My journey to MP3 player bliss (or, Wisdom buys and reviews a gadget)

Back around January I decided to embark upon listening to the unabridged Atlas Shrugged audiobook. Problem was, I had it in MP3 format and burning it to audio disc would require at least 40 CDR’s plus the time and hassle involved in burning. As a result, I decided it was time to get me an MP3 player.

Determined to spend less than $100, I shopped around for a long time, getting a feel for price ranges, flash vs. hard-drive players, feature sets, disposable vs. rechargeable batteries, and DRM vs. non-DRM. I visited my favorite tech-bargain sites like Dealnews, Techbargains and Dealdump, eventually noticing the Perception Digital PD-1000 FuXion Minutemen mentioned in several places as the best deal for the 1.5GB (about 250 song) capacity. At the time, Amazon had the PD-1000 for $99.88 base price minus a $30 Perception Digital Rebate, which landed me well within my budget at $69.88.

At this point I started reading reviews about the player. There were a lot of reviews on Amazon saying, in effect, “it’s no iPod,” which to me is obvious considering the iPod costs 2-3x as much, is the best-in-class product, and comes with a well-marketed silhouette lifestyle that is supposedly cool. I wasn’t shopping for best-in-class nor cool – I wanted cheap and functional. Sadly, sites like c|net and ZDnet didn’t have any reviews of it, but I eventually found this independent, in-depth review, a review on Epinions, and more detailed product information both on the manufacturer’s website and Tiger Direct. Satisfied that it probably wasn’t an utter piece of crap and that the value proposition met my needs, I pulled the trigger and ordered from Amazon.

The player came a few days later, and, while the manual was written in pidgin English and was difficult to understand, it wasn’t hard to figure out. It functions as both a player and USB drive, a handy feature for transporting files that some players don’t support. In addition, no need to load any special software, the player is recognized by Windows as a USB mass drive immediately and adding music is truly drag-n-drop. One very nice feature is the charging options – you can either charge the battery via the USB cable (slow) or with an AC adapter you plug in the wall (very fast). This is particularly nice if you’re not going to be near a computer or USB jack but want to listen. I charged it up, happily loaded 20 chapters of Atlas Shrugged onto it (and about 200 other songs), and was on my way.

I listened to it pretty much every day both to and from work and whenever else I had idle time to listen. The player proved itself for me in the following ways:

• Long battery life. I can’t vouch for 10 hrs of continuous play but I never ran out of charge.
• It sounded good.
• The user interface is easy to use.
• There are good interface options and several EQ options.
• It’s attractive, small, and light.
• As I said this player has been well-used, even worn when I was weedwhacking in the yard and taken to the beach. It’s performed admirably.

But, as you’d expect at this price point, there were some annoyances:

• The “joystick” on the player to navigate through the user interface is clumsy.
• Having the headphone jack on the side (instead of top) is awkward.
• The player has locked up a few times when I’ve used it, usually after hitting several buttons in rapid succession. It always came back after resetting it.
• The track database isn’t very bright. On Atlas Shrugged, when I reloaded it with new tracks (properly tagged), sometimes the wrong track number would be reflected on display. I worked-around this by using the “Re-build DB” function.
• It has a hole in the case for a lanyard … but doesn’t include a lanyard.
• This is inherent to all players, but good tagging of your music will be essential to keeping it organized on this player. (Tagscanner is great free tag editing software.)

After 350+ hours of listening, my wife started expressing interest in an MP3 player of her own. I checked Amazon, and, lo and behold, the PD-1000 was available with rebate again, this time sponsored by Amazon. Beautiful! So, I ordered her one and gave it to her as a gift for our Anniversary, I’m just that kind of guy. Of course, I cut off the UPC for the rebate beforehand. I know that’s tacky, but my wife is as frugal as I and she understands these things.

Speaking of my wife, she’s no geek savant like your esteemed author. She recieved her PD-1000 and has had nothing but good things to say about it and also hasn’t had any problems. She even educated me on the best way to carry the PD-1000 in her old cell-phone case.

The last chapter in this wonderful story is the one where I got the card from Rebate Fulfillment for the 2nd $30 Amazon rebate (for my wife’s) telling me that my submission had been refused because it was a duplicate of my earlier (April) submission. After calling the 800-number on the card and being told “we can’t help you – they’re the same offer,” I contacted Amazon. I emailed them specifying my situation (the 2 offers were more than a month apart and branded completely differently) and they responded the next day that they had authorized a $30 refund to my credit card! Phenomenal!

Conclusions: at $70, the 1.5GB PD-1000 is a lot of MP3 player, but isn’t perfect. It is simple enough for a non-techie to enjoy but feature-packed enough to satisfy a geek like me. Amazon has phenomenal customer service (a vast improvement from my last experience). Shop around for a good deal. Buy your loved ones nice things to show your appreciation for them.