Acer 20Gb mp3 player for €93.20 delivered
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Re: Acer 20Gb mp3 player w/FM radio for €93.20 delivered
Mine arrived today - charging at the moment. It's looking good but pretty peeved about the lack of radio - would have been the clincher for me. Thanks for posting link to that other site Clubman with the even better deal - hubby is thinking of purchasing one for himself (he wouldn't be bothered about the absence of a radio). We'll see how mine goes.
Mine arrived today - charging at the moment. It's looking good but pretty peeved about the lack of radio - would have been the clincher for me. Thanks for posting link to that other site Clubman with the even better deal - hubby is thinking of purchasing one for himself (he wouldn't be bothered about the absence of a radio). We'll see how mine goes.
DrMoriarty
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Re: Acer 20Gb mp3 player w/FM radio for €93.20 delivered
Actually, the two sites look uncannily similar — even down to the little Christmas tree logo.
And, as mentioned above, £49.97 + p&p is exactly what I paid — and their p&p within the UK was £4.95, it was only when I selected postage to Ireland that it went up to €22-odd. I reckon directtvs.co.uk and laptopsdirect.co.uk are part of the same group. If so, maybe anyone who paid £5 more should hassle them a bit about the difference...? (although I doubt there's any legal obligation on them to honour the lower price/better offer).
If anyone can get them to deliver to Ireland for £4.95, let us know!
Actually, the two sites look uncannily similar — even down to the little Christmas tree logo.
And, as mentioned above, £49.97 + p&p is exactly what I paid — and their p&p within the UK was £4.95, it was only when I selected postage to Ireland that it went up to €22-odd. I reckon directtvs.co.uk and laptopsdirect.co.uk are part of the same group. If so, maybe anyone who paid £5 more should hassle them a bit about the difference...? (although I doubt there's any legal obligation on them to honour the lower price/better offer).
If anyone can get them to deliver to Ireland for £4.95, let us know!
Re: Acer 20Gb mp3 player w/FM radio for €93.20 delivered
I emailed them earlier asking them if this is the case but haven't heard back yet. I doubt it to be honest and reckon that the Irish P&P would be higher.
DrMoriarty
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Re: Acer 20Gb mp3 player w/FM radio for €93.20 delivered
What a rip-off..!
What a rip-off..!
DrMoriarty
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Re: Acer 20Gb mp3 player w/FM radio for €93.20 delivered
The start-up screen displays (but not for long!) "Acer. Empowering people."
Do you think I might have a case there?
The start-up screen displays (but not for long!) "Acer. Empowering people."
Do you think I might have a case there?
Re: Acer 20Gb mp3 player w/FM radio for €93.20 delivered
Did it go up to €22 on the order form or only after submitting the order and when they got back to you about an issue with it? I went as far as the final order page and it didn't alter the P&P charge when I selected an Irish address.
Re: Acer 20Gb mp3 player w/FM radio for €93.20 delivered
It was actually the title of the original post (Acer 20Gb mp3 player w/FM radio for €93.20 delivered) that led me to think there was a radio feature. Not sure what part of the description of the product could be described as misleading??
Anyone elses new white earphones only got one earphone working??
Careful now! Unless you're talking about the misleading description of the radio feature which I will grant you.
It was actually the title of the original post (Acer 20Gb mp3 player w/FM radio for €93.20 delivered) that led me to think there was a radio feature. Not sure what part of the description of the product could be described as misleading??
Anyone elses new white earphones only got one earphone working??
DrMoriarty
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Re: Acer 20Gb mp3 player for €93.20 delivered
Thread title edited accordingly... — although yes, I had read the mention of the FM radio in the advanced specs.
@Clubman: the 'carriage' went up to €22 as soon as I selected delivery to the Republic of Ireland.
One small consolation is that — a bit like with 7dayshop — it seems to be a flat rate regardless of how many items you order.
Thread title edited accordingly...
— although yes, I had read the mention of the FM radio in the advanced specs.@Clubman: the 'carriage' went up to €22 as soon as I selected delivery to the Republic of Ireland.
One small consolation is that — a bit like with 7dayshop — it seems to be a flat rate regardless of how many items you order.
Re: Acer 20Gb mp3 player for €93.20 delivered
Agreed. I went in to look at the detailed spec and it is very misleading in respect of the radio. Notwithstanding this and the fact that the earphones don't work properly, I'm happy with the product so far. I'll leave the detailed description to Dr. Moriarty.
Thanks - now when are you posting a comprehensive review?
BTW - several online descriptions of the device mention the radio including the one on the site originally linked. This is certainly misleading and possibly grounds for a refund.
Agreed. I went in to look at the detailed spec and it is very misleading in respect of the radio. Notwithstanding this and the fact that the earphones don't work properly, I'm happy with the product so far. I'll leave the detailed description to Dr. Moriarty.
Re: Acer 20Gb mp3 player for €93.20 delivered
If you are talking about using an FM transmitter to play the MP3 player through the stereo, then yes, ANY MP3 player will work in this way.
If you are talking about using an FM transmitter to play the MP3 player through the stereo, then yes, ANY MP3 player will work in this way.
DrMoriarty
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Re: Acer 20Gb mp3 player for €93.20 delivered
Installation/connection
If you’re running Win XP, there are no drivers or software to install — Windows just picks it up as a mass USB storage device, assigns it a drive letter and names it appropriately.
The USB 2.0 interface is nice and quick compared to my cheapo flash drives; I transferred 1.18GB worth of Tom Waits (301 files, 15 folders) in a little under 150 seconds, which is not far off the max. read/write speeds of 9MB/S claimed in the manual.
One possible downside — though not for me personally — is that it doesn’t appear to integrate with Windows Media Player (i.e. the player doesn’t recognise it for synchronisation purposes. I’m not sure whether this might work if one were to install the DRM9 plug-in stored on it as an executable, but tbh I don’t see myself doing that... At ClubMan’s suggestion I downloaded MS SyncToy and it does the job fine.
The manual lists the following ‘Characters of Acer MP-330’ (sic).
** I’m not sure I’ll use this all that much, since I prefer to encode in VBR .wma, but it’s nice to have it for, say, storing images from a digital camera when the card gets full (the USB host sockets are the same standard mini-USB as my Fuji Finepix).
Handling/ease of use
Can’t really fault it. The unit is nice and light, yet feels solid enough. The finish is glossy to the touch, rather than that ‘brushed’ feel, and the control buttons have a pleasingly positive action to them, unlike the dreadful joystick controls on some other budget players I’ve seen. After a few minutes I found it easy to work everything with one hand, and without having to look. The (adjustable contrast) display is easy to read, and displays elapsed time, bitrate, ID3 tags and everything you’d expect — lyrics too, apparently, if they’re encoded in the files. No big delays when flicking from track to track, nor any disturbing HD noise — just a tiny ‘whirr…’ The stiff black leather carry-case is very nicely designed — sturdy, snug-fitting, with cutaways in all the right places to allow access to sockets and controls, and a nice little magnetic flap that flops down to cover the screen and facia — it’s not particularly obvious at first glance that it is an mp3 player, if the earphones aren’t plugged into it.
Sound quality (the important bit!)
I’m no expert, but it sounds damn good to me, even with the supplied earphones — I just wish they were black! As mentioned above, the max. volume setting is, if anything, louder than would be comfortable to most ears (it has a sticker with that little legal warning the French insist upon, about listening at moderate levels, so as not to damage ze old oreilles…) I tried playing it back through the home stereo speakers and it was only bleedin’ massive!
So… for €92.30, I’m happy.
When do I get my http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00079PNTM/ref=pd_cp_e_title/105-6916700-3525217 (€50 Amazon voucher)?
Here's a start, so...Thanks - now when are you posting a comprehensive review?
Installation/connection
If you’re running Win XP, there are no drivers or software to install — Windows just picks it up as a mass USB storage device, assigns it a drive letter and names it appropriately.
The USB 2.0 interface is nice and quick compared to my cheapo flash drives; I transferred 1.18GB worth of Tom Waits (301 files, 15 folders) in a little under 150 seconds, which is not far off the max. read/write speeds of 9MB/S claimed in the manual.
One possible downside — though not for me personally — is that it doesn’t appear to integrate with Windows Media Player (i.e. the player doesn’t recognise it for synchronisation purposes. I’m not sure whether this might work if one were to install the DRM9 plug-in stored on it as an executable, but tbh I don’t see myself doing that... At ClubMan’s suggestion I downloaded MS SyncToy and it does the job fine.
The manual lists the following ‘Characters of Acer MP-330’ (sic).
* Can’t confirm yet just how accurate this battery life claim is. I guess it’ll depend on use, anyway. One consolation of the old-style DOT LCM is that it’s probably less of a power-gobbler than a colour LCD. You can adjust the auto power-off from 30 seconds up to 5 mins.
** I’m not sure I’ll use this all that much, since I prefer to encode in VBR .wma, but it’s nice to have it for, say, storing images from a digital camera when the card gets full (the USB host sockets are the same standard mini-USB as my Fuji Finepix).
Handling/ease of use
Can’t really fault it. The unit is nice and light, yet feels solid enough. The finish is glossy to the touch, rather than that ‘brushed’ feel, and the control buttons have a pleasingly positive action to them, unlike the dreadful joystick controls on some other budget players I’ve seen. After a few minutes I found it easy to work everything with one hand, and without having to look. The (adjustable contrast) display is easy to read, and displays elapsed time, bitrate, ID3 tags and everything you’d expect — lyrics too, apparently, if they’re encoded in the files. No big delays when flicking from track to track, nor any disturbing HD noise — just a tiny ‘whirr…’ The stiff black leather carry-case is very nicely designed — sturdy, snug-fitting, with cutaways in all the right places to allow access to sockets and controls, and a nice little magnetic flap that flops down to cover the screen and facia — it’s not particularly obvious at first glance that it is an mp3 player, if the earphones aren’t plugged into it.
Sound quality (the important bit!)
I’m no expert, but it sounds damn good to me, even with the supplied earphones — I just wish they were black! As mentioned above, the max. volume setting is, if anything, louder than would be comfortable to most ears (it has a sticker with that little legal warning the French insist upon, about listening at moderate levels, so as not to damage ze old oreilles…) I tried playing it back through the home stereo speakers and it was only bleedin’ massive!
So… for €92.30, I’m happy.
When do I get my http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00079PNTM/ref=pd_cp_e_title/105-6916700-3525217 (€50 Amazon voucher)?
DrMoriarty
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Re: Acer 20Gb mp3 player for €93.20 delivered
No, no radio (see above).
The fact that they've amended the misleading description shouldn't prevent larry1 from being entitled to return his, though, if it's a 'dealbreaker' for him?
Incidentally, re the battery life — it's now been playing constantly at 75% volume setting for about 10 hours (I left it running overnight), and the battery indicator still shows 4/5 bars... Admittedly, that may not be a reliable indicator of the power actually remaining , and the battery life might not be as good if I'd been fiddling with it — flicking back and forth, turning it on/off, etc.
No, no radio (see above).
The fact that they've amended the misleading description shouldn't prevent larry1 from being entitled to return his, though, if it's a 'dealbreaker' for him?
Incidentally, re the battery life — it's now been playing constantly at 75% volume setting for about 10 hours (I left it running overnight), and the battery indicator still shows 4/5 bars...
Admittedly, that may not be a reliable indicator of the power actually remaining , and the battery life might not be as good if I'd been fiddling with it — flicking back and forth, turning it on/off, etc.