Date: November 27th, 2004
Article by: Nathan Glentworth (Owner, Head Editor & Hardware Reviewer)
Product Submitted by: Samsung Canada
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PRODUCT INSTALLATION & SETUP

First up, insert the Yepp software CD and install the Yepp Studio software and USB driver.

The installation should take no longer than a minute. Just follow the usual prompts for installation directory and if you would like a shortcut on your desktop.

Next with the player's power off you can hook up the MP3 player to the computer through the USB cable and allow the drivers to install for the first time. Then fire up the Yepp Software and the program will start communicating with the player.

The software will add the media, compress it using the MP3x2 compression technology, and have it ready to go. It is just incredibly easy. If you can copy media from a floppy or USB thumbdrive to and from your computer, you can basically consider the MP3 player's memory to be the same thing.

PRODUCT BREAKDOWN & OPINION

Just what do I think about this powerful system?

Product Aesthetics (Layman's Term: Product Looks)

The YP-780V is very stylish and should compliment anything you wear if that is a concern to you. With it being tucked into the palm of your hand or in your coat pocket, it shouldn't be a huge concern. I would be more interested in a product's functionality and features rather than the appearance. Don't get sucked into the "cool looking" players seeing more often than not they are covering up for reduction in other departments if you catch my drift.

Product Sound Performance

Sound quality can be summed up as nothing but topnotch. With the abundant equalization features and the simulated WOW SRS surround sound, if a track is not sounding perfect, you more than likely have to play around with the bass, middle and treble ranges for your certain choice in music.

The included earbud headphones tested are excellent and I used them for gaming a couple of times. Just remember, these are very small headphones that are not capable of handling an extreme amount of bass. But the amount of bass they can handle is quite impressive.

Product Practicality

Practicality is where the YP-780V definitely is not lacking.

For one, with 256Megs of onboard memory will allow for more than two hours or more music at 128kbps quality. If this is not enough for your purposes and you need to hold hundreds or even thousands of songs, then maybe you will need to upgrade to perhaps an iPod. But, if you need a player with higher than average memory for perhaps a day trip or so, than this is the product you are seeking.

The second major point I want to convey is just how well the FM reception is with this player. I have tested other players with this same feature but it seems that the reception always took a nose dive as soon as you entered a building. With the YP-780V, this never happened. Whether in an elevator or down in a basement, it could always pick up all the local stations in the area. While on the FM topic, you can also record FM transmissions directly to the internal memory if you are listening to an interesting program or song that you would like to record for later listening.

Moving onto the third feature I found exceptionally practical is the direct MP3 encoding from any source you can patch through a 3.5mm patch cord. This can practically take the computer out of the equation if one is not available.

The last feature I had to talk about is the included voice recording. For a student or a business person on the run constantly, you can record voice memos or even a whole conversation if you are meeting someone for lunch. Just make sure to tell the person you are recording them unless Bond or the number 007 is somehow incorporated into your name. The recording distance is only within maybe two feet and anything farther away is undetectable.