[0wned]

I was also just ripped off by powersellerturbo, aka marklarson007@aol.com. I didn't know about all this until I purchased my player, and even sent him an e-mail before it shipped warning him not to send it if it was a fake. I found this web site and all and it's a great resource, I only wish I found it sooner.

The ebay auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWN%3AIT&rd=1

The e-mail I sent to him, and his reply shortly after I paid for the item and began researching it (doh!):

In a message dated 9/12/2006 11:49:28 P.M. Central Standard Time, iamlepperts18@yahoo.com writes:
I've been doing some research on this player since my purchase and have found there have been some issues relating to the truth of the capacity of the player by some sellers. In your auction you stated the player has 8 GB (8,192 megabyte - MB) capacity. Based on this and after a review of your previous feedback, please confirm if this is true or not; if the player is not truly 8 gigabytes please do not send the item and promptly return my PayPal payment.

Thank you,

Pamela

They are 8gb. , we don't care to get tangled up in the fake stuff. To many headaches.

I received the player today. On the outside of the box is an "8GB" sticker, on the back of the player there were two small round holographic shiny stickers, one that said "8G" and another that said "FM".

First thing I did is look at the properties of the drive, and sure enough it stated 8 GB. Looks good, maybe its true (hah)? Still I decided to format the drive. I tried first with the included MP3 player disk tools, which reported the capacity as 4 GB with matching number of sectors. I tried a low, full and quick format and they all failed stating "Volume too large" at the end. Not good so far.

Then I tried to format using windows, first trying a fat32 format. This formatted ok and oddly still reported 8 GB capacity. The drive has always been reading FAT32 file system. I then tried a regular FAT format and it completed ok.

I turned the device off and back on and went to the drive and windows reported it was not formatted and needed to be formatted. So I decided to format it regular ms dos style fat again, it formatted to reveal the true 2 GB size (about 1900 MB). The disk tool is now also reporting the correct size.

I never did anything to the firmware so I beleive the trick is in how they format the flash, using some kind of FAT32 trick to fool the OS into thinking its a higher capacity. It only switched to the real size when the FAT32 format was destroyed by a regular FAT style format. I've since loaded files, turned off/on, etc. to ensure the file system integrity.

To be sure, I opened up the player to examine the flash chip. Sure enough it's a Samsung K9WAG08U1A, which is a 1G x 2 (two chips in one). So my player is really only 2 GB after all, 75% less than what the seller claimed. Also in this case there is no confusing the GB with Gbit, as 8 Gbit = 1 Gbyte, however this player is in fact 2 GB.

Here is my angry e-mail fired off tonight:

Hello,

I just got the player and it is 2 GB. Two GIGA BYTES. A byte is equal to 8 bits!! I reformatted the player and sure enough it is reading the true 2 GB capacity!! Just to be sure I examined the flash chip and it is a single Samsung K9WAG08U1A. This is a 1 GB x 2 chip. 2 GB!! Not 8! This is a very serious difference.

You lied in both the auction and the e-mail. If I wanted to purchase a 2 GB MP4 player, I would not of spent over $100!!! Either you do not know your products well or you lied in the auction on purpose to raise the bid price.

Now, I am giving you the chance to make this right before I go to PayPal and eBay. Either send a true 8 GB player (which I really don't think exist) or refund my money. I'm not asking for a free player but there is no reason why I spent $100 on this player when I could have got a 2GB buy it now for under $50.

Regards,

Pamela

I've not yet posted negative feedback or done anything to maintain a good position with the seller. However it is clear that this player is only 2 GB. It's a nice player and I do like it and will mod it etc. but I wanted an 8 GB player to hold my entire music collection. I wouldn't be so mad if there was a way to upgrade the player but in this case there is not...

That and the fact I paid $100 when I could have got a real 2 GB nano for only $50 more....