[shopeda]

1 GB Black Full Metal Platinum 1.8"

Just received the player a few days ago from UXCell. Shipping was amazingly quick-from Hong Kong to Pennsylvania and in my hands in 5 days.

The player has a fairly solid build, under the quality of the iPod, but not that much. The middle button can slide under, as mentioned above, but doesn't happen too often and is very easy to fix.

The screen is bright and clear and I haven't experienced any problems with ghosting during video playback. The digital radio is CRYSTAL clear, and there are several options for recording radio. You can record to .wav or .mp3, and choose your bitrate from 68kbps to 384kbps. The built-in mic also records decent quality, and has a good pickup range.

The features all have persistence--meaning, if you shut off the player and are reading an ebook, it will retain the page you are on, the spot you were at on a video, the exact second of the song you were on, etc.

Regarding photos--it can automatically size a photo down to view on the screen--it doesn't rotate for different aspect ratios, however. I would recommend sizing them down yourself before transferring to save space, load time, and quality.

You can charge, transfer, or charge & listen/view at the same time. The nice thing about the usb cable is they are readily available and very cheap, so if something happens to the one included it is not a hassle to purchase another.

You can see from the images the placement of the different controls. For $39.99, I am very impressed by the quality and number of features packed into this device. Grade 9/10

Side note: The cd containing the software for converting had some scratches and didn't work. No problem--just search google for AMV Converter--this will have the video conversion tool you need. At least for windows, you don't need to install any drivers since it is used as a storage drive, much like a USB drive.

[img=left:1ac44238be]http://sigmorobot.com/platinum%201.jpg[/img:1ac44238be]