A long way to go
 

I have had a change of heart regarding the ipod clone aka mp4 players. I bought mine on ebay and found out here about the 4 gig situation and the need to hack the player to get 2 gigs. I accepted that. For the money I paid, I was willing to overlook such problems as long as the player worked. Although, I think people suck and the fraud and deception from people is awful, the money saved to be able to listen to your favourite music allowed me to try to forget the deception.

There were problems setting up the player and the sound from the player's earphones filled myself with doubts. Is this thing junk? Once again, this forum comes to the rescue. I read that you need to buy a decent pair of earphones. I had a bit of trouble getting an adapter. The first I bought at Circuit City was defective. I take the one back and get the same brand. It works. I can now plug in 3.5 earphones. I have another ebay fiasco in that the the earphones I bid on and won is not the same I received. However, the ones I received seem to be of good quality. But, I won't give any feedback to the buyer since I was never told about the switch.

However, the battery life of the player was initially poor and I was not aware of the limited time. But now, it is even worse. The player won't recharge properly or the battery is just quickly dying. I'm not sure of what is actually happening but I'm getting tired of messing with this thing. For double the price, I could have saved a lot of time and bought a brand name player. I would have tons more of listening time and not have to spend most of the time with it hooked up to the computer recharging.

I have changed my tune: I now think these mp4 players have a long way to go before they are an alternative to standard mp3 players. I already learned of a friend of a friend who bought one who was able to return his (for whatever reason). I'm unable to do that but I will probably look at a brand name mp3 player as a spare or probably a replacement. The quality of most of these mp4 players seem to be subpar. I don't think you can simply state 'look at how much you paid for it...what do you expect...' I can spend $40 or $50 on a lot of things and ensure I get something back. I'm disappointed because of the time spent on the player and the waiting time (for the player etc.). I still ordered an adapter on ebay and never received it yet. I bought it when I thought the previously bought adapter was a product-wide quality issue. The new one looked like a better design, too, but it doesn't matter when it doesn't even arrive.

Hopefully, the quality will improve but I think I'll be suspending the mp4 ipod clone experiment. Good luck to those who pursue these players.

Again, the running theme in your recent posts is one of lumping all non-popular-namebrand mp4 players in the same boat, but it doesn't quite pan out in real life, because there are better quality non-Apple Chinese players, like the Meizu, Ramos or Teclast. The Meizu's battery is rated at 20 hours (better than the iPods) and apparently does actually come close to living up to its rating. But you will pay more for these better quality players. I think they can be very good value these cheap mp4's for those on a budget, but still, as you know, you do get what you pay for to a certain extent. Now with yours, you have two options. If you are technically inclined, you can open up the unit, take measurements of the battery well, and for a few bucks, but an aftermarket nano battery on ebay with a higher mah (capacity) that will fit. Or, you can simply sell your player locally, you might even get all of what you paid for, as mp4 players are hot items.

To compare them to "standard mp3 players", well overall, I dont think any mp4 players are as practical as a good mp3 player. For example, there's no mp4 player that takes a standard aa/aaa battery! If you don't need video, you're better off with a good mp3 player, you'll be happy! You want long battery life? Check out my review here on the Panasonic SV-MP010. It has 80hrs of battery life on a single aa! (1GB can be had for $50US). I also recommend the Samsung Yp-mt6z (only 1 gig though, 40hrs batt) or the iRiver T10 (about 40hrs batt). A very top rated mp3/mp4 player is the Cowon D2. The problem with buying Senn CX300's on eBay is most are fakes, and you gotta know what you're doing to even have a chance of spotting those who might not be selling fakes on ebay. EBay of course, history's biggest scamming organization, doesn't give a rat's ass that most of these phones selling on their site are fakes, since they take in part of the cut of the scam. It's true, people do suck. But eBay sucks harder.

Thank you for your reply, michiganjfrog. Sorry, I have a negative perspective on these mp4 players so if there are a good bunch out there, then I would concede but according to my experiences and the material I've read, there are a lot of poor quality ones out there. Is there reviews of the good players on here? I'd be interested in reading one about the Meizu. I don't know if I want to take a chance on another unknown mp4 player on ebay, though. Yes, I'd like something with a better battery life than 2 hrs.

One with video isn't overly important to me. I guess it's a bonus but I can live without it. I want the mp34 player for listening to tunes. I'll probably take a look at brand name players but I'd like some recommendations and I appreciate the ones you've mentioned. I did buy a decent pair of earphones so at least I'm set there.

I apologize for my negative tone but I was really frustrated when the player kept causing me problems. I spent quite a bit of time on it and it was initially very promising. The instructions for setup on here were excellent and so was the advice and assistance for the initial problems. Alas, I really do think the player I got has some flaws and I'm not sure I want to spend much more time working on it. I could fiddle with the battery but I think I'll get a mp3/4 player that works 100%.

Look, I totally understand you raggin' on the cheap chipods, you are well founded to do so! I'd do the same if they last for 2 hrs. I just thought I'd mention that not all unbranded or little known Chinese brands are as bad as the 1st gen nano clone you bought. For example, my 2nd gen nano clone (Full Metal Platinum) is definitely better and lasts longer than my 1st gen chipod, but its still not great. That's why I suggested something like the Meizu (I guess it fits somewhere between well known name branded and totally unbranded players). The Meizu is made to higher standards than your chipod (but not the Meizu clones on eBay). If you check the Meizu forums, you can find plenty of info on them, including the online site they are sold at if you want to avoid eBay (House of Dap sells many of the better quality players too).

Re: A long way to go
 

I don't have a Meizu, but I do have a Teclast T-29.
I highly recommend one of these players also. Here is the review that made me want to buy mine:
Teclast T-29 Review

I have a 5.5 Gen IPod 30GB video and the sound quality is totally GARBAGE to my Meizu 4GB M6.

Seriously DON'T buy IPOD!
I don't hate it because of its branding etc etc, I hate it because the sound quality sucks sooooo bad.

And YES I'm using pretty decent headphones (Koss Portapros)

If you want to find more about Meizu, goto youtube and type in Meizu in the search.

There should be quite a few video reviews for it.

my nano clone was perfect, except now the switch fell off. If video doesn't matter that much, get a 40 dollar sandisk mp3 player. that was my first mp3 player i got. it was a year and about 3 months ago. it was good for listening to music. i like my chipod though because you are able to watch videos, and listening to music isn't bad either. i would recomend getting a full metal platinum. i've heard alot of good reviews from that player. the meizu is good too, i think it's actually the best mp4 player you can get. well, best chipod you can get. look at the expensive mp4 players on ebay, that are brand named, they look really good. also look at the ipod video clone, and rockchip players, they are very good mp4 players aswell.
i would say that about 70 percent of nano clones are bad quality as you say they are. mine wasn't that bad. if i were you i would probably buy urself a new cheap brand name mp3 player.
or, go to uxcell and try the shuffle clone, it's only 12 dollars, and you can get a refund.