Motorola M500 Digital Audio Player (5GB)

Pros: Price per gigabyte. Overall design. Sound performance. Simplicity. Battery life.

Cons: A few shabby design flaws. Could be a bit louder.

Summary: Wow, I cannot believe C/net gave this a 6. If you are considering buying this mp3 player do not be scared off by C/net's biased review.

Not sure why James Kim had such a difficult time with the mini joystick. (although by the looks of his cordination trying to use it in the video review of the m500 I can guess) I found the joystick a breeze to use. It's the same proven design that has worked so well for sony ericsson phones. You move four directions to navigate and click down to select. I haven't had one problem.

The updated firmware for the player is great. I easily found my way around and mastered the system within thirty seconds of use. The people who complained the player stopped working didnt update the firmware before use.(including c/net) Do that first.

The player sounds great, feels secure and the battery lasts forever. The color should not be an issue. Who cares what it looks like if it performs. The screen is small but very clear and concise. A bigger screen would only cut the battery life so I'm glad its the size it is. It gets the job done beautifully.

The only negative I can find for this player is a few shoddy design flaws. One the back cover doesn't fit perfectly snug and aligned. Im a perfectionist so it bugs me. It shouldn't bug anyone else. The other thing is when your in the dark and the backlight is on, light leaks out through the edges of screen frame. Its not a big deal but would not have been hard to fix before production.

Don't expect too much from the headphones that ship with it due to the fact that they aren't worth the cost of the materials used to make them. Don't even open the package. Just toss em away. I tried them out and I had to adjust the plug to get sound from both earbuds. Horrible. My koss portapro's sound amazing with this player. I suggest you get yourself some real headphones.

All in all this player kills the ipod mini and all of the competition for the price. The ipod mini cannot play wma or audible files, does not have a fm reciever, is 100 bucks more expensive and doesnt have a removable battery. Enough said. Buy this player.