Good, but not at the same time....

This is probably the most indifferent product I've ever owned. I bought it a year and 3 months ago, because I hate iPods but I really wanted a new mp3 player. From the moment I bought it I loved it to bits.

Mainly, because of the looks. Its a very nice looking mp3 player, and the blue neon lights on the black surface are very effective. The touch sensitivity is excellent as well, and the scrolling lights work well (when you get used to them anyway).

However, now that the product is no longer new the screen looks too small compared to the rest of the player. The surface scratches very easily, and my girlfriend dropped it on the pavement and now its missing a chunk. The battery's also not brilliant, although it has a lot of staying power as long as you don't turn it off! I had to take the first one back because the battery only lasted for a couple of hours, though the 2nd one was much better. I don't see in any way how the case you get with it would be useful, either. It starts to freeze a bit when its full as well, although I didn't really have any problems until about 8 months down the line.

The bottom line is that its now broken - about 2 days after the guarentee expired. This may have been because I left it in my glove box over night (where I'm pretty sure is sometimes as cold as the North Pole) but doesnt really show much for it.

I loved this thing to bits when I had it but it was only ever average in hindsight. I've now replaced it with the Creative Zen V - which I believe is much cheaper, lighter, smaller, can play videos (though I'm not sure why it would need to!!) and will last me longer I hope.

Get the Creative instead. More for the money. Philips need a more reliable update if they want to compete.

GOGEAR is the works

The only problem I had was with the installation of the software,ie. the Philips Device Manager software and Windows Media 10. I had Media 11 installed so had to go back to version 10. Why do you have to use version 10a
and not 11? In the end I had to transfer my Music files to the Music folder on the GoGear by using Windows Explorer. Once done however I was amazed at the quality and power of the sound. Tracks I have been listening to for years on my hifi suddenly produced extra parts in the background. One gripe-the scrolling menu system is far too sensitive so a very delicate touch on the touchpad is needed. However once mastered it is easy and intuative. The earphones won't stay n my ears and so sound leaks out - I know I have small ears tho`! I'll have to get some others.

DO NOT BUY

This is the worst mp3 player I have ever used.
Sometimes it decides it can't transfer files, occasionally it won't even delete files. Resetting the unit doesn't help.
Then follows a game of unplug/plug back in, unplug/plug back in, unplug/plug back in until the unit remembers what it's there for.
It doesn't work with Windows Media Player 11.
I have the volume at maximum and it's still too quiet to hear above regular traffic noise.
Don't believe me? Google it and hear what people are saying about it on forums all over the internet. I wish I'd done that before buying it.
Amazon's rating system means I have to give this at least one star, it does not deserve it.
Complete rubbish. Not worth the meagre price.
DO NOT BUY.

Poor (doesnt even deserve 1star)

Poor battery length i ran once with fresh £4+batteries on, half volume didnt even get 500meters up the road before the batteries died on me! difficult to operate without looking at buttons, too many buttons, some buttons cant press because hands free material covers them, cant open dist with hands free case on, speakers broke/wires came out, wires 2 fidelly, bulky to run with around my waist, lost magnet within 2days, cable to goes round waist gets itchy when sweating, not able to purchase anymore disks from ANY shops, keeps coming up with"unable to read disk" when i open then close the lid it then plays :-/, sometimes when running it comes up with"unable to read disk" and because ive got it around waist i have 2 take it off then open & close it then put it back round me very silly, so have to stop crap peice of technolgy, stick with mp3/cd players/ipods or sumit decent, very poor, dissapointed.

Love It- Hate It

I have had a love hate relationship with this player ever since I bought 2 by mistake from Amazon a couple of years ago. It has chic look, good sound, the original ear-phones are ok (get better ones, will hear the difference straight away), But the touch-screen controls at times are very annoying, the player is pretty fragile (My back-up has had it's screen cracked for a few months now, still works but can't see anything of note now.) And originally both units didn't support any picture format and refused to load any I had at all (Even tho it says on the box it is a photo-music player and fully supports Jpegs and the like.) It plays music fine generally, and it has a useful feature to player fav tunes on a playlist. Unfortunately, I have lost confidence in it now and have decided to buy a Creative 30gb. It would have caused me less stress to get that and use it I'm sure, but maybe not as striking looking or fustrating. RIP Philips 6230, annoyed the hell out of me at times, but you will be sadly missed. :'-(

Well I like it

I have had it for a few days now and I have to say it is a fairly decent device. I did not want all the video bits and pieces i just wanted a simple MP3 that played tunes and i could take it running. I had a small 256mb thing before which i had to tucked into my shorts so i could listen to some tunes but it had an annoying habit of working itself free. The device does not have many features which I like; but I don't understand why it doesn't have a radio, according to Philips it doesn't work in Europe.

The talking stopwatch is a nice idea and the armband etc is useful as it fits securely around the arm. It is quite light weight so you don't become too conscious that its sat there. The earphones are decent enough they will sit in your ear securely and are so lightweight I didn't rearly notice they were there. The only down side to them is the fact they get a little bit painful if you are doing a big session but thats to be expected. Tracks are easily loaded onto the device in good time and I haven't experienced the freezing yet like the other reviewer so fingers crossed. One last thing though where the hell is the stop button there doesn't seem to be one which is slightly weird.

Anyway if you want a decent MP3 specifically aimed with sport in mind and your want a good amount of memory then i would recommend this device. What really drove this home was when I had to chuckle to myself when I ran past a bloke who was carrying a brick of an MP3 in his hand whilst mine looked a hell of a lot slicker and was probably why I over took him.

Not terrible but wouldn't recommend

I've had this player for about 3 years now and it's still going all beit a bit dodgy. I'm happy with this player but you can get better for the money.
Pros:
Looks pretty cool, pretty small, isn't white, pretty good screen size, firmware upgradeable, plays .wma although most of them do now anyway, Musicmatch software is quite good, easy to use (anyone that disputes that is probably a bit thick)Good sound quality and good headphones
Cons
Sometimes doesn't charge fully, you have to take the cable out and put it back in to finish the charge. Headphones have finally broken but that is fairly common. Takes ages to add music, some laptops don't seem to recognise it as a memory device which is a bit irritating.

Great MP3/WMA Player

At first, I went out ot buy an iPOD, or one of the new Sony Walkmans. However, if I had investigated things first of all, I would have realised that you cannot put WMA tracks onto the iPOD, which is useless when I have no net access at home. Having looked at what was available in several high street stores, I thought that 3 GB represented a substantial catalogue of music for most of my collection (1500 tracks if I recall). With a name like Phillips, you can also be assured that you are buying a quality product.

I found that the product and software was extremely easy to load, and set-up. My only slight irritation was that the menus take a little while to get used to. However, the ability to scan through tracks as you listen, with a clear display is great. I m pleased I spent significantly less on a far superior product!