Panasonic SV-SD300 Flash MP3 Player
Tired of new flash players with measly storage capacities? Then Panasonic's SV-SD300 will be quite a treat. In addition to remastering all of your MP3, AAC, and WMA files and requiring use of the supplied SD-Jukebox software, this player ships with no internal memory. It works solely with SD cards, which would be fine if, say, Panasonic at least included one in the box! Sick of hearing about color displays? Then give your ears a break with the 4-line black-and-white LCD on the SV-SD300. The replaceable NiMH battery (included!) offers 23 hours of mono-display viewing; a good amount considering it will take nearly as long to transfer your files via a prehistoric USB 1.1 connection.
How this could be considered "new" is anyone's guess, but it's not (yet) available in the U.S. Yes, those left drooling by the specs of this player will need to head over to Europe or Japan (where it's actually been available for quite some time). And don't forget to pack an extra $150 with your passport.
Oh well. At least you'll be able to choose a color when you get there. The Panasonic SV-SD300 comes in white, silver, pink, and blue.
[Panasonic (UK) via IT Reviews]
Comments
Atrax on August 14, 2006 10:38 PM
Wait.....this thing is meant to be good?
Why would you buy this thing? Unles is was like $20, but if its isnt I see no reaon in the world why anyone would wanna waste their money on this.
Jenn on August 14, 2006 11:46 PM
Nope. It's just what Panasonic is offering these days. I don't think they care about the U.S. market, otherwise these wouldn't exist. I suppose it will appeal to hardcore Panasonic fans, but that's probably about it.
Utew on August 14, 2006 11:56 PM
What an incredible device! This is almost feature-less enough to become my next doorstop! .. though I do like the idea of removable flash memory for these types of players (read small capacity) I honestly think it will do tremendous service at keeping the door open... =)
Josh on August 15, 2006 2:46 AM
I personally wouldn't ever purchase this unit, but if you DO want to purchase it, check out audiocubes.com, they deliver to the US. They have that player, plus a few other Panasonic ones.
Jenn on August 15, 2006 2:51 AM
@ Utew: Yes, don't you love dual purpose devices? Not many players out there can replace those nifty rubber wedges :)
Mo on August 15, 2006 5:24 PM
They must know something about the market overseas that we don't get?
Well, they have the SV-MP series here in the US... with 1GB and 2GB internal flash... complete with ugly bright orange LCDs... but they are actually pretty decent players... I have one... I recommend it if you are looking for a smaller flash player with higher capacity. The file transfer is easy too... simple drag and drop.
quiksliver on August 15, 2006 6:59 PM
I'm guessing thats because the overseas markets [particularily parts of europe and most of asia] are less advanced then us and don't have 2.0 usb yet
BTW is 1.1 usb COMPLETELY incompatible with 2.0 or will it just run *much* slower?
Jenn on August 15, 2006 7:09 PM
USB 2.0 is backward compatible with 1.1, so you can plug any 1.1 cable into a 2.0 port. You'll get 1.1 speeds from it, which (compared to 2.0) is excruciatingly slow. Off hand, I think it can take nearly 20 minutes to transfer a gig over 1.1; 2.0 takes about 7 minutes. I think.
Utew on August 15, 2006 8:46 PM
@quciksliver, I don't know about that.. Just drop me off in S. Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan and then China so I can play with all the incredible gadgets that we never get here in the U.S.
Think cat... in a playground heaven of catnip.. ;-)
We may be advanced here.. but only in the number of fast-food outlets...
quiksliver on August 16, 2006 3:27 PM
errr when I said "asia" I was thinking more about the middle east, india, pakistan etc
szolDat on August 17, 2006 10:07 AM
We do have USB 2.0, everyone has it, at least in Hungary. (At the heart of Europe.) Maybe they save power by using USB 1.1, or they just couldn't fit it into this device, or they have some 1.1 ports leftover.
Jeff Archer on August 21, 2006 12:57 PM
I thought the comments on other parts of the world being less advanced then the USA (I assume) was funny .. look at mobile phone technology the US and Canada are 2 years behind Europe.
As to this player it's looks great and I love the fact it uses SD Cards as the price of these is slaways coming down, the fact it's only USB 1.1 sucks but you can always remove the card and put it into a proper SD Card reader or even my Laptop which has one built in.
kadajawi on August 25, 2006 6:31 PM
Are our mobile phones more advanced than yours in the US? Oh well, and I thought we Europeans were backwards (compared to Asia... South Korea in particular).
Anyway, I can confirm that Germans have USB 2.0 as a standard for... uhm... maybe like around 4 years or so? Not to mention that quite a few people have (or can get) 16 MBit broadband... some more than that.
I think the Panasonic may be a bit backwards, but still is a nice player. But the price tag is insane...
Zach Z on February 15, 2007 8:51 PM
I just bought the Panasonic SD Jukebox 4.0 software. I am very disappointed. I have been searching the web for other disappointed users and there are tons of them. A few points...
It took me about 2 hours to find the right page on the Panasonic website where the software can be purchased. Then, it cost $100. It is the only software which will work with most of the Panasonic products which use SD cards.
The software (Panasonic SD Jukebox 4.0) is totally unusable. It is riddled with bugs. I have installed it on 4 PC's so far (Win XP SP2) and it does not work on any of them.
I will never buy another Panasonic product so long as I live. These guys have a major rectal-cranial inversion!
hackshield on June 12, 2008 11:47 AM
This mp3 player (that I own) has EXTREME ! quality of sound. It is made in Japan ! absolutely worth it, no mater how high the price is. The software is easy to use and powerful. The earphones that comes whith it also has the highest quality. If you are interested in quality of sound this is your mp3 player.