Your computer must have Windows Media Player 10.0 installed in order for the Gateway 6GB MP3 Photo Jukebox to play protected WMA files, for which it is out-of-the-box compatible. You can add nonprotected files by dragging and dropping in the Windows desktop environment. Applications such as Windows Media Player 10.0 and Napster provide automatic syncing capabilities for the device.
The installation CD-ROM includes a utility application that isn't required to use the player. The utility application includes basics such as firmware updates and device reformatting tools. A free, three-month trial subscription to Napster To Go comes with the player.
In terms of sound quality, the Gateway 6GB MP3 Photo Jukebox can hold its own, but you wouldn't know it from listening to the terrible-sounding earbuds that come with the unit. When we ditched the low-fi 'buds for a high-end set of Ultimate Ears super.fi 3 Studio headphones, tracks such as The Flaming Lips' "It's Summertime" sounded clear and multidimensional. Even with Gateway's comparatively anemic 'buds, the unit had ample volume on tap. Most of the 20-plus EQ presets didn't improve the sound, but a few, such as Bass Boost, came in handy with certain music.On the whole, the Gateway 6GB MP3 Photo Jukebox worked well with Napster To Go, but we ran into issues with the more recently released Yahoo Music Unlimited service. For instance, when we transferred subscription-downloaded tracks from the Yahoo Music Engine (the Yahoo Unlimited service's interface) to the 6GB MP3 Photo Jukebox, the device sometimes couldn't recognize the files. Additionally, it didn't support playlists transferred from Music Unlimited, but it did work with Napster To Go playlists.
Browsing photos one at a time while simultaneously listening to music worked fine, but the unit's photo-slide-show performance tended to be more unstable. Every time we attempted to play one particular photo slide show, the Gateway would display the first few slides while playing the accompanying music (a subscription-downloaded WMA file), then freeze, forcing us to use the reset button. Photo slide shows that were configured to play other subscription-downloaded WMA files were less problematic, but there were still snags. For instance, on one occasion, the player froze when we tried to navigate from the slide show's list to the main pictures menu.
All in all, the Gateway 6GB MP3 Photo Jukebox is an otherwise solid product that suffers from a few frustrating limitations and performance issues.
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