High Fidelity, High Capacity MP3 Players

8. Philips HDD6320

Like Olympus with its m:robe line, Philips has chosen a fully tactile front panel for this player. The choice is surprising at first, but finally it's rather practical, as long as you're not bothered by getting fingerprints all over the shiny black front. In fact, ergonomics is the main selling point (if not the only one) of this player. For loading files, the HDD6320 can synchronize with Windows Media Player 10 only, both for photos and for video. So if your computer doesn't use Windows XP, you can forget about this one. Storage of data only- if you use the player as an external storage medium - is via drag/drop.

Boom Boom

Despite progress in the area of sound output, unfortunately the quality isn't always there. The sound is terribly short on the treble end, even if you don't use the SRS WOW function, which boosts the bass even more. You tend to get the feeling you're in one of those cars with a gut-scrambling monster subwoofer in the trunk. And if you use the supplied earphones, the sound is completely muffled, with unpleasant parasitic background noises that end up giving you a headache after extended listening. You can always try to correct these faults with the customizable equalizer, but it's not completely effective. As for photos, the image is bright and has good contrast, yet it lacks sharpness despite the 2" display size. Finally, the 15-hour battery life is a little short of the mark, especially on a player with a 30 GB hard disk.