Philips GoGear HDD6330 Jukebox (30GB)

Summary: I bought this 17 October from Best Buy for a series of upcoming trips, as well as general use. I am amazed by this player. It worked right out of the box and flawlessly synched 17+ GB of music through WMP10. You know how on Star Trek, all the panels & controls are touch sensitive and were implicitly intelligently designed because everything works and can be done from that panel, well that's what Philips has done with this player (and I do not consider myself a Trekkie). I have a continual Groundhog Day experience where I'll think "it's a cool player, but not that cool" and then I'll use it again, and think "It really IS that cool!". The display/interface is intuitive (look ma, no manual) and does not scratch with normal reasonably careful use (unlike word on Apple's players), and from most any screen you can access a MENU button (lower left front of control panel below "<" button -- well, touch area) that gives contextual options. Volume is a physical toggle on the upper right edge that works no matter where you are in the menu system. Hold toggle (middle left edge) offers playback undisturbed by accidental key touches when inside your pocket. JPEG viewer handles multi-megapixel pics 100s of KB to MB size). Li+ battery is rated 15 hours, but I still like to "condition" them. Some have told me this is silly, but on first charge I got 15 hours of playback; 17 hours on the 2nd charge; and 19 hours on the 3rd charge (all on shuffle play - I went to work & let it play all day). Sound quality is excellent. FM radio tuner is great, and when you select AUTOTUNE, it scans the FM band (USA) and assigns the stations it finds to up to 20 presets -- all in 5 seconds. Sweeet! Jump presets with the track select pad: |<< or >>| or tune with the vertical slide bar. Recording with included mic works great & is wonderfully audible (but I think it records in WAV format - bulky; haven't read to see if it encodes mp3). Volume: loud enough on my headphones, and with 320kbps encoded music, sounds GREAT - I hear things in the music that I don't hear on my audiophile friend's Polk floor speakers. I will likely reencode everything to 192kbps so I can fit my entire 300 CDs on this with room to grow (and some pics for family slideshows). Synch with WMP10 was flawless & fast. Have had to reset the system once, but I do not consider this an issue - it reset immediately and worked just fine thereafter. Specs say that the HDD6330/17 (silly model name) can be flash upgraded and have done so once with no problem. Doesn't play videos, but then I didn't want that. I wanted to hear the radio, as well as have the ability to record lecture/meeting notes. CONS: accessories slow to market - I have had this 30days-2 and there are no additional accessories at Best Buy or on the Philips site; but it does come with an AC charger/USB cable, good mini ear buds with rubber grommets, & reasonable padded nylon case. I would like to see a car charger & more robust carry case that allows access/use while still encased. But I still highly recommend this player. It meets and exceeds all expectations. Go play with it in the store & take your own headphones; work the touch pad: it's responsive and hopefully an omen of things to come on future consumer products. I had gone to Best Buy with the intent to buy an iRiver 20GB player, and saw this sitting nearby, it having been introduced 2 days earlier. I'm glad I waited. The physical form thickness seems to be about that of a 60GB iPod, but battery life is excellent and I don't want to watch videos on such a small screen, nor pay for compressed DVD file formats when I can rent/buy/borrow DVDs & watch them on a larger screened portable DVD player with longer battery life. Moreover, the iPod has no FM tuner, nor records from the mic, line-in, or radio. (Line-in recording on the Philips requires base, I think - don't quote me; but mic & radio are done with no additional cables (FM reception requires headphone wire for the antenna). Impressive unit. Warning: be sure to actively eliminate this from your list or risk buyer's remorse over an inferior, competing product when you finally do encounter this Philips player.