It is few weeks since my friend bought Transcend Jetflash MP3 player with a 256MB memory.
The model is Transcend Jetflash TS256MJF-MP3. The advantage of this as compared to the other version (Jetflash M) is that it comes with a display.
A joystick is provided that can be used to traverse the menu to choose FM, voice recording, MP3 playing modes, or to change volume. One can understand the various features by using the player ones or twice.
The player comes in a wide range of memories (128, 256, 512MB) and is ’’very’’ light. It is only about 1.5 times the width of a memory stick and is of almost same length. The player comes with good quality ear phones.
A cable is needed (comes along with the player) to connect the player to PC to upload/download songs/data. This is one major disadvantage as one has to always carry the cable where ever we go. In addition the length of the cable is only 1 feet and might be inconvenient to use if CPU is below the table and there is no USB port in the front.
The player uses 1 - AAA cell, and it runs for more than 10 hours with a fresh cell.
The quality of FM reception is good in cities, but in outskirts/suburbs, the reception may not be very good.
The transcend website gives the price as $83.40 (untaxed), which @ Rs.48 per dollar is around Rs.4000. But my friend had to pay close to Rs.5900 for the player in Kharagpur. (Heard from another friend that the player with 256MB comes for about Rs.4, 500 in Chennai and Bangalore).
If one is looking for a simple no nonsense MP3 player, this is an excellent buy (especially if u are Chennai, Bangalore). It slips into the pocket very conveniently, and the menu driven player is very easy to use. The built-in voice-recorder is also good and records in .wmv format. If you are going on a long trip, you cannot afford to forget the cable.
On the whole it is worth Rs4, 500 if you cannot afford a iPOD.