Toshiba Gigabeat 40GB MP3 Player - Silver

Toshiba Gigabeat F40...still positive

Posted Sep 16, 2006 - I love the design of this system..it is light, compact, beautiful, and easy to navigate through. the sensativity issue that some people have, is something i can't exactly understand, but at the same time, once you become comfortable with the way it is, you should have no problem with this. the included gigabeat room software is not entirely what i call easy to use. the included manual doesn't cover all questions I had, but i was able to find answers using the website posted below. I opted to go ahead and do all my transfers using WMP 10(which can only be done with the included cradle) rather than gigabeat room. otherwise you can just plug the USB cable into the player and use the gigabeat room system. The drag and drop function of this player is a bit different than what one might expect. you can drag and drop to your hearts content, but music files can only be listened to if uploaded using the gigabeat room softare or WMP10. whatever you do using drag and drop, stores the files onto your system, which you can THEN use WMP10 or the gigabeat room software to actually "transfer" them so that they are listenable. either way, its a nice option as it allows you to store all sorts of things as "Data" files so you can transport stuff easily. as far as i can tell, no matter what transfer program you use, the gigabeat will encrypt them into a format known as SAT, (yes, you can unencrypt them if you transfer back from a gigabeat to a computer by using WMP10.) thank god for www.mygigabeat.com/for... this website has a fantastic forum which can help solve any question you might potentially have. too bad toshiba themselves coudln't do this for you. either way, i think this is a fantastic player for the price you pay for it. after some manipulation and time spent with it, it becomes easier to navigate through. im sure even after another week, a lot more will make sense. toshiba could have at least included a screen protector or some sort of case with the system. i still miss my creative system.

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In Search of the Perfect MP3 Player. This is close, but not quite there yet.

Posted Feb 27, 2006 - I got the gigabeat after going through an ipod, 2 Philips 512 players and a bigger Philips. The IPOD locked up on me one time, the Philips did as well. So, I thought, time for a better unit. I was very impressed with the gigabeat and still am. There are some things that Toshiba can do to make this flawless. One of the things is to make the menus easier to deal with. Another thing is to make it easier to set up playlists apart from the gigabeat room. I know that a firmware upgrade is in the making and that should help.

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Nice for the price.

Posted May 1, 2006 - I originally bought the 10Gb version and loved it. Playlisting is not as easy as I-tunes, but is capable. Sold it in hopes of getting the larger model. Was able to pick up this one for $149 brand new. Would be 5 stars if not for the software. I-tunes is still the best, but I hate the IPOD. So this is my choice. No video, but who wants to watch video on a 2.5" screen anyway. Cradle is also a nice adder along with AC adapter... all included in the package.

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Indepth Review on Toshiba Gigabeat (MEGF40S) Media Player • PART-1 •

Posted Jan 27, 2006 - I, like many of you, was immediately taken in by the cool style, eye-candy, and general size of the Gigabeat MP3 Player; not to mention the nice color screen… oooooh. Now that we are over the first impression phase, let’s take a look at the more practical scope. These units come in 10, 20, 40, and 60GB models which pretty much covers everyone’s needs; I personally have the 40GB model. As I mentioned before the color screen is sweet, and quite a perk, but realistically it’s not necessary, the color screen isn’t going to make the music sound or play any better on top of which, when I saw a commercial for the Gigabeat I initially got the impression it was an MP4 video player because they show a music video in black and white and then say, “Music is better in color”. It’s interesting that their marketing people didn’t catch that. So it allows you to view pictures; well kind of. The one issue I found was that there’s currently no rotate photos via the device feature, this means you need two copies of any photo that you want to use as wallpaper and view correctly in the photo-view. The unit requires 240x320 format for wallpaper but 320x240 format for the photo-viewer. Another problem is that when the images are transferred to the unit via the cumbersome and underdeveloped giga-room software it changes the file format so now when you plug this unit into another computer you can’t view the photos on the computer because it doesn’t recognize the extension; what is it with these firmware programmers and their ridiculous need to have their own extensions. That brings me to the MP3, WMA, and WAV media files that can be played on the Gigabeat. There are two ways to transfer audio files to the Gigabeat; 1.) Put all the files you want to transfer in a folder on the computer and then use the giga-room software to transfer and synchronize the Gigabeat with the computer. This sounds simple enough, however, in my opinion this is an extra step that isn’t as reliable as the copy & paste method provided by the Lyra; especially since the giga-room software has to be installed on EVERY computer from which you want to transfer files. Also giga-room doesn’t always transfer/sync all the files correctly; it has a tendency to skip files or even to crash. With this method the Gigabeat is seen by the computer as an external hard drive, however the files on it are in .SAT format and thus cannot be played in a media player on the computer. Using giga-room allows for USB2.0 transfer speeds. 2.) The other way to transfer is a “half-baked” answer to the sought after “drag-n-drop” method. First you need to have Windows Media Player 10 installed; in this method the device is seen as an “Audio Device” rather than an external hard drive and thus ONLY WMP10 will see and play the music files. So, if you use Winamp or another media player you still have to have two copies of every file. Another problem is that you still can’t view or transfer photos when using this method; images still have to be transferred and viewed using the giga-room software. Using the WMP10 method only allows for USB1.1 transfer rates. In general, the Lyra is the clear winner when it comes to transferring files and UNIX compatibility. Apparently Toshiba and Microsoft are good bed buddies. Ironically, the factory GUI on the Toshiba is a small Linux operating system; so why doesn’t it work with UNIX? Who knows? Doesn’t Toshiba realize they could increase their customer base if they make the Gigabeat UNIX friendly rather than signing an agreement with Microsoft just so they can support DRM* files, which no sensible consumer endorses. I am curious, whatever happened to the practice of asking the consumer what they’d prefer and look for in a media player, because if more of these media player manufactures did, they’d have figured out a long time ago that “third party” software is not the way to go. (* Side note: DRM stands for “Digital Rights Migraine”) Moving on, these units come with a plethora of preset EQ settings including one user defined settings, but let’s get real, with head phones on you will hear the slightest differences between EQ settings and with portable external speakers you won’t notice anything. I am a musician and I have very sensitive ears, so trust me, the preset EQs are weak at best. Furthermore, the user defined setting is no exception with a whopping two - that’s (2), settings; BASS and TREBLE. Well somebody pinch me, that’s incredible… NOT!!! My RCA Lyra has five bands on its EQ, and let me tell you Metallica sounds a whole lot better on the Lyra than on the Gigabeat. So it’s clear to see that Toshiba needs to go back to the drawing board here. (continued in PART-2)

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Pleasantly Suprised

Posted Sep 21, 2006 - I have really enjoyed this mp3 player. It is my first one, and I chose it because my brother has had the 10 GB version for over a year and really likes it. I thought that, for the price, it may have a few bugs. I was happy that it didn't! It worked fine when I got it, but I immediately downloaded the firmware 3.0 upgrade after reading about it online (it comes with version 2). My only complaint: the newest firmware didn't come installed, and Toshiba didn't automatically send the CD of firmware 3.0 with the player, but it was easy enough to find it online. Once I upgraded the firmware, the player was excellent--good menus, great sound. I completely recommend this player, especially with the upgrade.

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Very Good Storage for the Money

Posted Jun 15, 2006 - I am satisfied with my Toshiba gigabeat considering its price compared to the "pod". The problems that I mentioned, as I said, can be fixed by simply upgrading to 3.00 firmware. The update procedure is not at all complicated and is something anyone, at any level, can do. The firmware update fixes most problems (which are mostly annoyances) with the player. Audio quality is great. The headphones that come with the player are good but they would be great if they were a bit lighter. Works with most on-line music subscription services (unlike the "pod") which is really good if you are looking for an inexpensive way to fill up this player that is packed with massive storage. I really think that this player is very good if you want something with massive storage but is not very expensive.

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A Great MP3 player

Posted Apr 24, 2006 - This is a Great Mp3 player, It holds 10,000 songs. This is the only Mp3 player I know of that has color. It is better than the Ipod Nano, my friend who has an Ipod Nano told me that it froze up after only a few days after purchasing it. Also it is more pricewise. The Ipod Mini which holds only 5,000 songs and no color is the same price as it, and the regular ipod which has 10,000 songs no color is more expensive (prices may vary I bought this at costco and it was $270)

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Found it for cheap, found it being cheap

Posted Apr 7, 2006 - Maybe it's just mine (I got it refurbished for about $200). But the transfer speed is so slow. Transferring 20gb (with WM10 took around 7 hours! On the Creative Nomad Zen Xtra (the I had before this one) it took a tenth of that time if not quicker!

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all flash

Posted Apr 6, 2006 - I really wanted to like this. Still, it's really irritating that I have to go through the propietary gigabeat software to upload my own non-DRMed music. If you don't, the interface goes from USB 2.0 (not a very fast 2.0 device, btw) to the unbelievably pokey USB 1.1 (about 5% of the speed at most). The PC software (even at the latest 3.0 version) is buggy, and I just couldn't figure out how to use the damn thing. Back to my Rio Karma.

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toshiba

Posted Jan 9, 2006 - I think this a great mp3 is easy download your music to the gigabeat , the sofware is very good and simple used and 40gb is too much for safe you best music buttoshiba weist this beutiful gigabeat and dont have to play a video

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mediocre player

Posted Dec 11, 2006 - it's an okay player. the touch plus on mine was pretty buggy, even when you weren't pressing any buttons, the touch plus would register "up" and scroll uncontrollably. it could be fixed by jolting it a little, which is never good for the hd. at least the player was cheap..$160 for 40gbs isn't bad at all.

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