Transcend T.sonic 840 4 GB Video MP3 Player

5 comments

1. 

   K.C. Cole on November 25, 2009 at 7:54 pm

   Okay, I know we’ve all heard the saying, “You get what you pay for.” Well, that’s pretty much what you get with the T.Sonic 840… Which at its current price point, is not necessarily a bad thing! I would really give this device a 2 to 2.5 if I were comparing it to a Zune or an Ipod. I gave it a 3 because it is just not in that class. But, if you are looking for a no-frills device or a first time Mp3 player, this is a pretty good choice. The sound quality is good for this device. Pretty good bass and treble. The FM tuner is pretty good, too. It only shows the song being played and you don’t have any song selection choices. No frills. But in its class it’s pretty good.

2. 

   M. Kulis on November 25, 2009 at 8:52 pm

   I have issues with Apple’s DRM format, so I was happy to see this being offered through Amazon’s vine program, and I jumped on it! This is a much better deal than an ipod Yes, the memory is smaller than one, but it’s feature-rich and so far very sturdy and compatible with my video formats. This is a great player for a young person that you do not want to spend $300 on an ipod for, and works just as well (if not better because of the various formats you can put on easily!). Highly recommended!

3. 

   J. LEZONDRA on November 25, 2009 at 11:08 pm

   I always listen to music and you gotta admit this is one very good MP3 player from Transcend. This company is basically a maker of very reliable flash drives and media cards. I happen to own a few of their memory cards and they are very reliable. This also goes to show with this MP3 player. One look and you would otherwise think that its an expensive gadget. It looks very good with the mirrored metal body. Functions are very user-friendly, it will not take you a long time to familiarize yourself with the functions. The 1.8-inch colored screen is very sharp and delivers very good video. I tried downloading some video and the quality is just plain amazing. It comes equipped with an FM radio, a digital voice recorder, an FM recorder and a clock that displays different time zones. Transferring music is also a breeze. I mainly use Realplayer to manage my digital music and it’s a no-brainer. It is very compact much like the Sandisk Sansa e260 that I currently own. But the T.sonic 840 beats the Sansa it is ease of use. The buttons are perfectly situated where you want them to be. Sound quality is another awesome feature for this MP3 player. Use it with a very good noise-canceling headphones and you will just plain drift away to your own paradise. The only thing I wish for this MP3 player to have accessories (like an AC charger or a cigarette-lighter charger) readily available. I’ve search the web for some accessories and I couldn’t find any. Maybe since being fairly new, not a lot of available accessories are out there compare to an Ipod or a Sansa. Overall, this is one MP3 player that is solidly built and I will be using it for a long time.

4. 

   Jacx on November 25, 2009 at 11:10 pm

   Small and sleet, has a good feel to it. The neck strap is clipped for easy on/off use. Has a small velvet feeling bag that I don’t see ever using. USB cord, earphones, and software included. 2-year warranty w/ battery at 6 months. Says it needs a full 12 hours for first charge, mine did not take that long.
   
   I own other music players; I normally use Itunes so at first using the different transfer program was confusing. Mini disk software loads into a standard CD tray.
   
   The FM radio feature is real nice- you can even record as it plays, nice for radio talk shows. The voice recorder is a bonus for me to have. The buttons are placed on either side of the player so I accidentally have pushed then while holding it in my hand causing me to record when not wanting to. I think it is because I am use to handling a touch screen. The main reason I got this was for my husband to use, he had the ishuffle but wanted to be able to see which songs were coming up so now he can scroll through and see his songs. I put pictures on it for him but the file size must be to big because it displays them slow. This is a fine piece of equipment for its $44 price range.

5. 

   Turtle502 on November 26, 2009 at 1:33 am

   The T.sonic 840 seems really well-designed. The metal backing gives the device a little heft, so it doesn’t feel cheap in your hands. The black smooth surface doesn’t attract as many finger prints as I thought it would, maybe because there are no buttons on the front of the device. Although I don’t abuse my electronics, I think this device could survive a few accidental falls.

   All of the buttons are on the sides of the device. The play/pause button doubles as a power button, when you hold it longer than 3 seconds. There is a three-way wheel on the right side, which allows you to click up, down, or in, and is used to navigate the menu and make selections This is OK, but feels awkward. Depending on how long you hold the button in, the player does something different, so you may end up in the wrong menu until you understand its function. The wheel is smooth when clicking up or down, but pressing it in often results in a little resistance, and I’m worried that it may eventually break. If it does, it will become impossible to navigate the menus and make selections. I consider this a weakness in a relatively decent design.

   The display is sharp and vibrant, and the color scheme is quite cutting-edge. It’s high-contrast, with shades of red, black, white. It can be viewed easily from a 45-degree angle.

   Navigation is easy — you can select any of the functions, such as music, radio, or video, and then select from a submenu of your transferred files. Songs are organized alphabetically by artist, with sub-folders for each album. Songs, however, are listed by filename, not by song title, so if your tracks’ files have non-standard naming conventions, it may be difficult to determine what song you’re selecting. The device supports various modes of shuffle and repeat, but although there are folders for playlists, I have not been able to utilize playlists. You cannot manually create a playlist on the device. This can be annoying if you want to listen to specific tracks by different artists. The device plays tracks sequentially for each album for each artist, moving to the next artist alphabetically. The device does not appear to support album art, and instead displays an equalizer during playback.

   You can use this device with Windows Media Player 10 if you enable the MTP function, which allows you to transfer songs protected by DRM licenses. I have transferred tracks from subscription services, such as Rhapsody, without any problems. Transfers are quick via USB 2.0, taking about 5-6 seconds per song. Although the device supports video, files must be converted to a specific and rare “.mtv” format.

   Sound quality is good, and the included earbuds sound better than others I’ve received with other devices. The device supports preset and custom equalizer settings. Volume output is decent at about 50%. When you resume play from pause, there’s a gentle fade-in, which is easy on your ears. The included FM tuner works well in my office building, and it’s great having a radio function on a media player.

   Depending on the bitrate of your files, you can probably expect to store 500-1,000 songs on this device. There is no expansion slot, so you are limited to internal memory. I would estimate battery life at about 15-20 hours. Typically after about 6 hours of audio playback, the battery indicator drops by about 1 bar (out of 3). While charging, you can’t use the device or access the menus. It appears to take about 2-3 hours to completely recharge.

   Having used other media players, I believe this is a decent alternative to some higher priced devices. However, the awkward menu structure, file names, clumsy playlist features, and sticky wheel keep it from being ideal for most experienced users. I’d recommend this for anybody looking for an inexpensive entry-level media player.