Philips Active PSA232 (512MB, red)

Pros: Low initial cost

Cons: Low battery life, no Vista support, FM capability marginal

Summary: As a very satisfied long time user of the Philips PSA110, I was interested in trying the 232 with its added MP3 capability. And a new 232 can be had for less than $40 from several different sellers.

But I have been quite disappointed on 3 points:

1) I use rechargable akalines in the 110 and get at least 10hrs of playtime. The 232 manual cautions - rechargables will display lowered power in the battery status icon. True, and also they last less than an hour! Useless. (And moving to expensive lithium batteries after successfully using rechargables is really unattractive.)

2) The 232 must be used with XP, it cannot be used with Vista, the Philips web site does not have an upgrade available as of Nov 2007. So I cannot use my Vista-based home computer to load up audio tracks before a weekend run, I am restricted to rounding up an XP computer whenever I want to modify my playlists.

3) The FM functionality of the 232 is really a kludge compared to the 110 - very fussy to load the presets that you want initially, and then tricky to tune in while on the run.

In summary: I didn't find this a usable product, I'm sticking with my 110 for now.