Uxcell's Ipod 2nd gen Nano clone 2gb $52.99 $5 bucks shipping

[JDub02]

Originally posted by: RelaxTheMind

Originally posted by: spice3d
First off, UXcell has been great to deal with. I bought an AC adapter which was doa on delivery and they sent a replacement w/o question.

Anyways, i bought one of these "clones" and its just terrible. The only part they cloned was the shape. The UI and controls are not anything like the iPod. I gave it to someone with a 7 year old kid. She will probably enjoy.

this is your second post since 2001? wtf?

His other account must be banned.

 

[palehorse]

Originally posted by: spice3d
First off, UXcell has been great to deal with. I bought an AC adapter which was doa on delivery and they sent a replacement w/o question.

Anyways, i bought one of these "clones" and its just terrible. The only part they cloned was the shape. The UI and controls are not anything like the iPod. I gave it to someone with a 7 year old kid. She will probably enjoy.

ouch... may i ask what it was about the UI that made them "terrible"? i just threw down $100 for two of these things... and might cancel depending on your feedback.

thanks ahead of time!

 

[palehorse]

Originally posted by: RelaxTheMind
If you look hard enough, there are sites that deal directly with these MP4 players. Along with homebrew firmwares that you can flash them with and such...

have any links? im having trouble finding any homebrew sites for these...

 

[dwcal]

Originally posted by: palehorse74
ouch... may i ask what it was about the UI that made them "terrible"? i just threw down $100 for two of these things... and might cancel depending on your feedback.

thanks ahead of time!

See here. There's some links on the bottom to video reviews on Youtube. The videos are blurry, but you can kind of see the UI. It just looks clunky and cheap to me, but still not a bad price for a no-name 2GB player.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_MP4/MTV_Player

 

[spice3d]

Originally posted by: palehorse74

ouch... may i ask what it was about the UI that made them "terrible"? i just threw down $100 for two of these things... and might cancel depending on your feedback.

thanks ahead of time!

Well, first off, there is no scroll wheel like an iPod. That isn't a deal killer, but i was surprised. The buttons were very hard to press. Plus the white ring was not totally flush with the case...kinda of at an angle..im sure it isn't supposed to be like this. Maybe mine was defective. I don't remember the particulars of the UI that I didn't like. It just wasn't very easy to navigate around.

 

[TruePaige]

Originally posted by: palehorse74
These things are all over eBay with Buy-it-now prices matching the OP...shipped!

They have 512MB, 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB versions as well...

Since they play mp3's, it wont have to convert all your songs to iPod's lame m4p format... you'll be able to move them on and off of the device at will, using standard explorer software...

i'm getting a pink one for my wife... and a silver one for myself. I'll let you all know how it works out!

Uhhh the iPod doesn't convert my music to Mp4....- -;;

 

[cmv]

That YouTube review shows the buttons have quite the click too. I wonder if you have to go into it every time you start it up to get music or if it continues where you left off. I think for the price I'd just get a lower capability iPod for ~2x the price of one of these with the student discount.

edit: mean "quite the click" as it sounds like a lot of effort/cheap -- yeah, I'm judging it by the button sound

 

[spice3d]

Originally posted by: cmv
That YouTube review shows the buttons have quite the click too. I wonder if you have to go into it every time you start it up to get music or if it continues where you left off. I think for the price I'd just get a lower capability iPod for ~2x the price of one of these with the student discount.

edit: mean "quite the click" as it sounds like a lot of effort/cheap -- yeah, I'm judging it by the button sound

Not sure if it resumes where you left off. Maybe. BUT the "quite the click" is dead on.

newegg has the creative zen v plus 2gb for $79 AR. That is a great player.

 

[Desslok]

Originally posted by: TruePaige

Originally posted by: palehorse74
These things are all over eBay with Buy-it-now prices matching the OP...shipped!

They have 512MB, 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB versions as well...

Since they play mp3's, it wont have to convert all your songs to iPod's lame m4p format... you'll be able to move them on and off of the device at will, using standard explorer software...

i'm getting a pink one for my wife... and a silver one for myself. I'll let you all know how it works out!

Uhhh the iPod doesn't convert my music to Mp4....- -;;

Let him live in his own little dream world.

Repaet ater me anything Apple is evil!! They just fooled everyone into thinking the iPod was one of the best music players on the market. Oh, and it uses a "lame MP4" format too

 

[BigLar]

Bump on the concern about the UI. The iPod "touch wheel" is awfully nice compared to clicking through menu after menu.

 

[palehorse]

Originally posted by: TruePaige

Originally posted by: palehorse74
These things are all over eBay with Buy-it-now prices matching the OP...shipped!

They have 512MB, 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB versions as well...

Since they play mp3's, it wont have to convert all your songs to iPod's lame m4p format... you'll be able to move them on and off of the device at will, using standard explorer software...

i'm getting a pink one for my wife... and a silver one for myself. I'll let you all know how it works out!

Uhhh the iPod doesn't convert my music to Mp4....- -;;

When you drag and drop the songs onto the ipod, it coverts and actually stores them in Apple's proprietary m4p format... right? Hence the reason you can't -easily- use the iPod to transfer them to someone else' PC.

It's also the same format they are in when you download them from the itunes Store... which is lame... and very hard to convert -- unless you burn them to a CD and re-rip them back to mp3 = pain in the arse! (There are other small programs to convert them straight to mp3, but they tend to fail half of the time!)

 

[palehorse]

Originally posted by: Desslok

Originally posted by: TruePaige

Originally posted by: palehorse74
These things are all over eBay with Buy-it-now prices matching the OP...shipped!

They have 512MB, 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB versions as well...

Since they play mp3's, it wont have to convert all your songs to iPod's lame m4p format... you'll be able to move them on and off of the device at will, using standard explorer software...

i'm getting a pink one for my wife... and a silver one for myself. I'll let you all know how it works out!

Uhhh the iPod doesn't convert my music to Mp4....- -;;

Let him live in his own little dream world.

Repaet ater me anything Apple is evil!! They just fooled everyone into thinking the iPod was one of the best music players on the market. Oh, and it uses a "lame MP4" format too

not "MP4"... Apple uses their proprietary m4p format. (notice the order of the letters...) Please read my last post for an explanation and educate yourself.

(maybe you need to wake up from that "dream world" you mentioned...?)

 

[zeroidea]

Originally posted by: palehorse74
When you drag and drop the songs onto the ipod, it coverts and actually stores them in Apple's proprietary m4p format... right?

Wrong.. Firstly, although songs can be dragged onto an ipod, they won't be playable on it, since they haven't been added to the ipod's internal song database (which is why iTunes or similar programs are needed). Secondly, MP3s don't get automatically converted to MP4 (or M4A) files - people who don't know any better can transcode mp3s to mp4, saving space and degrading quality in the process, but by default, mp3s are left as is. Thirdly - m4a, m4b, and m4p are all MP4 files - MPEG-4 AAC Audio inside MPEG-4 containers. Apple just decided to create their own set of extensions. And m4p files, obviously, contain encrypted audio.

 

[Koz]

zeroidea,

First, thanks for the info on how the ipod stores music. I only use mp3s on mine, and didn't think there was any conversion process going on.

These clones have an FM tuner, which the ipods do not. That's nice. They claim only 8 hours of runtime on a charge, vs. 30 hours on the ipod.

As far as the UI goes, I would say that's probably the second most important feature (after sound quality) on a portable player. I've a crappy $14.95 player from one of Fry's sales that I would be glad to sell cheap in anyone doesn't believe that.

 

[palehorse]

Originally posted by: zeroidea

Originally posted by: palehorse74
When you drag and drop the songs onto the ipod, it coverts and actually stores them in Apple's proprietary m4p format... right?

Wrong.. Firstly, although songs can be dragged onto an ipod, they won't be playable on it, since they haven't been added to the ipod's internal song database (which is why iTunes or similar programs are needed).

I kinda assumed the "drag and drop" was in itunes when I wrote that...

Secondly, MP3s don't get automatically converted to MP4 (or M4A) files - people who don't know any better can transcode mp3s to mp4, saving space and degrading quality in the process, but by default, mp3s are left as is.

OK, you're right. I just studied my ipod for a second and discovered that iTunes only changed the filenames (Shortening them to a 4-letter code that presumably matches the database); but they DO retain the .mp3 format and their info tags! So, contrary to popular belief (one that I had for several years - until now!!) you CAN easily drag them onto someone's computer and rename them using various programs that use the tag data... (I use MediaMonkey for this... it has great renaming functions!)

thanks for correcting me!

Thirdly - m4a, m4b, and m4p are all MP4 files - MPEG-4 AAC Audio inside MPEG-4 containers. Apple just decided to create their own set of extensions. And m4p files, obviously, contain encrypted audio.

Those m4p's are still a pain to convert... damn encryption! The easiest solution is to run them through a cracker that uses the Apple keys stored on your PC, but even that fails half of the time.

Most people just end up burning them to a real or virtual CD; then re-ripping them to mp3... LAAAME!

$%&$# Apple...

but thanks again for the corrections... I learned something new today! woohoo!

 

[Antisocial Virge]

Are these the same things talked about here where the memory is not actually 2gb? I have been seeing these up on craigslist all the time.

 

[Zontor]

This site has some more details about the various knock-off players at Uxcell as well as some links to the firmware hacks / dumps.

I've been toying with getting one of these but held off -- when someone here gets one, please let us know what you think...

 

[ImDonly1]

I did not order one seems to shady, but to those of you that do or want to
there is a 10% off coupon visit... Here

You should be able to find it there

 

[EKKC]

Originally posted by: LikeLinus
BIG Buyer Beware.

This is where you have to send the product back if you have any problems with it.

Uxcell Corporation
235, A03, G/F,
Kwai Chung Plaza,
7-11, Kwai Fu Rd.,
Kwai Fong,
N.T.,
Hong Kong


For a knock off no-name brand...that's going to hurt if it's broken. It would probably cost more to send back than it cost to purchase.

EDIT:

The link BlackPear1 posted is the exact same company with a different domain.

http://www.sourcingmap.com/shipping.php

Check out the address. Same place, different company name.

im heading back to HK for a week in a month, anyone get this and have a problem i'll knock on them and tell them their product is crappy

that is, if i don't find a bunch of triad members in there and get amputated first...

 

[TheTurk]

WARNING. I just recieved the player.

It is absolutely GARBAGE. The controls, other than hurting fingers to use, cannot navigate among songs loaded. It was easy to load the songs, I must admit, using diect drive access. It even looks good (slightly ticker then iPod). If and when it plays the song, it sounds good too. But navigation is hell.

AVOID..

 

[TrojanAaron]

Damn... too late. At least I already have a 4 gb nano.

How does porn look on an 1.8" screen =P

 

[TheTurk]

I am unable to use video function since the included conversion software is not Mac compatible. Included sample AMV video music clip of a fine looking lady was not bad in quality.

 

[cheap]

I was under the impression that AAC files have better sound quality at the same bit rate as MP3s, no? I've been ripping all my CDs to AAC files for my Ipod Video.

 

[SkylinGTR26]

lol, all these knock off ipod "MP4" SUCK!
My little brother bought one of a 1st gen nano, 4gb.
Turns out its garbage and its not even 4gb, its 2gb. WTF!
The vids are sooo crappy, if you put a 30min show on here in the middle of the show the video will crap out on you and say format error.
The navigation sucks so bad he trashed the whole thing and is now using $30 Samsung MP3 player. LOL

STAY AWAY AND BEWARE its a POS!!!! no joke!

 

[TrojanAaron]

Mine just came in today. Its definitely no iPod nano. The user interface actually isn't that bad. My only issue is that its not easy to browse folders of videos or Mp3s. Surprisingly, the radio function has decent reception. The earphones are total iPod knockoffs and they sound like tin cans

I can confirm that mine did in fact come with 2gb of disk space. Software is easy to use.

I'd say it is very well worth $50.