With technology being one of the things that is constantly being updated; people are wanting their media players to have lots of different features besides playing music files, and they don‘t expect to pay an arm and a leg for it either. Enter the Visual Land V-Bop, available in several models and colors, it fit’s the bill perfectly by offering music, video, FM radio, voice recording, picture viewing, and E-book reading capabilities. All of this is offered at an unbelievably low price, which is much lower than any of its competitors; such as the iPod shuffle.

Features

• 1.8″ Anti-Scratch True Color Screen displays over 65,000 colors
• Supports MP3/MP4/WMA/WAV/AMV(video)
• USB Flash Drive
• Up to 8 Hours Playback Time with Built-in Rechargeable Battery
• Store and view music, movies, photo, and text files
• FM Radio and voice recording capabilities

The V-Bop is perfect for someone who doesn’t need a lot of storage space for their media, but wants a little bit more than just a music player. The media player is available in sizes of 1 to 8GB of Flash Memory. However, what the player lacks in available memory it surpasses in quality and versatility.

The video and picture display allows for crisp clarity and depth that fits in the palm of your hand. The software included with the player allows for easy conversion of video files to AMV format, which are then capable of being played on the video player.

The music player itself has better than average sound quality with a built-in equalizer for customizing the way the music should sound including choices between natural, rock, pop, classical, jazz, soft and DBB(Dynamic bass boost). Amazingly, the player also allows you to change the tempo of the songs. With the replay function one can specify how long of a gap is heard between songs, whether one or all songs are repeated in the specified folder, and the number of repetitions for each song or folder.

When you don’t want to play videos or listen to the music you’ve downloaded then there is an FM radio in Normal and Japan Band available for updates on news, sports, weather, and local radio stations. Also, for the student or professional there is a voice recorder for recording lectures and meetings.

The e-book reader is capable of viewing txt formatted files. The reader has the option of using either manual or auto play. Under the auto-play function, a reader can select a speed of 1 to 10 for the rate the page is flipped.

Design

The V-Bop comes packaged in a durable clear plastic box with a display cradle on top which is great for storing the player safely. Also, multiple sets of headphones with various sized interchangeable ear pieces, a protective box for the headphones, USB charger for the computer, a wall charger, and a protective skin are included.

The player itself fits nicely in the palm of your hand with its slim design. The front is made of a durable plastic, and the back is stainless steel. Videos, music and text files are seen through the screen. The detachable USB port ensures that the player itself would still be usable if the USB plug were to break, unlike many players where it is built into the device itself.

The front menu is simple for ease of use, and allows for menus to be viewed in 17 different languages.

The headphones has superior surround bass sound and include three different sizes of cushions for custom fit. They also come in a special protective case.

Performance

The main thing I wanted out of a media player was durability. I have had several others, one of which was destroyed when the USB port broke while plugged into a laptop computer. The other one was made of a cheap plastic that was easily dented or scratched. I immediately was impressed with the high quality of the materials used to make the V-Bop.

Since I mainly was going to use my media player for short walks and workouts at the gym the storage capabilities weren’t as important to me. However, I was quickly attracted to the added capabilities of using my media player to view videos, ebooks, and record lectures.

Once plugged into the computer, transferring files to the player is as easy as dragging and dropping them into the menu. Video is a little more complicated in that video files need to be converted into AMV format to be played. However, the player includes the necessary software for the conversion, and the companies website and text file included with the software gives all the instructions necessary.

When I bought the player it did take me a few hours to figure out how the menus worked. The instructions included with the player are very brief. However, more instructions are available at the companies website. Overall, given the quality of the diverse functions available with the player it was easy for me to look overlook this one inconvenience.

I learned very quickly that it’s not a good idea to experiment too much with the language options in the setup, unless you are familiar with those languages. It took me a good twenty minutes of trial and error with various languages to get it back to English so I could tell what I was doing.

The 8 hours of playing time available on the charged battery was handy when I needed entertainment on a long car trip.

Warranty and Support

The V-Bop includes a 1 year warranty if the player becomes defective because of improper workmanship or material during the warranty period. The warranty doesn’t extend to accessories, batteries, and to parts wearing out due to normal wear and tear. Support is available on the company’s website at http://www.visual-land.com/.

Conclusion

The V-Bop player is a fantastic product that blows away many of its competitors on the market right now and can do much, much more than the same priced ones. It’s extremely durable and functions are fairly easy to figure out. The V-Bop does what most media players cannot. The price is the one thing that should not be overlooked in that the V-Bop is around the same price or slightly cheaper than its competitors that play only music.

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