Shift 3 - MP3 Video Player Review

Overall 2.62 of 5 view all 8 reviews

LauraBelle
South Elgin, IL

It's Not an iPod

Budget-Conscious, an Apple user since 1989, mother of 16 year old son, an iPhone user, in a 4 iPod family

Pros

Relatively inexpensive, Plays movies, songs, eBooks photos

Cons

Only handles certain formats, Can't choose order of music

DEC

2007

Shift 3 - MP3 Video Player —

My mother called me a few weeks ago and asked if my 14 year old son could use an mp3 video player for Christmas. You know that old saying, "Does a bear ..." Yes, he does. What 14 year old boy couldn't use an mp3 video player? Of course I answered, "Yes." At Christmas, he received a Shift mp3 Video Player, and while he still loves it just as much as when he opened it, he has realized since that, well, it's no iPod.

Let me explain. We're an iPod family. We're an Apple family. I've been using Apples since 1989, and we currently have one running Mac laptop, one running Mac desktop, and two older ones that aren't running, but could, although in an archaic format. Every one of us in the family has an iPod. Both of my kids have iPod Shuffles, their second ones, I have an iPod Nano, the older version, as well as an iPhone, and my husband has an iPod video. So for us to use anything non-Apple, it's different.

What my son found the next morning after he got it was that while he still loves it, it just doesn't work like an iPod. He can't put all the songs from his iPod onto the Shift, as the majority of them were bought on iTunes, which makes them protected. Being a 14 year old, he found a way around it, though, to burn them to a CD, then put them back onto the Shift. As for the video function, it only plays .amv files, which he hasn't quite found a way around yet, but he's one of those "where there's a will, there's a way" types, so I'm guessing he'll get it figured out before long.

However, despite the fact he has to go the extra nine yards to listen to this mp3s and that he doesn't have any videos to put into it, he listens to the Shift mp3 Video Player now more than his old iPod Shuffle, mainly just because it has a screen, which the Shuffle doesn't have. However, when it displays the information for the music while it's playing, the screen resembles NASDAQ reports, as it has many more controls than an Ipod would have, such as an equalizer and way to change the tempo.

Being an Apple user myself for so long, it would drive me bananas to use the Shift mp3 Video Player, but for him, he's used to my Apples and the Windows at school, so he's okay with bouncing back and forth. He's okay having to monkey with things, trying to get them to suit his own needs. I would think for anyone that is just desiring a music player, and doesn't need to get the songs from iTunes, it would be great. However, the question remains if there is another inexpensive mp3 video player out there that might have a more usable way of showing videos.

Last edited on Dec 31, 2007

Shift 3 - MP3 Video Player is recommended by LauraBelle

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Comments about LauraBelle’s Review

I bought the 1 GB and its better than those expensive IPODs !!
this is an awesome video mp3 !!! Only $70 definitely worth the price!!!!!!!!!!

Yes VERY VER GOOD. Shift 3 is definitely a good company that makes everything in electronics! I am impressed with this MP4 player.

In response to Katlizy's comment from Jan 5, 2008 at 6:04PM:

the reason why it plays the first 10 second of the song is because it is set that way u have to go the meun while it is playing and go to repeat and scrole all the way down to in tntro or random and change the steatting

i cant get any music on my mp3 player..can some one help..im running windows vista

In response to sometimesjuice's comment from Jan 19, 2008 at 6:38PM:

You should definitely write a review too! Or, rate the product. It's easy. Just click on the stars....

i have one and it is so much better than ipods. the temp thing is soo fun. makes music sound better. the video, you just need a converting which SHOULD come with the mp3 player. its on the cd inside the manual. its amazing just work with it, you'll see.

In response to Katlizy's comment from Jan 5, 2008 at 6:04PM:

heres what you do katlizy first you plug it in to the computer then go to my computer click on it only once then go up to file go down and click on format make sure that the file system is FAT and hit start (warning will get rid of all files but original files) hope this helps if not check the manual.

My son got one of those for Christmas... What a peice of jumk. It is stuck in intro mode, only plays the first 10 seconds of songs and I cant get it to stop. The instruction manual was written by somone with ADD..

Tell your son there are lots of amv converters available for free download out there....just google it. There's also some great software available for ripping dvds to your mp3 player.