Customer Reviews

Philips GoGear MP4 player SA2MUS32S/02 Muse 32GB - Silver

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this player a few weeks ago and have been impressed, why? If, like me, you don't like being tied to a particular download site then the GoGear makes it easy to manage your music and video, you literally drag and drop. It's one of the quickest devices I've ever had when it comes to syncing too.

I've transferred home recorded videos, BBC iPlayer programmes (on the "For Windows Media Player" and "For Portable Device" setting - both work well) as the MWV versions of Blu-Ray "Triple Play" films. All transfer quickly and, amazingly, without error or mis-hap. One useful feature of the player is the ability (after purchasing an optional mini-HDMI to HDMI cable) to watch video up to 720p resolution on your screen. This works well (just remember to save with the right resolution in the first place), and one neat little feature is that, as soon as you press "Play" on the unit and the image appears on the Television, the screen on the Muse itself becomes a touch-screen remote control. This works well, and if Philips are sharp, some future firmware versions add some additional functionality too. The Muse screen is bright and clear with a good wide viewing angle.

The Music and Photo Viewer side of things have the usual features, including the obligatory "slide of the finger" feature on the touch-screen to leaf through album covers. I've never found this a useful way to find music, but there you go, you can't please everyone. I don't think the default way the library is organised is particularly effective, but there are a range of options for customising browsing and I found a good compromise for my needs - not hugely sophisticated though, which is a pity. However, if you are an Audible subscriber, like me, then you'll be pleased that the device is able to sync and play with your library in the highest quality codecs too. That's been really useful and, yes, it's quick to sync.

Finally, you can listen to FM radio (which has an effective tuner and user interface - really good quality while walking around town in my local area), and the ability to record from the radio any programmes you are listening to (and the facility to make voice memos etc) that you can listen to later or transfer to your PC collection.

Pros:
Stylish, light, robustly well built
Great sound (including pseudo-surround for movies and a sound restorer option (FullSound) for audio files)
Great screen and resolution, and can output video (up to 720p) via an optional mini-HDMI to HDMI cable
Effective touchscreen (only the odd wait for a reaction - nothing annoying)
Loads of capacity and expandable memory with a micro-USB port
Easy and quick to transfer data, music and video
Great compatibility (haven't found anything so far that it won't play)

Cons:
No in-built speaker
In-built Songbird library management software is not a step forward from simply using WMP (although set-up is easy as it's pre-loaded to install on the player when connected to a USB port on your PC)
Odd little "Text" feature that I can't make head-nor-tail of - nothing illuminating in the User Manual either
Does not come with a protective case of any kind - it's well built, but not invincible!

If you shop around you can get some good deals too, so if you're in the market for a great little versitile player then take at look at this Philips.

I lost my Creative Zen and this is the replacement. When it's working is is absolutely fine, but the Songbird Software is nothing short of dreadful. It all works better on drag and drop as a removable drive.

When you charge it or update it, it goes through a remounting exercise which takes a while. ANd if you want to watch a movie, it can take an age to get loaded.

The earbuds are quite decent and match well agains my Klipsch earbuds.

The video quality is fine but .... it's been a trial to find a format that actually works. I now use AnyVideoConverter which is available as a free download on the internet

Bottom line is that it's a nice-loking piece of kit but needs more attention to the user interfaces. Worth £170? Not really. I'm still hoping that my Zen is going to turn up!

I liked the look of the MP4 player from the Amazon website and had bought Philips products in the past with good results. I have a wide music genre so a 32GB player was essential as I like to carry my collection with me. I wasn't disappointed with the overall style and look of the Philips Muse the satin alloy finish gives the player good grip and the outside controls are easy to read and use. It took about an hour and a half to fully charge the Muse ready for music input, from the moment you switch the player on the on screen instructions allow you to set the date and time and the background design. Once connected to the computer you have no problem as the USB instantly recognises the device and sets the player up for you. I did have a problem however with 'Songbird' the Muse's own music/video capture software but I went online to Philips and downloaded the latest software from there. Drag and drop is the best way to load you device and it's quick too, I filled my Muse with 8450 songs in about 2 hours, that included finding the album artwork before downloading the songs. The best thing about the Muse as a player is the sound quality. The system is loaded with a 'Full Sound' system that creates a mini concert in your head. It is exceptional and the best I've heard on what is a mid range player. The fact you download programs from BBC iPlayer is an added bonus which make the Philips Muse a worth while buy.
The screen is easy to use and does exactly what you expect it to do unlike other units which instead of changing the track will alter the volume. Overall the Philips Muse is a nice bit of kit.

It's curious that the quality of sound is not considered anymore when it comes to mp3-mp4 player, the more they do (camera, games, applications...)the better they are regardless to the sound quality. I came across some comments about the horrible sound of ipods and as it happened to me to get one as a gift I could make easly a comparison with a sumsung I had already. When my ipod was robbed I decided to go for a philips basically because I could underestand from people comments that was the best for quality sound. Though is so difficult to find in shops plus the fact no one, expecially in the big shops, is able to give you a competent opinion! But now that I got my Muse 32GB I'm completely happy. The design is nice, the screen has a generous size. The sound is great! Details I never heard a quality very close to the original CD sound. No games.

I chose this product after researching the options. I was looking for something that plays most formats, includes an FM radio and has a large capapcity. The obvious choice would have been to replace my iPod classic, but having had three rendered broken within a couple of years, I decided to give up on Apple.

The GoGear looks good, and is light. What I really didnt like was the interface. I found it very hard to scroll through long lists of artists, albums etc - which made using it "on the go" virtually impossible for me. Also, the syncing with PC seemed to me to be very clunky and hit and miss. Several times my PC lost the connection, and the PC software I found even worse than iTunes.

I'm now looking for yet another alternative...and think will try to find something from Creative.

It does everything I need: good sound, standard headphone socket (so connectable to anything via cable), stores 32gb of music which is enough for me, provides a good-enough index system (Artist, Album, Title; *or* folder structure) on a reasonable size screen, with good-enough info on tracks while playing. It is very easy to populate from a PC (it behaves just like a USB stick when connected, you can just copy whole directories onto it, and it doesn't take very long to update). And it was very cheap - I found it for 90 GBP, which is under half a comparable iPod. No problems with appearance (metal) and it has some nice extras: it will also store & show photos and videos (though, irritatingly, not .mpeg: I will have to find a program to convert)

My doubts are that sometimes it doesn't do what it should:
(a) I press to go up a level in the menu, the screen changes colour so it knows I pressed it, but nothing happens. Or I try to scroll by moving my finger down/up the list but the list doesn't move, or moves the wrong way. I thought that might be my initial unfamiliarity with touch screens, but it is still doing it sometimes, weeks/months later. Trying again does eventually work but sometimes it needs several tries and this is frustrating.
(b) I think it has once or twice refused to work until I reboot it.
(c) connecting it to a PC usually works, but about 1 time in 20 the PC doesn't recognise it until I reboot the device, which takes some time.

So I like it, and I'm using it, but I always have a background fear "suppose it doesn't work at all next time" which means that when I need reliability, I feel I have to carry around a CD system as backup, which is negating the main benefit.

I brought the Go Gear Muse as my MP3 was getting old and wasnt running the way it used to.

The sound quality on the muse is amazzing and the picture quality of the video is great , you have a crystal clear sound and picture.

I mainly use mine for music, i dont bother with the movie side of things and have heard from other reviews of it that putting the movies and videos on is a pain.

This doesnt bother me as all i want is music.

The music sounds great with the head phones that come with , but its very hard to hear the full quality of the music when there constently falling out your ears, weathere you are standing still or moving you just cant keep them in.

I would strongly suggest buying a new pair of headphones, you might say that it wont bother you which i said the day i got it , but it falls out that much that you just start to get anoyed.

Other wise with a good pair of head phones , your sound quality is amazzing and studio quality, i love my go gear and if i was to go back in time id buy it all over agian.

Even better quality than an ipod touche as i compared it with my brothers, i will say if you use the ipod touche headphone in the muse the quality of the sound is absolutly Thernomanal. ( sorry if i have not spelt that correctly )

Great little machine and works very well with Go Gear speakers and dockings if you get the proper sound leaded, so that you plug it into your Muse and then into the back off the speakers or docking.

If ypu are intrested in that as buying speakers or dockings for this litte machine is hard.

To go into a shop with your go gear muse and ask someone who works there which speakers or docking it will go with,where they will tell you which and what lead you need to get inorder for it to work.

All in all this is a great MP4 and i highly recomend it.