Portable Media Player Reviews

The newToshiba Gigabeat V portable media player boasts a large viewing LCD screen and up to 8 hours1 of continuous video playback. 'Toshiba America Consumer Products, L.L.C., ("Toshiba") announced today the new MEV30K V Series portable media player - the latest addition to its gigabeat line. Adding to the already popular gigabeat S Series portable media players, the V Series features a larger viewing screen and extended battery life1 for the ultimate portable video experience. The V Series features a 3.5" (diagonally measured) TFT LCD display, a built-in speaker and utilizes Microsoft's Portable Media Center Version 2.0 software.

James Kim writing over at CNET has reviewed the Toshiba Gigabeat V30 Portable Media Center (PMC). ‘I n 2006, the supercompact Gigabeat S launched Toshiba into the MP3 player elite. The company, which is manufacturing the upcoming 30GB Microsoft Zune, has recently launched the Gigabeat V30, a 30GB Portable Media Center (PMC) device with a big screen and an original new look. As much as I appreciate the intuitive PMC interface as well as the healthy boost in battery life over that of the S, the V30 is disappointing overall. Its lack of A/V recording, a higher-capacity model, and FM radio, plus a subpar display, make the V a mediocre choice in a market full of excellent PVPs. n 2006, the supercompact Gigabeat S launched Toshiba into the MP3 player elite.

The Toshiba Gigabeat S supercompact 30GB portable video player has been reviewed over at CNET. 'The Toshiba Gigabeat S handles MP3, WMA Lossless, and WAV, as well as WMV and WMA. Other video formats, such as MPEG-4, AVI, DivX, and MOV, are automatically transcoded in Windows Media Player 11 (DivX video support was planned but not implemented). It also supports WMA subscription services such as Napster and MTV Urge, and it is compatible with Tivo To Go and Media Center recordings.

A review of the Toshiba Gigabeat MEV30K portable media player has been posted at Laptop Magazine. 'The gigabeat MEV30K doesn't make a good first impression. Its housing is made of shiny plastic-and lots of it. This unit lacks the Archos 604's beautiful aluminum construction. In fact, Archos builds the same size screen (3.5 inches) into a significantly smaller unit. By contrast, the MEV30K's two-tone case tries but fails to hide the unit's imposing girth.

PC Magazine have published a review of the Toshiba Gigabeat U Series flash media player. 'Toshiba's well-liked gigabeat series of portable media players has, until now, been confined to the hard disk category. The new 2GB gigabeat U Series certainly breaks the mold. It's a tiny, attractive flash memory-based device that sells for $100—a full $50 cheaper than the 2GB iPod nano. What the U Series lacks in grace (its graphics and tiny screen are unremarkable) it makes up for in ease-of-use. Navigation is straight-forward using the "PlusPad" buttons and the Menus don't bog you down with convoluted paths and too many choices, unlike the RCA Opal or Cowon iAUDIO 7. This player is by no means a masterpiece, but it is reasonably priced, boasts both FM and line-in recording, looks pretty cool, and is a breeze to operate. All in all, it's a strong first showing for Toshiba in the flash-based player market.'

CNET have published their review of the Toshiba Gigabeat U (2GB, Black) portable media player. 'Measuring a demure 3 inches tall, 1.3 inches wide, and just a hair under a half-inch thick, the Gigabeat U certainly falls into the Nano-size category. The top of the player features an easy-to-use textured black-plastic power switch that doubles as a button hold. Lining the bottom of the player are the Gigabeat U's headphone jack, a metal-reinforced lanyard loophole, and a standard mini USB port. All the action is on the front of the player, where you'll find the 1-inch color OLED screen, a menu key, an options button, and a four-way directional pad with a center button that acts as a play/pause/enter key.'

A review of the Toshiba Gigabeat T400 (4GB, orange) portable media player has been posted over at ZDNet. ‘The Toshiba Gigabeat T400 has a minimal design that definitely borrows a page from its bigger brother, the hard-drive-based Gigabeat S. But in the case of the T400, you get glossy black plastic rather than brushed silver metal--it's definitely a different appeal, though not at all unattractive. In fact, both the S series and T series share nearly identical 2.4-inch QVGA screens, capable of a crisp 320x240 resolution. The Gigabeat T400 is a much smaller device than the S series, however, with a 3.37-inch by 2.13-inch by 0.4-inch body that is dominated by the wide screen.

A review of the Toshiba Gigabeat T400 portable media player has been posted over InfoSync World. 'The player packs 4GB of flash memory, which seems to be about standard for its price range, but was too small for us to consider it a serious video player. However, the flash memory is nice because of its higher speeds, lack of moving parts and better battery life than a comparably sized HDD. Similarly-sized devices like the Cowon D2 at least offered an SD card slot for expanded capacity (albeit with admittedly slower data access), which would have helped the T400 here. In addition, while 4GB may be acceptable for the casual music fan, listeners with considerable music libraries will undoubtedly find the size inadequate; we didn’t penalize the T400 too much for this, since that audience is obviously not who the device is aimed at.'

A review of the Toshiba Gigabeat U and T Series portable media players has been posted over at The Gadgeteer. 'The T-series gigabeat is the larger player in both physical size (2.125 x 3.375 x 0.375 inches) and storage capacity (4GB). Available in Pink, Blue and Orange, I was sent the Orange model. The casing is made of very shiny Black plastic (I think... it might be aluminum, but I don't think so...) that is a magnet for finger smudges and smears. The user interface consists of the PlusPad, which is a cross shaped button. When pressed Left or Right, the PlusPad controls track playback and when pressed Up or Down, it controls volume levels and is also used to scroll up and down through lists.'

Laptop Magazine have published their review of the Toshiba gigabeat T400 portable digital player. 'The Gigabeat T's best feature is its interface, which closely resembles and integrates tightly with Windows Media Center. The 2.4-inch screen looked great, and the plus-pad controls were extremely easy to use. The animated menus are clear and responsive, and you get plenty of control over sound and video playback. Our test music sounded impressive, and the player supports the pristine-sounding WMA Lossless format as well as MP3, WMA (including subscription content), and WAV files. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery and JPEG photos looked excellent on the QVGA screen, though videos are limited to the WMV format.'