Convenience Hard drive size (15 gig) Sound quality (certainly not hifi, but solid) Durability

No direct digital out (volume/equalizer bypass)

I received a Dell DJ (15 gig) for Christmas in 2003 and love it. I use it regularly in both my home and car stereos. The sound quality is good for a digital player (I rip all my music to 320 kbs mp3), although it is certainly not as good a source as my Yamaha CD player. I find that the DJ sounds best through my stereos with the onboard volume all the way up and with onboard equalizer turned off. It might be worth noting that my stereo amp must be turned up slightly higher to achieve the same volume level as my cd player. For use with headphones, the DJ sounds good at all volume levels, and I usually use a custom equalizer curve. I have never experienced any technical problems with the DJ, save for a very seldom lock up (easily fixed by resetting the unit, which does not cause any data loss). It appears to be very sturdy, as I have dropped it more than once, and it has never shown any ill effects. Also, I have never heard the DJ skip, even in bumpy conditions in the car. Overall, I am very pleased with the convenience, sound quality, and reliability of my DJ. I would highly recommend it to anyone in the market for a harddrive based mp3 player.

Similar Products Used:

IPod (nice but not worth the extra expense) Creative mp3 player (a friend's - JUNK)