The YH-920 is the second product to be co-branded by Samsung Electronics with Napster 2.0. This innovative Digital Audio Hard Drive and Storage device is the next generation product created through this technology and marketing partnership in order to improve the experience of consumers using digital music. The Napster 2.0 device, and the fully integrated YH-920, will offer music fans access to more than 600, 000 songs from today's hottest artists, which can be transferred directly to the YH-920.
Amazingly thin and weighing just 5 ounces, the Samsung YH-920 is a hard drive-based digital audio player that's compatible with both MP3 and WMA formats--including protected WMA, supported by online music stores such as Napster. In fact, Samsung has partnered with the Napster 2.0 music store, integrating the player's driver into the software so that you can transfer songs downloaded from Napster directly to your YH-920.
The YH-920 has a 20 GB hard drive, which will store hundreds of hours of your music collection in either MP3 or WMA. It's also compatible with the spoken-word Audible and the OGG Vorbis open source formats. It features a customizable EQ, large blue backlit LCD, and an attractive aluminum and plastic casing with large, intuitive controls.
In addition to playing digital audio files, the YH-920 has an autoscanning FM tuner with 40 presets. It also offers a voice recording capability as well as line-in recording, which enables you to record from CDs, cassettes, or the TV. Additionally, the YH-920 can be used as a mass storage hard drive, enabling you to transfer or backup your most important data files.
The YH-920 is compatible with Windows-based PCs and transfers files via a super-fast USB 2.0 connection (backwards compatible with USB 1.1). It also features USB-On-The-Go functionality, enabling you to connect most digital cameras directly to the USB cable and transfer photos to the unit's hard drive. The rechargeable lithium-ion battery provides up to 10 hours of non-stop playback. It also comes with a cradle and remote control.
What's in the Box Samsung YH-920 20 GB digital audio player, cradle, earphones, carrying case, and remote control.
1 Samsung YH-820
I have this gear for more than two months since March/2005 and I am really amazed by its good quality of sounds when comparing with other no-name flash MP3 players. Its deep rich bass really give me lots of good listening pleasure.
But this gear is not perfect and be aware the following:
1. YH-820MS will only display either English and Korean characters, nothing else. If U look other foreign characters, this gear is not the one.
2. Battery time is not very good. Full bettery charge will last up to 5-6 hours. Each full charge takes close to 3.5 hours.
3. It takes close to 40 seconds to boot to have sound out
4. 2 out 10 times, booting will hang and requires hardware reset
5. It works with either Naspeter or MS's media player Version 10 only. Do not expect to drag the MP3 songs or music folder into this gear. It requires SYNC thru MS's media player and "SYNC" 1500 songs into this gear requires lots of time.
Other than these concerns, I really enjoy this gear.
2 A Great Player
I posted a review before about how my player began messing up and deleting all of my songs. I exchanged it for a new one, and I've determined that the original messed up because I did not handle it correctly and did things like unplug it without safely disconnecting.
My new one works great. It does take forever to load all of your music, but that probably doesn't vary much from player to player. I have no complaints about my new player, as it has done everything I expected it to and has not malfunctioned at all.
3 Buy this if you want to take it to the shop...
I have had this since December. I agree the player is cool and has good features such as the ability to record from the radio but if it breakes down what is the point? I am now having to bring in my player for the SECOND time for servicing. Not a big deal unless you want to wait a whole month for the process and if you don't have all of your music backed up... My suggestion, go with something that has been proven to work that also has good features, not this player.
4 Samsung has more features, better price than overated IPod
It says it all in the title: fm tuner, line in / voice recording, recording directly from radio, etc. This has many of the features that the IPod is lacking. I picked one of these up last week from Office Depot for $99 after mail in rebate. What a steal! Plus it comes with a case, line in plug, cradle charger, and more.
***Do not use the Napster software. That is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5. Stick with Windows Media Player 10. Use the sync option. Very easy and very fast transfering WMAs. It seemed to take a little while to transfer some of my mp3s. It said it had to convert the files. When you rip the files off your cds, transfer them to WMA files.
Besides that, this player is great. Good job Samsung!
5 Horrible.
I had this MP3 player for about 6 months. Everything was fine & dandy, until now. I had been using Napster & WMP to transfer files. However, when I logged onto Napster yesterday, they forced me to upgrade to this "new & improved version". There is no way to avoid upgrading the product. So, now that I've "upgraded" napster, the thing is ruined.
It cleared the 1000 + songs I had in the player, saying it was due to a "serious error". Now that I'm trying to transfer them all back, I can no longer transfer MP3 files via Napster OR WMP. Only WMA files seem to work. I refuse to fork over 20 bucks for a file converter, when my MP3's should work fine. At least half the time, Napster doesn't even read the player.
I thought this player was great. It had everything I needed (a remote, small size, cool accessories, FM transmitter), but now I'm completely frustrated. Napster is terrible.
Now I'm taking it back to best buy, and getting an IPOD. I tried to avoid it, but the competition hasn't stepped it up.
SO, IN SHORT: If you don't heed my warning, and still buy this piece of junk, DON'T USE NAPSTER AT ALL. Subsequently, you won't be able to get any playlists, but at least it will work. I learned the hard way.
6 Samsung 920 really rocks
i got my 1st hard drive mp3 player 2 days ago (samsung 920). all my friends own an IPOD and i was not too impressed with the size and price of an IPOD specially when there are other players of the same size with better features and almost half the price. i did not want to contribute to the rising apple stocks thanx to IPOD that got apple out of a financial crisis. so i did research and decided to buy the SAMSUNG YH-920. this player really ROCKS. 1st of all this player comes with all the accessories that you have to buy seperately if you buy an IPOD (remote, case, FM tuner etc). 2nd this player comes with all the bells and whistles like FM radio, and the one i like the most is recording from FM radio. i can store data files, record my classes and still have room left for more (huge 20 gig HD space) i have always trusted SAMSUNG products and have owned several SAMSUNG cellphones. the size of this MP3 player is exactly the same as an IPOD and actually it is a little lighter than IPOD. it comes with a cradle and USB 2.0 and remains pretty organized on my desk. the reason i gave it a 4 star rating is because it come with a 2 month membership for NAPSTER which is almost a ripoff, they tell you that you can download all the music you want during the free trial but when you install napster, you actually have to pay 0.99c for a song (10.00 $ a month just to get access to all the music? i dont think so !!) the samsung 920 took me less than 10 minits to hook up and my windows media player 10 which is what i use to manage the playlists picked it up in seconds. i converted my music in variable WMA format (approx 3MB per song) very happy with the sound quality,the headsets and original leather case. highly reccomend this product to anyone considering to buy an IPOD.
7 Great Product (PRODUCT REVISED AND FIXED!!)
This has been a great product so far. With more features for $100 less (on sale at Office Depot for $200), and better battery life and support for almost all audio formats, this is a great buy. All of the earlier reviews that said it didn't work are referring to the earlier version of the YH-920. Samsung re-released this item, so now it is REVISED AND FIXED!!!! I had the same problem before until I returned it for the new product.
The product is attractive and very durable (have dropped a few times off computer desk), has many great extras such as a radio, docking station, quality carrying case, voice recorder, ability to record from things such as tv's, coputers, etc., and a remote control. The sound quality is also great and the menus are easy to navigate. Although Napster is included free for two months with the product, it requires you to enter your credit card number, which I am not willing to do for a free trial. Windows Media Player 10 works perfectly fine.
I have only found a couple of low points for this product. If you plug it into your computer, sometimes it may say rebuilding device, but it will delete all of your songs. But, you can just use the recovery utility to fix that problem. Another slight problem is the small pause between songs, maybe a 1/10 of a second, but noticable if listening to songs that lead into another.
To fix some of the other consumers problems: you can fast-forward through songs, just hold the next song button, or the last song button to rewind. You can play songs as they appear on a CD, you just have to go through the artists, then the album tabs, and your songs will appear in the correct order. It will not work if you just go through the album tab.
I strongly reccomend this product as a great alternative to the iPod (which in my opinion is overpriced and over-hyped), with more features for less money. A great buy.
8 Surprised!
My mother bought this equipment as a present for me after hearing I wanted an IPOD, I was absolutely dissapointed after reading all the reviews I have seen here. I tried to return it but the store in NY were she bought it did not accept it back (complete thieves- just around Pensylvania Hotel in Manhattan).
Well I am no genius with computers, I have an average computer, I have low speed internet, I am not registered in Napster I do not own a bast collection of music, I have never owned an MP3 player before, and I did not encounter any of the difficulties the other guys found with this equipment. The installation was easy, the sync was easy and the sound is great. Have not use it very much but until now I find it a very very good buy. I will continue using it and let you all know (another thing, play it safe and buy it in a large store - amazon - best by - c city, etc)
9 An Excellent Quality MP3 Player with Great Features!
I think some of the other reviewers must have been paid by Ipod to write bad reviews as I just got my Samsung YH-920 a few days ago and I am very impressed! I debated on whether to get an Ipod or the Samsung. Samsung products are usually excellent and this is no exception. The player is very well made and I believe the quality and ease of use are up to par with the Ipod. I actually thought it was easier to navigate the YH-920 than the Ipod as I found on my friends Ipods that the touch wheel was so sensitive. The Samsung is much easier to navigate and the extra features are really cool. The FM radio is very good and it is fun to be able to record on the fly. I did not have any problem installing the player as I followed the instructions. I did however find the Napster software totally useless with very little functionality unless you plan on only downloading their music. Use windows media player 9.0 or higher and you will have much better luck organizing you mp3's. Napster had the crapiest MP3 id tag labeling I have ever seen! Windows media player works much better for importing you current MP3's.
Overall what a great machine. It took me about 15 minutes to figure it all out and now it is SO easy to use. It comes with all the accessories you could want and again the record option is so simple and the quality is decent.
I had a SSI Neo Jukebox for the last four years and loved it, this player is definitely a step up and a great replacement. All the snooty Ipod users out there can be ignorant of what they are missing! This is an EXCELLENT MP3 player and sets the bar for player to come. Well done Samsung...ditch Napster, they are crampin your style.
I paid $208 (that included shipping) which is a heck of lot cheaper than an Ipod and I got so much more player and accessories.
10 Great Value for Money
I got this device for $235 and so far I am quite happy with it.
The device came with a remote (no LCD) and a case, Two things that I would have bought seperately for any other player on the market.
I wanted a player with FM radio (which works great) and it is less bulky then the Zen Touch or Iriver H320.
Just to clarify a couple of things said about this palyer. You can fast forward and rewind a song (press and hold >>| or |<<) and you don't Have to use Napster.
I use windows media player but this seems a little slow and un-intuitive compared to something like Ipod +itunes.
Is it better than an Ipod ? Maybe not. But it offers better value for money than the overpriced and overhyped Ipod.
The main con with this player compared to its rivals is the Battery life. At 10 hours (more like 5-6 in the realworld use) it works well for me but but others may not be satisfied with this.
To summarise
Pros
- Value for money (Remote, case and cradle)
- Good sound quality and volume
- Good looks and compact design
- Plays wma's and Mp3's without conversion
- Easy to use menu system
Cons
- Napster software
- Average Battery Life
11 Nightmare... "I couldn't be more disappointed"
I bought this a few days ago and to say the least it is a total nightmare. Took several tries to get the device recognised by windows xp sp2. Once that hurdle was cleared and the napster software and media player were made as current as possible the issues continued. While both software programs used to transfer music or sync to the player appear to work on the pc, once the device is properly disconnected, nothing shows up in the library on the player. I spent several hours on the phone with samsung support. I reloaded the firmware, reformatted and repaired the device with included utility. All to no avail. Napster support said it was a samsung issue. I am just thinking it shouldn't be this difficult. I bought my son an Ipod for xmas and I will be exchanging this item for an Ipod for me. The player looks great and it has some extras. That is why I decided to try it. In general I think Samsung makes good products. But this product isn't woth the hassle. I couldn't be more disappointed. Getting music to the Ipod was virtually effortless. It does what it is supposed to. The Samsung YH-920 doesn't. Who needs an FM radio when you've got 20 gb of you favourite music anyway? The remote is nice but pointless when the device doesn't give access to the music you try to load to it. I hate to say it because I had so much hope for the device. Stay away from this product
12 WASTE OF MONEY
The manual instructions r poor and it took me forever to get my damn computer to recognise the player. Apparently this mp3 player can store 5,000 songs however once I got 250 songs on it, what happened was that if I upload an album the device will delete another album. What the f---?! Avoid this player at all costs and exercise your right 2 demand a refund! I sure did.
13 An Excellent Player Once You Learn How To Use It
I've had this Samsung player for about a week now, and the more I use it, the more I like it. Hardware wise, this player is solid. 20 gigs of space, an FM tuner, a voice recorder and and line in are all excellent features in an MP3 player in this price range. The major concerns in previous reviews with missing features are actually easily overcome. To fast foward through a song, hold the >>| button. To select an entire artist to play, hold the select button until an option to add the entire artist to the playlist pops up. To address the issue of albums playing in alphabetical order instead of track order, either make a playlist in napster or number the filenames of the mp3s as 01-artist-track.mp3 .
Audio quality is very good, with the only issue being volume. While its certainly enough for basic headphones or earbuds, if you use a high end pair of headphones, you'll need a preamp to get decent volume.
Navigating in the player is very easy as well, with songs categorized by artist, album, genre, and song title. My only complaint would be that when navigating by track name it would include the artist in the list.
My only major issues involve not the player, but its usage of napster 2.0 to transfer songs. While windows media player 10 can be used, you cannot transfer playlists. Napster 2.0 is as of this writing still buggy. It will crash if you change tag info in the library while transfering songs. Deleting songs takes an excessive amount of time. In addition, I found songs transfered faster in windows media player than in napster 2.0. If the software issue is dealt with, the player is easily as good as an Ipod.
14 Lots of features but still falls just short
Samsung apparently listened to everyone who said the iPod was missing recording capabilities and FM Radio. They therefore came up with a device fairly similar in look and feel to the iPod and added those features as well as including some of the items people craved (recharging cradle, carrying case, and remote). At a cheaper price than the iPod it is very competitive.
It lacks, however, in the interface. More precisely, when choosing a band or genre it is not possible to choose the entire band or genre. The device requires that you choose an album. Of course you could make a playlist along these lines but why should you have to when the metadata is already there? Additionally, the randomization does not store a list of the played songs. What this means is that the same song can play twice in a row or within a very short period of time. Nor is it possible to go back to a song you just heard if you wish to immediately hear it again.
This is not to say its a difficult interface to use. I would offer it is actually easier to use than the iPod. With simple up, down, left, right arrows one does not have to continually move one's thumb to get to the desired item.
Other complaints include a short battery life, an LCD that is not always easy to read, an inability to scroll to the right on a song's name (in case it is really long), a lack of date and time, and the ability to only play up to 160 kKhz MP3 or WMA files (wav, flac, ogg, aac, and MP3 of greater quality are not playable on the device without first converting).
The device gives all of the basic features one might desire but nothing more. Samsung did tap into a market hungry for features and gadgets and made a device easy for them to use but failed to address some of the desires of people wanting to truly play their music in a modern fashion that essentially ignores albums.
15 It started messing up before I even had it a week...
I hadn't even had this player for a week (I got it for Christmas) before it started messing up. The player itself works fine, it's the software that's required to use it that I have a problem with. Twice now, within three days, all the songs I had loaded onto the player were erased, and I still don't know why. The first time I had 515 songs on it, and the second time 147 because I hadn't had the chance to load them all back onto it. DO NOT install Napster. The whole program is horrible and will do nothing but cause headaches. I tried to use the two free months the player comes with, and whenever I tried to load the downloaded songs onto the player, it would ask me to either pay for them or enter the promo code in. When I entered the code, it told me it had already been redeemed and said I should send in a form to customer service if this was incorrect. I ripped and synched all of my music with Windows Media Player, which is highly overrated as a software program. While it worked more easily than Napster, it still caused a lot of trouble, and half the time it wouldn't recognize my player. However, the player works nicely and just how it's supposed to once you get music onto it. But right now I have no music on it since it just got erased; I spent many hours putting my entire CD collection on this thing just to have it all erased. I plan to try again and hopefully the music won't get erased again. If it does, I may consider returning this player in favor of another. It may have just been problems with my computer that made these things happen, so I would still recommend that anyone who is considering this player doesn't rule it out. Just make sure you stay away from Napster.
16 Has ups and downs
I've had this player for about a month and this is a solid competitor in the line-up of new HDD MP3 players. I'll point out some pluses and minuses and give some comments on what Samsung could do to improve this for the next string of their HDD MP3 players.
Size + Looks(9.5/10) - Sleek form, flashy aluminum cover, nothing to complain about here.
Sound(8/10) - Good but it can only match that of the iPOD at 90dB Signal-to-noise Ratio. If you want crystal clear sound go for the Creative Zen Touch (Creative Labs originally developed sound chips thus their whopping 97dB Signal-to-Noise Ratio on the Touch.)
Functions(9/10) - Has good add-on features that iPod doesn't deliver such as recording and FM Tuner. It would be nice if they added USB on the go like the iRiver H320 European version.
Usage(8/10) - Relatively easy to use, when installing the software pay attention to where you choose which softwares to install, you can choose not to install Napster at your wish. Adding songs is a sinch using Windows Media Player but it would be nice if you could sort the order of the tracks the way you want them.
Battery Life - I won't give this a score just because this is where this device is killed. I've used this on and off for a month and the best I've pulled from their said 9 hours is around a 6-7. Battery life again goes to the Creative Zen Touch, a superb 24 hours. Samsung can do a better job at placing a better battery in these. A nice thing is that these batteries can be replaced however because they don't die out completely fast, by the time you need a new one you might not be able to find one for this model and just end up buying a whole new HDD device.
Overall (6/10) - Not a bad device at all, but I regret getting this because I use this frequently and the battery life is just too short. I recommend getting an iPod, Creative Touch, iRiver H320, or just wait for the next line of Samsung's HDD device and see what they improved on.
TIPS:
*Get Windows Media Player v.10. It's free and pretty much identical to Napster software.
*After finishing transfering music to the player make sure you disconnect the CORRECT way. Go to your tool bar and by the time it should have shortcut buttons. One of them will be a little green arrow with a greyish box underneath it. Double click on it, hit stop and then ok. On the player it should say: "DISCONNECTED (circle with check inside) It's okay for you to disconnect your device" If you just pull it off the dock without doing so you can damage the player. It also takes all your songs off the Now Playing list. In my case they were still in the library.
17 Its great but its not perfect!
The reason for the 4 stars is in the title. This is a first rate little device which does what it is supposed to do, does it easily and does it well. I guess I should start out by telling you that I purchased the Samsung as a replacement for a stolen ipod. The ipod is a first rate unit but I found quickly after buying it that you are limited in terms of buying music for the ipod and once you buy it it CANNOT be played on anything other than an ipod. I decided that I would cut bait quickly even though I was going to lose some music and move to a more standard player/format.
I had quite an mp3 collection on my pc which I was able to move easily onto the Samsung using the Napster software. It would have been nice to have had its own software but using Napster is easy and I like having the ability to purchase music this way, guess I was used to this format from having used iTunes previously.
The playback on this machine is very adequate and the addition of the built-in FM tuner is extremely handy and a nice benefit over the ipod. The design of the unit itself is ok, not the slick look of the ipod but it has more benefits in terms of service, standardized music files and the nice FM radio built in.
Between the additional benefits and the lower price (than ipod) the Samsung YH-920 has a lot going for it. Definitely a unit that should be considered when you're looking for a personal music player. Oh, and one more thing, the unit I picked HAD to be Audible Books compatible which is why I went with the ipod the first time. The Samsung is also Audible compatible and setting it up with Audible Books was a snap! While I'm still thinking of last minute things, I should also mention that when I setup the Napster software I found that they have more music selection than Apple's iTunes store and more of the type of music that I wanted. This was a big and delicious surprise for me!
18 This is GREAT! (read this for some tips you might need)
For the price you get so much more - 20 GB!, voice recorder, fm tuner (which is a pricey add-on to mp3 players that lack this feature).
I just figured out how to rewind/fast forward within tracks (manual didn't provide much guidance) - I almost swore off this product b/c i thought i couldn't do this. [if you don't know how to do this, just hold down the previous button (to rewind) or next button (to ffwd).]
although i LOVE the look & size of the mini ipod, it's just a better value - so far at least ;)...
19 Don't listen to those other people, this thing is great
So, reading over the other reviews, I noticed a bunch of people had incorrect bad comments about this mp3 player. So, let me clear them up.
1. You must sign up for napster in order to use it.
No, you can use the napster software without being a member. The only thing is that every time you start napster, it asks you to join, but you just say no, and then you can use the software. And it is very simple to use and to transfer. I have a membership with another download site, and it is very easy to transfer those files into napster, and then transfer them onto the player.
2. It doesn't plug directly into the computer.
Mine does. It has a spot on the bottom where you can plug the USB wire right into the player, so you don't need the docking station. But I personally have never even had to do that. The docking station is one of the reasons why I chose this over the Ipod Mini (and also becasue it has 15 gigs more for the same price). The docking station is awesome. I always leave it connected to an outlet and the computer, and then any time I need to transfer or charge it, I just stick it on the dock, and it's automatically connected and charging.
3. As for the sound, to me, it sounds exactly like a cd player. Maybe if you want better than cd quality, it's not great, but it's definately as good as cds.
4. Also, as far as transferring music, I have only had a problem with a few songs, and I do believe that was a problem with napster, not the player. Napster didn't recognize the songs, so they didn't transfer to the player. But also, sometimes when they would show up as having 0 time in Napster, it would show up again on the player when I transferred it. But again, I have 460 songs on the player, and this happened with maybe ten songs. So, not really a big thing. 99% of the songs transfer great. And with napster, ripping from cds is really easy as well.
5. As far as organizing the music, the only thing I don't like is that you cannot alter the music straight on the player. In order to edit the song data, or delete a song, you have to change it on Napster, delete it from the player, and re-transfer it. But this only takes a few econds, so it's not that big of a deal.
6. One other thing, is that I have heard that their is no way of saving your place on an Audible. I have two books on their now, but I haven't started reading them. I do think this will be annoying, especially since one book is 14 hours, in two parts which are 7 hours each. I will update after I use them, and let you know how it goes.
Overall, I think that this player is awesome, especially for the price. I got it at Best Buy on sale, for $199. Although now Best Buy is selling the exact same player for $279, and calling it the yh-920gs. I can't figure out what the gs is, or what the difference is. Even samsung.com came up with no search results for yh-920gs.
I highly recommend this player for the price.
20 Great Player -- Hopefully Supported Properly
I have been using the YH-920 for a few weeks now. It has generally lived up to its billing as an mp3 player that has more features than an ipod at less cost. There are a few caveats that could be easily corrected through firmware, IF Samsung is serious about supporting this player, but I have seen no evidence that they really care to.
First, the look and feel of the player speaks of quality design and components. It is about the size of an ipod, has a large blue-lit screen and a well designed menu system that is easy to navigate. The sound quality is very good. It is clear that the Samsung engineers did a good job.
The few issues that I have come with the software and firmware. As a previous poster noted, if you enter an album directory, the songs are listed in alphabetical, not track order. However, I have noticed that if you first enter the artist directory, then the album directory, the tracks are listed properly. This should be remedied in firmware.
There is also an annoying pause between tracks. This only become noticable if you are listening to an album such as Pink Floyd's The Wall, where the tracks are all interconnected. Just expect a slight pause between tracks. This could clearly be remedied in firmware.
The main problem is with the documentation, which is essentially a Napster advertisement. I took previous posters advice and never used Napster. Windows media player dos the job just fine. Synching is pretty effortless. By the way, you CAN drag and drop songs. Just make sure that you drag and drop them to the "MUSIC" directory. The player is also easily used as a portable hardrive that is recognized by Windows without any drivers at all. However, I found that you need the Samsung drivers in order for WMP to sync properly.
Still, this is a really good value. For about $100 dollars less than a comparable ipod, you get a built in FM radio, a charger/dock, and a quality carrying case.
This could be a great player if Samsung would properly market and support it.
21 A great product
A great product, still have place to improve.
- It has 18.7 GB storage instead of 20 GB.
- It works with both Windows media player and Napster 2.0.
- Both FM and voice recording seem to work very good. The player will record the audio and then compress the recorded audio to MP3 format.
- You cannot drag and drop MP3 songs to the player. MP3 file you drag and drop onto the player when be recognized by the player and won't play. You have to use the sync and transfer function from Windows media player (or Napster) to copy songs.
- When placing the player on the cradle and connecting USB cable from the cradle to PC, Windows often gives me error msg regarding incorrect USB device. It turns out that the cradle USB connector does not always have good connection to the player. You have to place the player very well onto the cradle connector in order to have a good USB connection.
There is never a problem if I connect the USB cable directly to the player without through the cradle.
- The player sold in U.S. displays only English characters. It won't display Asian languages. All unsupported characters will be displayed as '*'. Samsung has just released the same player in Japan and claimed to support 10 languages including major Asian language. I wish Samsung will provide a firmware upgrade to the U.S. version and make it to support the same 10 languages.
- When using Window media player to sync MP3 songs with the player, it gets slower and slower when the number of songs increases in the player. It is very slow when you have over 1000 songs on the player. Windows media player seems to need to retrieve all songs from the player in order to prepare the song list. The actually file transfer is very fast, but it is very slow when the media player connect to the device and after transferring new songs. It could be better if you want to transfer a large amount of songs at one time, instead of a few songs at one time, in order to save your time to sync songs with the player at device connection step.
- Samsung seems to have her own media manager, released with the Euro version of the player. The samsung media manager for this player can be found on Samsung website. I haven't tried it yet. I wish it will be smarter than the Windows media player, don't try to load all songs from the player at device connection, but rather just load play list and track information from the player directly since the information is already in the player.
- The slow sync problem exists with Napster software as well. There is really no need to install the Napster software. You can just use the Windows media player.
- You cannot fast-forward or rewind when playing either a MP3 song or a recorded voice. You want such a function if you want to use this MP3 player as a voice recorder.
- When connecting to a PC, this player will be automatically recognized as a removable storage device. It is very handy for you to use it as a removale USB hard drive. USB 2.0 connection speed is great. It takes me only 5 minutes to transfer 3GB data to this player. In such a way, you can use it as a player, as well as a USB flash drive.
Major concerns from me is no international language support, and very slow device sync when number of songs get large.
22 Works great
I took someones advice and just loaded the drivers and used media player 10, and it worked flawlessly. I have loaded the drivers on two computers and everything went smooth and clean. I think the sound is great when using radio shacks small headphones, and the earbuds are also very good, but I don't like earbuds personaly. I bought the player on sale after considering a ipod. This player is at least equal to the pod which I believe is 50% hype. Buy it and load the drivers only. When you insert the cd the driver option is easy to use.
23 For the price, it out-features other players w/ style.
It looks, feels and plays better than any other HDD out in the market. It has more features such as an FM tuner and recorder and in-line encoding. Works with Napster, MS Music, etc. I can't believe this product has been beta-maxed by the i-POD. Wake up, consumers, and look past the fancy ads.
Plus, it supports Janus subscription services on MS based music services. No other player can do this yet. Hello????
24 Oh no, you'll return it twice...
Great looking, excellent feel to the controls and yet I urge you to stay away! I returned the first one, which became unrecognizable in Windows XP, and the software utility that came with the unit didn't really do anything at all, though every time it "claimed" to have repaired successfully. Once frozen, it could not be re-formatted, and the reset button didn't do anything except cause the device to continually restart with a "failed to initialize" error...So I had the replacement for a week and the same thing happened again. One minute it works and the next it's all over!As far as I know both of the ones I returned are still in a reboot loop, it never stopped. Also, no bookmarking feature for the Audible books, creating playlists was lousy, the docs are nothing but an advert...what can I say...there is no excuse for a company to market a device this poorly tested. Perhaps it will improve, but as for now it's absolute junk.
25 Don't Bother - you'll just end up returning it!
I really wanted to make this thing work. Why? Because it APPEARED that Samsung had done all the right things- terrific on-screen information, above average sound quality, and despite other reviews, I found the unit to be sturdy and have that "feel good" thing when in your hands.
But, that's where the good stuff stops- Samsung blew it on several major areas: 1) Perhaps the worst music transfer interface on the market today. Most of the time Windows XP will not recognize the voice; 2) You MUST sign up for a Napster account- they do allow a "light" membership if you do not want to purchase music through Napster; 3) need for constand re-setting of the device- and, though not mentioned in the manuals, telephone support says you have to wait to power the unit back up again after a soft reset. They (samsung) did not know how long you have to wait.
I bought my unit at Best Buy for $250 with a $50 instant rebate. My advise? Fork over the extra $70 and buy the true Ipod Killer- the H320 from Iriver!!!!!!!!!!
26 Nice price with all the features you need
This product is stylish, lighter, and cheaper than an Ipod. It has all the features you're looking for. USB hard drive, FM (clear reception), Recording Line-in (works with XM radio, except it does not record with album and artist), belt clip case, and remote.
Con: Still not happy with the battery life. It said 10 hrs but with active use, will probably last only 4-5 hrs. This however is still better than the battery life on an Ipod I believe.
27 Songs stored alphabetically NOT CD track order
Songs imported into library alphabetically. Sent 2 email asking for support from samsung website - NO response received; not even stating they received my question. Hisses and pops heard on songs imported from wma 64Kbps but not heard when playing on PC. When I called asking if there will be firmware upgrade to correct song order as it is on the CD, got passed onto tech engineer. When asked about the song order being alphabetical, he said with a straight voice that is how the player is made to work and there is no plan to upgrade firmware to correct this problem since they don't see this as one. He suggest I create a playlist for every single CD in my collection to keep in the correct CD order. Does have great FM reception and recording.
They got rid of the USB On-The-Go feature on this US release unit that allows you to connect to your camera and download the pictures over to free up your camera flash memory.
With these terrible tech support, I suggest you move on to another player as I will be returning this one soon.
28 Could have been better...
Just bought this unit and have played with it now for a few days. I was anxious to make it work out for me due to the price and features.
Pros: Compact size, 20 gig, price, FM radio with ability to record, voice recorder, bundle that comes with remote, case, docking station, etc.
Cons: Either have to use WMP or the included Napster interface to copy songs. I only used WMP because Napster makes you register with it. Can't drag and drop songs to play. Doesn't have a USB input on the device. You have to use the included docking cable which also doubles as the USB connection to your PC, but it is a mini-USB, so they give you a converter to a regular USB connecter. Of course, when I went to disconnect that from my pc the adapter stayed in the USB input on the pc, so I had to reach in and pull it out. I don't want to have to carry the multipurpose cable to connect to my pc or laptop that if you loose your screwed. I want a dedicated USB or firewire connector on the device that I can use a regular USB cable. Sound is okay but not great. Maybe it's the headphones?
29 Great All Around MP3 Player!!!
This is a very good mp3 playyer. I am pleased with the sound quality and the ease of set up. The worst part was actually getting the mp3 player becasue it was such a hassle. I had to go to the store, then back home to order it online, then go back to pick it up. I got this at Best Buy for 175 tax included which is a very good deal. The transfer of the files is quick, easy and harmless. Using Windows Media is very good with this. I have not yet tried the Napster program and i do not intend to after all those things people said before in their feedback. I like that it is affordable, and it comes with a lot of accesories that the iPod and other leading mp3 players do not. I like that this mp3 player can display japanese, chinese, korean, english and other languages as well. I like the recording feature it has also. It can record from the radio which is a really cool funstion. It also has a line out thing so I can record from possibly any audio soure. Overall this is a great mp3 player. I would recommend it to everyone.
30 YH 920 - Do Your Homework
I'm a new owner of the YH920 and while I have had some issues I feel many have jumped to conclusions without doing their homwork.
First the player is a good alternative to ipod for the reasons given elsewhere. The FM picks up and can record well in strong signal zones and line in/out works well.
Like others I have had set up issues. However my observations are " its not always the palyers fault". For example I had difficulties getting the player to act as a USB 2 - kept saying it was USB 1 or would crash the computer. Reason? (after a day searching and using forums) was that Service Pack 2 didn't update the usb drives correctly. Problem solved by downloading from the USB site. Next Napster vs WMP. I have NO problem with Napster (and its a free lite version you use). It sycs well and while its browser does not show genres they are still transfered to the player. In fact it is WMP 10 I have issues with since this does not always transfer genres (or at least it transfers genres as numbers). A glitch somewhere.You can set up mobile playlists as well without setting them first on the computer(some people say this is not possible but my version certainly can)
Sould is good. Accessories are limited but I haven't really checked. Blue light viewer is needed too often (you can't really see the menu without it unlike the ipod which is a pity).
I'm still playing with it but the menu structure alone (have you SEEN iRiver's?! Awful) makes this as easy to use as ipod.
31 Great Player but Stay Away from Napster Software!
For starters, if you want a player that stands out as a great alternative for the ipod, then this would probably be it. Having mentioned that, make sure you don't install the Napster Software! It screwed about 10GB of my music on the player, and I had to re-download it all over again. So as long as you stay away from napster your fine.
I've used both Windows Media Player and Real Player to download my music and they worked fine, and hopefully Samsung will release a plug-in for iTunes like they did for other Samsung MP3 players.
Again, I cannot stress the importance of not installing the Napster Software (a clear option on the setup page) if you want to use this player to play your entire CD collection and music downloads.
32 So close, yet so far
This device is awesome. It feels solid, the interface is relatively easy to use (although not as easy as browsing a hard-drive, as you are forced to Genre categories, etc). The design of the hardware is also cool. I use this for recording meetings and discussions, and it works great. One click to start a voice recording. Oh man do i want to keep this mp3 player!
But, i will be returning it. Why?
Napster is required to really make it useful.
Yes, you can use Media Player 9 to transfer songs (but not delete). You can use Media Player 10 to transfer tracks and delete tracks. But you can't organize the songs, and you cant create the playlists for the 920 and upload them. This is a problem because after retagging and renaming files and uploading multiple times, i still cannot get it to put the 34 chapters of an audio book in the right order. [if anyone else can, please post a review with details]
You can manually create playlists with the player itself, but it's a pain. Plus, only the first 10 or so characters of the title/track are shown, and so you have to rename everything before uploading so you can determine what order they're supposed to be in. And this nearly defeats the purpose of having the forced sort by artist/title/genre.
(It is important to note that these are audio book tracks ripped from a cd, not purchased through Audible, which has it's own software, that is _required_ to load their books onto the player)
I am not 100% sure of what you can do with the Napster software. It supposedly can create playlists (which would fix their stupid track order problem). Why don't I know?
Becase NO menu item or functionality will work in this software unless your "logged in" to napster! I refuse to sign up for napster (and be forced to use a credit card for a "trial" subscription, and try and get it cancelled after my "free month"). That is a little too beyond my privacy requirements.
On a side note, if you are buying this, make sure you have, or buy, another set of headphones. The ones that come with this have no low range, and the cord is barely long enough to reach from my ears to the device clipped to my belt and i can't turn my head.
And another side note, this does not have a standard USB connection so you have to use the provided charger/usb connector. (This would be annoying, but since you have to use all the proprietary software anyway, you're probably going to be doing the transferring from the same computer.)
Oh so close, yet oh so useless.
33 Many Features but some Firmware improvements needed
I've been waiting for nearly a year for a player with YH-920's complement of features. It's Audible compatible and so holds many of the Audible books I'm listening to. It records through a microphone and a line-in and I plan to use this for recording lectures, speeches and meetings. And of course, there are all those music formats to be neatly organized in its library and the sound of music is very good with its decent set of ear-buds. Also its USB2 transfers are pretty quick.
However, I'm hoping the next Firmware release can fix some small quirks and one really big one. First, you have to make Audible connect to the YH-920 and that's something that should happen automatically. Second, the device doesn't seem to recognize its been safely disconnected through Napster but still gives a warning about unsafe disconnects from the USB after pulling it out of its docking cradle.
Finally, and I can't believe I'm the only reviewer with this problem, why can't I play an album in the track order of the original album? You navigate the library to an album and it starts playing the tracks in alphabetical order by their title. I called customer service about this and their solution was for me to edit the embedded track info and change track title to start with the track number. Yes, for each and every one of my tracks. I think new firmware can fix this problem but I would recommend perspective buyers to wait.
34 this is nice
after extensive research, i've found this player to be the best all around. first, the unit has a nice lil bundle package: comes with a remote, dock, carrying case.... pretty nice. as for the price, you can save yourself a LOT of money by picking this one up over the ipod. this unit is also pretty simple and modest in style, doesn't boast for too much attention, but is still stylish nonetheless. it's pretty easy to figure out, and the menu's are very simple and straight forward.
altho this is slightly thicker than the ipod, it weighs less and offers a longer battery life. (!!!)
the user manual is WORTHLESS. it's just an advertisement to CONFUSE users into thinking they only can play napster purchased songs. THIS IS NOT TRUE. i was mislead at first too, but then i realized you can import existing mp3s into either the napster library or the windows media player 9.0. like most hd mp3 players, you can't drag and drop. you need to import it then transfer to your music player. i think my only complaint is the sound. it's not bad, but i'm just very picky about this. i've listened to a great number of mp3 players, and i think the BEST in sound would have to be the CREATIVE ZEN TOUCH or nomads. after all, creative does specialize in sound cards!!! also, the creative zen touch boasts a 24 hr battery life!! if only it wasn't so BULKY. anyways, the samsung player is probably the best all-around mp3 player. if you long to be different, and don't want to jump on the ipod band wagon, this is the mp3 player for you. plus, you won't have to shell out all the extra bucks for the dock and carrying case... the remote is VERY convenient!!! (there's no lcd screen, which isn't an issue for me, but if it is for you, wait for sony to fix their "digital music player" to play mp3 format and you'll have an mp3 player w/lcd remote) as for other details, i think they were pretty much covered by the first review written by mark.
35 This is the ONLY review you need to read.
I don't get what these other people reviewing here are saying.
I had a few minor hiccups learning how to upload music to the player, but you DON'T HAVE to use NAPSTER. That is just the learning curve of using a new divice. I ignored that installing Napster and just installed the drivers (a CLEAR option when you put in the install CD). And you DON'T HAVE to only use songs you got from Napster. I've ripped CDs to MP3's and WMA's for years with dozens of different programs, and everything uploads and plays perfect. I used Windows Media Player Version 9 to copy all my music to the player. The trick is that when you SEE the player in your list of devices in WMP, you have to UPLOAD TO THE the part of the Hard Drive Player that says (ARTISTS|TRACKS|PLAYLISTS|etc), and NOT the HD drive part of the device (which, by the way, does store ANY DATA, but won't allow MUSIC to be played from it). The PROs for this player are the following: Using WMP is super easy and convenient. This is the best part thing about this player. Other PROs include: tons of room. light, small, comes with everything, and batterly life is good; craddle is nice too. Backlight works fine. Sound quality is DECENT (could be better), but I'm INCREDIBLY ANAL on this point. [My old Samsung YEPP YP30SH 128mb player sounds better than this and any MP3 I've EVER found, includeing IPods (which don't sound too good IMO). But my old YEPP isn't expandable, which is why I bought this new one.]
Ok, now for the CONS (and there are a few too many to keep me from looking for something better): The menus are a tad slow if you put tons of musis on the device like I did (1000's of songs). And there's really no shortcuts (there should be) for switching back and forth to the settings or song list. You have to drill up and down the menus too much for my taste. The BIGGEST con (which I'm hoping to over come with PLAYLISTS) is that if your MP3s are ripped without the titles all named exactly the same, the MENU system doesn't organize them correctly. You'll have the same artist in 2 places because of an extra space here or there. Well if you're like me, and you grab songs from an artist from several different users on a P2P site, you're gonna get many derivations of how a song is named, ARTIST/ALBUM/TITLE, etc. So that bugs, but I'm gonna try to figure out how to create playlists to overcome this limitation.
The Sound Volume/BASS Quality is my main complaint, but again I was spoiled by my previous player. If anyone knows of an INCREDIBLY GOOD sounding player---ONE that will leave something left even after you've turned it up as loud as your ears can handle --please email me the name of it (email below). I'm going to keep this player for now, and if I don't find something better. Good luck. If you have any problems with your YH-920, just email me: -Mark mark[at]thegv3.com
36 Not very good if you have service pack 2 for XP
When I received the Samsung it looked like exactly what I was looking for. But I could not connect the USB Connections with the either the Napster or Windows Media.
When I called Samsung, they were helpful but only in telling me that there is a problem whentrying to connect when you have MS Windows XP and service pack 2.
They were working on it, but did not know when they would have a patch ready.
I now have to return it, they should of known about this before putting it on the market
37 Good player, but only plays Napster files
I bought this because I have a large library of MP3s that I want to transfer to a device and listen to. I also wanted a lot of extra storage for other files. What I found was that this player only allows you to listen to MP3s that are downloaded from the Napster application. Even if your MP3s are burned from your own cd, you can't listen to them with this player UNLESS you burn them with the Napster CD ripper. This was not listed in any documentation, the salesperson at the store was not aware of it and the Samsung website does not mention this. I found this out because I called Samsung and they told me there was something wrong with Napster..I then called Napster who told me this.
If you are looking to use Napster and store a lot of extra files, this player should be fine. If you are looking to listen to all the MP3s you have accumulated over the years, don't waste your time with this player.
38 Wish I could have used it
First of all, I have Windows XP and I use my USB port for many devices (digi camera, printer, other audio device). This MP3 Player is made to be used on XP and 2000 only and it comes with a USB cable. So you figure I would have no problem....well think again. I could not get XP to recognize the device. I exchanged the MP3 player for a new YH-920 unit figuring the one I had was just defective. Well I ran into the same problem with the new one. I called customer support and they told me I had to send the YH-920 to them to have it repaired. I explained to them this is two in a row. They said "well, that can happen." I returned the product and decided to get an IPOD which is working fine.
One other thing to look out for is the product manual. It is worthless. The only thing it gives real details on is how to purchase songs on Napster.
If you can get this MP3 player to work I am sure it is nice but my personal experience says stay far away. Even customer support said their product was defective two times in a row. For nearly $300 it is not worth the trouble. Get an IPOD.
39 Great product
This device is awesome. It works best with Windows Media Player 10.0 - dont bother installing the Napster software.
40 Great MP3 Player
I just got this player and its everything i expected it to be. it has a blue blacklight, remote control, and though its not quite as flashy as the ipod, its the closest in terms of looks, its not as mediocre as the dell dj, and its smaller than the zen touch mp3 player. it takes just seconds to download songs, great product and i reccomend it to anyone
