Philips NP2500/37 WiFi Internet Radio Network Music Player with Rhapsody

5 comments

1. 

   Anonymous on February 24, 2010 at 11:18 pm

   THIS ISN’T A SET OF SPEAKERS, …IT’S big enough to be a pair of speakers and costs enough, but IT ISN’T SPEAKERS and Philips offers a $100 more expensive model THAT IS ALSO SPEAKERS. Philips NP2900/37 Network Music Player with 1 Month Free Rhapsody Subscription (Black)

   Harder to setup than your wifes first G to G meet. I normally wouldn’t
   
   say this/but just an iPod speaker or $40 external PC speaker.

   The reality is we’ve been conditioned as consumers by the iPod community to expect speakers in something this large and designed to play music.

   I’m noticing a disturbing trend where Vine Voices feel obligated to give anything just Five stars since they got it for free, but this device seems literally pointless and half completed.

   Sadly, this thing tries to be stylish enough for someone who doesn’t want a desktop or laptop with external speakers sitting in the open, the executive look.

   BUT, the damn thing is uselessly cumbersome to install and link, requires desktop installation software and you would benefit from the the assistance of the same kind of tech this device appears to shun and will deservedly laugh at you for buying.

   OH, AND LET’S BE CLEAR….THIS THING ISN’T A SPEAKER ! IT IS JUST AS BIG AND EVEN BIGGER THAN OTHER SPEAKER SETS, BUT YOU GOTTA HAVE AN EXTERNAL SET OF SPEAKERS FOR THIS THING.

   Invariably, any “portable music” player is going to be judged against the iPod standard, and people who know me and read my reviews know that I hate iPods, I hate everything about the excessively useless iPod accessories, worthless earbuds and lack of device menu features. BUT FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, I’D RECOMMEND AN iPod and external speakers over this.

   I have enough reasons to hate iPods, but I struggled to find likeable qualities of a $200 digital radio with an LCD screen only capable of displaying still images and while having less storage than a 2GB Nano.

   I’ll just get right to the reasons and won’t bore you with whats in the box, I’m not rewarded for writing a 1,000+ words so:

   + So cute, about eight inches wide and fairly thin but still thick enough that it could’ve included an SD or CF card reader, even cell phones with cameras have a MiniSD slot but all this thing has is cheap plastic chrome wanna be trim like a Chrysler. IT IS ALSO MORE THAN LARGE ENOUGH TO INCLUDE IT’S OWN SET OF SPEAKERS / BUT IT JUST WASTES SPACE AND JAMS IN A CUTE PAIR OF WiFi antenna’s

   + The LCD is better than most, you have to admire Philips LCD’s since they are also one of the largest laptop LCD makers along with TV’s, but this LCD only displays album art and can scroll MP3 IDtags, SO WHY CAN’T IT PLAY VIDEOS ? Even a better tip, since the LCD is bigger than an iPod’s and much prettier, how about an electronic digital picture frame option, isn’t that simple enough ?

   + A 50 button remote control nearly as big as the whole thing itself I wonder if I need a pilot’s paid my car insurance since it feels like it needs a license to operate. The remote has all the necessary buttons to control a TV and VCR, so let’s suggest if you’re gonna jam another remote control in my living room to go along with your stylish speaker… then make it Universal capable since Philips slaughtered enough rubber trees to make all the buttons.

   Wasted space, if the thing is so special, think about including more controls along the topline where you hid the only four buttons that are useless for driving this thing.

   Hey, you guys jammed every port imanigable into the back, even an Ethernet CAT5 port and headphones…HOW ABOUT JAMMING AN iPod jack into as well. OH HOW ABOUT JAMMING A COUPLE OF SPEAKERS TOO !

   doesn’t matter if you hate iPods too, a music device this size is going be asked whether or not it has an iPod jack. Even cars have an iPod jack but this just has headphone out then a two pairs of L/R RCA cables. OH, AND DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME SHARING YOUR USELESS OPINION AND TIPS OF HOW TO CONNECT AN IPOD INTO RCA CABLES THEN INTO THIS THING !

   Rhapsody ! Subscription radio !!!!….bleccch,, if I’m gonna pay for radio I’ll buy Sirius XM instead.

   Bigger than it has to be and without the features something this big should includes.

   If they’re selling this thing for $200, it seems unlikey the type of skill necessary to set it up is giving anyone $200 for this thing.

2. 

   W. Carter on February 25, 2010 at 1:22 am

   I’m not sure how to review this item because the one I received through Vine is defective and it could not be replaced (at least according to two different customer service people at Phillips). Before finding out the device was defective, I spent hours trying to get it to work before finally calling tech support and realizing I was doing everything correctly… I was able to download the music from my iTunes account just fine. And it played fine as long as I used earbuds; however, it would not play over the speakers when I removed the earbud plug.

   Unfortunately, the people with whom I spoke at Phillips knew little more about the product than I did; however, they did have a “go to” person for information (I spent a WHOLE lot of time on hold). After determining that it would not work, she explained to me that Phillips could not replace due to the way it was obtained (through Vine). I explained that I would like to get a new one because the whole purpose of Vine is to be able to review the products… She apologized but no.

   I am giving it two stars because I was impressed with the great amount of radio music that could be streamed as well as how well everything sounded through my earbuds. I do, however, feel it is overpriced for what you get. After all, it won’t work without being hooked up to a speaker source (or earphones) because it has none that are built in.

3. 

   Mr. Italiano on February 25, 2010 at 3:12 am

   I had the NP2900 with speakers, which I loved to pieces, but I gave it to my parents who love it, and I decided to get the NP2500 because it is a better physical fit in my entertainment system. The 2900 is better suited for my parents because it has speakers and they can bring it outside or move it around. They mostly use it for internet radio from Italy. Being that I knew I wanted this for my entertainment system, I am glad the NP2500 doesn’t have speakers – it doesn’t need to and it isn’t supposed to – it fits perfectly in my beefed up entertainment system that stretches across my living room wall – small footprint, sleek, black, shiny. Since my PC is upstairs in the office, I love the NP2500 as a way to ’stream’ my music down to the living room, which is what it is made for (I never have thought of a network music player as a “speaker” – it isn’t a speaker, nor should it be…it’s a streaming device…just serves as the middle man, which is what I and many people need it for). The fact the 2900 has speakers is cool because it makes it a versatile product to better suit an individuals personal needs and wants. The over 11,000 channels of internet radio from around the globe (including channels that sirius doesn’t have – like obscure channels from places I’ve lived), and Rhapsody are just icing. We have iPods, mp3 players, and every electronic known out there, and this complements the collection nicely with its unique features and capabilities.
   

4. 

   Jacob Hantla on February 25, 2010 at 5:01 am

   The Philips NP2500 Network Music player is a device that connects wireless (or via ethernet) to your home network and internet connection. It uses this connection to access and play music files. The player has a small buffer to deal with internet lags, but I regularly had my player pausing to refill the buffer, especially with internet radio and rhapsody, even though I’m on a very high speed cable internet connection. These files come from 3 different locations:
   
   1. Your computer
   
   2. Internet Radio
   
   3. Rhapsody with paid subscription
   
   As you listen, album artwork or station art displays on the color screen.

   Navigation is performed with the included remote control and the menus on the full color lcd screen on the device. This is the devices biggest drawback. Navigation through the menus is very very slow. There is too long of a lag while changing menus. Typing is performed using the number keypad and the letters associated with the numbers, just like old-school texting before T9. In summary, the navigation works, searching is possible, but it is far from intuitive and definitely not a joy to do. Navigational ease is what makes Apple music products so easy to use; it is the single thing that makes me not excited about the Phillips Network Music Player.

   This device contains no speakers. It rather can connect to headphones or computer speakers through a 3.5 mm headphone jack. But it really shines when connected to your Hi-Fi stereo system.

   Now onto the methods of actually getting music into the player:
   
   1. Your computer: Stream your entire non-DRM music collection (MP3, WMA, DRM-free iTunes(tm) Plus, FLAC and Ogg Vorbis) to the player. Simply install the included TwonkyMedia software to your computer(s) and you will be able to access all of you songs. You better organize them in playlists, because otherwise navigation is a nightmare. It worked great once I got myself to a playlist I wanted and just let it go. But if you want to quickly find a song, expect to be pushing buttons and waiting for about a minute. Setup was a breeze.

   2. Internet Radio: This feature is easy to use and works right out of the box. The player will connect to thousands of internet radio stations from all over the world (and you can add more if you sync your player to a philips.com profile). The stations are organized by genre and country. The index is searchable. This feature is free. My only complaint is that I sometimes find the buffer overrunning and I get pauses in the music. This is the fault I believe of a small buffer on the machine and limitations on speed of the station being streamed. I do wish that the player could connect to personalized stations through Pandora or Last.fm, but at this time there was no way to do that.

   3. Rhapsody. With a paid subscription (and free for 30 days), the player will connect to Rhapsody’s service and have access to millions of songs. Navigation is ok through Rhapsody, but I do recommend you go into your rhapsody account on your computer and set up playlists and favorites there. It will make your NP2500 usage much more enjoyable. Again navigation is the downfall here. I do wish there were options to use other less expensive or free services instead of Rhapsody. I will not be paying for Rhapsody but rather will continue to use the device to access my personal music collection and internet radio.

   This could have been a great music player. I really wanted it to be. I used it for a month, hoping that the navigational downfalls would resolve as I got used to it. Yet after a month of daily use, navigation is only more frustrating. When I want to skip around I have found myself just using my iPod instead.

   With a few tweaks to the navigational interface and a broadened compatibility to more types of streaming radio (i.e. Pandora etc), this device could have been great. Instead it is mediocre and probably not worth the price.

5. 

   Gluteus Maximus on February 25, 2010 at 5:05 am

   This music player is great. I wanted to purchase another ipod to be able to listen to my music in my living room. My other ipod had some music and at times I would want to listen something not on my ipod that was on my computer. Getting another ipod would have helped but not solve the problem since my library is over 50gb. Plus, with an ipod I will not be able to lower, change the music, etc.

   So this device comes along and solved my dilemma. This Philips Music Player streams my entire library to my living room. No need for long cables running through the floor. Thanks to wifi I can listen to any song in my library. The music player is easy to use and very convenient.

   Set up was really easy. I have my library on an external hd on my mac mini. Setup took about 5 mins. Just insert the twonky media cd to the mini and follow the directions. Then on the music player you just enter your wifi id and password and you are pretty much ready to go.

   I have not had any problems with the player as far as trying to stream and the music not playing. I have been able to stream and listen to music while downloading movies and surfing the net. I really love this new toy.