Toshiba Gigabeat U (2GB, Black)

CNET Editors' Rating 7.3/10 Very good Editorial policies >>

Product Summary

The good: Toshiba's Gigabeat U is a great-sounding, ruggedly constructed MP3 player that offers an FM radio, a photo viewer, and a high-performance direct-to-MP3 recording function, as well as support for purchased and subscription music content.

The bad: The Gigabeat U's graphic interface is cheesy, there's no voice recorder, no drag-and-drop file transfer, and it offers only 2GB of memory.

The bottom line: The Toshiba Gigabeat U is one tough, classy player that nails all the right features at a great price.

Specs: Device type: Digital player / radio See full specs >>

Price range: $69.95

See all products in the Toshiba Gigabeat U series

CNET editors' review

Reviewed by: Donald Bell
Edited by: Jasmine France
Reviewed on: 08/13/2007

Photo gallery:
Toshiba Gigabeat U

Toshiba set the bar mighty high when it created one of our top-rated MP3 players, the Gigabeat S. The company's latest player, the flash-based Gigabeat U (2GB, $99), maintains Toshiba's reputation for solid construction and fine sound quality in a lighter and leaner package.

Design
Measuring a demure 3 inches tall, 1.3 inches wide, and just a hair under a half-inch thick, the Gigabeat U certainly falls into the Nano-size category. The top of the player features an easy-to-use textured black-plastic power switch that doubles as a button hold. Lining the bottom of the player are the Gigabeat U's headphone jack, a metal-reinforced lanyard loophole, and a standard mini USB port. All the action is on the front of the player, where you'll find the 1-inch color OLED screen, a menu key, an options button, and a four-way directional pad with a center button that acts as a play/pause/enter key.

One of the biggest bragging points on the Gigabeat U is the quality and feel of the construction. The brushed metal taking up the front and back of the player lend the Gigabeat a kind of permanence you don't see in many sub-$100 gadgets. Overall, there's a mature, understated elegance to the design that only a company such as Toshiba or Sony could accomplish.

Unfortunately, the design team must have been laid off before getting to the Gigabeat's graphical user interface. While the usability of the Gigabeat U is quite good, the graphics, unfortunately, look amateurish. Fonts and icons appear blocky, and the screensaver looks like an Adobe Illustrator demo from 1993. Mind you, creating an attractive interface for a 1-inch screen is a unique design challenge, but our expectations for Toshiba were higher considering the exquisite Portable Media Center interface on the Gigabeat S.

Features
Don't let the Gigabeat U's classy, understated design fool you; this player has got plenty going on under the hood. For the $99 price tag, you get 2GB of music storage (MP3, WMA, and WAV); a JPEG photo viewer; an FM radio with autoscan and 10 presets; line-input recording; radio recording; and a countdown clock. Although Toshiba makes no mention of it on its packaging or in the manual, we had no problem getting the Gigabeat U to work with DRM-protected subscription music, such as Rhapsody, or with purchased music. We weren't surprised that the Gigabeat U lacks support for video playback--who would watch video on a 1-inch screen?--but we were a little shocked that there's no voice recording option. Of course, as a workaround, you could plug a basic lapel microphone into the line-input jack and get better-than-average results.

The music player on the Gigabeat U has a few tricks up its sleeve. Despite its small screen, you can set up the Gigabeat U to display album artwork during music playback (a rare find in this price range). Playlist support is also included, as well as a misleading feature called "bookmark" that allows you to create on-the-go playlists. There's no support for connecting the Gigabeat U to your computer as a drag-and-drop-friendly UMS device, unfortunately, so Mac users are left out and Windows users will need to use a program such as Windows Media Player or Rhapsody to manage the transfer of music files. We're also sorry to say that the Gigabeat U does not support Audible audio books.

The most beguiling feature of the Gigabeat U is its outstanding direct-to-MP3 line-input recording function. If you're interested in an MP3 player that allows you to rip your music collection (CDs, cassettes, and so on) directly to a 128Kbps MP3 file, the Gigabeat U does a fantastic job, even detecting pauses between songs and splitting the recording into multiple files. Though the headphone output doubles as the line-input jack and prevents you from directly monitoring your recording, the Gigabeat U displays input levels on its screen to prevent you from making a recording that is too quiet or too distorted. If you (or people you know) are looking for an MP3 player that can be filled with music without requiring a computer, the Toshiba Gigabeat U can't be beat for the price.

Performance
We were impressed by the sound quality of the Gigabeat U. The overall sound was very smooth, with great clarity that made intimate acoustic recordings like Gillian Welch's "Elvis Presley Blues" send shivers down the spine. There aren't a lot of sound-enhancement settings to tweak on the Gigabeat U, but you do get an equalizer with five presets and a user-definable five-band EQ offering an impressive 10 degrees of cut or boost on each band.

It's the little touches that can make a good product great. We were happy to see that the built-in workout timer will stop music playback and sound an alarm once the countdown reaches zero. Another great touch, as we mentioned, is that the line-input recording feature goes the extra mile to provide visual feedback of input levels, as well as automatically splitting files between tracks and pausing recording completely when the audio source goes silent.

One drawback we noticed on the Gigabeat U is its wimpy headphone amplifier. While using our full-size Ultrasone HFI-700 headphones, we had to crank the Gigabeat U to full blast just achieve a rock-worthy volume. When using the included earbuds or our test set of Shure SE310 earphones, we had to set the volume just over halfway to get a satisfying casual-listening level. So if you're using the player to drive a big set of headphones or to drown out a loud gym, you might be disappointed.

CNET Labs' tests found that the Toshiba Gigabeat U withstood an average 21.3 hours of continuous audio playback before the battery drained out.

Final thoughts
The Toshiba Gigabeat U is the perfect workout-worthy MP3 player for those who find the Creative Zen V Plus too cutesy and the iPod Nano too restrictive. Its sound quality, rugged construction, and well-rounded features make the Gigabeat U a great value.