After a bad experience with a new Sony MP3 player last year (it relied on the proprietary SonicStage software to transfer music, which takes ages, but that's another story) I went to Dixons last weekend in search of a new MP3 player.
The best of what was, frankly, a bad (not to mention overpriced) bunch was the Samsung YP-U3 player, which promised an integrated FM radio, good old-fashioned drag-and-drop transfer and a built-in battery for easy charging - and what a waste of money it has turned out to be.
The touch-sensitive keys aim to emulate the iPod Nano, but turn out to be so sensitive that even the basic task of walking along and listening to MP3s is nigh-on impossible without having to engage the fiddly "lock" mode, whose button is rather too close to a trigger button which, when pressed, makes a flimsy little half-USB plug pop out. It's so brittle that the PC drops the connection at the merest hint of a vibration in the street. That'll be broken before the month's out, then.
A confusing menu aims to make life even more difficult, resetting playlists if you accidentally touch the wrong part of the keyboard, and while I was amazed to find that while the player self-installs without any problems in Windows XP, Vista refuses to recognise it at all! The manufacturers deliver a final kick up the arse by not having the basic courtesy to make drivers available from their website.
My first ever MP3 player was so simple to use - drag and drop and keep the batteries charged up. No fancy formats. No proprietary software. No fiddly buttons. When will the manufacturers of these things realise that sometimes it's best to keep things simple? I've lost any loyalty or respect I might once have had for Samsung and Sony thanks to the contemptous way they treat their customers.
