Coby MP600 Video MP3 Player

[Fullorton]

Nowadays, it's rather hard to take a look at a new MP3 player that arrives on the market and not make some sort of comparison with some of the top sellers, most of which belong to Apple's iPod family of portable players. And that's exactly the case with the Coby MP600, a device that offers quite a few interesting features of its own, with a form factor and design that, however, make it look like a direct competitor for the iPod nano.

Aside from the device’s aesthetics - we’d prefer something slightly more original, if you know what I mean - there’s really not a lot not to like about the Coby MP600 DAP as, in terms of functionality, it’s actually hard to fault - and that’s without even taking its somewhat competitive pricing into account. Yes, we might not want it, but we do, actually, rather like it much in the same way that we actually quite liked that spotty kid at school but we still didn’t hang with him (oh, no, hold on, that was me - ah, memories, painful memories).

The Coby MP600 DAP, which measures in at 1.57″ x 3.12″ x 0.41″, comes with a 1.44″ 128 x 128 resolution LCD display and, as well as offering MP3, WMA, MTV Video, JPG and TXT support (as well as Flash support) comes with built-in FM tuner and will put in up to 10 hours of audio playback endurance before needing the be re-juiced. Integrated flash memory, USB 2.0 hi-speed file transfer, and up to 4GB of storage make it quick and easy to take digital entertainment wherever you go. FM radio also included.It kind of looks like the most recent Nano but only in the most broadly gestalt sense.

Features:

• 1.44" colorLCD display
• Integrated flash memory
• Playsmusic, video, photos, and text
• Integrated FM radio
• ID3 and LRC support for song and lyric information display
• USB 2.0 Hi-Speed for fast file transfers
• Integrated rechargeable battery

Specifications:

• Memory Capacity: 2GB
• Display Resolution: 128 x 128
• Media Support: Integrated Flash
• Format Support: Audio: MP3, WMA; Video: MTV; Photo: JPG; Text: TXT
• OS Support: Windows Vista/XP/2000
• Menu Language Support: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, German
• Additional Functions: FM Tuner
• Audio Output: 3.5mm Headphone
• PC Interface: USB 2.0 Hi-Speed
• Power: Integrated Rechargeable Lithium Polymer Battery
• Battery Life: Capacity: 300mAh; Audio Play Time:10hr
• Unit Dimension (WHD): 1.57" x 3.12" x 0.41"
• Certifications: FCC, CE

[Fullorton]

Unfortunately, the storage space ain't exactly fantastic, Coby's player being available solely in 2GB and 4GB versions which is rather puny, considering the fact that 16 and 32GB flash memory modules are not exactly that expensive nowadays.

The portable player provides extensive file support, working very well with MP3 and WMA audio files, MTV video files, as well as JPG photos. Plus, the device also offers TXTID3 and LRC support for song and lyric information display, and if you get bored with your own music, you can always tune to your favorite radio station via the built-in FM tuner.

The Coby MP600 portable player is in fact a very affordable product, selling for a price point the vicinity of 30 US dollars, which seems to be a fairly reasonable sum, all things considered.

[Larry ward]

As far as the issue of connectivity is concerned, the Coby MP600 is rather standard, featuring just a 3.5-mm headphone and an USB 2.0 interface, used both for transferring data and recharging the built-in battery

[labman]

Anyways... what if memory is low, or features are low.. The company is even providing the low cost as well...

[oldyellr]

I just bought one of these, an MP600-4G, and it's an amazing value. Cost $30 CAD on sale at Zellers. I have a couple of other MP3 players, a 1 gig iRiver iPF-799, which cost me over $200 about 4 years ago and needs their software to load and a 1 gig Nextar that was $25 about a year ago.

This Coby does not appear to be as rugged as the iRiver, but for the price, I'm not complaining. So far the only complaint I have is that the menus are a crap shoot to navigate. I finally stumbled across how to make it play all songs at random and how to set the equalizer, but have not been able to find those features since. The printed documentation is minimal and the .pdf docs found in the unit are not much more detailed. Also, I found that when trying to charge the battery with a USB charger in the car, it stopped playing. That would mean if the battery ran down while I was listening, I couldn't listen again until after it was recharged, which kind of sucks. (At least I'm hoping the Magellan GPS car charger I have works like any other generic USB car charger.)

If anybody can provide a tutorial how to navigate all the menus on this thing, I'd be very grateful.

[oldyellr]

Okay, I think I've found the answer to my question about navigating the menus. I just had to read the instructions more carefully.

The printed instructions do tell you how to access the Quick Option Menu, but not what you'll find there. There are more details in the .pdf file.

The more I play with this thing, the more I like it. Oh, sure, I'd love to have a 120gig iPod, but not for the price. The only thing still bugging me is whether it's actually possible to listen while connected to a USB charger.

[anon666]

The only thing still bugging me is whether it's actually possible to listen while connected to a USB charger.

to listen to the mp600 while plugged into a charger (i use the adapter to mah bluetooth headset...) you hold down the middle button for a few seconds when the battery thing is flashing on the screen and it will show u the menu

[oldyellr]

Thanks anon666, that brings the music screen and sound back. However, when I plug in the USB charger, I get an annoying tone from the radio, which does not go away when I switch back to the music. I'm using an FM transmitter. Maybe I'll try another USB charger I've ordered to see if there's any change. As I said, the one I'm using is a power adaptor for a Magellan GPS. I've used the GPS together with an iRiver MP3 player in this car in the past with no audio interference. However, I've read elsewhere that some people have had problems using a generic USB charger for their Magellan GPS, so maybe there is some subtle difference.

[oldyellr]

Well, it was good while it lasted.

It froze on me, so I reset it with a paper clip as per the instructions, but now it doesn't boot. When I turn it on, the Coby screen appears and that's all it does, the buttons don't respond and I can't even turn it off and the screen stays lit. Reset it again and plug it into my USB port and the screen lights up with the USB symbol, but no battery charging symbol. When I unplug it, the screen just goes a little dimmer. Only way to turn it off is to reset it. When I plug it in to the car charger, the big battery symbol appears, but I can't do anything with the buttons and the screen goes off when I unplug it. I'll try taking it back to the store tomorrow, but with my luck, they'll probably tell me I have to send it back to the manufacturer.

[oldyellr]

Update:

I left it sit overnight with the Coby screen lit to discharge the battery. In the morning the screen was dark. When I pressed the power button, it turned on and booted normally. Right now I have it connected to my USB port recharging. The charging symbol is there and I see it as a removable disk and all the files are there.

(I read about discharging the battery on line somewhere and thought I'd give that a try.)

[oldyellr]

Update 2:

It froze again. Same thing. If it recovers this time, I'll have to see if being more careful connecting and disconnecting to the USB helps avoid the problem.

[Simond]

You said You Were going to Take it to the Store , so did you Take it or not , i would suggest you take it to Store, and let them solve your Worries , in Between your Experimentation , if it Gets Damage , then it will create a problem

[oldyellr]

Yes, I took it to the store and exchanged it for a new one today, quite painless. All I said is that it keeps freezing. That's the beauty of dealing with a large department store.

This morning it froze up on me again, which is why I decided to take it back. The problem appears to be that the paper clip reset doesn't work properly. It momentarily disconnects the power, but does not reboot. When I turn the device back on, I just get the frozen Coby screen. The only way to restart it so it boots is to allow the screen to drain the battery, which takes all day or all night.

This last time I was very careful when I plugged or unplugged the USB cable, making sure nothing was happening. I loaded another song, unplugged and played it, shut the player off and then plugged it back in to load more songs. That's when it froze, showing the USB symbol, but no battery symbol.

Here's hoping the new one works better. I had 1090 songs loaded. Now I'm going through the whole process again. I notice that the new player, with only one song on it, boots and navigates a lot quicker that the old, fully loaded one did. I hope loading it to near capacity isn't what's causing this problem. I never saw this affect other players I have.

[marajade29sm]

I have a quick, stupid question.

I'm charging the new device for the first time, and want to make sure I charge it fully, as per the directions.

It has a battery symbol and the big USB symbol on the screen, but how will I know when it is done and fully charged?

The device is currently turned off, but it's been charging overnight and nothing has changed since I first plugged it in, other than to display both symbols on the screen.

Will there be some kind of indicator or something, when it's completely charged?

Should I turn it on first?

[oldyellr]

It's probably fully charged by now. Usually it will get charged enough by the time you get all your songs loaded. Turn it on without the USB connected and see what the small battery symbol looks like. It's shaded all the way across when fully charged, empty when low and somewhere half way in between. I find when mine is connected to my computer all it shows is the USB symbol. When I connect it to a 12v or AC charger, it shows a big battery symbol and then "Full Charge" below it when it's charged.