Koss MP3 Boombox or walkman $39.44 at Target

[dvdchance]

I saw these listed in next weeks Target ad.

Anyone know if they are any good?? Great price if they are decent.

 

[TechManager]

Here's the link:


Koss MP3 player $39.44

 

[dman]

Repost

[Edit]NOTE: I didn't say (or scream for that matter) that *this* thread was the repost, just that there was a repost. Of course, I had thought the other thread was the original... but... that was because at the time I made this post, the other thread had more posts than this one. Link was so others could check it out for themselves, which, y'all did.[/edit]

 

[dvdchance]

Not a big deal, but the other post you referenced is actually the repost.

 

[WhiteMouse]

<< Not a big deal, but the other post you referenced is actually the repost. >>

So which one is the real repost? Sb say sorry or find a corner.

Actually I was in local Target this morning, and looked for MP3 players. That Koss marked as $59 or sth. which I thought was the cheapest MP3 CD player I could find, and was able to post that "deal" before I noticed this thread.

 

[dimwit]

Hmmm, MP3 boombox for $40, now that is pretty good. I get tired of converting MP3s to audio.

 

[abfpat]

It's amazing how fast some people are to scream repost without first checking to see when the posts were made.

 

[Praxis]

The Walkthing would probably be OK for some purposes, though I haven't used it for very long. The controls are easy to figure out and functional, it has bass boost, a lock switch & jacks for a line out as well as AC. It comes without any accessories except the normal cheesy headphones. It doesn't read MP3 tags, though I don't particularly miss them. It has only hiccuped on me once. But after less than an hours play the unit began to develop an annoying mechanical low whistling noise while spinning around. In other words, it would be pretty lousy for play at low volume play, especially with speakers instead of headphones. Still, I think I'll keep it for use in my car with a cassette kit from another portable, since that is already a noisy enough environment to mask the whistling, hopefully.

The MP3 Boombox is another story altogether. It is just about useless as an MP3 player, unless you are only planning to listen to "books on tape" and have a high tolerance level. It clicks to catch its mechanical breath every 10-45 seconds even when just sitting on the shelf. You can almost continuously hear the distracting, annoying low grinding noise of the player as it tries to spin up and down. The volume doesn't get very loud, but you can't even use all of that without distorting the sound. There is no headphone jack. The radio antenna telescopes all the way out to about 8" and gets proportionally quality reception. That said, it seems to play conventional CDRs pretty OK. I haven't tried it with CDRWs. However for $40 you can buy a much nicer boombox, perhaps with a cassette unit as well, perhaps even from a retailer with a more savory reputation than Target.

Target has a crummy 90 day return policy for electronics with a 15% restocking fee. Koss has a 90 day warrenty against defects in materials & workmanship (how about design?) provided you ship the unit to them in Hazelwood, Misery.

Both units will apparently handle MP3s with bitrates of up to 256k, but not WMAs.

 

[dman]

Thanks for the excellent review. Saved me $40 (for now, until I spend even more, later, for a better unit).

 

[Sagent]

Just bought the last one at Cupertino Target. The box is little demaged, but the unit is fine. $39.44 + tax. Thanks for the info.

 

[Stevem627]

My wife bought the boombox for use at her work. She can't turn it up loud (you wouldn't want to...) anyway so the fact that it is somewhat crummy sounding is moot. It's just better for her to listen to her own MP3 CD's than anything else...and for $40 it does ok in this use. Anyone hoping for more is wasting their money.