Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I got this little guy hoping it could be a good alarm clock replacement, but I've found that it doesn't work so well in that regard. That is not to say that it is a bad music player though, it's just not meant to be an alarm clock.
It looks like it would be perfect as a portable speaker set for an iPod or something, due to it's size and rechargeable battery. Or if you didn't have a computer at work and wanted something you could bring in to play music files on. It's very portable.
The good:
1. sound - puts out some pretty decent sound considering the size.
2. size - smaller than I thought it would be. not pocket-sized, but not prohibitively big or heavy either.
3. looks - very polished design.
4. accessories - comes with cord antenna, line-in cord & carry case, all good add-ons that complete the function of the unit.
5. firmware upgradeable, so more (or more improved) features may be yet to come.
The bad:
1. clock displays in 24hr format all the time. I'm guessing Europe is the primary market for this thing.
2. When plugged in and turned off, the LCD backlight is on all the time. Might bother some people who are light sleepers. and when you have the unit on, the backlight has a 5 sec timeout? it would seem to make more sense the other way around to me.
3.alarm snooze is only 10 minutes, and automatic. I prefer it to only go into snooze when you hit a "snooze" button, so I can leave the radio running while I get dressed and stuff in the morning. as it is now, you have to turn it off after the alarm goes off, then turn it back on again, or else it will automatically go into snooze mode after 10 minutes.
4. you have to use musicmatch jukebox to upload music to it. well, you can upload music manually, like it was a flash drive, but the device uses a SQLite database, which needs to be updated or else it won't see any new music in the music folder. there are some third party apps for updating this db for you, but they are flaky at best. I just hate having to use an app to do something as simple as moving files.
The good news about most of these bad things is that because the unit is firmware upgradeable, Philips could release fixes for them eventually, if they are on the ball.
So, I will still say I like this thing, even if I do have to still stick with my older, uglier alarm clock for now.
UPDATE: the latest firmware for this has fixed two issues:
1) it now does 12 hour time display as well as 24 hour.
2) the backlight will dim after a short timeout period when it is plugged in.
Just an FYI.
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Philips PSS110 GoGear ShoqBox 256 MB Personal MP3 Sound SystemProduct Description: Philips, Personal Sound System MP3/WMA/DRM, 256mb, FM radio, clock/alarm, AC/DC, unique styling
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