» Philips ShoqBox 256 MB Personal MP3 Sound System

Philips ShoqBox 256 MB Personal MP3 Sound System Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: I totally LOVE this thing!
Comment: I bought this mp3 player a year ago to use on my school bus. It's tiny, so it takes up hardly any space & I use velcro to make sure it doesn't slide around.

One reviewer complained it wasn't loud enough, and quite frankly, I have NO idea how loud they want it to go, because I can hear it just fine. In fact, the loudest volume is too loud, even over the extremely noisy bus!

The sound quality is very good, and the battery life is excellent. I charge mine every weekend just to make sure it doesn't "poop out" on me mid-run, but I probably could go longer between charges.

I've got between 50 and 60 songs on it, and I just change them every few weeks or so. Since it isn't USB 2.0, it does take awhile for the songs to upload, but you people who complain about that probably are too young to remember waiting while you recorded your lp's to cassette so you take them in the car with you (now THAT was slow.)

I did have to push reset once: I was scrolling backwards through songs too fast and it got "hung up." Since I had to reload all my songs, I haven't repeated that...if I have to go backwards, I do it SLOWLY, one song at a time.

Someone mentioned that it didn't remember that it had been told to play in random order. I haven't found that to be true, but it DOES start on the same song every time, so I just push the forward button once and it starts going randomly from there.

I was showing mine to my coworkers, and at least two of them are buying them as soon as they can find them. I would buy one again if I lost this one.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: An excellent product
Comment: This Philips' personal sound system (PSS) is truly one of the best products I have ever bought online. Thus, it's very valuable for many reasons:
First of all, since it's built-in speakers, the options can be to use it with headphones or without headphones, now, the speakers, that are loud enough which allowed everybody around to hear what's being played, (personally, I often cannot listen to anything with headphones for long);
secondly, it comes not only with mp3, but also with windows media player (WMA)--meaning any songs from CDs or from other type of music source related to windows media player;
finally, this device can as well be used to transfer sound, for example, to home theater system with any kind of giant speakers (just as using ipod's speakers; just connect headphone's jack to speakers, a cord that's included in the box).

Now the thing that most people find difficult about this product is the set up. Whoever it is using this product must install the software MusicMatch CD which will enable users to convert mp3 or WMA song files into the required component--matching with the device.

The only frustrated thing about it is that since the intern memory is only 256 MB, the device cannot hold that many songs; mine takes about 54 songs, but it depends on the size of the tracks. And also, if wanting to add new songs, the device must be reprogrammed--a step that actually causes to lose all the previous songs. Hence, I would strongly recommend someone to carefully choose the songs that are most favorable (to that person, of course).

Please, do not forget to install the CD.

A very wonderful and efficient device! Go get it!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Fix it first
Comment: This is a great product that you need to work with a little before you start using it. Here are the instructions cribbed from a discussion group:

1. Charge unit for 5 hours.

2. Press the reset button under the flap at the back. Use a ballpoint pen to press down firmly for about 10 seconds. Press the play/power button for about 10 seconds and you will see word on the screen. there is no music on the unit this point. You could se the radio but strongly suggest you do step 3 below.

3.Update the firmware - download [...]
Power the unit using the adaptor and connect via USB to you PC where you downloaded the above file. It installs as a program on your PC. Start up the program and it will guide you through the firmware upgrade. The final step involves pulling out the USB cord from the back of the unit. Please note the actual firmware upgrade runs for quite bit - you will see message on the display. Please be patient and let the process finish.

4. [...] - shoqbox buddy to help you transfer your mp3/WMA to your shoqbox. Very simple drag and drop program. It is free and better than Musicmatch.

Once you do all this (takes about a half hour) this is a unique and great product. Put your favorite 50 tunes on here, use the manual to figure out how to set your favorite 10 FM stations (be sure to plug in the antenna first), use the Aux input for your video ipod or whatever, and you have the best small audio package available.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Philips ShoqBox
Comment: I purchased this item because a friend of mine had it, and the sound quality was excellent! I don't use it as an MP3 player...I use it for business as a speaker system for my computer. It is great, and very portable!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Best Alarm Clock EVER!
Comment: When I bought this, I bought it because I needed an alarm clock. Out of the box and while testing it, you might get a little scared.

Initial Testing:
When I first played with it, it did feel a little buggy but I looked for a flash update manually and found one much newer than the updater was providing (v3 verses v4.xx). I can't even remember what was strange about it intially because because it works flawlessly now.

The Alarm and Sound:
While testing the alarm I noticed after 2 seconds the volume would drop, almost inaudiable. But that's a good thing! It starts off low and gradually rises in volume. I woke up the house one Friday when I didn't come home. For 2x2 (4 watts total) it's definately loud enough to wake the deadest of sleepers.

Music Capabilities and Organization:
I was surprised to see that it automatically organizes tracks by User Playlists, Artists, Albums, and Genre. It's MP3 and WMA compatitable and it has shuffle and repeat.

Other Features:
Although, it has no recording feature, it does have Line In and Headphone jacks so you can use it with other portable mediums like your IPod or laptop.

Personal Attachment:
What I love is that I can choose from 45+ songs to wake up to and that I can enjoy whatever I'm playing on my computer's music library through the ShoqBox and leave at moments notice to where ever it is I have to go and still have enough music to hold me over until my next activity. IPod's are nice but I don't like the isolation that come along with headphones. Docking stations relieve this but can't be taken everywhere and can't be applied universally to other mediums. It makes crappy stuff better and makes crappy moments where silence prevails into the best time to bust out the ShoqBox. Oh and people who have trouble with the interface probably have trouble with their microwaves too.

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