Pioneer DEH-150MP Single DIN Car Stereo With MP3 Playback

• In-Dash AM/FM, CD, MP3 Receiver with Remote
• Single-line, multi-segmented LCD display with LED back light is 35% larger
• Power Output: Peak: 50 watts x 4 channels RMS: 14 watts x 4 channels
• Theft-deterrent, detachable face plate with anti-dust design
• Wireless remote control included

GREAT performance, a wide variety of features, sharp appearance, and easy installation are definitely high points for this unit!

I have been a professional in the automotive service business for over 40 years, and I just could not believe how GREAT this unit sounds. It puts out great high, midrange, and bass frequencies equally well. With its multiple equalizer and bass boost settings it provides incredibly rich, full range, quality sound at a price (about $60) that just seems impossible to beat.

Although you will need to read up on all of its various settings and adjustments to "dial in" exactly what you want in the way of your own particular musical experience, it'll be well worth your time investment. The aux input jack is another great feature that lets you update your vehicle to easily connect an iPod or any other sound device up to it using a standard headphone mini-plug. The remote control that is included is also a nice touch even if you don't use it much. Imagine having a picnic somewhere, or using it in your RV, with this stereo providing the musical entertainment, and being able to control it from the very compact and lightweight remote you can keep in a shirt pocket. How cool is that?

It has a large, clear, screen display and an attractive, high-end-looking removable faceplate that offers some theft prevention, or at least theft-deterrent qualities.

Installation is very simple, as it will fit into any single-DIN slot by itself, or into any double-DIN slot if you add a single-DIN-sized pocket or spacer. Since almost every vehicle sold in the US in the last 30 years (at least up until the latter 2000s) uses the DIN mounting standard, there are very few vehicles in which this unit won't fit easily. It comes with screws to mount it to most vehicle manufacturers'stock mounting brackets. But if your vehicle is missing those brackets it's still no problem because it also comes with its own very thin sheet metal "sleeve" that can mount generically and sturdily to almost any factory stock or aftermarket DIN-sized frame/faceplate components. You then simply slide the unit into that sleeve and add the trim plate that is also included to complete a custom-looking installation.

To make things really easy and provide for a clean, factory-looking wiring job, I would suggest also buying and using an aftermarket wiring harness adapter (like the Metra 70-1720 Radio Wiring Harness I used for my friend's '93 Honda Accord, which was available through Amazon.com for only $3.55 when I bought it). That way you can connect the new stereo's wiring harness to the adapter at any convenient location outside of the car (like on your workbench or kitchen table) and then simply plug the adapter harness connector into your vehicle's factory radio wiring harness connector just as though you were plugging a factory radio into it. This makes for a neat, incredibly simple, and professional installation at VERY little additional cost.

If you are buying this unit to replace another unit that was stolen from your vehicle, and the thieves damaged or removed the factory wiring harness connector plug and some of the factory wiring, you can also inexpensively bring your vehicle radio wiring back to "like-new" condition by getting a "reverse wiring adapter harness" (like the Metra 71-1720 Reverse Wiring Harness I also bought for my friend's '93 Honda Accord). You then wire this "reverse" harness to the wiring in your dash that the thieves cut/damaged. You will then have a factory-type connector again, into which you connect the adapter harness connector as described in the above paragraph. Again, a great professional installation job.

Overall, this unit from Amazon is an AMAZING value... Thanks Amazon!!!

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The only reason I replaced the factory radio was to have a line in port so I could listen to my ipod as I drive. This stereo is great for people like me. If you just casually listen to the radio and want to use the line in port now and again, this is a great option. There aren't a whole lot of other bells and whistles, but that saves me money in the end. I purchased a dash kit and wire harness from Amazon as well making the install really quick and painless.

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All i wanted was a pioneer head unit that had an AUX port so I could play songs from my iPod and i got this one & it's just what i needed. I love it!

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Easy installation, low price, looks good, made my factory speakers come alive, and easy to use, it's awesome. I recomend this unit for anyone that needs a little something different, or needs to replace a non working stereo.

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Okay when I got it, it looked awesome but felt like really cheap plastic... installed it on my EK and sounded pretty nice, but one problem I had was the screen was kinda messed up like there's a line going through it... overall I didnt care cause I only use it for the AUX cord not the screen..

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Sangean HDR-1 Table Top HD Radio Receiver

• Auto tuning system
• Auto preset system
• 20 memory presets
• Backlit LCD display
• Tone and bass control

After owning a Sangean WR-2 clock radio for a year and a half and growing more fond of it, I decided to get another upscale radio for my office, a radio with a remote control so I could avoid computer interference by keeping the radio a good 6 feet away. After reading about HD radio and Sangean's entrance into the market, I decided to take a chance. Worst case scenario, I figured, is that it would be another high-grade radio like my Sangean WR-2. Like the WR-2, the HDR-1 has a high-grade feel, a solid construction, memory presets, a remote control, and strong sensitivity on AM and FM. However, the HDR-1 is definitely an upgrade and you might consider that it has the following advantages and differences:

1. Two speakers instead of one.

2. Easy-to-use (simply plug in) AM external antenna for hard-to-get stations.

3. HD quality is clearly discernable, clear, full, no static, no "birdy," no chirps.

4. Some HD stations have multi-broadcasts.

5. Most functions have to be performed with the remote. For this reason, I don't see this as a bedside radio. Who wants to squint at their remote in a dark bedroom? More appropriate for a bedside radio is the Sangean WR-2 or the Eton Sound 100. But for office or anywhere that requires a distance between you and your radio, the HDR-1 is an excellent choice.

Update: Be aware that in AM it takes a few seconds before the radio "kicks in" to digital mode. The sound is so good it's hard to listen to non-digital AM stations. Even the strongest station in Los Angeles, KFI 640, sounds bad because it's non HD. One last point: I'm more and more in love with the speaker sound. I can't even play them as loud as I want to as I'm working when I have the radio on. But these dual speakers really shine.

Second Update: 1-19-07: After 3 weeks, I've discovered a weakness on AM: Rainy weather compromises the HD signal. This problem is compounded by the fact that the radio has weak conventional AM (much weaker for example than my Sangean WR-2 and my Eton/Grundig S350) so that when it's not in HD mode the AM sounds bad, a constant crackle in the background. FM remains strong in both HD and non HD mode, but Sangean needs to address this AM weakness.

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de K0UNX. I know radios.

A year ago I purchased the Boston Acoustics Recepter Radio HD, one of the few available at that time. I used it for a weekend and returned it immediately. It would pick up ONLY HD, not standard AM or FM stations. The receiver was so weak that even strong local stations in the Denver market didn't hold lock, and would have to rebuffer.

Last week, I decided to give the Sangean HDR-1 a try. Yippee! This one is a keeper! It picks up BOTH HD and STANDARD AM/FM stations. The receiver is much more sensitive than the BA model, and easily holds lock without even raising the FM antenna. The audio is clear and strong enough to fill the whole yard.

I was also impressed with the EQUALIZER. I'm an "old-timer", so I have high-frequency loss. Conversations sound "muddy" to me. This radio allows me to tailor the frequency response so that it sounds good to my failing ears.

Having an auxiliary input is VERY WELCOME, so I can use it for my XM radio or iPod as well.

One other really nice feature is NON-VOLATILE RAM, so it doesn't have to be completely reprogrammed after moving it from room to room or a power failure. You need to reset the clock, but that's all you lose. Being retired, I don't even care what time it is, so thats no show-stopper for me. I'm very happy not having to reprogram all the stations and equalizer.

Congratulations to the Sangean team!

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I am returning this radio, even though the sound was very good and -except for one difficult station -the reception was also very good.

I bought this to use as a bedside clock radio. It has no real controls except those found on a poorly laid-out remote (the bose for some reason also just uses a remote only). If you lose the remote, or even if you can't find it in the morning, you can't operate the functions. Changing the clock time, changing the alarms or putting the radio into sleep mode all take endless button pushing on the remote. It got very frustrating after a while, but because I liked the HD sound I had planned to keep it.

That was before I found out that the radio alarm would sometimes just not go off. Then the machine sometimes jammed up when setting the functions and refused to respond to the remote or the on and off switch until the unit was "reset". Resetting the unit means unplugging it, unplugging it means you lose everything but your presets (you have to go through all the cycles to set the clock and alarms). The final final straw that caused me to return it and find a new radio was when it started losing the signal from a local station (but not the sister hd stations transmitting on the same frequency).

So, in sum, I liked the look, I liked the sound, I liked the hd stations, I hated the required remote, I hated the difficult and cumbersome user interface, I hated the buggy operation.

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I purchased this radio a week ago and was disappointed with the poor reception. In my case, the AM reception is poor. The FM reception, with the built in antenna was OK, but, the radio will not go digital unless it has a strong signal. I recommend an antenna like the C. Crane 'FM Reflect'.

After I connected the C Crane antenna, the FM was better than my component FM receiver with a similar antenna.

I am now receiving most all of the Los Angeles stations (about 45 miles away) with good digital reception. Some stations offer three digital channels, and I get those.

Ken

Edit added:

I connected a "Terk Technology AM-1000 Advantage Passive AM Indoor Antenna " to this radio and was able to get standard AM reception up to the quality of my other radios. A note on connecting the antenna, the connections appear to be polarized. If you get poor reception with the Terk then switch the wires around. The sound quality of even standard AM is the best that I have heard on any table top radio.

k

Updated 3 Dec 08;

My latest opinion after owning two of these for a year and a half:

This is a good sounding radio. One person commented about the brightness of the display, hey, you can turn that off. I have had one of the HDR-1 radios on my night stand for about 18 months now. I use it to wake me in the morning. My main complaint is about the 'clock radio' features. If the power in your house goes out for any amount of time, the radio WILL forget what time it is and revert to some bogus default time. The other settings, such as alarm time and station presets are remembered ok.

Other than that, I love this radio. It does have two custom equalizer settings (along with the fixed ones) called 'my bass' and 'my treble'. The manual is not too clear on this, but, basically set the amount of treble in one and bass in the other. Then select either setting and both will apply.

If you do not live within about 30 miles (depends on terrain) of the broadcast stations, YOU WILL BE UNHAPPY with the HD part of the radio, as in, you probably will not have any HD reception.

I like the sound, on the weekends, I plug one of my ipods into the 'aux in' jack and listen through this radio's speakers. If I need to 'turn it up', I connect the ipod into my 1000 watt home theater system. I do prefer the lower volume and excellent sound of this radio.

Ken

I purchased this radio because our favorite smooth-jazz station became a hip-hop station, and we learned that the smooth jazz programming was available on the secondary digital channel. However, we could not get the second channel to work with any consistency. It worked in the kitchen, but not in the bedroom, where we had intended to use it. Another reviewer has commented on the user-unfriendly setup process, and I second those comments totally. But the deal-killer for me is that it just can't pull in the stations. I tried everything. It just doesn't work very well at all.

We live in suburban Dallas.

I'm sending it back. I NEVER send stuff back, but this was really unsatisfactory.

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Bose® Wave® Music System with Multi-CD Changer -- Platinum White

• A bold new standard in audio performance. It may well become the primary music system in your home
• Easy to use: no buttons, credit card-sized infrared remote, and MP3 CD capability
• Distinctive and elegant design: streamlined styling with a thin, slot-loaded CD player
• Changer allows uninterrupted listening from up to four CDs in succession
• Single remote operates Wave® system and CD changer--extra remote included

This was a christmas gift from my husband. It is the third bose we have owned. I radio, 1 radio and single cd player and now this bose with the multi cd changer. So we are a bose family and have owned them, for quite a few years. The best radio ever.

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I love the sound quality. Just don't understand why a random shuffle is so complicated and I need to buy more hardware and download to an MP3 converter to compress. If I wanted an MP3, I would have just bought an MP3.

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sounds wonderful love the color had a dead battery on remote but easliy fixed.other than that wonderful. n thank you!

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I was not aware that I was getting some used pieces... other than that, it sounds great. The remote looks very used. I wasn't aware that I was buying a refurbished radio... It seemed like the price was for a brand new one.

There is no comparison between my old stereo and the Bose. I hooked both of them up in the same room, then threw the jvc away. Quality product and great service from the seller

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Samsung P2 8 GB Touchscreen Bluetooth Portable Media Player (Black)

• Slim and robust 8 GB multimedia player with digital FM radio
• Built-in Bluetooth 2.0: compatible with Bluetooth headphones and speakers for wireless stereo playback
• 3-inch widescreen LCD with touchscreen controls
• FM radio, text viewer, alarm clock, world clock, and calendar
• Windows XP and Windows Vista compatible

Aesthetically, this is a really nice product from Samsung. The player is quite sleek, with nice rounded edges, a decent weight, and sharp piano black gloss finish. The sound quality is superb. I didn't get the same battery life the manufacturer did (they rate 30 hours, I probably average 20), but I would bet that's because I use the touchscreen interface more than their battery testers did.

As for the touchscreen, I have to admit it's pretty nice. I prefer tactile use, so I'm more of a fan of buttons than touchscreens, but Samsung has done a nice job executing this one. There are a couple of odd quirks to the touchscreen. For example, when you "swipe" the touchscreen to advance you have to swipe from right to left, which seems counterintuitive since you are advancing the progress bar from left to right. Obviously, the same is true of swiping to back up, where you swipe from left to right, even though you're going back on the progress bar.

Also, in the default menu setting, you make circular gestures on the touchscreen to advance through the menu. Neat? yes. Functional? not really. The biggest problem I had with this is that my thumb kept obscuring the icons as they moved into view. Ultimately, I found this too annoying and I disabled it in favor of a regular grid menu. Not as cool to show your friends, but much more functional.

The audio player functions are top notch. As a caveat to this, I will say that I could not get this to sync with Winamp 5.5. My Winamp crashed every time I loaded it when the P2 was plugged in. Instead, I did my syncing through Windows Media Player, and it worked fine. It synced playlists perfectly, and did a great job recognizing albums when I copied them directly like a mass storage device. The on-board player functions include a customizable EQ with quite a few presets and a clarity adjuster. There are preset visualizations including a couple of light shows (that do not track the music), album art, track info, and a spectrum analyzer.

The video player is pretty good, but I don't really like watching video on such a small screen anyway. I'm not a big fan of the fact that you have to convert through Samsung's software to get it to run, but I guess that's the case with most MP3/video players. The widescreen playback is properly formated. FM reception is satisfactory. Not sure how the eReader works since I don't have any ebooks for it, but you can see test screens of it.

This is, overall, a good MP3 player, even if it is a bit pricey. It is only $50 cheaper than the iTouch, but it also brings in an FM radio tuner and bluetooth support for up to two bluetooth devices--including a pass-thru for your cellphone to a set of bluetooth stereo headphones like the non-US release Samsung T9. Bluetooth is a great feature if you've got bluetooth headsets, speakers, or car radio. So you're getting more features than the iTouch offers. A major downside for me is the fact that it is primarily touchscreen-only (there are hard buttons on the side: on the left a lock button and a play/pause/power button; on the right, two volume buttons). Since I tend to like to keep my mp3 in my pocket, I prefer to have tactile skip buttons as well.

Samsung has made some great strides with their feature packed MP3 players. And while this one was almost perfect for me, it fell short of the mark only in the somewhat high price tag and the lack of hard skip buttons. I give them kudos, however, for having hard play/pause/power and volume buttons (FYI, play/pause and volume can also be controlled via the touchscreen).

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I wanted a video player that was easy to use with UnBox and other video sites other than iTunes (I have owned a 3G 40G and own a 4G 30G video and 3G Nano 4GB). Here are my initial thoughts:

Fast charging via USB

Easy to use Samsung proprietary software for music, video and RSS feeds

Nice User Interface with Touch Screen, bright colors

File transfer from UnBox a breeze, recognized immediately, very fast file transfer vs. IPOD

Easy interface to add, update and load RSS feeds

Drag and drop computer files for music and video

Syncing is much easier than an IPOD, does not sync all of your files to obtain new files to load

Updated firmware was fast and easy (Bluetooth upgrade)

Great sound quality and form factor

Cost per MB more affordable than an IPOD

Love it so far after 1.5 hours of use; will update once I have it for a week or two.

WORTH considering, like the fact that it does not require quirky Windows Media Player

Purchased for $200, which was a bargain vs. the 4G IPOD Nano

Considered the Creative Vision and Archos; Archos was more than I needed as I just wanted to plug and play and take this on a plane. :)

Update 1/20/2007: The Unbox and Vongo video downloads work great. Vongo at $9.95 per month gives a variety of videos to download (14 day trial). Vongo does load any video that you choose from your subscription (total rental fee per month) vs. Unbox which only lets you download purchases --no rentals for portable video devices.

I also purchased the JabraBT620s Bluetooth headset and it paired immediately. Wireless music and video. However, the P2 does not support bluetooth with FM radio. Price for the Jabra is around $38-40 from an Amazon seller, 1/2 the price vs. other websites. When on Bluetooth, you can not change the equalizer settings.

Wish this were 16GB which would hold enough music and video; Samsung is coming out with 16GB model. However, this is not a deal breaker. Just means that you have to take videos off and swap them, and that would be the case with Vongo as you can download new videos all of the time.

When I take a plane trip this coming week, I will come back and update my review. Will be using Bose Quiet Comfort 1 with this player.

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Just wanted to post that if you are in the market for a portable player, you should not pass this one up. I have the 4 GB version, and I rate the sound quality 10 out of 10 with some KOSS headphones mp3 encoded at 256. The screen is bright and clear, and while the volume has to go almost to peak to push one set of my headphones it is crystal clear when I get there, and every step before it! I am impressed by the sound quality, and highly recommend it.

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I anticipated this device arrival for a long time, and now that I have it I am somewhat disappointed.

This review covers 16gb version, and latest European firmware (5.08).

Pros:

Hard volume and Hold buttons. Invaluable to me at the gym.

Bluetooth headphone connection. This was the main reason I got the player as headphone cords always get caught in things. Bluetooth also works fairly well without audio dropouts, though I have not been able to initiate file transfers using my laptop's Broadcom Bluetooth stack (works ok with Toshiba's). If you have Broadcom BT, beware.

Subway maps (note I have European firmware, this feature may not be available in US devices). Definitely a helpful feature as it has maps covering all major cities (i.e. London, NY, Chicago)

Solid sound and video quality (but neither really wow'ed me).

Handy and intuitive touch interface, though the touch controls are not always precise.

Great form factor.

Excellent Radio reception with RDS (I believe RDS is not available in US firmware, but I am not sure it is definitely there in EU firmware).

9-band Graphic Equalizer

Major Cons:

No gap-less playback. Any serious MP3 player should have this as a feature, considering how easy it is to implement.

No mp3 file info (bitrate at least???).

Very limited accessories. I am not obsessed over this but a decent selection of sports armbands, docking cradles, etc would be nice (oh and the wi-fi cradle that was mentioned all over the net like on YouTube is a fake).

A non-standard USB port on the device. Yet another redundant cable that I need to ensure I don't loose. Ridiculous and inexcusable. Thankfully it has a standard headphone jack (unlike my Sony Walkman cellphone). And yes I may sync up using Bluetooth instead of USB but it is VERY slow only useful for a few tracks. Transmitting a few albums can take a very long time.

No DSNe enhancements over Bluetooth. I am still holding out hope that this will be remedied, but I somehow doubt it. This makes two big selling points of the device (BT and DSNe) somewhat muted.

The Emodio software for data sync is a badly programmed joke (though I suppose it being a 'beta' is an excuse). But at least the player is recognized by Vista just fine so I don't have to use it (except you have to at times like uploading themes).

Radio does not work when using BT headphones. I understand the reasons for it, but do not completely accept them. Can't I just plug in regular headphones to act as antenna, while using BT to listen to the radio?

Minor cons:

Use of bad english grammar (just check out emodio website). This isn't an issue with a tiny company, but for a huge company like Samsung a worldwide player it is inexcusable especially for a top price charged for this device.

No bookmarking for MP3's so listening to mp3-based audiobooks is total pain. Bookmarking is however available for videos and text.

Video conversion is not very good (just try to dump one of TiVo To Go files to your player good luck). Thankfully this isn't why I bought it. It can be done by the way though you will have to look for alternative software.

Theme and skins support is very rudimentary and not impressive at all (whole 3 fonts available for selection and no size options, for example).

Wasted 'Home' screen it does not have any details on what's playing, BT or battery status. Considering amount of empty space there, this is inexcusable. Only a basic clock is available.

Support for only wav and mp3 audio formats (no Flac for example).

No song ranking or tracking how often a song is played which would be quiet useful if I want to hear least played or most often played, etc.

Five playlists are available for assignment on the fly but there is no way to create more while the player is detached from the PC.

No support for m3u playlist files.

Useless Features:

Cellphone bluetooth sync. Well to me at least. Since I use the device primarily over BT, this function is unnecessary. I suppose for wired headphone users this will be handy.

Text reader. It seems Samsung put more thought into text reader than they did into MP3 support. This obviously cannot be used for any prolonged reading maybe for a rare occasion its ok. It definitely works though.

Cosmos interface. What is the use of showing the menu few buttons at a time it sure is cool when you just unpack the player but this gets old very very fast.

So bottom line is that this is an OK player, but it is not a serious contender with only a few basic features for its primary use (listening to music), and seems like the 'sleek' factor and bluetooth is really the main selling point. It is to me of course getting rid of the wires at the gym is great but if you like plenty of control and tweaking, this device may not be for you as it is fairly simplistic.

i really wanted to give this product five stars but it has some real bluetooth limitations. i purchased this product primarily so i could be unwired in the gym. i also purchased this product because of its high quality sound ratings. it turns out in the bluetooth mode all the sound features are turned off and the equalizer and sound enhancement does not function. Also the FM radio does not work over Bluetooth, so if you want any sound enhancement or if you want to listen to the radio you still have to have those wired earphones/headphones around. i am using this unit with a Sony DRBT21G/B headset and all the remote control features work quite nicely. Sound is good but not as good as it could be if the equalizer was available. Bluetooth range is very good with line of sight operation out to the spec 10 meters with no problem. Except for these limitations the unit is a beautiful design and even with big fingers the touch display works well (although a bit slow on the equalizer screen when you do have wired headphones plugged in). The display is clear and bright and the menus are easy to navigate. A little nit is you have to carry another cable around as Samsung did not use a standard USB plug on the unit (probably because it is too thin). Also would have been nice to have include a mico SD slot so you could add memory.

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mobiBLU Cube DAH-1500i 1 GB Digital Audio Player Black

• World's smallest digital audio player, at 0.63 ounces and 0.94 inches square
• 1 GB memory holds 16 hours of MP3 and 32 hours of WMA audio
• Plays MP3, WMA, and secure WMA (compatible with online stores and subscription services)
• Integrated FM radio with 20 presets and record function; built-in microphone and voice recorder
• Unique OLED display; internal lithium-polymer battery charged via USB connection or AC adapter

A few months ago I saw the MobiBLU Cube on some weekend morning news show. At the time I did not have an MP3 player, which is kind of strange since I am what you call an "early adopter." I liked the looks of the MobiBLU Cube. It's a small (approx. 1") cube that fits in the palm of your hand. A couple of weeks later I went to Wal*Mart and bought the black one. I wanted the pink one but that is only available online and I didn't feel like waiting. I purchased the 1 GB player and it was $129.00.

The MobiBLU Cube comes with the mp3 player, a pair of necklace headphones that double as antennae for the FM receiver, an ac adapter, USB cable, instruction manual, software and a rubbery protective thingy.

I should say right off that I am not a music person. I like music, of course, but I don't obsess about it. I can't really tell the difference between good sound quality and great sound quality. I can tell bad quality, though, and the MobiBLU Cube does not have bad sound quality. It may not be great quality but it is at least good quality--and, it may be great quality, as far as I know. All I can really say is that the sound quality is sufficient for me and would probably be sufficient for most people.

The MobiBLU Cube has some neat features. It can tune in FM radio stations, although in my area this feature doesn't really work. It has a microphone and can be used to take memos. You can also record from the FM receiver and add the recordings to your playlist.

I find that the included earbuds get really uncomfortable overtime. They came with spongy cover things but by the time I realized they had come with it one had already fallen out of the package so I don't know if that would help with the discomfort. My guess is that it would not help much because the discomfort is a result of the somewhat large size and slightly odd shape. I'll probably eventually pick up new earbuds one of these days.

The Self Emitting Blue OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) Display is ultra bright. Sometimes I use it in the middle of the night to find things when I don't feel like turning on the light, it is that bright. I also haven't had any problems reading the screen outside and I don't exactly have the best eyes in the world.

The random play feature needs some work. I currently have 66 songs on my unit (and yes, I paid for every one of them--I don't steal music), 26 of those songs are Big & Rich (two full albums). That's just over 1/3rd of them so at that rate B&R should be player approximately every 3rd song but typically it plays about 5-6 B&R songs in a row and then will play 1 of my other songs and a lot of the songs almost never come up on random play. Interestingly the B&R songs that are playing are almost always from the Coming to your City album. So, I have songs from one album playing repeatedly while other songs aren't playing at all. Now, obviously I like Big & Rich but come on, there's a limit to how many times I can listen to Jalapeno in one sitting! I frequently skip several songs in a row when I am listening in random play.

The product manual claims that with the screen off and the volume under 20 the MobiBLU Cube can play for up to 10 hours. I don't have the patience to wait out 10 hours to test it but I do know that I have never had it stop playing while I was listening to it. The most time I am likely to spend listening is maybe 2 or 3 hours. The one thing that really bothers me about this MP3 player is that the battery doesn't hold a charge when it is off. Every time I want to listen to it I have to recharge it even if I haven't been playing it and the battery was full a couple days ago. This may be the case with all MP3 players, I'm not sure.

I had trouble using the included software. I would drop the files to the player and the files would come up on the player as zero length files. Then I reformatted it and tried using the WMP sync function and it worked perfectly. When I got my new laptop I didn't even bother to install the MobiBLU software, I just use WMP and everything works just fine.

As far as durability goes I have had no problem. I have been using it for a few months without any problems. I have definitely dropped it once or twice and my cat is certain it is actually a cat toy. If I look away for just a second he will pick it up and run off with it and bat it around for a while. It still works despite a bit of abuse and that's a good thing. The iPod we got my nephew for Christmas stopped working before the New Year and he was treating it like vial of nitroglycerin! Apparently those things break if you look at them wrong.

The MobiBLU Cube is not without its flaws, but it's a cute little device. It's lightweight and really simple to use. The 1 GB capacity holds up to 32 hours of music (in WMA format). For the price it is probably the best deal on the market. It used to only be available from Wal*Mart but now you can find it all over the web including at TigerDirect, Target and Amazon.com.

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No need to repeat all the features, but the FM tuner functionality and recording capability is invaluable to me. The microphone is very high quality for its type -I've used it to record lectures, public announcements, and live music, and it's performed admirably in all cases. FM reception isn't too strong, but some is better than none!

One other note about the device's design: the dime's width screen makes for a surprisingly effective user interface, but don't expect to see track information while your files are playing -it just scrolls the filename. If you have 2gB of music loaded, that can be an annoyance.

Some people have complained about the service and quality of the device. I just got my 8-month-old unit back from the service center, so I can comment accurately on both issues.

The quality of the device's physical construction is very impressive. It comes with an impact guard, but it seems fairly indestructible. In 2/3 of a year of active use, there's not a scratch on the unit.

The one weak point is the OLED screen -blue, beautiful, and bright, but extremely weak to burn-in. That is, if the screen is active and displaying the charging screen -as it is when you connect it to your computer -the pixels that are on will noticeably weaken and fade. It doesn't make it unusable, but it's a flaw in the software. Using a wall or car charger does not cause this problem, so I recommend you do.

My unit's problem was corruption of the firmware. I don't know whether it was the player's fault or my computer's (I've had weird USB problems for a long time). In any case, the device would -every twenty syncs or so -get a bit corrupted, so that the options screen no longer worked. I had to reflash each time (though contrary to what another user complained about, you're not forced to delete all your audio files to do so). After months of this, a reflash failed, rendering the player unusable.

I emailed MobiBLU support about it and got no response. After a week, I called their customer support line. I talked to a very courteous representative who told me to resend the email. I did and got a response the next day. (I can only guess they have a zealous spam filter.) I sent the unit in, they replaced the firmware, and sent it back express. I got it within a three days of them receiving it.

Here's the best part: the new firmware performs a self-check on startup, which probably would have prevented my problem for occurring. The new firmware also improves navigation in the file structure and features a new "Favorites List" functionality that seems very useful. It doesn't appear to be up on their site yet, but it probably will be soon.

So: the firmware seems a little bit buggy and susceptible to corruption. Customer support requires a bit of effort to work with. Despite these problems, it's been a quality piece of equipment and the company has acquitted themselves well in our interactions.

If you want a tiny, light, convenient, inexpensive player, you can't do better than this one. It's not perfect, but I wouldn't trade it for anything else on the market.

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If you are introverted, don't buy a MobiBlu cube, people see it and want to know what it is without fail wherever I go. They will try to engage you in conversation and want to touch the cube. Once they find out it's an MP3 player, they shake their head in disbelief. It's roughly one inch square. They could probably make these even smaller but why, they'd be less usable and harder to manipulate.

In the gym I see people struggle with their oversized iPods (iPaid2much is a better name!) latched onto their arms like some plastic, electronic leech. The Mobiblu cube hangs neatly below your neckline via the supplied ear phone cord and is so light, you don't even notice it after a short while. If I am doing some very strenuous or exercising with lots of movement, just a quick tuck of the Mobiblu inside the shirt keeps it neatly and safely stowed for about anything you can think of.

Things I really like about the cube is that it recharges quickly. I can take 100's of songs with me to the gym, more than I can even listen to in the two hours I'm there. The sound is easily shaped to anyone's tastes and the construction is very sturdy, I was quite impressed by that when I first pulled it out of the box. The buttons have a nice tactile feel with sure clicks. The OLED blue screen is extremely bright and can be adjusted to further conserve battery life.

All in all, I think this is the best MP3 for the active person. This is the MP3 player that Apple wishes they were building.

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I have had the mobliBLU 1GB for about 6 months and I use it for Mp3 music only. Although it can play WMA files, I believe the battery may last longer with Mp3 files recorded @128kbps. I set the LED display to ALWAYS ON only when charging for long periods of time (ie. overnight) so that it does not overcharge the battery. I had to reinstall the latest firmware once about six months ago, but it has worked reliably ever since. Seeing the display in *bright* sunlight is a problem. Selecting the music to play is fairly easy, and I have never had a problem with "random" mode. I really like the equalizer which has presets, but allows you to configure it anyway you want. The earbuds are a tad larger than I would like, but they seem to have excellent sound quality.

The FM radio only works for strong local stations. The 1GB is too small-I am sure the 2GB is a better value. Copying music and deleting th music is a piece of cake using My Computer or Windows File Explorer. The iPOD Nano is nice, but it does not come with the necklace earbuds which are $39.99 from Apple the last time I checked. You must also use iTunes to load and remove music, which I found cumbersome. I recommend the mobiBLU for those who want to try something diferent and easy to use.

I've had my little mobiblu 1 gb player for a year now so i know a lot about it. In the begining i was so excited to have it. the easy copy paste music feature is a nice touch.the size is obviously small and convienient. but that is also its down fall. It may be to small for it's own good. small buttons, small screen, small, small, small... you get the picture? The sound quality is alright but you really need to turn it up to hear it (not to say the volume is bad). the blue screen is nice and bright easy to see in the dark, and the unit is light and not even a bit heavy...It has a radio but the reception is bad. th clock and voice recording features are a nice touch as well. plus the same cable that you connect to the computer can be plugged into a wall outlit to power it as well. plus it also can get it power from the computer

now for the problems i've had with mine.

From all the reviews on amazon i've read. all of the other people who have this little system have different unique problems...Mine are as follows

The system after a long period of time would not turn on when i press the play/on button and the system had 3 bars full power and i had to constantly press the reset button on the bottom of the unit to get it working. When that did not work i went to my computer, and had to delete everything on the system to get rid of any file corruption that might be making the unit malfunction and reinstall the firmware that came from the disc that comes with the unit. I've had to do this twice over the course of me having the unit.

Well that my scoop on the mobiblu dah 1500i

It nice for novelty and having people stare at it ask "what is it?" to you. But you would be better off spending your money on another better mp3 player like the creative labs or the ipod players

Pros: It's small, Lightweight, easy to put files on it, easy to manage.

Cons: It's Small, you might experience a problem or two.

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Weather X Am/fm Instant Weatherband Lantern Radio with Clock

• DPI FR1807 Weather-X Weather Radio
• DPI INC

I love these flashlights. These are good for gifts as you never know when an emergency situation will come up and you need a flashlight. This would be a 6 star item if the switch button as stated by the other reviewer would not be so easy to switch to the siren by accident. The radio sounds great the lights are bright and just right. I can't complain. I think every household could benefit from having a few of these.

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Light was bright, flashlight useful, siren loud. One problem: the mode switch is badly designed. It switches between flashlight, off, lantern, and siren. Whoops. Very easy to accidentally turn on the siren in the dark. Folks in neighboring tents will love you. Also, the off setting is in the middle of the sequence, not at the end. I can't quite say why that's bad, but I wouldn't have designed it that way.

But if these are my biggest complaints--and they are--then it's a fine unit. Just be careful turning it on.

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I received the GPX WeatherX FR1807 as a gift. My first impression was that it looked like a pretty good, well built, versatile flashlight/radio combo. But after installing the batteries I noticed the battery compartment cap/carrying strap will not stay on unless you are very careful with it. It was molded in two pieces, and if there is any flexing at all, it will split apart, regardless of the two tabs that keep it intact, and disconnect from the main unit. This would appear to be a serious design flaw and needs to be addressed by the manufacturer. If it were not for this problem, I would give it a much higher rating.

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When the lights suddenly go out and you are left in a dark room wondering whether it's just another rolling black out or if the Grid and life as we knew it are gone forever, it's nice to have an instant comforter at hand. Turn on the light, turn on the radio. If there is no WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP from the emergency broadcasting alert people, you're gonna be okay. Unless there really are things that only come out in the dark (and we all know there are).

A flashlight is okay, but limited. This also has a lantern capability, which gives off a nice little (quite little) circle of illumination, enough so you see not only what is right in front of you, but also what may be sneaking up on you from behind the love seat. In addition, it has a siren. Okay, the siren isn't even going to alert the next door neighbors to whatever your problem might be, but if you are trapped under rubble and your rescuers are digging in the wrong direction, it could help. Also if you are lost in the woods and less than 20 feet from camp, someone will be able to find you. If they feel like it, which is may not be the case, after all, you did get lost right outside the tent.

In case of an emergency, one little flashlight, even with a built in lantern, alarm, siren and radio is not sufficient. You need several, and you need spare batteries. There is no sense in huddling in fear when a couple of camping lanterns will make a bad situation feel less threatening and at least let you find the vodka bottle so you can enjoy waiting for the rescue dogs.

This flashlight combination is excellent, the sound quality on the radio was not bad at all, although not all stations come through very well. There is no antenna, so it's pretty much catch as catch can when flipping the dial. Still, I was able to find an AM station that provided a sufficiently clear signal with only a little dial spinning every time.

Definitely a good addition to the flashlight arsenal.

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I purchased this product to keep in my "Tornado Closet". It has everything I might need, except maybe a cell phone, but I do have one of those! So if the weather gets scary, I grab the cat, my cell, and my Kindle, and I'm good. Hopefully.

I really like this product.

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La Crosse Technology WS-8117U-IT-OAK Atomic Wall Clock with Outdoor Temperature

The clock doesn't synchronize the time due to its defective outside temperature remote. I called the manufacturer, LaCrosse Technology, and I was told that a defective remote will prevent the clock to function via radio. I find it very annoying that the company does not refund shipping charges on defective items. They charged me $7.40 for shipping me the clock and I had to pay $8.20 for UPS Ground for sending the clock back. The total shipping was $15.60 which is 43% of the price of the clock ($36). Their shipping policy also discourages anyone from getting a replacement for a defective item, because if something goes wrong again, you may exceed the price of the purchased item just in shipping charges.

Outdoor temp does not stay displayed for more than 30 minutes. Remote only 20 feet from clock. Tried resetting many times moving remote to different locations with no results to problem. Not reccommended.

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This clock performed just as advertised right out of the box. No glitches-no problems getting it going or making contact with Colorado for the automatic setting. I put the batteries in as instructed, hung it on the wall and the next morning the time was all set. It has been running fine now for several weeks.

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DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY MINE WORKED FOR ONE WEEK AND THE OUTSIDE TEMP DOES NOT WORK AFTER SEVERAL EMAILS AND A PHONE MESSAGE I HAVE NOT HAD A SINGLE RESPONSE OTHER THAN AUTO-REPLY SO I AM TELLING THE WORLD

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I was so frustrated because every clock in my house said a differesnt time. My husband always set his watch by WWV. He's gone. What do I do? Aha! An Atomic Clock will be just "the ticket". I searched and searched. Stores! Go to Google you dimwit! Yahoo! There it was. A beautiful wood clock that gave me the perfect time. And it was fairly simple (for someone who is "electronically challenged") to set up. Now I am a "Happy Camper." Thank You !

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