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General discussion

Motorola M500 Mp3 Player

Dec 1, 2004 11:26AM PST

I just wanted to know what you guys think if this mp3 player because I am considering getting it.. If you haven't, motorola and radioshack's website have info about it. Anyways its 5gb for $229 with an fm tuner and a replaceable/rechargeable battery that runs for 25 hours. I can't choose between this or the zen micro or even any of the dell 2gen. mp3 players. any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Discussion is locked

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Re: Motorola M500 Mp3 Player
Dec 7, 2004 1:34AM PST

I was also considering all of my options between an ipod, zen micro, dell dj, etc., and then by coincidence I found out about the m500. I went to radio shack and tested it out, and I was pleasantly surprised. The user interface is great and the sound quality is superb. I would go as far to say that it outdoes the zen micro in aspects of sound clarity and power. The FM frequencies are also clear and strong. I preffered the joystick to the touchpad of the zen micro. With the zen micro it was so hard to pick a song even w/ the sensitivy set to low. I bought the motorola m500 last week and easily transferred all of my music to it. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to transfer my m3u playlists, but even that wasn't that hard. After all of my hours of research I would rank this player on par or above the zen micro and the ipod mini. A great player overall. And did i mention 25 hours of playback time!!!

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Bought the M500 a few weeks ago
Dec 14, 2004 11:48PM PST

Well, I've had the M500 for a few weeks ago now and I do not regret the purchase. The first thing you want to do if/when you buy this is to go to the Motorola site and upgrade the firmware. These units are shipped with a bug that causes the FM Tuner mode to stick (you can't get out without removing the battery). They really should warn you about this, but they're probably afraid of losing potential customers. Anyhow, the firmware upgrade solves this problem just fine.
I opted to take a chance on this new device because it offered a bit more storage than the iPod mini, the FM tuner, and finally a replaceable cell phone battery. I think replaceable is a huge selling point.
Anyhow, I've got about 800 songs transferred on mine right now and it looks to be about 3/4 full, so the 1250 advertised song capacity seems about right. The sound quality is great, but the headphones it comes with are not good at all. Also, it should really come with a carrying case to guard against scratches and what now. I'm hoping someone will come out with this soon. It does come with a belt clip which is pretty solid, but I'd still prefer a case.
I can't confirm that it will go for 25 hours continuously. I have yet to do that benchmark test. I have recharged a couple times even though I probably should have let it drain completely. It does seem to last a long time though.
The FM tuner works quite well. Much better than what I've come to expect with these types of devices. So that was a relief because it was a selling point for me.
The software provided is pretty user friendly, not hard to figure out at all.
Overall, I do recommend this product. Hopefully this little unit will last a long time!

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I'm wondering
Dec 16, 2004 1:54PM PST

Hoping that others who have posted here are still checking back...but "I'm wondering" if you folks hear any background noise with your player.

I've tried two of these units and both characteristically had a noticeable but not loud mid pitch whine when playing either mp3's or wma's. This sound does not come from the files themselves since it can be heard even when the volume is at zero. I don't think it is a hardware issue either because it is not heard when and Audible.com file is being played. The sound level is independent from the volume setting so it's not as noticeable when a song is loud.

Set the volume to zero while playing an mp3 or wma file (especially wma). Switch back and forth between pause and play and see if you hear any difference in background noise. Hopefully you hear no noise at all!!

Don't get me wrong. I'm not ragging on this player because it does have good features as RichP has described. And hopefully, this is something that can be corrected with a firmware upgrade and/or I somehow got my hands on two flukes.

I'd be interested on anyone's thoughts. I'm hoping your units do not have this noise. Thanks.

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background noise
Dec 29, 2004 3:36AM PST

to: ygwaym and anyone else that what to know,

I have noticed the same problem with background noise. It is particularly bad with the earbuds supplied with the player. I tried a pair of RCA headphones and it was the same way, but when I tried a pair of Sony headphones the background noise was all but gone. My advise to anyone who is having the problem of background noise is to try a fiew different pairs of headphones and see which ones work the best with the m500. Also I have had the same problem with the m500 geting stuck in FM tuner mode. It was an extremely easy problem to fix just go to http://broadband.motorola.com/consumers/support/default.asp?supportSection=DAP there is a picture of the m500, click on the firmware version 1.01 and download it. Once it is downloaded just open it and it will guide you through the rest. It takes five minutes or less. If everything goes right, when you go to the ABOUT section in the main menu of your m500 it will say version 1.01 instead of version 1.00.

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Motorola m500
Dec 27, 2004 3:37AM PST

I've owned the m500 for about 3 weeks. This is the first MP3 player I've ever owned, and I couldn't be more pleased. It's one of the best things I've every purchased. (But do follow the advice of a previous poster and upgrade the firmware right away.)

Right now on my m500 I have loaded three audio books, I've ripped and downloaded all nine of Beethoven's symphonies, three Dvorak symphonies and a couple of CDs of his symphonic poems, as well as a couple of other CDs. The drive is not even 1/3 full with all of that!

Once I did the firmware upgrade, the FM tuner worked amazingly well.

This little unit has everything I need. If you need 20 or 40 GB, then this isn't for you, but if 5 GB at a reasonable price will serve your needs, then seriously consider the m500.