Samsung's YP-Z5 comes in 1GB, on pre-order

In case Samsung's nano-lookalike designed by an ex-Apple employee in 2GB and 4GB sizes YP-Z5 lost your attention, it might interest you to know that it's now officially available for pre-order, and has a 1GB flavor too. Ahem. Samsung's never gonna beat Apple at their own game if they keep making devices , but you've got to kind of admire their guts for such blatant me-toomanship, especially in their pricing: 4GB for $250, 2GB for $200, and 1GB for $150.

[Via I4U]

[enzo @ Mar 20th 2006 9:30AM]

nano-lookalike? um yeah, doesn't really look like a nano. At all.

[Nik @ Mar 20th 2006 9:45AM]

*sigh* If I didn't already have a nano, I would get one of these. A larger screen and the ability to not have to deal with itunes sells it for me.

[Dave @ Mar 20th 2006 9:57AM]

Why don't they sell it for LESS than the nano? You cannot compete with Apple's brand recognition at the same price...

Pretty stupid.

[aloejuice @ Mar 20th 2006 10:01AM]

was reading the 'designed by an ex-apple employee link' comments.. and wow. i heart apple fanboys & girls. oh! steve jobs is so cool and innovative, he never steals or takes ideas from other companies! in fact... everything under the apple name is 100% original, straight from the brain of steve jobs! also, steve jobs is really rich, but very generous. examples? ipod nano, ipod shuffle, ipod micro, ipod invisible... yea he spends all his money to make imacs and pods, so we can be cool and hip. but of course, stupid (&greedy) bill gates makes winblows but donates millions to needy kids (OMFG use that money for a better OS!). I Love You All. steve jobs is god, i love him.

[Frank @ Mar 20th 2006 10:02AM]

Does it play videos?

[Mike Cerm @ Mar 20th 2006 10:05AM]

I haven't seen the silver model in real life, but my brother has the black one, 2 gig version, and it's actually pretty slick. It's a little thicker than the Nano, but not thick enough to bulge in your pocket, and it actually feels sturdy and well-built (unlike the Nano which feels like it will snap in half if you sit with it in your pocket. What else does the thickness get you? Over 30 hours of battery-life! The interface and controls take a little getting used to, but the menu layout is pretty good.

Anyone without iPrejudice should love this player. It's definitely a decent WMAlternative to the Nano.

[Jonathan Keim @ Mar 20th 2006 10:14AM]

I think that you are just a little generous in smoothing over how thick the thing is. It's much closer to a 30 gig ipod then a nano. It's just .05 mm short of 30 gig but .20 mm more then the nano if i remember right.

[mdeltito @ Mar 20th 2006 11:12AM]

johnothan,

did you really just nitpick over mm's....lets be reasonable people. something that tends to be lost in all the fanboyism and nano-obsessiveness....

[Steven @ Mar 20th 2006 11:19AM]

Thank you mdeltito, that's what I was thinking. I have the unit and I'm very impressed with the build quality, sound quality, screen and interface.

Also the fact that you can use a lot of different services on it helps as well. I really enjoy Napster to Go.

[Frank @ Mar 20th 2006 11:36AM]

DOES IT PLAY VIDEOS?

[Alex S @ Mar 20th 2006 12:20PM]

Finally saw one of these in person. The controller didn't work for me and the menu was slow to respond. Did like the screen though. Anybody think the same of this?

[trev @ Mar 20th 2006 12:48PM]

Seeing as its a music player, can anyone vouch for the sound quality? Ive read a review on Cnet which claimed that it was superior to the nano in terms of sound and build quality. If I wasn't broke Ide be very keen in nabbing one of these :)

Im not bothered about the size as long as it fits in my pocket and sounds great - I can't believe people complaing that its almost as thick as an iPod, its not like the new iPod is a fatty now is it? ;)

[Carl Lumma @ Mar 20th 2006 3:37PM]

How does this remotely compare to a nano -- it's almost twice as thick!

I wish there was a 4GB flash device as thin as a nano that wasn't made by Apple -- I'd buy it in a second.

-C.

[Jon @ Mar 20th 2006 4:42PM]

Flimsy and cheap fealing is not what I go for...so the extra width and sturdiness is a plus.

Also the ability to choose from Yahoo Music, Napster, etc. is the killer app that all Plays For Sure players have that Ipods don't. If you haven't tried a subscription service yet...trust me you'll want to give it a go. Napster and Yahoo allow for 3 computers to use the service under one login! So get 2 buddies and get a subscription service. Using this method, I pay like $6 a month for the entire Yahoo Music Library!

And another cool thing is, the 360 is Plays For Sure compatible, so I can play the songs downloaded to my computer on my Living room surround system via the 360. Ipod's & Itunes DRM doesn't allow for playback of songs on the 360.

Besides, WMP 10 is WAY better than Itunes. Yahoo's Meda Player is not bad either.

[Asz @ Mar 20th 2006 6:26PM]

It still blows my mind that Samsung actually HIRED SOMEONE TO MAKE A TEXT-ONLY INTERFACE. I could have designed it for half. ;)

[Matt @ Mar 20th 2006 7:22PM]

How does that look like the Nano? This is engadget.com, not applefanboy.com (that doesn't seem to even exist)

[Matt @ Mar 20th 2006 7:31PM]

Looks like a cell phone to me.

[mark burban @ Mar 21st 2006 1:55AM]

yuk! it looks awful..

[Chris Renton @ Mar 21st 2006 1:55AM]

Wonder how tough this will be? The nano survived being run over by a car (twice). This looks like it would splatter like an orange.

[Sonja @ Apr 4th 2008 9:02AM]

Also ich habe diesen player, und finde ihn gut! Das einzigste was nicht so guzt ist, dass man es nur über usb aufladen kann !!