMatch software (the FULL version!) that comes with the player. This is a complete package that lets you rip CDs, write CDs, and download music to the MP3 player. I don't think I'll ever use the Intel software that came with the player, since you can download songs within MusicMatch.
If by any chance I DO have any problems with this player, you can bet I'll write an "update" to this review. But if you don't hear from me again, it is because I'm out pounding the roads, enjoying the tunes from my MP3 player. Way to go Intel - 5 stars!
****Update after owning a couple of months****
Still love it! I've listened to the player ONLY when running, and couldn't be happier. I've put a couple of hundred "miles" on the player (including 9 miles today), and I have not gone on a single run without it. No kidding - some days I look forward to my run more for the music than the exercise! As far as durability goes, I can't complain. I've dropped it on concrete, and the plastic face popped off, which was easy to pop back on. My rechargeable batteries last about 10 hours in the player. The software has worked just fine. In fact, I got a free upgrade to a new full version of the software online, so that is nice.
Trust me - if I do have any problems, I will definitely update this review. But unless you read otherwise, I am still 100% satisfied!
86 GREAT!!!! GREAT!!! AND GREAT!!!
JUST RECIEVED THIS ITEM TODAY AND I LOVE IT! you may think what i first thought " ohhh to confusing and takes to long to get songs on it bla bla bla" all that is NOT TRUE... is a great product... ear-phones it comes with hurt so i dont use them but i already had a pair of the sony "behing the neck" ones <-- buy these, they rock........ ANYWAYS THIS PRODUCT IS GREAT!
87 Great Portable MP3 Player!
I bought the Intel Personal Auidio Player about a month ago when I joined a gym. I wanted something that would hold a couple of hours of music, was compact and lightweight and would allow me to quickly skip songs and move around the playlist. I first tried the Rio 600. I didn't even have the unit 24 hours. I could never even get it to turn on. After reading other opinions on the web, I discovered this was a common occurrence. So, I began searching for another player. I happened upon the PAP 3000 at Walmart. The interchangeable faceplates caught my eye because I love little things like that (I have 3 different faceplates for my cell phone). Once I got the player home, I couldn't believe how easy it was to set up. Within 15 minutes I was listening to songs! It comes with the upgraded version of MusicMatch Jukebox. I already had the free version on my computer. The upgrade was easy - I just plugged in the code and it was upgraded. Intel's software for the player is very user-friendly. My only complaint would be what others have said - that you can't change playlists once they are ready to download into the player. But all you have to do is rearrange the playlist in MusicMatch before sending it to the Intel Software. I bought a 64MB MMC card to epand the total memory to 128MB. I have ripped my CDs at 96kbs and at that rate, the PAP 3000 will hold between 40 and 45 songs for about 3 hours of music. Which is more than I need at the gym. While the unit doesn't have rechargeable batteries, I bought a battery recharger separately so that I won't have to continually buy batteries. The battery life is fantastic. I can use the player for about 2 weeks at the gym (about 15 hours)before I have to change the battery. The sound quality of the music is perfect. Absolutely no distortions. Although I did quickly purchase a new pair of headphones. I didn't like the ones that came with it. But that seems to be a common problem no matter what MP3 player you buy. Overall, I would say this is one of the best MP3 players on the market. For the price I paid, I would say it was a bargain.
88 Happy as a clam
This is my first mp3 player and I am VERY happy with it. It is easy to download and delete music using musicmatch jukebox which I already have(just needed to update it with mp3 feature)and am familiar with. There is plenty of volume and seperate tone controls. Head phones are nice. Great unit for the price. Get one before they stop production as Intel plans to stop production soon on their consumer products, a corporate decision not a product line problem.
89 Happy as a clam
This is my first mp3 player and I am VERY happy with it. It is easy to use, download songs, delete songs, etc. Lots of volume with tone control. It's great... only drag is it will not be made for long. So buy it while you can.
90 Happy as a clam
This is my first mp3 player and I am VERY happy with it. It is easy to use, download songs, delete songs, etc. Lots of volume with tone control. It's great... only drag is it will not be made for long. So buy it while you can.
91 awesome!!
I got this mp3 player for christmas. I love it's size, and it hasn't skipped yet, not even when I climbed a tree and jumped out. Also, I think it's cool how you can change the back discs and make your own. It makes it customizable and feel like your own. The clothing clip is also nice. The only thing I don't really like are the headphones that came with it. They kinda hurt my ears and didn't stay in very well. So, I'm usuing my own headphones. Though I suppose if you like that type of headphones, they're nice.
92 first mp3 player
This is the first mp3 player i have used/purchased. I am very happy with it. I love the size of it and it holds enough music for my needs. The software that it comes with has been easy to work with. I find it takes a while to convert wav files to mp3 or wma files but that is fine. But it does not take long to gt the mp3 files on the player.
This is a good player with not to many extras youcan adjust the bass and treb and it has repet and random but that is about it. But if you dont care about a lot of frills this mp3 player is for you!
93 Great Portable MP3 Player!
I did a lot of research before buying an MP3 player. The Intel has all the good qualities and non of the bad that I had read about in consumer reviews. It's software is very user-friendly. The songs download quickly. The controls on the unit are easy to figure out and use. It has built-in 64 MB of memory with which holds almost 2 hours of songs for me (at 96 BPS recording). I purchased a 64 MB MultiMedia Card to increase the memory to 128 MB and 4 hours of songs, which is more than I would ever need for my purposes. The sound quality is great. And I love playing with the inserts under the removable face plate. The software that comes with it allows you to create your own look. The only complaint I can think of with this unit is the earbuds. They are slightly uncomfortable. But that's just a personal preference. I use other headphones and it's perfect. The unit is small and light, perfect for the gym, which is why I bought it in the first place. It comes with the Plus version of MusicMatch Jukebox, which is great software. It's easy to use and to record songs from your own CDs to the computer. For the price, I think it's the best on the market. Kudos to Intel!
94 No Frills MP3 Player
Been looking for a player for a long time in the right price range for myself to carry some tunes around with me. Saw this player one day so decided to buy one and check it out. This is a no frills mp3 player so if you are looking for extras you probably don't want this one. Good: very sturdy ruggedized buttons (good for people who will use this for sports and such), expandable via MMC memory cards (if you do some looking you can find for around a $1 a Mb), 64Mb of internal memory which is good for about an hour of Mp3 (I use 160kb, you could get 2 hours of WMA if you converted), the changable cover is a nice little extra. feels pretty solid as far as construction goes, and is rather small (slightly larger than a alpha-pager)
Bad: No radio (but I heard the radios on others arent that great anyway), no titles only track #'s, no backlight (since there are no titles who needs one?)
Overall: Great value for a 64Mb player with expandability and for those simply looking for a MP3 player nothing more nothing less. Oh yea the software interface and USB is simple and fast. (about 15-20 seconds transfer per song)
95 Good MP3/WMA player, but bad software and headphones
The Intel Personal Audio Player 3000 is a nice balance of features and price. I can fit about two hours of music (using 64 kbps "FM quality" WMA files) on my player. It's small and fits in my pocket, but the buttons are a little awkward, too small and squishy. The "radical dude" designer faceplates are embarrassing.The bundled MP3/WMA ripping software (Musicmatch Jukebox) is a piece of junk. The user interface is a complete jumble and uses non-standard buttons and menus which (gratuitously) work unlike every other Windows program. As a software engineer, I know that the Musicmatch designers had to do a lot of extra work to make their software look and act this annoying, yet they forgot to add useful features like a resizable song list to show more than six songs. Did Musicmatch forget to test their software with CDs that have more than six songs?? One wonders..
The headphones sound tinny and are literally painful to wear. I had to stop wearing them and pay (...) to replace them with some nice Sony Fontipia headphones, which are VERY comfortable and sound great.
