Samsung's YP-Z5 flash player announced for the US

Samsung is bringing those YP-Z5 flash players they announced in January to the US, and we're glad to see them. The YP-Z5A and YP-Z5Q come in 2 and 4GB sizes respectively, and are available in black or silver. The players can handle MP3 and PlaysForSure WMA files, and you can view pictures on the 1.8-inch LCD screen, but there's no video to be had. The screen doesn't seem like much of a looker, but luckily Samsung makes up for it with a whopping 38 hours of battery life. The 2 and 4GB units should be available this month for $200 and $250.

[Via SamsungHQ]

[Steve Jobs @ Feb 18th 2006 6:46PM]

hi, i'm a troll. spam me please: [e-mail]

[granny down east @ Feb 18th 2006 6:53PM]

Bring the price on the 4Gb to around $150 and I'm all over that thing like a June bug on a turd.

[Bill Gates @ Feb 18th 2006 7:07PM]

Not as restrictive as the iPod? What no AAC, ALAC, AIFF or WAV support? Yeah, great choice! Bleh! It looks clunky for a thin MP3 player.

[Paul Allen @ Feb 18th 2006 7:39PM]

ALAC, AIFF, WAV. who the hell uses these formats on their portable music player?

[AG @ Feb 18th 2006 8:21PM]

not bad for the people who prefer the "playsforsure" side of things over ITMS....I think the nano looks a lot cooler

[Robert @ Feb 18th 2006 8:25PM]

38 hours of battery life? 38 hours?

Where was this on my x-country drive? Of course, my "12-hour" Zen Micro battery really only lasts for less than 8 hours (on a good day), so I don't believe 38 hours is accurate. But here's to hoping...

[blistered @ Feb 18th 2006 8:29PM]

sounds great, does it use the Sigmatel SMTP3600 ?

[Andrew @ Feb 18th 2006 8:43PM]

I don't see why they need to rip off the iTunes logo for the background.

[jim collins @ Feb 18th 2006 9:28PM]

Does it have FM?

[Andrew de Ridder @ Feb 18th 2006 9:38PM]

It looks a little under developed. Are they screws on the side? And what is that long thin thing control for? they should have learnt by now that people buy style. This has the potential to be good if they concentrated on it�s appearance.

[Eric @ Feb 18th 2006 9:51PM]

Looks real nice, better than the iPod at least.

[Aleks @ Feb 18th 2006 10:37PM]

#12 Better than the iPod?!?!?

I hope you don't think you have a sense of design.

[jbstingray @ Feb 18th 2006 10:56PM]

#9, I am pretty sure you say that because you have no iPod and you want one and are jealous of us - hardly any people have a problem with Apple besides jealousy. Anyway, this one looks OK, a pretty good competitor, but I agree with #11, the iPod has no screws, it is clean, screwless design that people love. Samsung could have imrpoved upon some things, but overall, it is pretty nice.

[Snart @ Feb 18th 2006 11:02PM]

"Does it have FM?"

I think you should be asking if it has XM!

[Chris @ Feb 18th 2006 11:17PM]

According to CNet Asia, it doesn't have video, radio, or voice recording. However, Samsung is reporting a 35-hour battery and a SCRATCH-PROOF finish!...too bad I just got an iPod for Christmas :(

[Louis @ Feb 18th 2006 11:27PM]

It looks to be every bit as restricted as the iPod. It's saving grace is ogg support, I suppose. It only supports 4 formats: mp3, wma, DRM-wma, and ogg. Compare that to the iPod, which supports 7: mp3, aac, DRM-aac, ale (lossless compression), wav, aiff (both for uncompressed audio), and audible.

I still don't understand why everyone harps on the iPod for not supporting wma, but no one is harping on these other players for not supporting aac. iPods, 80% of the mp3 players out there, support aac. At some point these competing MP3 players will be locking themselves out of the market if they don't support aac.

It's like competing against MSOffice and not supporting the .doc format!

[js @ Feb 19th 2006 12:24AM]

I have a nano myself and apparently the body of this Samsung is somewhat better: it doesn't scratch like crazy.

[Roberto @ Feb 19th 2006 1:21AM]

I wonder if BlackBerry will come out with a mp3/video friendly device. I would buy that in a New York minute.

www.nasdaqtrader.blogspot.com

[diulei @ Feb 19th 2006 2:56AM]

The lines on this thing look make it look like a cheap 80s product.

38 hours of battery life is good.

[Silver @ Feb 19th 2006 4:54AM]

I like this device.. I usually only use mp3 format anyway so it's perfect for me. It just needs to drop in price a bit then I might be able to justify snatching it up.

[Mad Hatter @ Feb 19th 2006 5:32AM]

Samsung stuff is built tough. This looks great too, not like the icecream-bar iPods that people are fond of.

4gigs, 38 hours, $250.... where do I buy one?

[Robert @ Feb 19th 2006 8:45AM]

The specifications on the website say it's only got up to 35 hours of battery life, not 38. Damn.

[tekdroid @ Feb 19th 2006 10:36AM]

The (lack of) usable surface area this device devotes to important function keys baffles me. As does the long rectangular shape (small, round buttons more like the shape of a finger would have been far better). If I don't like the feel of the unit in my hands (and I won't with this one), I lose all interest.

To the person that asked who uses WAV for portables. Some people do listen to lossless audio on the go. I'm one of them. Space will soon be a non-issue, if it isn't already. Why compromise? I don't need my whole music collection with me, anyway. Although FLAC support would have been a better choice..

[Jake @ Feb 19th 2006 10:37AM]

16) The reason that no one complains that these players don't use AAC is that no one uses AAC except for people who own Ipods; even then, the majority of Ipod users use MP3s. AAC hasn't caught all that well, from what I've seen.

WMA, on the other hand, is used by a good number of Windows users, especially given that WMP defaults to ripping CDs to WMA. One of those advantages of being a monopoly, I suppose.

[navamske @ Feb 19th 2006 11:48AM]

#10: Have you tried a decaffeinated coffee?

[David @ Feb 19th 2006 11:53AM]

Im not very fond of the design.
its not a bad product though.

[Andrew @ Feb 19th 2006 12:00PM]

#10 - The only difference between that and the iTunes logo is the size of the two eighth notes on the CD. Before iTunes was popular, no other company would use that logo besides Apple. That logo doesn't even make since on an mp3 player, because it can't play CDs only mp3 and wma files.

[Evo7 @ Feb 19th 2006 12:29PM]

You can argue over formats and "design" all day long, but where the ipod trumps all other digital audio players is capacity and integration. For instance, I use my ipod mostly as a hard drive for my car stereo. Because of the abundance of aftermarket stereos that can the ipod can connect with via adapters (and, now, factory stereos as well) it makes a geat solution to the problem of carrying a huge binder full of cd's around. My entire cd collection (about 270 cd's) is stored on my 60 gig ipod with room to spare, and all of it is controlled from the stereo. When Samsung or Sony or anyone else has that kind of integration, then I'll consider them as worthy of my money.

[irfaan @ Feb 19th 2006 5:33PM]

I don't care about fancy frills like video playback, picture display, etc. I want a device that plays music, with all the device's frills trageted at improving that specific goal. I can't be the only one who, either. This is why the picture and video support for more recent iPod iterations struck me as ho-hum. Hence, the so-so screen and lack of video playback on the YP-Z5 are non-issues for me.

I've been waiting for a reasonably high-capacity MP3 player with atleast 20 hours usable battery life - the battery is probably the only thing that's kept me from picking up a Nano yet. Hence, I'm awfully interested in the YP-Z5. I just wish a higher capacity (8gb or more) model was also offered.

I hope that navigation is atleast on par with the iPod's.

#17 - One reason folks might be more lenient on non-Apple players not supporting Apple's variant of AAC is (as far as I know) Apple won't let them. This is Apple's fault, not Samsung's (or Dells, or Creatives, etc). WMA on the other hand *is* readily licensable. Personally, I use neither (MP3's ubiquitous support > marginal file size improvement).

#31 - I disagree with the assertion that iPod's capacity is the key to its market dominance. For example - I own a pre-iPod MP3 player that takes laptop harddrives. Huge amounts of storage, readily upgradable... but a design monstrocity. Bulky, akward to carry, poor battery life, mediocre display, poor navigation, etc. The device now sits on a shelf gathering dust. Design is important.

#31 - I also disagree that its integration is why it dominates the marketplace. I'd argue the intergration is the *result* of its dominace. The iPod was far from the first portable MP3 player - it was just the first one that got the design so right. That said, the integration is a double-edged sword - it helps prop the iPod against its competitors, but also locks the iPods interface so it can remain backwards compatible. Break that compatiblity, and the you've removed both the advantage over the competition and upset current customers who've already made substantial investments. It's a curious position - reminds me of Windows.

[Louis @ Feb 19th 2006 7:21PM]

irfaan: AAC licensing is actually not controlled by Apple.

The same people who developed mp3 also developed AAC.

AAC is shorthand for MPEG-2 AAC and MPEG-4 AAC; MP3 is actually short hand for MPEG-1 layer 3, so in that sense AAC is now four generations 'newer', or better, than MP3. AAC is licensable from the MPEG group.

If you want more information, read this about AAC and MP3.

Wiki has some more information as well.

[Louis @ Feb 19th 2006 7:39PM]

Hmm, that didn't work.
http://www.mpeg.org/MPEG/aac.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Coding

[steve @ Feb 19th 2006 9:50PM]

Anyone can license cleartext AAC ... I wonder if Microsoft will license WMA to anyone who does though?

We looked at a sampling of new iPod users (from the Fall) where the owners were ripping their own CDs from iTunes. About 90% of the tracks were in AAC (iTunes default, so not surprising). Any player that wants to seriously compete with the iPod will have to attract people who already have iPods (as a second player or a replacement player). Increasingly this means you have to support AAC.

[irfaan @ Feb 20th 2006 3:01AM]

I was under a misconception that colored my previous comment - I wasn't aware that iTunes defaults to ripping FairPlay-free AAC. I've never actually used iTunes - the (admittedly obvious in retrospect) notion that it would generate AAC's without FairPlay had't crossed my mind.

So, I backtrack a bit on my previous comment. That said, a player claiming to support cleartext AAC but not Apple's DRM mechanism would be confusing to the public - right or wrong, if something says it plays AAC, the expectation is it plays FairPlay-encumbered AAC files as well.

In regards to the Microsoft licensing WMA - I was under the impression that they'll license to anyone. It's in their interest to get as many on board the format as possible - Microsoft doesn't gain from locking out anyone, while Apple does. I'm unaware of the licensing terms (not my area of interest), but I'd imagine they're pretty reasonable - Microsoft's DRM is fighting an uphill battle, afterall.

[Guse @ Feb 21st 2006 11:42AM]

people think that mp3 players are iPods. It's like rollerblades or kleenex. Unless they price this less than the nano, it won't take off. Why can't I get a 30-40GB player for 100$ yet?

[Ann @ Feb 24th 2006 11:58PM]

Just picked up a YP-Z5 tonight at Best Buy. I tested it in the store before buying and the sound was awesome. Purchased a Zen Micro a couple of weeks ago and it is going back to the store. I was highly impressed with the Z5 and am going to keep it. I can do without the FM Radio!

[inspectorb @ Feb 27th 2006 2:21PM]

#8 - So anything picture that involves a cd and a music note is a rip off of the itunes logo? The only thing that annoys me more than the audacity of Macintosh overcharging for faulty merchandise (and then charging the user to "fix it") are the people who fall into the mac-trap. Id rather have a not-so pretty mp3 player (or computer for that matter) that works well and is cheaper rather than a pretty piece of junk. But it's obvious that apple has a good thing going with thier focus on design over function since their are plenty of "artists and musicians" who are very very concerned by how cool their computers and mp3 players look, and are more than willing to pay through the nose for it.

[Justin Bell @ Feb 27th 2006 4:24PM]

26) But considering how dominant the iPod is, even that small group of AAC users is a lot. I encode in AAC, because it's better that MP3 and it's not as closed as WMA. I would've used OGG if the iPod had supported it from the beginning.

If any other company wants to win me over, and I'm by no means an Apple loyalist, they need to make to easy for me. How do they do that? Make an iTunes clone and support AAC. Not that hard!

[Richie L @ Feb 28th 2006 11:59AM]

Haha, after reading that there was a mp3 player comparable to the ipod called z5. i went looking and after looking at it, it looks like a joke. What an ugly device. Technically it might stand up with most, but cmon! Have a little decency to put out a nice product. You had the same programmer too, but not the same designer and feeling.

[Carbonize @ Feb 28th 2006 12:17PM]

For those of us who are after high quality audio and not just something that looks pretty this has a major advantage over the iPod, OGG. OGG is the lossy format chosen by those who want smaller files but still retain quality.

[Deathwish238 @ Feb 28th 2006 4:38PM]

It has OGG support. I'm sold. I don't know a single person that uses AAC. It should support WAV...kind of dumb that it doesn't.

I must agree that the screws in the side is a bit odd.

It's interesting that the guy who programmed the iPod's interface programmed the Samsung's as well. There's an article at the NewYorkTimes.com about it.

[Marty @ Mar 1st 2006 8:32PM]

Samsung MP3 flash players have long had all the features I need, such as A/B repeat, FM radio, play speed adjustment, and voice/FM recording. But I've held off buying a Samsung player for the past two years, because I want a 2GB or 4GB version.

Now it's here: the YP-Z5. I was happy to hear that Samsung hired a former Apple iPod designer to design the new YP-Z5. Brilliant move. Samsung has finally matched the iPod Nano ... by eliminating all those features that I need. So now, I'll probably have to wait another two years for Samsung to add back all those features that it just deleted in the YP-Z5.

Thanks Apple, for inspiring Samsung to emasculate its MP3 players ... in the name of "design," "usability," and "style." I guess Samsung now defines "progress" the same way Apple does - removal of features.

Anyone know of existing or announced 2GB+ flash players that have the following: color screen plus things like A/B repeat, play speed adjustment, etc.?

[anonymous @ Mar 5th 2006 5:01PM]

I bought this player from best buy ...and it rocks ...specially the sound quality ...but the battery life is a total lie ,it took more than 4 hours to get it charged and than it gave me double the play time as of charging time i.e it gave me 8 hours of play time .... so please people who are looking for longer battery life dont buy it ...i might return it beacuse im really disappointed with the battery life. i use to have nomad jukebox zen , and creative advertized 12 hours battery life and it did gave me atleast 10 or 11 hours of play time with physical hard drive movement . but this yp-z5 with just a flash drive wont even give me 10 or 11 hours .By the way on the box samsung advertised the battery life to be 35 hours...They should be sued for that ......But no doubt sound quality is very good even better than sony NW-HD5 and creative nomad zen or ipod.....

[Dave @ Mar 17th 2006 4:51AM]

People, this device does NOT support OGG (see manual, you need to use WMP because it only supports MTP protocol not UMS)

[Ben @ Apr 13th 2006 7:07AM]

#45 - It plays ogg just fine - but as you correctly state WMP doesn't - however this is easily remedied via a couple of registry entries and then ogg files transfer as per mp3s.

Personally my whole music collection is mp3/ogg (mainly ogg). My mum got an Ipod because it was on the TV - I set here ITunes to convert mp3 rather than AAC - for the sake of her sanity in future.

All things change - so I try to err on the open source side as much as is reasonable...

[Gaetano @ May 14th 2006 3:12PM]

#30: While some (lots, rather) may enjoy the large cheap capacity of HDD-type MP3 players (namely the iPod), others prefer solid-state memory. It's more reliable (some friends of mine has gone through many HDD MP3 players so far, one even having gone through 5), and for those who aren't always sedentary, it's a great feature to have. Flash memory comes at a price. Of course, Apple does make solid-state memory MP3 players too, but price-wise are fairly comparable.

As for integration, it is easy to be drawn into Apple's marketing ploy. Because of the large (and easily impressionable) consumer base that owns iPods, many auto manufacturers and car radio manufacturers have decided to integrate functionality of the iPod into their products. While they can't integrate ALL MP3 players, the large consumer base of iPods allows them to integrate the iPod to their products.

Integrating EVERYTHING would be an almost insurmountable task. It is just like the Windows OS. Most people don't realise that Windows is made to accomodate an almost infinite amount of hardware permutations, whereas MacOS is made for a very very small amount of different machines. Anyhow, I digress.

MP3 players are just that--MP3 players. I don't need AAC (in fact I've never used it before, nor came across it nor plan to ever use it). I don't need games, organisers, coffee machine, etc. I just need something to play music to occupy me on my 2.5hrs of commute to and from the university. It is kind of like cellphones. I just need a phone to call people. True, things like calculators, photoalbums, notepads, and contact lists are great. In fact, I'd say they're almost indespensible. If I have those on my phone, I sure don't need another device that does the same. But, I still do not need games. A phone is a phone, an MP3 player is an MP3 player. My graphing calculator can handle my games for me...yuk yuk yuk...

Quality is debateable, because in most instances one would use headphones (namely earbuds) to listen to the music. MP3's quality (or lack thereof) is not the limiting factor, the earbuds are. If one were to use Sennheiser headphones (best headphones EVER, btw), sure, you could notice the difference. Likewise, hardware driver units can compromise quality. Indeed, if you plug in your MP3 player into your car stereo, you could easily tell the quality difference (say, between MP3 and OGG or WMA [which I use for my uber-HQ music]).

Styling is subjective. Personally, I find it very attractive, and a whole lot better than iPods. Never been a big fan of them. Nonetheless, I do love the brushed aluminium, kind of like the PowerBook or Macbook Pro.

All in all, I'm buying it. The price doesn't seem bad at all. Even here in Canada, where everything is more expensive (except housing and car insurance), it is a pretty decent price. I mean, 4GB of solid-state? Crazy! The Samsung's price is almost that of a 4GB CF card for DSLRs!

Independent reviews quote the battery life as 36hrs btw.

[Samsung4Life @ May 23rd 2006 3:52AM]

The Samsung YP-Z5 is an awesome Mp3 player and I own one myself. I like the screws on the side because it is metal unlike iPods which are plastic and the screws give it more street effect.
The scrolling is a lot better enhanced than the iPods.
The coloured screen is very dynamic and handles my pictures very well and I would highly recommend to even buy the headphones, they make the sound sounds a lot better than what it actually is and it has a good balance on it...
No, To answer your question it doesn't have FM Radio, considering it's an MP3 Player.

I would choose Samsung over iPod any day!

Keep up the good work Samsung...

[KDsinger @ Jul 29th 2006 1:47AM]

i just got one for my birthday!! and for your information..IT ROCKS!!!! and if you cover it with a jelly case, you cant see the screws.

[KDsinger @ Jul 29th 2006 1:50AM]

woh there!!!! time difference!!!!!! its actually 10:50 here, see. still my birthday...the 28th.

[Burb97 @ Sep 18th 2006 5:46AM]

I just bought my 3rd YP-Z5, this one being the 4GB. I bought one for my son (1GB), and one for my wife (2GB). The packaging is very classy and the feel of it in your hand is just as nice as the actual player. We have both colors silver and black and the scratch resistance is impecable! I am very impressed with the sound quality, even with the packaged headphones. Battery life is quite impressive, but will alter with your individual usage. I didn't see anyone from above report anything about the sound from inside your car. I bought an iRiver FM adapter for use in my car. The sound is very, very good. I haven't used my CD player since these purchases. Due to my age being older than most Mp3 users, the simplicity, ease, and vibrance of this player are quite pleasing.

This player is very simple, to the point, has great looks, and best of all has some class mixed with rebelion.

I have iPod experience as well. I bought a 40GB iPod...very clunky, confusing, HEAVY!! as hell, scratches as soon as you touch it, sound in vehicle was poor, and most importantly...if you are a pirate with yer music, good luck getting it to play, at least easily...The older you get, the easier you want things to be.

I've notice peoples comments on the price of this device...You can go to BestBuy and pick up the 4GB for $179.00YP-Z5 and the neoprene jackets/armbands for $26.00.

It's an awesome player...happy listening!