Big bang for the buck
I have a Philips Rush SA 235 128 Meg mp3 player and it’s kick @ss! The player comes with a digital FM radio, digital voice recorder, and 128 Megs for storing songs.
Overall the SA235 is a very simple player with enough functions and upgrade capacity to last a couple of years or so. I purchased mine for $80 US at Price Club / Costco.
The player comes with a USB cable, a AAA battery, an arm band, a lanyard with detachable clip, ear plugs, and an installation CD with Music Match amd the drivers for hot-plugging.
Radio
You’re probably wondering why would anyone need an FM radio when they have an MP3 player, correct? If you run everyday or have a set exercise regimen, playing the same songs can get old fast and having a radio offers a break from the tedium.
The radio has presets, auto-tuning, and manual tuning which is convenient when you’re scanning for songs if you encounter commercials.
MP3 Player
The MP3 player is easy to use. Once you figure out that the side arrows correspond to the menu on the screen, it’s easy. Up is skip back. Down is skip ahead to the next song.
There are three play modes: shuffle, repeat 1, and repeat all.
Digital Voice Recorder
This is a common feature in most MP3 players and comes with the basic functions of recording and erasing memos.
Equalizer Settings
Also included are 8 audio equalizer settings: normal, rock, pop, jazz, classical, bass1, bass2, and custom. The custom equalizer setting is divided into 4 frequency bandwidths: B (bass), M (mid-range), H (high), and T (treble). Each frequency setting can be adjusted on from -6 to +6.
Flash Upgrade to 384 Megs
You can get an additional 256M flash card for around $40 USD (which is dirt cheap) increasing the memory capacity to 384 Megs. Also convenient is a flash card memory holder sewn onto the arm band for quick swapping of flash cards.
Overall, it’s a fairly reliable player. However, most players including this one will crash when I you transfer and attempt to play an unsupported file format. You have to remove the battery to clear the error.