Mp3 Players and Ipod Reviews

The T400 is almost exactly the size of a credit card. Extremely lightweight, we had it in a variety of pockets (shirt, pants, cargo, etc), and each time we almost forgot it was there. It fits within the palm of our (yes, large) hands and even the change pocket in our jeans. It

makes a rattling noise when shaken, no doubt due to the cheap plastic hold/power switch at the bottom of the device, yet it was disturbing nonetheless.Toshiba’s entry into the flash MP3 player market is great for people who primarily concerned about audio quality. However, it doesn’t have much to offer for anybody else. It only plays WMV videos and isn’t compatible with Mac computers. It does sync especially well with Windows Media Center, though.
This new player is similar in a lot of ways to the S-series player, but it comes in a much smaller body style. It will play videos, display photos, and play music. The T400 only comes equipped with 4 GB of flash memory, which is relatively low for a video player. One drawback of this player is the fact that the memory is not expandable, so you are stuck with only 4 GB.

The new gigabeat’s chipset can restore many of the details lost in the compression of MP3 and WMA tracks. A 1-bit digital amp and filter also help reduce background hiss and other noise that sometimes intrude into music. The T400 is also one of the few media players to support Windows Media Lossless.

The player packs 4GB of flash memory, which seems to be about standard for its price range, but was too small for us to consider it a serious video player. However, the flash memory is nice because of its higher speeds, lack of moving parts and better battery life than a comparably sized HDD. Similarly-sized devices like the Cowon D2 at least offered an SD card slot for expanded capacity (albeit with admittedly slower data access), which would have helped the T400 here. In addition, while 4GB may be acceptable for the casual music fan, listeners with considerable music libraries will undoubtedly find the size inadequate; we didn’t penalize the T400 too much for this, since that audience is obviously not who the device is aimed at.

Pockettables review Priced at just $120 and available for as little as $100 on Amazon, the Toshiba gigabeat T400 is a capable and well rounded digital media player that can hold its own against fuller featured and more expensive devices. Video codec support and storage capacity are limited and extras like an FM radio or voice recorder are missing, but the T400’s terrific sound quality, ease of use, and affordable price tag more than make up for it.

Maximumpc reviews as much as we hate accepting trade-offs, we’re going to let the T400 bump SanDisk’s Sansa Connect from our Best of the Best list. The T400 doesn’t offer Wi-Fi support, but it does provide a bigger screen, a better user interface, and support for WMA Lossless. Here’s hoping Toshiba decides to build a version with a hard disk (and adds support for FLAC while they’re at it!).

Specs: Digital player, 4 GB, MP3, WAV, WMA, Lithium ion Rechargeable Player batteryIntegrated

The Good: The affordable Toshiba Gigabeat T400 MP3 player provides excellent sound quality, airtight integration with Windows Media Center, support for subscription music content, an elegant user interface, and a color screen that really pops.

The Bad: With only 4GB of internal memory and no expandability, the Gigabeat T400 just can’t hack it as a portable video player.

The Bottom Line: The Toshiba Gigabeat T400 is a stellar performer that is crippled by a pitifully small amount of storage. If you can live with just 4GB of storage, the Gigabeat T400 offers brilliant audio fidelity, and a convenient way for Windows Media Center users to take a bite-size portion of their TV, movie, music, and photo collection on the go.