Model:  HDD6330/17

Manufacturer:  Philips

Reviewed By:  Miguel

Review Date:  11/13/05

With the current release of Apple's new Ipod "Video", the challenge
has grown much stronger for the majority of its competitors in order to gain at least a fair share of the market. Most users are still infatuated with Ipods and continue to believe they are the only MP3 players on the market.  MP3 Player = Ipod...that's simply their way of thinking.  Needless to say, it is a bit irritating and sadly, this is mainly due to the lack of research and/or knowledge on a majority of the other suitable alternatives out there.  No player is perfect, and yes, that includes the new Ipod. In fact, I was looking forward to its release in hopes that they will address issues that have plagued the player since its initial introduction.  It is now in its fifth generation and still lacks important features that only other products are capable of providing.  Anyways, let's not get way off topic as this article is certainly not about the Ipod but rather of a new and somewhat unknown player in the DAP market. Philips, a company many are quite familiar with and may even have some of their products around their house, is one company you certainly wouldn't think of first when on the market for a new MP3 player. However, they have just introduced their new line of hard drive based MP3 players that are nothing short of impressive. The model I have the pleasure of looking at is their new high capacity 30GB player, the GoGear HDD6330. Stick with me here and see why this may indeed be an excellent alternative to the Apple Ipod.

Packaging & Contents

The blister package includes a cheap but decent slip case, proprietary power and USB cable, quality in-ear earbuds, earbud covers (different sizes), software CD and a welcome package.  There is no owners manual, however, it is included via a PDF file on the software CD.

**click to enlarge**

I'm a fan of in-ear style earbuds.  Fortunately, Philips opted to include some very decent earbuds along with their new player.  While testing will be done with both, sound quality will be measured with quality Japan only Sharp HP-MD33-S.  The included earbuds actually look very similar in comparison.  Overall, much better than the cheap earbuds included with the Ipod Nano I recently reviewed.

Design

The new Philips GoGear HD6330 sports an impressive design that just screams "high- tech".  In fact, it has quickly caught the attention of many and has been labeled as the "sexiest" MP3 player on the market.  After playing with it first hand, I honestly would have to agree.  The only negative comment many have made is in regards to its screen size.  Yes, at first glance, it certainly looks like they could have gone much bigger with the screen.  However, the color and clarity is quite good.  Let's take a details look at its design...

The front of the player has a black mirror-like finish which sports the 64K color screen as well as the super nice touch sensitive controls that light up in blue.  I will show you a demo video of this a bit later in this review.  The rear housing is made of quality brushed metal with some nice smooth curves on each end to enhance its overall sleek design.  Most of its overall weight comes from that back housing.  The brushed finish also helps with durability and will not scratch very easily.  However, the front may tend to scratch over extended use but certainly not as bad as the new Ipod models. 

The left side has only one switch with acts as both a hold/lock switch as well as power.  The right side appears as if it has four buttons in total, but only has two which are for volume control.  Oddly, it is not as clearly labeled as the left side but you can still figure out which are the right buttons for volume adjustment.

On the top, you'll find the headphone jack located right on the center as well as the mic to its left.  Yes, there is full recording support with this player!  On the bottom you'll find the proprietary connector.  I don't like proprietary connectors, but I've found there are some excellent accessories for this player soon to be available.  More on all this during testing...

Specifications

I love when a manufacturer releases very detailed specs on a particular product.  The following full specs where taken from the Philips Website...

Picture/Display
Type : TFT-Transreflective
Diagonal screen size (inch) : 2 inch
Resolution : 220 x 176 pixels, 65K color
Lines of text : 8
Backlight color : White

Sound
Equalizer : 5-bands
Equalizer settings : Classic, Jazz, Hip Hop, Spoken word, Rock, Pop, RnB, Dance, Electronica, Lounge
Frequency response : 20 - 16 000 Hz
THD : 0.1%
Signal to noise ratio : >82 dB
Output Power : 2x5mW (16 Ohm)
Sensitivity : < 100dB
Equalizer customizable : Yes
Bass enhancement : SRS WOW

Audio Playback
Compression format : MP3, Windows Media (TM) Audio, WAV
MP3 bit rates : 8-320 kbps and VBR
WMA bit rates : 32-192 kbps
WMA sample rates : 8,11.025,16,22.050,32,44.1,48
Buffer memory : 64 MB
ID3 Tag support : Album title and artist name, Genre title, Track title and artist name

Audio Capturing
Voice recording : yes
Built-in microphone : mono
Audio file format : WAV

Storage Media
Built-in memory type : Hard disk
Hard Disk Capacity : 30* GB
Music memory capacity : Up to 15000 songs*

Connectivity
DC in : 5V
Headphone : 3.5 mm
USB : USB 2.0
Connector : Philips dock connector

Convenience
Battery charging indication : yes
Battery full indication : yes
Battery low indication : yes
Function : Keypad lock
Language support : Eng,Fr,Spa,Dutch,Ge,Port,Swe, It, Ch smpl, Ch trad, Jap, Korean
Superscroll : yes

Accessories
AC/DC Adaptor/Charger : Multi-voltage (AY4110)
USB cable : combined with AC/ DC adaptor in Y cable
Headphones : SHE9500BI/00
Pouch : Protective pouch (AY4238)
CD-ROM : with installer, PC software, manuals
User Guide on CD-ROM : EN, FR, ES, NL, DE, PO, SV, IT, SU, DA, CS, RU, HU, EL, PL, SL
Warranty Card

Green Specifications
Lead-free soldered product : Yes

System Requirements
PC OS : Windows XP (SP1 or above)
Processor : Pentium II or better
Hard disk space : 100 MB
RAM memory : 64 MB
CD-ROM drive : yes
Sound card : yes
Video card : yes

Dimensions
Master carton quantity : 3
Outer carton dimensions WxDxH
Product dimension (WxDxH) inch : 2.52 x 4.09 x 0.66 inch
Packaging type : Clamshell
Blister dimensions (WxDxH) : 8.25" x 11.0" x 2.83"
Carton dimensions (WxDxH) : 9.25" x 10.83" x 12.01"
Product weight : 150 g kg

Power
Adaptor type
Battery capacity : 830 mAh
Battery type : Li-ion
Charging time : 1 hour fast charge (70%), 4 hrs full charge hr
Rechargeable : yes
Playtime on internal battery : up to 17 hours*

Still Picture Playback
Picture compression format : JPEG
Slide show : yes

Software
Windows Media Player 10 : Yes
Device manager : yes
PlaysForSure : Audio Download, Audio Subscription

Audio Recording
FM recording : Yes
Recording formats : PCM
Line in : analogue

Tuner/Reception/Transmission
Frequency range : 87.5 - 108 MHz
Station presets : 20
Tuner Bands : FM

Next: Install & Bundled Software