Generic 4GB mp3 player (iPod shuffle clone)
Let’s put this one in the “travel accessories” category.
Today my fourth mp3 player arrived in the mail. My first was an RCA Lyra RD1090A. It worked great, still does, but it is a bit bulky and requires an armband or a pocket. The on-board memory is meager at 256MB, but you can insert SD cards which is really nice. The problem is that the RCA unit has problems reading my cards larger than 2GB.
My second mp3 player was a 1GB Apple iPod shuffle. I loved the size of my first shuffle and the ease with which I could just clip it on. I could have lived with the shuffle forever were it not for the storage capacity issue–1GB is not nearly enough if you listen to lots of music. Apple recently came out with a 2GB version, but for $69 I passed. I would pay $69 for an 8GB iPod shuffle–not for a 2GB shuffle.
I sold my 1GB shuffle and purchased my third mp3 player, a 4GB generic shuffle on ebay for $36 a few months ago. My third mp3 player was horrible, defective even, so I returned it.
Today, the following package arrived:
I purchased it from mall.hk for a mere $17.47 which included free shipping. Here are the pros and cons:
Pros:
– Price!
– 4GB of storage (vs. iPod shuffle with a max capacity of only half or a fourth as much)
– Transfer speed (between 1.6 and 2MB per second–the last generic shuffle I had transferred files at 200-400k per second)
– Headphones actually work well (unlike the ones I received with my third mp3 player which were complete garbage)
– Wall charger included (iPod shuffle doesn’t even include a wall charger)
Cons:
– Although it looks like a shuffle, it doesn’t shuffle (randomize) the songs; songs are played in the order copied–I got around this somewhat by copying the songs randomly so I won’t have to hear the same artist’s songs back to back
– Shipping takes forever from mall.hk; the mp3 player pictured above took an entire month to arrive
– Picture on mall.hk is of a real iPod shuffle; as you can see from these photos the button layout on this knock-off version is different
– Unit is slightly thicker than a real iPod shuffle (not a big deal)
– When unit is turned on, first song is always played, followed by song #2, etc. This is a big pain in the ass I’m hoping the company can send me some software to fix.
I will comment on battery life once I’ve drained it a couple of times. Right now I’m somewhat happy with this purchase. Unfortunately, I’ve already filled up all 4 GB. It won’t be too long before I’m longing for an 8GB shuffle.
48 hours later update: I found a work around for the first song always being played on startup problem. I don’t turn the unit off. Instead I just hit pause. The battery doesn’t appear to be used when the pause is on and it starts right were it left off when I hit pause again hours or days later. The battery has not been used up so far. I’ve listened to probably 3 hours of music and had it on pause for another 24 hours+ so the battery life appears to be good.
With the workaround and at least decent battery, so far, I have to up my review from “somewhat happy” to “happy.”
April 4th, 2011 at 3:55 pm
Have you ever had any problems hearing the music downloaded through headphones when the battery is low? We were given one as a gift and trying to figure it out. I can see the songs listed on it through the menu when we plug in the USB. Just trying to figure out if it is going to work or broke. Thanks
April 4th, 2011 at 4:08 pm
Mine either works fully when there is a charge or not at all when there isn’t. It doesn’t partially work when the battery is low.
June 11th, 2011 at 8:17 am
I just bought one of these yesterday(black 4gb), It has been charging for 12 hr and the light is only solid orange, there is never a green light. Ive tryed putting music on it from windows media player and the songs show up, but when you press play you cant hear anything!(ive tried different headphones) this is so frustrating, all i want to do is listen to some music on my shuffle! 🙁
June 11th, 2011 at 8:38 am
Isnt there supposed to be a blue light when you turn it on? the light is orange and only stays orange
February 12th, 2012 at 5:34 am
still have the problem with the random music? I bought a more just plays copied in order.
I’m from Brazil, excuse my english
March 19th, 2012 at 4:06 am
I have gotten one of these as a gift, but its silver, I have a wall mount, the instructions say that it will flash when charging and stop flashing when done, but mine doesn’t seem to charge, anyone know how to make it charge, also if I have it plugged in I can plug up head phones and listen to the music, if I unplug it, it stops working immediately, but won’t charge
March 19th, 2012 at 6:58 am
sounds like a defective battery, jay
April 8th, 2012 at 9:55 am
Okay, my kid won this in a crane machine. It’s just like the one pictured. The instructions only tell how to play the music. It has no help on charging or loading music. Thanks to this website, I have some direction. I’ve been trying to charge it via usb port. That doesn’t work. So, now I have it on the wall charger with a green light anf a red light. But, the light on my charger is just a solid red. What does that mean, if anything?
May 12th, 2012 at 10:18 am
Hey Man. Also bought a few for a business selling therapy sessions. Traks is from 1 to 11 but when you play the traks play random. Mine does not have random switch. Think it is like yours. You have an idea of how to switch this off (Shuffle mode)?
May 12th, 2012 at 10:21 am
Me again. Can you perhaps post a closer picture of the instruction sheet. Cannot read it. I didn’t get any with mine, please 🙂
August 3rd, 2012 at 9:31 am
On mine two lights on mean it is charging and one light means it is plugged in but done charging.
August 28th, 2012 at 11:41 pm
I just got the mp3 player you can see at http://www.mcr.com/16079/TW3
It came in the same type of box, with the same wires, shown above, but no wall adapter.
The only light on it is blue, next to where the USB cord plugs in. When I’m using it, the light flashes slowly. If the battery is about to die, the light flashes quickly.
I had it connected to my computer for about 20 hours last night, but after I unplugged it, the battery lasted for only 20 minutes. (Since the instructions say (in broken English) to turn it off when transferring data, I keep it turned off while it’s attached to my computer, whether or not I’m transferring data.)
Do you think it sounds like I need to use a wall adapter to charge it, even though it didn’t come with one?
Also, I found that the first time through the playlist/files, it plays the songs in the order I downloaded them. But, after the last song, it shuffles them. Could this be the case with yours too?
August 29th, 2012 at 8:21 am
I don’t think a wall adapter will necessarily help. These generics are notorious for poor quality batteries. Luckily mine still works, but I don’t use it often.
I’ve gone through my songs several times and it still doesn’t shuffle.
August 30th, 2012 at 1:32 am
I’ve had my mp3 player connected to my computer since before I posted my first comment. I’m going to try using it again, (probably later today,) and hopefully the battery will last the 5-6 hours the instructions say it should. If it doesn’t, do you think it’s worth it to try to get the battery replaced at Radio Shack (or a similar store)?
August 30th, 2012 at 7:32 am
I don’t know. On mine I don’t know how I’d even get to the battery without destroying the rest of the unit.
August 30th, 2012 at 4:06 pm
I have a generic MP3 like the one in the picture. It only came with a USB and headphones. When I plug it inn (wall or computer), the blue light and a red light come on. When plugged in over night I will find 2 blue lights (Fully charged) If dying, 1 blue light flashes. I hope this helps someone, I was confused at first also. I had a Mp3 with a screen, and I had to turn it on in order for it to charge. This little “shuffle” one charges with out it being on.
August 31st, 2012 at 11:35 pm
Since I already had a wall adapter, (which came with a different mp4 player,) I decided to try to charge my new mp3 player using the adapter… That fixed the problem with the battery. 🙂
December 14th, 2012 at 6:47 am
this mp3 player is sold in my country for 20 lei = 5.84 Dolars 😀 … it’s nnot a sofisticated mp3 player… but is good looking:D
June 17th, 2013 at 10:07 pm
Does anyone know where to obtain the drivers for these cheap MP3 players? We bought two from a daily deal website. It appears that one of the USB cables is bad and gives us driver errors when attempting to connect either player to a laptop. When using the other USB cable,a message regarding a genplus USB driver pops up and says it is installed and functional,but the MP3 player doesn’t create a drive folder on which to upload music.
Thanks in advance!
August 17th, 2014 at 12:04 pm
We have 4 of these, brand new. There are songs loaded on them currently, but cannot get the audio to work. It will play the songlist when connected to the Imac, but not play thru the headphones. Any suggestions? Help please!
February 23rd, 2015 at 2:48 am
Does these players have the ability to loop one file?
February 23rd, 2015 at 9:09 am
I don’t think so, Luis.
September 7th, 2015 at 12:56 pm
I bought one of these off ebay.
While I wait for it to arrive I found this site. I was aware that this was familiar, some sort of ipod knock-off.
This needs a micro-SD card.
Because this is only sound is a card of class 4 going to be OK?