Xclef HD-500 20GB MP3 Jukebox

Just small enough to fit in a pocket. Just loud enough to do justice to my mp3 collection.
This is a flexible storage device that has great quality sound reproduction, fast transfer via USB2, a serviceable FM radio, text file viewing, wma & mps playback, ID3 tag support, bookmark & playlist support, regular firmware updates, song shuffle mode, 20Gb for 5 or 6000 tracks of 128mbps mp3, direct encoding from digital & audio line in (or from FM radio, or from built in microphone)...the list goes on.
The device is solid & well built, the display is clear (although could be improved by adjustable font sizes), and the menu system is relatively straightforward.
The unit appears as a removable drive on your PC so just drag & drop files or entire folders onto it, it really couldn't be easier.
OK, so its not as small as the 1.8" hard disk devices, and may not be as pretty as an ipod or a zen, but functionally its superb. And upgradeable. One guy I know has replaced the 20Gb drive with a 60Gb one. It takes standard 2.5" laptop drives.
I could go on and on. Oh I have? OK, good buy. And goodbye.

I'm not a techie, so in depth technical specification tends to go over my head. Consequently when browsing for stuff like this I tend to go for price first, then looks then basic spec. On price the Xclef tends to come in cheaper than any other 20GB jukebox I could find. A good start. Looks wise, and only going by web images, it compares well with most other options. When it comes to spec and by that I mean the every-day, genuinely usefull spec there really is nothing between this and other models. The 20GB disk should be enough for most and downloading from the PC is a piece of cake. The Xclef immediatley loads the drivers to your PC providing you have post Win98 installed. Then it,s simpley a case of drag and drop to the E Drive. Although it can file as MP3, Windows being a Microsoft package, it will automatically convert and store files as WMA. I don't have a problem with this but some may prefer MP3 files.
It also has an Fm Tuner which has been criticised as being total pants The reception is poor and when I went to listen to the radio a few days later my settings had disappeared. This function just has the feel of a gimmicky after thought.
Navigation of the menus, once your have arranged everything into the appropriate folders is very intuative (damn, wanted to avoid that cliche). I havn't yet used the Bookmark option but if the other options are anything to go by it shouldn't be a problem.
The Xclef's trump card, for me anyway is the Encoding option. You can record straight from any other external source wether it be tape or vinyl and this is it's biggest advantage over other players. Personally, this was just the function I was looking for.
I havn't taken the Xclef for a long blast yet so not sure if the twelve hour play time claims are accurate. The headphones are adequate though that is one upgrade I will be making shortly.
Build quality is good, but not as good as say the Creative Zen player. The function buttons seem to 'wobble' ever so slightly in there seatings, and the roller button seems flimsy but upon closer inspection they seem to have been designed this way and I don't anticipate any problems with them.
The Xclef has been built down to a price and if I'm being pernickity, it shows when compared to the Zen, the only other one I've seen and used. But then you would have to ask, why choose the Xclef then? Well, because it is such damn good value and the differences are not worth paying that much extra for.
Like I say, I'm not a techie, I just like things to work and be easy to use. The Xclef does both.

I have had my Xclef HD-500 for about one month and is very happy with the product.
It serves my needs perfectly since i already have a small flash player (Jens of Sweden MP100 with 256 MB).
I scanned the market completely and found that the HD-500 was best value for the money. Of course there are smaller players (in size) but they all cost 50%-200% more. The HD-500 has a standard 2,5" harddrive (lap-top type, 20 or 40 GB) and i have already replaced it with a 60 GB drive. Even the battery is of standard type that can be found in well sorted electronics stores. So the two main weak points with a (any) harddrive type player can be replaced if there would be problems in future.

I have all music organized in folders with structure "genre-artist-album-tracks". Makes tree navigation really simple. Connected to PC with Music Match 8.1 I can organize playlists and ID3-tags easily. Playlists are saved directly to the HD-500 and so far I have not seen any limitations on number of playlists or how long playlists you have.

The real +1 features are:
+ Simple and powerful navigation (folder browsing or name search.
+ Sound quality. 5 different presets and one custom setting on equalizer is enough for my needs.
+ Battery life (12-16 hours depending on temperature + how much you use the buttons= lighting up the display).
+ Playlist (M3U-files), as many as you want, as big as you want.
+ really fast file transfer with USB2.0 : 19 GB in 22 minutes (4300 MP3-files).
+ works as an external harddrive and any data format is accepted for storing. No limitations with copy protected music.

The downside with my HD 500 has been (so far)
- size (a lot bulkier than the 1,8" and 1" players)
- radio quite crappy actually - poor reception, lots of noise and static even if you find a station with decent signal.
- line in cannot detect skips between tracks when recording (if you record a CD you get ONE BIG MP3-file containing all tracks).
- takes about 4-5 hours to charge fully (really slow between 80% and 100%)
- current firmware does not support SRS-WOW (great feature for sound improvement on my JOS MP100 flash player)

Conclusion:
HD500 is a very good player and is probably the most cost effective player today. Easy and low cost expansion with standard 2,5" harddrives can give you up to 137 GB of music in your pocket !!
Because of the size of HD-500 I recommend that you also have a small flash player for the everyday use.