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Hey gang. Yep, I'm another sucker - I bought a really cheap mp3 / 4 player on ebay from Hong Kong (a 2 gb generic unit that looks an awful lot like a nano). Out of the box, everything seemed to work - tom and jerry cartoon videos (dubbed in cantonese) played well, as did the cheesy sample music. The radio and voice recorder worked, too (a big draw for me to this particular unit). However, when I attempted to synch some music files to the thing via windows media player, the cheapo usb cord that it came with flickered (there wasn't a tight connection with the computer), and the unit locked up - displaying a flickering hour glass and giving me the black screen of death.
After some rest and attempting to charge it, the unit now powers back up when connected to a computer (it occasionally shows a bad battery icon, but I don't think that is the case). I am able to scroll through all the menus (I discovered that the firmware is act2097_s72_1), but when I click on music or video, etc. I get a disk error message (black text on blue background).
Also, when I now attempt to open the drive in Windows XP, I get a disk format prompt - originally, the drive had a name, and file folders that were accessible.
I've looked through a few forums trying to figure out what I should do now. Should I format my unit? If I do format it in windows, does it wipe out the firmware (do I have to then try to find a version of the firmware to install)?
I'm not that concerned about possible memory loss (I read that I might have been sold a 1 gb unit labeled incorrectly), but I don't want to lose any features. Ideally, I would love for the unit to be compatible with my mac. And what about the tom & jerry cartoons, darn it - do I get those back?
I know I'm asking a lot for 30 buck player, but I waited almost 3 weeks for this darn thing (like a kid ordering something from a back of comic book - half-knowing that it could be total crap). Will this unit ever provide more than an evening of frustration for the money?
Thanks for your help, gang. I would love also to hear from anyone who has owned one of these units over any period of time. Like many other mp3 players out there (ahem, creative), does this particular unit tend to have a crappy head phone jack as well (does it eventually short out in one speaker over time)?
Thank you!
marko
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