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Entered CNET Catalog: 02/06/2002
SKU: 0036725600515
Manufacturer: Samsung
Manufacturer description
Yepp plays MP3 digital audio music files downloaded from your computer. It has a high power output signal and a four-mode equalizer. Also, because Yepp has no moving parts, you won't have to listen to the bumps and jitters you would otherwise experience with a CD player. Yepp is one of smallest and lightest MP3 players on the market. The Sport Yepp provides MP3 and WMA music file playback. It delivers up to 15 hours of playback time. The Sport Yepp has an FM tuner (10 channels preset), 64MB built-in flash memory and a customizable 4-mode equalizer. The backlight LCD display lets you see the titles of the songs stored on your MP3 player. The Sport Yepp allows for high-speed USB data transfer and voice recording.Product summary
The good: Ultracompact; nice design; built-in FM radio; WMA support; protective carrying case and armband included.
The bad: No expansion slot for adding more memory; no Mac support; should be cheaper.
The bottom line: This YEPP is a nice little player with one major drawback: the lack of an expansion slot.
Average user rating: from 7 users
3.0 stars
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 10/28/2002
Design
Weighing only 1.9 ounces with two AAA batteries installed, the YP-90S has an attractive, teardrop-shaped design that measures 1.97 by 3.07 by 0.86 inches. Sans batteries, the unit feels a little chintzy, but after they are installed, this YEPP seems more substantial. The player doesn't appear to be superdurable, but a nice, neoprene, protective case attaches to your belt and keeps the player from getting dinged up. An armband attachment is included for runners.
The YP-90S is simple to use, though we did have to take a quick glance at the manual to figure out how to access all the player's features. A convenient rock/scroll wheel handles song and menu navigation--a great way to pack an easy-to-use interface onto a tiny player.
While the backlit, monochrome LCD is small, it displays all pertinent song information, including the track title and the bit rate. You can customize the start-up graphic with the help of a free software download, but we didn't bother, as the bundled logo was just fine with us.
Features
As noted, the YP-90S has a few extras beyond the basics. Most notably, you get a voice recorder and a built-in FM radio that can store 10 stations. There's also the standard repeat and random modes, as well as a hold feature that locks the player's buttons. A basic equalizer for tweaking the bass and the treble levels is also onboard.
The included software is a version of RioPort Audio Manager, which allows you to organize your tunes and turn your CDs into MP3 or WMA files. With 64MB of built-in memory, you'll probably want to use WMA files encoded at 64Kbps to maximize storage capacity. (WMAs are more compressed than MP3s but sound about the same.)
Files transfer via a USB 1.1 connection, which is the standard protocol for the current crop of flash-based MP3 players. Unfortunately, the YEPP is not compatible with Macs; when we plugged the player into our G4 desktop, iTunes didn't recognize it, although Samsung claims that it does work.
Performance
The included earbuds are fairly decent but may be a little big for some ears; runners might want to opt for more secure headband-style headphones.
When you hit the power button, the unit turns on fairly quickly though not instantaneously--no complaints there. This YEPP has a very clean 90dB signal-to-noise ratio, resulting in minimal hiss during playback. We were satisfied with the unit's sound quality and loudness once we made a few adjustments to the equalizer.
Using a Dell P4 1.8GHz desktop running Windows XP, we transferred six songs--or 19MB of files--from the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack in 52 seconds, which translates to a very fast file-transfer speed of 0.37MB per second. That's not bad for USB 1.1, although Samsung says that you can get up to 5MB per second.
With minimal use of the backlight, we managed to match the rated battery life of 14 hours, which is slightly above average. No rechargeable cells are included, but you do get two no-name, alkaline AAAs to get you started.
As far as the FM radio goes, it did fine picking up powerful stations such as New York's Z100, but it didn't do as well with smaller stations.
In the final analysis, the YP-90S certainly has its appealing qualities, most notably compact size, attractive styling, and a decent feature set.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 User Rating:
4.0 stars
out of 7 user reviews
Satisfied user
Pros:
Cons:
Review: More memory would be great but try downloading files as .wma at 64kps instead of .mp3 at 128kps and you will get a full 2 hours of music and still have good sound quality. The FM radio reception is fine on my commute from New Jersey to New York City by bus each day.
User Rating:
4.5 stars
out of 7 user reviews
Good Sound + Features
Pros:
Cons:
Review: I bought this thing for $200 CAN and its great. It has voice recording and FM radio functions. It can hold over 30 songs which isn't great but not too bad either. 15hr battery lafe is goog compared to other Mp3 players. A good over-all player.
User Rating:
1.5 stars
out of 7 user reviews
BEWARE!SPYWARE!and SecuMAX
Pros:
Cons:
Review: The player itself seems well designed and has great features, but if you read the liscensing agreement you will notice that buy installing the software you are giving them permission to scan your system and view what you are doing and to give out that information. Also the ripping software used SecuMAX which encodes your media files so it cannot be used by any other media player, and you get all this at a premium price for the player in the first place. After reading the agreement I canceled the install and returned the player, too bad it was a nice player just bad software.
User Rating:
3.0 stars
out of 7 user reviews
No expansion slot
Pros:
Cons:
Review: Bought because it had all the features of the 700H in a smaller format. Opened it to find out that it was only 64 MB built in with no expansion slot.
User Rating:
4.0 stars
out of 7 user reviews
meets all my workout expectations
Pros:
Cons:
Review: I wanted a very small, very light, reasonably priced digital player with FM tuner for working out. Couldn't find this criteria until the YP-90S. It has been great - exactly what I wanted. Only very minor complaints are that navigation between modes is slightly confusing and it eats up batteries (like all digital players). Otherwise, it is perfect if you want 1 hour of digital music with the option of listening to the radio when working out.
User Rating:
3.0 stars
out of 7 user reviews
Very pleased with this product
Pros:
Cons:
Review: I have had this player for about a month and I have used it daily for working out/running. So far I have had no problems with it. It is incredibly light and the built in tuner was a must for me. The sound quality is great when listening to either mp3s or to the radio.
User Rating:
2.5 stars
out of 7 user reviews
Great...for a day or so
Pros:
Cons:
Review: This player impressed me at first. But, within one day, the headphones broke, and 3 major buttons jammed. The player wouldn't accept the 128 MB SmartMedia card I bought for it either.
