Portable Media Player Reviews

A review of the Insignia 2GB MP3 Player and Image Viewer has been posted over at ZDNet. 'At 3.9 x 1.8 x 0.6 inches, the Insignia is on the hefty side, but it should still fit in most pockets. The unit is all black, with a shiny plastic face and a nicely textured backside. An ample 2.2-inch color screen takes up about two-thirds of the front, while playback controls take up the other third. Two tactile buttons--power and menu--rest above a five-way control wheel: a play/pause key is surrounded by a mechanical scroll wheel that can also be pressed down in four directions to shuttle through tracks or display options.

The Gadgeteer has posted a review of the Insignia NS-DV2G Video MP3 Player and the NS-DA1G MP3 player. 'People reading this site are no doubt well aware of my love for all things iPod. I've been a fan for years now, and have eight of them (various models) strewn around my house in drawers and gear bags. Although I've tested many other brands of digital audio players, I always come back to the iPod as my favorite. Today I'm going to tell you about the Insignia NS-DV2G and NS-DA1G players from Best Buy. These are great alternatives... dare I say that they might even be a better choice than the iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle!'

CNET have reviewed the budget-priced Insignia Sport MP3 (2GB) player. 'If the Insignia Sport is supposed to be for exercise nuts, the buttons are remarkably poorly designed, despite being extremely intuitive. The playback controls on the front are nearly flush with each other, making it far too easy to press the wrong one. I like the dedicated volume controls and hold switch on the sides, though, and you can conveniently adjust the orientation of the screen and controls for righties and lefties.

DAP Review have published a review of the Insignia Video (NS-DVxG) media player. 'Fresh off their no-frills Sport MP3 player (formerly the Amigo), Insignia, the house brand of American consumer electronics chain Best Buy, has gone after a larger piece of the pie with a full-featured 4 GB flash player designed to compete with the flash iPods, Sansas, and Zens on the market. This player is called the Insignia Video (A.K.A. the NSxVG), and is the subject of the following review. The earbuds are the same model that come with the Sport. They're comfortable but offer nothing outstanding as far as sound goes. The wire is the asymmetrical type popularized by Sony earphones, designed to be positioned behind your neck. Some people obviously like this style but I prefer "y-corded" earphones.'

The Insignia 4GB Video MP3 player has been reviewed over at The MP3 Players.com. ‘As a budget MP3 player, I don’t expect Insignia to have top sound quality. But it don’t fail me, at least I’m impressed by its easy navigation and interface menu. Most of time, I need only press on “Menu”, “Play/Pause” and the control wheel. The only bad thing about the design could be it doesn’t look friendly for left-handed fellows like me. The Insignia features a 2.2″ LCD display. The screen is bright and large enough to watch video when you are mobile. Video is playing smooth on it but picture quality still need to be improved.’

A review of the Insignia NS-DVB4G Video MP3 player has been psoted over at The Gadgeteer. 'Out of the box, the NS-DVB4G looks pretty much identical to the NS-DV2G. The only physical differences between these two devices are a Bluetooth logo on the face, a Blue backlit ring around the scroll wheel and Play/Pause button, and a dark Blue (instead of Black) shiny face. The display is the same size and

14U News have published a review of the Insignia Pilot 4GB portable video player. ‘The Insignia Pilot 4GB MP3 player supports MP3, WMA, WMA Lossless, WMA DRM, WMA Pro, OGG, WAV, Audible, MPEG4 (30 fps), WMV (30 fps) and JPEG formats. The player also has upgradable firmware to allow for playing new formats as well. The music management software is Best buy Digital Music store and the player is compatible with Rhapsody, Rhapsody to Go and iTunes as well. PlaysForSure compatibility is also featured. Power for the player comes from an internal and rechargeable lithium-ion battery that is not removable. The battery is rated for up to 25 hours of playback. Charge and sync of music is done via USB and the Insignia Pilot 4GB MP3 player has a built-in FM tuner.’

CNET have published their review of the Insignia Pilot with Bluetooth (8GB) media player. 'Compared with many other flash MP3 players, the Insignia Pilot is not the most compact device: it measures 4 inches by 1.9 inches by 0.4 inch, so it's not huge but a bit on the long side. It's also not overtly stylish, but with its black body wrapped in a brushed silver trim, the player isn't an eyesore, either. The face of the Pilot features an ample 2.4-inch color LCD screen on the left and a control pad on the right. The latter consists of a menu button and mechanical scroll ring with four-way clicking capability surrounding a Play/Pause key. A Power/Hold switch and the rather unique star-rating toggle line the top edge of the player, and the ports--headphone, line-in/secondary headphone, and standard mini USB--reside along the right spine. Best Buy has also built-in SD card expansion slot into the bottom of the player, which is handy for users who don't want to be limited to 8GB of memory.'

Gadgetell have published a review of the Insignia Pilot MP3 player. 'Inside the box came a wall socket charger, ear buds, installation CD, instruction manual, and of course the Pilot MP3 player. Unfortunately, Bluetooth headphones are sold separately, but thankfully, I had a pair already and so I could test out it’s Bluetooth capabilities. One of the things I didn’t like was the packaging, it was a pain in the neck to finally get the MP3 player out, which seems fairly standard with electronics lately. After getting it out, I quickly went to go charge it and read up on the manual. Another good thing was the manual was easy to understand. About a few hours later it was finally done charging. Before installing the CD and transferring music, I wanted to check out the FM radio on it. I opened up the ear buds and turned on the player, everything worked well. It will also display the song title and artist, assuming the radio station provides that information.'