Gateway DMP-X20 20 GB Jukebox Player
By: Gateway Average Rating: 3.0 Total Reviews: 35
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 On: 2006-10-27
I have had this player for over two years now and have had some problems with the unit but overall I am still pleased. First, the original hard disk failed and I actually ordered a 40 Gig disk and put it in myself and doubled the capacity of the player. The reason why I have stuck with this player for so long is the ease of transferability and the lack of DRM you have to mess with like in modern players. However, because of the age and the extent of usage the jog wheel is messing up. But overall, this is a great player IPODS are overrated anyhow and the external hard disk function is great on this player since mine has a 40 GIG drive in it.
 On: 2006-05-11
I got my Mp3 player from gateway refurbished. I have had it two days and it just crash. First off they did not give me a software cd so i had to download it. The software would not work. I finally got it to work so I put my whole playlist on there. It worked great. Then the next day I decide to edit some songs then NOTHING. the software did not work. I tried evry thing to get it to work. I now have been trying to get it to work for almost 24 hours. And now it decides to crash. Good thing I bought a cheap RCA Jukebox as a backup.
 On: 2005-08-23
I have used many mp3 players, including the Creative Zen and Apple Ipod, and this player is by far superior. This player is easy to use and is reasonable priced. Transferring music to the player is very simple. The player looks nice too. I would recommend the item.
On: 2005-04-02
Im sorry, but i disagree with most of the reviews for this product. From my experiance with Gateway products, ive always received the best and top in technology. Ive tried a lot of electronics including computers, mp3 players, receivers, dvd players, etc, and Gateway would give you the best of all. Ive tried Dell, Sony, and others.. Only to be disappointed in the end. If you want the best go with Gateway. If you have problems with the product maybe its not the product but the user. Ive found out that about 85% of the time its the person operating the equipment not the equipment malfunctioning.
On: 2005-03-30
This MP3 player is a pretty good investment. I know that some have said that its not worth a darn but I havent had too much trouble with it yet. At first it did have some trouble with the track lists but I updated the firmware and that fixed it all. The files for updating the firmware are at http://support.gateway.com/support/drivers/search.asp?st=pn¶m=7004768
But after the update I have not had any problems and the tracks are staying in numerical order. And unlike other reviews have said there is a way to change WMedia Player to include the track number if needed. This Mp3 player is also very user -intuitive, very easy to use.
On: 2005-02-04
I had a Gateway computer for a while and never had very few problems and my interactions with their customer service were quick and effective. Imagine my disappointment with this product. While I would buy another computer from Gateway I would not by any sort of peripheral device. This product was not user friendly and the instructions that came with it did not help at all. In addition you have to go through Windows Media which has bugs of its own. The software on the product itself also left much to be desired. Maybe they have improved their operating system since this product but it was terrible. Dont even try to create a favorites list. Most of the time it wont save the list the rest of the time it will skip to some other song that isnt on the list. Whatever you do, stay away from this MP3 Player.
On: 2004-10-29
I bought my player thru Gateway.com thru financing. Well it just turned utself off & never turned on again, & I just had for 7 mos. I emailed Gateways tech Support, it took 3 weeks for them to realize that they couldnt help me at all..The Tech Dept STINKS!!!! Then I called the custmer service to tell them my problem, guess what TOO BAD SO SAD they couldnt do anything about it because the warranty expired but I told them a year hadnt even passed yet, what kind of junk are they selling I asked. $300 down the drain NEVER AGAIN...& another little thing I saw on the Consumeraffairs.com page, there was a woman who complained to Gateway about her problem and they gave her an address to send her written complaint to. Turns out that the address given to her is a dead end, letters to never be read, So she found an address to the Execs office and they finally responded to her problem, found out that some of the stuff they sell is REFURBISHED. DONT BUY FROM GATEWAY!!!! DONT BUY FROM GATEWAY!!!!cus GATEWAY really is a GATEWAY TO HELL!!!
On: 2004-10-18
The jukebox was working okay [Though it was buggy from the start] until it died after about 3 months, so I had it sent in for repairs, which they said would take up to 10 days. That was about 4 months ago, so I called to see what the deal was and found out recently that it was "lost in service." So I was told a new one would be sent to me, and it would take up to 1 week. That was over 2 weeks ago. I called to get a refund, but apparently that is impossible [Gateways return policy is 15 days], and Ive pretty much just been told to wait for the phantom replacement jukebox, but no one knows how long it will take for it to be sent [by the way, this is just something that annoyed me: Gateway hires some of the slowest and underqualified technical support people ever. One woman didnt even know what an mp3 player was]. Ive begun to assume my $350 is lost for good and am starting to look at ipod and sonys new walkman. Never buying Gateway again.
 On: 2004-09-08
I bought my Gateway DMP-X20 last week and Im returning it today. I read all the reviews but I thought I could get around the "Playlist" issues. Here are my comments:
1) The unit only accepts music through Windows Media Player (which I dont like in the first place). Even if you drag & drop mp3s from folder to drive, they will not show up on your unit until you open Media Player and reconcile them.
2) Most of the reviews I read talked about the unit not playing songs in track order, but in alphabetical order, because the unit is basically a 20gig hard rive formatted as FAT32 type (DOS style). Thats fine with me, because I make sure and edit all my ID3 tags myself, and I name them with the track title first. So not only does my filename read like, "01. Led Zeppelin - Black Dog" but my ID3 track title reads, "01. Black Dog"... So therefore, you would think that albums would play in alphabetical order....right??.... WRONG !!!
3) Windows Media automatically looks track file information on the internet and renames the ID3 tags based on what it finds. Therefore, the tracks it couldnt find stayed the same, but if it finds tracks that it matches, it switches to those tags. So instead of Led Zeppelin all being listed as "Classic Rock" genre, it changed some of the songs to "Pop/Rock" and some to "Rock"... Also, when it found a match, it renamed the ID3 title so there was no number in the beginning, "01. Black Dog" changed to "Black Dog" - hence, no longer album track order...
4) I called Gateway about it, they told me it was a Windows Media default and there was no way to get around it besides disconnecting from the internet. Im not about to do that every time I want to transfer a song...
Therefore, as stated in others reviews, if you dont care about keeping albums in order, and you dont care about browsing by Genre or Album, then get it.. Otherwise, get the IPOD - Im going to.
On: 2004-09-07
Mine died after seven months, and Gateways response to my question of how to get it repaired was to "take it to a local electronics shop." Theyve obviously realized these things are junk, and have disavowed themselves of any responsibility to people who bought them. Ill never buy another Gateway product again, period. ZERO stars.
On: 2004-08-31
After 7 months, the thing just died on me. Gateway would not help or care at all, and told me to buy another one. No way.
On: 2004-08-30
After 7 months, the thing just died on me. Gateway would not help or care at all, and told me to buy another one. No way.
On: 2004-08-30
First one lasted two months. Paid to ship it to California. Second one lasted 5 months. After that, Gateway said the 90 day warrenty was past and didnt even offer to fix it at a fee.
There are other issues, but who wants to pay $300 for an MP3 player that wont even last a year.
Gateway has sure gone down hill.
On: 2004-08-24
I purchased this unit online two months ago and will never part with it. Performance from the Gateway has been great, the sound quality is exactly what I wanted in a portable unit. The battery life is great. The main reason for my purchasing this unit was its sound quality and its looks. Both are top notch. I contemplated the Ipod but was turned off by the Ipods white factor, even with the Ipod Mini color selection there still is the white factor on the buttons. I wanted a portable MP3 player that would look and function great. The Ipod looks more like it belongs in my wifes purse rather than my briefcase. So far smooth sailing on the Gateway!
On: 2004-08-23
I purchased this unit online two months ago and will never part with it. Performance from the Gateway has been great, the sound quality is exactly what I wanted in a portable unit. The battery life is great. The main reason for my purchasing this unit was its sound quality and its looks. Both are top notch. I contemplated the Ipod but was turned off by the Ipods white factor, even with the Ipod Mini color selection there still is the white factor on the buttons. I wanted a portable MP3 player that would look and function great. The Ipod looks more like it belongs in my wifes purse rather than my briefcase. So far smooth sailing on the Gateway!
On: 2004-08-16
Just thought Id write this review to clear some things up. Ive read many reviews on numerous different sites that say the songs and albums get completely scrambled, which is absolutely true. When this happened with my player I was on the verge of returning my player. I finally decided to call Gateway tech support and see if they could clear it up. The person to whom I was speaking had not the slightest clue what I was talking about. When I told him my problem (scrambled artist names/albums), he told me I could either rename every single song, or reformat the hard drive, erasing everything. Neither of which sounded very pleasant. I then decided to (and heres how to fix the problem) put every song onto the computer (drag and drop) and then reformat the disk. Although this took approximately 2 1/2-3 hours, it worked, all the artist names/albums appeared as they should have.
Now, for some positives about the player:
Ease of Use Excellent - It is easy to use right out of the box
Durability Excellent - Well made and will last a long time
Portability Excellent - Tiny, and always functional
Sound Quality Excellent - Professional level sound
Battery Life Excellent - Lasts all day
On: 2004-08-12
Gateway should immediately recall this product from the market. Its a great concept: WMA, MP3 and Audible + FM tuner + voice recorder. But the software is defective--this is confirmed. The music catalog on the device gets constantly corrupted. The radio station presets get deleted. (The Gateway support site says that you have to rename your titles in order to fix the music catalog bug--but why not fix the bug instead?) Also, product design is really out of date: bulky, cheap finish, like a small brick. Heres my take on players: If you want the best sound quality (and best battery life) get the iRiver. iRiver seems (havent tried) like an excellent product, with FM stations and voice recorder. This is one of the only players which supports OGG, which beats ANY format for sound quality including AAC (used by Apple, etc), Microsofts WMA and MP3. **But the iRiver does not support Audible, in case you want spoken word content (why not???). If you want the best Audible player, then try the iPod, which also beats ALL of the other players in the looks department. However, the iPod AAC format is overhyped (though iTunes is fantastic) so also consider using the MP3 format with iTunes for the iPod--that way you can also take to other devices like the Phatnoise. Consider 192kbps with VBR encoding set to highest. This will give you good enough sound--enough to keep you from complaining about the lack of OGG, and with better imaging than AAC. If you want to get techie, use LAME MP3 encoding which is almost as good as the OGG codec--but this defeats the simplicity of iTunes (ugh) since there is no plug in for iTunes LAME MP3 encoding. You have to get a customer burner like Audiograbber. I dont bother with this--too much hassle. So bottom line is that there is no perfect device, but there would be if iPod supported OGG or iRiver supported Audible. Anyone out there listening?
On: 2004-07-30
Why? Because I want something that works the way I think about music. First flaw: It does not play albums in track order, only alphabetically. If you are a music fan and a lover of albums, this will annoy you to no end! I thought I could live with it but I cant. Now I know that Gateway says you can use playlists to put the songs in album and that would work if it was easy to do it. But its not. The interface for making playlists on the player is HORRIBLE. And doing it on Windows Media player (the only way to transfer to the device by the way... that is if you want the songs to actually PLAY) is so unintiutive that I still havent figured out how to do it. iPods sort by track order BY DEFAULT. Thats as it should be!
The next flaw is that if you dont open up the player with Windows Media player, the songs that you transfer using the hard drive interface will not be seen. It stinks that Windows Media player is the main interface to the device. With the iPod you use iTunes but that is such a well designed piece of software, that you dont even mind. But at least in that case, I have the option of not using it if I dont want to.
There is really one thing that this player does well and that is actually play the songs. However, for $300, I expect more out of my player. For example, the iPod actually keeps track of how many times youve listened to songs and ranks them that way and Im sure its used to weigh shuffling as well. There are other features that I havent even explored yet but I am pleasantly surprised by each one that I find. And now that iPods price has dropped to the same as this player, it just makes no sense to buy an inferior alternative.
If Gateway were to upgrade its firmware to address its issues, Id give it a higher rating. Apparently they have no interest in doing so, new CEO or not. For this reason, I recommend going for the "real deal" (iPod).
On: 2004-07-11
Player does wonderfully with my over 85 aubible files but contrary to manual will NOT accept playlists from WMP (even version 9) and instead it scrambles lists back to alphabetic and frequently confuses songs from different artists.Gateways Support is staggeringly poor and basically they lie and cheat. After tens of emails since April and initial denials that there was any problem, every time I have asked them to take the machine back, they have said "just wait sir" the new software we are working on will solve this problem (note that the Feb 19 upgrade did nothing to help and their other solutions of reformatting (several times) and reloading all your files will just waste your time and try your patience). Finally today, they have admitted that gateway has no way of making a WMP playlist work but having confirmed this, now they say they WILL DO NOTHING FOR ME because the Warranty has expired!!!!! In other words their tactic was to spin out the customer exchange till they had an excuse to refuse to help. If you want good audible performance and do not care if your albums play out of order, this is a viable buy - otherwise do not consider it, Gateway have no intention of supporting it further and their tech support team know nothing about the item.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-06-22
I purchased this as a gift for my husband. The unit has shut down and scrambled songs twice. The unit has been replaced twice. They never repair, only replace it with another dysfunctional unit. Customer service is horrible!! No support from Gateway. What a mistake. Do not buy this unit!!!!!!! You will kiss 300 dollars good-bye!
On: 2004-06-11
This is a great little device when its working. The primary reason I bought it was its Audible.com compatibility. Suddenly it became incompatible and the Audible techs finally informed me that this happens all the time and the hard drive needs to be reformatted to fix the problem. Ive owned computers since 1979 and have never had to reformat a hard drive. So I checked with Gateway. Guess what? The DMP-X20 when purchased from a 3rd party is not supported by Gateway. Really! I gave them the serial number and they dont keep a record of serial numbers for MP3 players. They flat out refused to talk to me about the unit because I had no order number or Customer ID number. Fortunately, even though Ive had the unit for about 3½ months, Amazon has agreed to accept its return. Ill be buying an iPod. Do not buy this unit unless youre prepared for zero support from Gateway.
On: 2004-05-28
Yes, in spite of many defects and design issues, I gave this product 4 stars because I use it all the time, and dont know what i would do without it!; buy an i-pod?Great for Audible.Com books - the best audible player I have had. Great storage. Basically, easy to use. Very good sound. And very reasonable price. BUT: buggy software; very sensitive to mist,and knocks and bumps; FM reception is poor and I wish I could record FM, it would be a great addition; control for hold is poorly placed and I often shut-off player when I want hold on/off, unless I am very very careful; carrying case is poor quality and already ripped, and i cant find replacement becasue:; tech support at Gateway is almost non-existent - i am not even sure if they are carrying this anymore as it soesnt show in their product list. . . . . Frustrating, but I dont leave home without it - so i gave it 4 stars because nothing is better.
On: 2004-05-24
I have had a few ups and downs with the player and my warning to you all is this: If you have a computer with a USB 1.0 port, do not get angry or expect the gateway to be as fast as you thought. On my desktop, i have a 1.0 USB port and the transfer leaves much to be desired. However, this is only a problem during the intial transfer of songs. After that, when you are only transferring a few songs or cds at a time, the player is fine. If you have a 2.0 USB port, then you have clear sailing ahead. The tabs for the USB and power charger are weak, but if you keep it in its carrying case (which i love), then the tabs are fine. I love the look of the player and I love the fact that gateway supplies the USB cord with the player. The Ipod doesnt. Also, the ability to record meetings and then play those recordings and my music over my big stereos speakers is a definite plus. I heartily recommend this player.
On: 2004-04-07
Fist off, Ill say that as a player, this thing was pretty slick when it was working. Good sound, I like the screen, everything about it was great. But now, I own a $300 paperweight...The drive on this thing has been corrupted, and now my PC no longer recognizes the device. I have tried everything, and support cant help me either. But basically since I have owned it, I have had to deal with frequent "flake outs" where the player decides it cant figure out what its doing and shuts off. Twice, the tag database has been corrupted to the point where I have had to reformat the player, and on this third time around, the reformat fails, and Im pretty much stuck with a music player with no songs on it. It has been nothing but problems since the start. Again, decent player when it works, but Ive since gone online and checked other sites reviews of this thing and Im not the only one who has had MULTIPLE problems with the device. I wish I could give this thing a good review but to anyone going out and buying one, be prepared to be frustrated, and possibly left out in the cold with an unusable device.
On: 2004-03-26
I purchased a gateway DMP-X20 from my local gateway store and was pretty excited at first. My excitment though turned to absolute frustration as after loading all my songs from my HD I went into artist chose one and a completely different album title would appear if I chose a song a completely different artists names would appear as well as album title. Maybe I had a duff machine and I know it lists songs in alphabetical order when you choose the album option but that wasnt the problem. I call tech support and they either told me to reform the player which I did about 7 or 8 times and it still didnt help and I even tried upgrading firmware no help either. I finally asked for a replacement which I received but surprise surprise the exact same problem happened. The instructions were chinsy at best and I was using windowa media player 9 as per instructions. I am very disappionted in this product maybe I am the only one with this unique problem but still 2 players with the same problem? I sent both players back and am now searching for a replacement.
 On: 2004-03-18
I just bought the Gateway DMP-X20 yesterday, and I am not very impressed. Dont get me wrong, it is a wonderful jukebox with excellent sound quality. But, some of the options that it is lacking will cause me to return it today. Frist, I am used to having Archos jukeboxes. Unlike the Archos, the Gateway WILL NOT sort your tracks according to track number, instead sorts them alphabetically. I do not like this. I am used to hearing my CDs in a certain order, and I know which tracks I want. I dont want to have to think of all the songs on that CD, then figure out where it will be placed in an alphabetical sort. Secondly, you have no option to browse the harddrive. This is an option I love! Why connect your jukebox to your computer to find out what data you have stored on it. I prefer to browse the jukebox itself to see if there is something I need on it. Over all, it is a very decent jukebox, but not what I am used/acustom to. If these complaints dont bother you, I would highly recommend getting the Gateway DMP-X20
On: 2004-03-16
Ive had the DMP-X20 for about 3 weeks. Its a nice piece of equipment but as far as I can tell its not the holy grail of players. I should preface my review by saying my primary interest in the Gateway was not for the MP3 player, but for the Audible player. I was also interested in the voice recording feature. While the DMP-X20 provides both options, theyre a bit clunky. Previously I was using a pocket PC (Dell Axim) as my player, which worked pretty well but didnt have the capacity I wanted. The DMP-X20 only supports Audible format 4. This format is 4 times the file size of format 2 (the format I had been using), which means more disk space is required and longer download times of books over the internet. I found this very disappointing. The other drag is that I cannot drag-and-drag Audible files to the player as I could with my pocket PC (at least by any means I can understand). This disappointed me as well because Audibles user interface program isnt what I would call user friendly. There is a limitation in the number of bookmarks you can use, and Im not sure why. The voice recording works pretty well, once you get it going. However, it takes so long to switch to the recording mode. This makes it impractical if you plan to use it to make quick voice recordings. It also doesnt have a convenient way to stop and start recordings with the intention of separating a meeting into different tracks. Not as fluid as other digital voice recorders Ive used. The upside to the voice recording is that the mic does record fairly well. One thing that seems a little weird is that I havent been able to delete my voice recordings. Ive followed the instructions but the menu they say should appear doesnt. Either Im doing something wrong or their firmware upgrade has a glitch. Customer support was not very helpful when I contacted them via their web site. I just received back from them a canned answer that didnt answer my question. But hey, theyre primary business is computers, not MP3 players ... though my experience would deter me from buying a PC from them. There also doesnt seem to be a feature that "wakes it up" the player. If you let it sit and it shuts itself off, you have to turn the power switch off and back on again for it to come on ... just tedious, you know? The protective case - nice concept but it frays along the edges. Sloppy craftsmanship. The radio - works about as good as any FM radio without an antenna. If you dont need the antenna where you live, youll love it. NONE of my criticisms add up to this being a bad player, its just not the holy grail. On the upside - it feels pretty solid, though I havent dropped it yet. A tad heavy but nice dimensions. The scroll wheel is awesome! As compared to my pocket PC, the controls are much more user friendly, especially when driving.
On: 2004-03-10
UPDATE....If you have any URL bases songs that Windows Media Player sees as MP3s it will crash. after hours of coming through my "all music" list I found the songs that were crashing WMPLAYER 9 and deleted them...I then had clean runs...Windows Media Player 9 is still pretty lame and unstable. No syncing of changes in title or genre etc. I bought the DMP-X20 after reading all the reviews and looking at the ipod, nomad etc. Windows Media Player 9.0 chrashes like crazy when I load songs on it, and scrables all the songs and info on the unit. Telephone support was week, I knew more than he did, but online support told me to update the firmware (flash memory ) on the unit. I did it and no luck...same error loading after about 3gigs of songs. I am now downloading the most recent version of Windows Media Player to see if that helps, but the errors say it is with the Plug In, which would be gateway. I have a new dell running xp pro and I even turned off all the drivers from the msconfig command to avaiod conflicts. In the end I think it is crappy windows media player to blame, but I cant tell. The unit is cool, and if I copy 100 songs over at a time it does not crash,(...) Also WMplayer is kind of dumb in alway wanting to load all the songs all the time, without syncing changes to artist, genre etc. Also the rubber stopper for the power and USB cable are really week and dont stay closed. The Chinese fab must be using playdough instead of a good rubber tab like IBM uses(...)
On: 2004-02-26
I received my DMP-X20 jukebox as a Christmas gift and really, really like it! The big back button below the scroll wheel makes it very easy to use. Although the user interface is a little boring graphically, its straight forward and simple to navigate. I also like the way it feels when I hold it in my hand. The metal bottom case and mirror front makes it feel and look like a quality product. And the sound quality is great. My only complaint so far is the case. To charge the battery, you have to remove the player since there isnt a hole cutout for the power adapter. But overall, they did a very nice job on this product.
On: 2004-02-12
*** Final Update. After 20 months of use my player died. My wife had one and it too died. This is unacceptable. My new rating is 0 stars. On a positive note we had the extended warranty and they refunded our money no questions asked and didnt even want the player back! It still works as a portable hard drive so all was not lost. It just wont play music properly. 5 stars for customer support. With the return money my wife bought an iPod. Were dissapointed with that product. Doesnt sound as good as the Gateway. iPods are way overrated. I bought a Creative Zen Touch which is a superior product to either the Gateway or the iPod. See my review elsewhere. ***
I have owned this jukebox for 6 months now (as of May 20 2004) and love it. It sounds great (with good headphones), is easy to use, well made and the price is right. So far I have loaded over 3000 songs and I use it every day. The unit has performed flawlessly. I would recommend this over any other jukebox on the market. Almost all the problems that some of the other reviewers had are corrected by the following update. Dont pay any attention to what they say. This is a fantastic jukebox. We own 2 of them.
Tom
Update!!!
There is a Firmware update that allows 4000 playlists. It also corrected numerous other glitches, most I was unaware of. This seems to indicate Gateway is serious about supporting this player. The update was easy and went flawlessly. I still highly recommend it after 3 months of regular use.
Heres the improvements
"Reason for Update
Version 2.3
·Increases the maximum number of playlists to 4,000.
·When the unit tries to play an unsupported wave format, a message displays noting that the format is unsupported. Before, the unit would hang up.
·Added support for WAV files created on the PC in the following format: PCM at 8000 Hz, 16 Bit, Mono.
·In Audible Menu, the default selection was changed to always be the top of the list.
·Long WMA DRM files (> 12 min) caused the device to lock up.
·Player was resetting when selecting any playlist while playing any voice recording file.
·While playing the voice recording, sometimes the player shows "No Items" for MFM menus.
·During Audible playback, when PREV key was pressed, the player either reset or go into fast forward mode.
·While playing an Audible book, there are a couple of places that skip 10 minutes of the book.
·Audible automatic bookmark did not save when switching from Audible to Voice Recording Playback and from Audible to Bookmarks.
·When playing different types of tracks (MP3/WMA) from playlist menu, the player resets but starts the track after reset.
·With MP3 and WMA tracks in the hotlist, pressing the back key was not giving the same list view every time.
·Playlist names are not being displayed correctly.
·Resume last track does not work properly in from WMA module.
·Playlist name with 128 characters was not properly showing on display after scroll up/down.
·Playlist with identical names were blocked but last character was not nullified.
·Bookmark index was not correct. Selecting an existing bookmark played the wrong track.
·The X of Y on the play screen sometimes is incorrect or it disappears.
·While adding an artist to the playlist, it goes to the artist list menu in that state. If the play button is pressed, the wrong track is played.
·When more than 8 playlists were added, all the playlist names were not visible and the scrolling was missing when viewed by pressing select button through the play screen.
·If Output Setting is set to Line Out, the volume information screen is not displayed when in Play Mode and the scroll wheel is used.In Playlist edit mode, when moving a track, the Delete and Add selections should not be allowed to be selected."
by: Anonymous On: 2004-01-20
Im not sure what may have happened with the product described in the previous review, but it in now way approximates my experience. This device is slick, small, sturdy, remarkably intuitive and has fantastic sound quality.I cant comment on the radio part because , although I have had no problems with the radio, that is not my primary purpose in owning this state of the art machine. I have several hundred CDs ripped to the DMP-X20 and have only used less than 2 gig of space. The device says it holds 20 gig of info, but in actuality it is about 19. It will hold 8,000 CDs, so I cant figure out how the prior reviewer used so much space with so few CDs. Last, the sound quality is unbelievably good and the entire unit can be operated with one hand, changing songs, artists, albums or volume. I did upgrade to Koss rubber, in-ear plugs which give a better sound. I assume there are going to be faulty units produced and have to guess that is what happened with the once reviewed above. I have never written an online review, but my experience was so superior and so different from this other one that I felt compelled to share. I have looked at a number of other players, but this is head and shoulders above them. Whether via Napster 2.0 or CDs from my computer, the transfer is quick and seamless. I fully recommend this device.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-01-20
"Jukebox King" takes the stage & steals the MP3 scene! Priced at $ 299 its a good buy if its a good groduct.Pros: Sound, size and supple.
Cons: Minor design flaws. I have tried the Neuros GB20 and Rio800 and the Digital Gateway DMP-X20 is the "Jukebox King." Elvis is performing live on this stage. This is the player we have been waiting to buy. MP3 players are purchased for sound, sound and sound. The digital Gateway DMP-X20 delivers Loud, Clear and True Fidelity. That is not the only reason I call the Gateway DMP-X20 the "Jukebox King." It is not size and contrast that makes the display. Content, readability, menu design and the intuitive menu system allows me to play a song or a book quickly. Makes this display peerless. Take it to the beach, go skiing or take a long walk and hear your favorite tunes, get the news, weather and scores, listen to a book and record an idea or a speech. 10 hours of total audio mobility. No, you cannot take it in the shower with you! WARNING: I have dropped my Gateway 3 times from my desktop while writing this review and it has not skipped a note. DO NOT TRY IT FROM OVER 100. THAT WAS NOTHING I RAN OVER THE GATEWAY AND MY MOTOROLA CELL PHONE WITH MY CAR!! DONT ASK!. THE CELL PHONE NO LONGER WORKS, THE GATEWAY DMP-X20 HASNT MISSED A NOTE, THE FM TUNER IS PERFECT AND VOICE REORDING ARE FULLY FUNCTIONING. In my school the Gateway DMP-X20 is the valedictorian of this years class of MP3 players for the GPA earned in the demanding courses listed below: SOUND AAAA++++ Size & Weight A+
Its slightly larger than a cigarette pack at 4" x 2 5/8" x 7/8" and weighs a little less than half a pound. Support Formats A- It plays WMA, WAV, MP3 and Audible file formats. Transfer Speed A+ USB 2.0, 6 cable included. FM Tuner
12 presets A- Default is the last station played, can overwrite presets.
Tuning A+ Remote
Control B+ Wired, I think its a little small my hands.
Features B- Lock - Volume; Forward, Back, Fast F, Fast Back Headset
Ear bud No Grade
I do not like ear buds, I use my Panasonic RC-HP70 Noise Canceling headset. After spending $300 for an MP3 Player. Who does not use a noise canceling headset? Display
Readability A+
2 ½" - I am totally color blind so if it works for me...Indigo blue backlight, 60 x 128, I found the size just right.
Boot up A+ 2000 songs & 40 Audible songs took12 seconds to load.
Scrolling A- Very responsive.
Menu System B+ Select by Playlist, Genre, Artist, Album, Track Playlist
Creation A+ Very intuitive - no learning curve.
Number A+ Unlimited
Access A+ Quick song/track access. Click on choice and select
Buffer A+ 16MB, no dead spots during jogging or cycling.
Capacity B+ 20GB HDD
Battery Life A- Li-Ion. Gateway say its 10 hours. I did not test their claim. Voice recording is quick and easy. I have discovered that this feature is just like having a tablet with me. Neither the Windows Media Player nor the Audible Manager support playing a song/book from a Player. This is a deficiency that should be corrected by Microsoft and Audible. DISCLAIMER: I am not an employee, subcontractor of Gateway nor do I have any financial interest in Gateway. Jeremy ON/OFF Switch not convenient Case should have a opening for power supply and the USB connection. In my school the Gateway DMP-X20 is the valedictorian of this years class of MP3 players.
On: 2004-01-20
my friend got one of the ipods and i got the dx-20 and he is even jealous. not only was mine about 50 dollars cheaper the screen is so much bigger. the screen is more clear and it holds the same amount of info and also shows up as a harddrivce on my computer! sound quality is also better when i output it to my surround sound system. anyway the dx-20 is just as small and has a much better screen and even looks better! go gateway!
by: Anonymous On: 2004-01-19
No problems with this unit so far. I downloaded 350 songs and itplays them as listed with great sound. I did replace the headphones and am glad I did. No complaints and cant wait to add about 1000 more songs. Buy this unit and forget the IPOD,
by: Anonymous On: 2004-01-19
I cant say enough about this product!! Im not a techy but was downloading songs in no time. I cant wait to put my entire CD collection in this player. AAA+++ in my book.
On: 2004-01-19
I highly recommend this player to anyone looking to beat the price of the competition. Downloads fast and extremely well made. You will not be disappointed! Three of my friends have recently purchased this unit and have nothing but praise for ease of use, durability, (dropped twice and still works great) and great price. Enjoy!
by: Anonymous On: 2004-01-01
For some time I was looking for a product that might fit my needs - portability, flexibility and budget- and fit the best of my CD collection. I found that for the price, the DMP-X20 has a variety of amenities that made it quite competitive. However, my enthusiasm for this product suddenly turned out to be a disappointment.
On the first day, I used the radio function and found that it was almost acceptable, but many of the radio stations I hear were not picked by this device and the reception of those that were picked were lost if I moved around the house. Let me tell you that I do not need any special radio to listen to my favorite radio stations and any regular radio would do the job, but not the DMP-X20.
On the second day, I ripped about 30 CD from my collection into the DMP-X20 unit. I used about 10G of memory out of the 20G and everything went well, until I tried to play the music from the DMP-X20. The screen froze, it did not play music, it can not turn off and the computer would not recognize it as an external device. In few words, it crashed and there was no resetting button or mechanism for this type of event.
I called customer service and they sent me a new unit, which will take 5 days to arrive.
Although I will receive the second unit happily and will give it a second chance, I will be more critical this time. Overall, I feel that it is a product that was not given a thorough revision before release.
UPDATE: I never received the replacement so I returned the damaged unit to the GATEWAY Store newarby and took the CREATIVE NOMAD JUKEBOX ZEN NX 30G. One thing that I miss fom the Gateway jukebox is the indigo screen.
PS: there is no way that Gateway Jukebox can hold 8,000 CD as claimed by reviewers. It is more likely to be 8,000 .WMA files at best.
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