Samsung YP-T7 MP3 player mini-review

We just got our hands on Samsung's new 512MB YP-T7 flash-based MP3 player, which is shaping up to be a pretty solid alternative to the iPod shuffle, especially if you've been fixing for something with a color LCD screen and an FM tuner. There's a lot we dig about the YP-T7, but the first thing you're going to have to reconcile with yourself about this thing is the price. The MSRP is $149.99, which means it is definitely not the best bargain around when it comes to 512MB flash players (there's a 1GB version in silver that'll set you back another fifty bucks).

That said, there?s a lot to like in the YP-T7: it?s got a 1.12-inch, 96x96 pixel color LCD screen, aluminum and magnesium casing, support for playback of MP3, WMA, and OGG audio files, PlaysForSure compatibility, direct-to-MP3 and direct-to-WAV encoding, an FM tuner, and a digital voice recorder. Even though it does weigh about 50% more than the iPod shuffle (see comparison chart below), the YP-T7 is still incredibly light. You won?t even notice it while you?re carrying it around. The sound quality is excellent, among the best we?ve heard in a flash player. Gettings songs and JPEGs on to the player was a snap?you just plug it into an USB 2.0 port and drag-and-drop files onto it like any regular flash drive.

Here?s the thing: is there really a point to having a color screen in a player this small? It?s clearly on the novelty tip to be able to view JPEGs on a 1.12-inch LCD (the screen is so tiny that it?ll make squinting at pics on your phone seem almost pleasurable), but having a color screen does actually make navigating the user interface easier.

Speaking of the UI, Samsung isn?t going to win any awards for this one, but overall it was pretty intuitive (it only took about a minute to figure out how everything worked), and the mini joystick made it pretty simple to get around. Our one complaint was that selecting a playlist took a few more steps than it probably should have.

The FM tuner wasn?t amazing, but it?s also not unusual to get crappy FM reception here in Manhattan, so we?ll give them a pass on this on. Battery life turned out to be as expected, or just over ten hours, though we didn?t spend a lot of time killing the battery by looking at JPEGs on the color screen (that got mighty tiresome after about 45 seconds).

So is it worth buying? Hate to say it, but these days $150 seems a little steep for a 512MB player. Not that we didn?t dig carrying the YP-T7 around?there?s no doubt that this is one of the better flash players we?ve checked out lately?but a shmancy color LCD screen just isn?t a critical enough feature for a flash player, which makes it hard to justify shelling out that extra premium. If Samsung is serious about putting the hurt on Apple and smacking down all the anonymous Taiwnese and Chinese manufacturers that are nipping at their heels, they?re going to have to figure out how to price these things a lot more aggressively.

Here?s how the YP-T7 compares sizewise with the iPod shuffle:

Here?s what you get in the box: Manual, CD with software, Quick Guide, USB 2.0 cable, charger, speaker cable, USB 2.0 adapter thingy, lanyard, and headphones.

And here?s the YP-T7 alongside a little something we?ll be reviewing next.