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Philips GoGear HDD6330 Review


Spec Data
Player Type:�Hard Disk MP3 Player
Radio:�Yes
Recording, Voice:�Yes
Recording, Line In:�Optional
Audio Battery Life:�930 min
Screen Size:�220 x 176 pixels
Capacity:�30000 MB
Dimensions:�2.5 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
Weight:�5.3 oz
Video Recording:�No
Review

Apple's dominance of MP3 players is forcing others to concentrate on design, and that's producing some sleek, elegant competitors, like the 30GB Philips GoGear HDD6330. It may not be perfect—the interface often responds slowly and battery life won't wow you—but the combination of good sound, ultra-stylish looks, and a broad feature set makes this a solid alternative to the iPod, especially for those who prefer Windows Media Player 10 to iTunes.

Apple's dominance of MP3 players is forcing others to concentrate on design, and that's producing some sleek, elegant competitors, like the 30GB Philips GoGear HDD6330. It may not be perfect—the interface often responds slowly and battery life won't wow you—but the combination of good sound, ultra-stylish looks, and a broad feature set makes this a solid alternative to the iPod, especially for those who prefer Windows Media Player 10 to iTunes.

At 5.3 ounces, the HDD6330 has a fairly solid feel. It's slightly bigger—4.1 by 2.5 by 0.7 inches (HWD)—in each direction than a fourth-generation, 20GB iPod and much thicker than Apple's current 30GB version. Powered off, the HDD6330 looks like a miniature version of the blank black monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Power the player up, though, and the controls suddenly appear, backlit by blue LEDs in the shiny black polycarbonate front. (Of course, that flashy face collects fingerprints like a crime scene investigator and isn't scratchproof, although it does resist marks from very light contact). The back—silver-colored brushed aluminum—is rounded on the top and bottom.

To turn the player on, you slide the power/hold switch (located on the side, as are the volume buttons) and hold it for about four seconds—a slightly difficult maneuver without using a fingernail. The context-sensitive touch interface illuminates controls for available functions. A vertical touch strip with LEDs that follow the motion of your finger looks somewhat like the display on the front of K.I.T.T., the sentient Knight Rider car. You can't adjust the strip's sensitivity (as you can with those on Creative players), but we found it responsive enough. It supports several different gestures, from taps for moving up or down one item in a list, to swipes for scrolling through long lists.

You navigate the contextual menu system, activated with an appropriately labeled button, using a right arrow to make selections and a left arrow to return to the previous menu. The menus are very handy for making adjustments to sound settings, play mode, and so on, but overall navigation can be painfully slow. If you're listening to a song and you go back into the menus to choose another, for example, you'll experience a lag of up to 5 seconds until the next tune starts.

And of course, virtual controls displayed on a smooth face offer no tactile feedback, so forget about operating the player while it's in your pocket. A wired remote would come in handy—but then again, this black beauty can grab attention only when it's in view.

The HDD6330 is tied to Windows Media Player (WMP) 10, so Mac users are out of luck, but syncing music in WMP is easy and works right out of the box. You can copy music just using Windows Explorer, but you lose the playlist-transfer capability that syncing with WMP gives you. You can load photos, also, but viewing them requires you to install a plug-in application from the included CD.

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