Comments on: Samsung YH-820 Review

By: Eugene

Eugene — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:21:29 +0000

just for all of you to know, the device is slow due to the HDD it has in it, which is Seagate ST1.
This HDD gives 5-7 mbytes of sustained read speed (meaning that random read is even worse) so, when the player starts, it has to load the firmware itself, then the media library, which consists of dozens of files - and that's why it takes that long.
Another problem is the software, that requires you to have Napster/Windows media player/Samsung library to be installed and used for managing files.
Both these problems can actually be easily solved with no big investments in time/money.
Software can be done with "EasyPMP" (google it).
This software doesn't require installation, and performs indexing of player contents, writing them to it's internal DB. I have this app on the player itself, and, when I need to add/delete MP3s, I simply connect it as mass storage, drop folders with MP3s on it, and run EasyPMP. The app scans your music files and adds them to the media library (that's what all other softwares above do). If you have a playlist in each folder (that's how I store music on my PC), then you will have an entry in "playlists" category. This way you can have your files organised the usual way: by directories. Simple and easy.
By the way, this media library way has nothing to do with Samsung. This player is built on PP5020 processor, which is same as in iPod, creative Zen, and many other players, and this is how all these devices have it organised.
To solve it's slow boot/slow operation/HDD failure problem, you need to replace the HDD itself with a CF card,
and get a much faster operation speed. Nowadays CFs are cheap and provide you with much better speeds.
I've replaced the HDD for a 266x CF, and replaced the battery for a new one, bought from chinese online store. This way I made an upgrade, spending $20 on battery and $0 (had one already :P) on CF, and now I have a nice player with good sound, classic design which is still up to date, and features still comparable to what's modern players provide.
So, people, stop crying and blaming samsung, have a look around and see what can be done.
Best regards, Eugene (from Russia with love!)

By: Petrus

Petrus — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:12:28 +0000

“I have mine for almost 4 months and i sometimes experience that files are missing I first had to look at my pictures and listen music through my pc now I can only look and listen on the pod itself..I would like to send my music and pics to my pc and the files don’t open.Why cant it just be simple?”

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 05 May 2008 22:26:31 +0000

I bought mine about a month ago, and it lasted 2 days before I had to format it. I always used the correct software, but I had to re-format the drive at least once a day after it continually crashed. Now it doesn’t work at all. I can’t believe Samsung have made something this bad!

By: Thomas Trolia

Thomas Trolia — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:32:05 +0000

The only way to get this device to work the way you want it to is use the software that came with it (I have the disk) Just don’t use the new Napster keep the old one and then go to REALPLAYER to load and arrange your songs. Then Enjoy…………

By: Kelly Novak

Kelly Novak — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 05:08:07 +0000

You can’t rename albums, I tried deleting albums & it shows as deleted on my computer, but shows they are still there in the device. Also Cannot find a certain album that shows up on my computer but is nowhere on the MP3. Luckily I got this unit for free through a contest or I would be sending it back. Almost not worth the hassle.

By: Stas

Stas — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 01:36:13 +0000

All the time it is asking for connect and repair, but is not repairing …… and HDD can’t start.

By: MURTHY ANNAGIRI

MURTHY ANNAGIRI — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 07:42:10 +0000

I have recorded about 30hrs of speeches, but am unable to transfer the same to my laptop for converting to CD as well as free the space in the device. In spite of loading the software CD to my laptop [a sony vaio-fs980]the device is not recognized when connected to laptop.I need urgent help otherwise the unit is of no use to me.

By: jacob

jacob — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 22:18:28 +0000

I got one it was my first and its pretty good …. It has a good color screen and the sound quality is fantastic. It is a little sluggish in the navigation menu, but i like it all the same.

By: annabel

annabel — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:12:22 +0000

grrr its so annoying, yeah it has good sound, yeah it has a colour screen but its SO MUCH HASSLE! It won’t let you delete tracks, its first-time user NOT friendly and grrrrrrrrrrr. don’t buy it if your a first time user. buy it if you have patience.

By: ben

ben — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 05:35:46 +0000

This is possibly the worst thing I have ever bought. I doubt it would even be any good as a paper weight as it is no good as an mp3

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 09:26:51 +0000

I purchased this player in 2005 for $229.95. Although there were a few shortcomings at first, such as the slow power up time and the constant lagging when browsing through the options, it only got worse. Within 6 months of purchase my battery life dropped from around 8hrs per charge to under 2hrs per charge, possibly atributed to overcharge (It does not have a charge disconnect when the battery is full). Samsung has been quite difficult and shady when I have tried to get this serviced. I wouldn’t encourage purchase to my worst enemy, so go with another model or brand if your smart!

By: No Name

No Name — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 02:01:42 +0000

this mp3 players sucks so much, i had two and each one broke with in a month, even the slightest impact will damage this mp3 player and you wont be able to use… never buy Samsung mp3′s

By: annoymus

annoymus — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 23:05:43 +0000

i bought this mp3, and less than a year it broke…….it says repair firmware…..but when i try it doesn’t let u…….samsung is the worst …..and the mp3 cost soo much wat a rip off

By: PW

PW — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 03:55:25 +0000

Do not buy anything Samsung. I bought 2 YH-820′s for my kids and both broke in a month. Their service dept. is ignorant and awful to deal with. Samsung you SUCK!!!!!

By: unknown

unknown — Sat, 20 May 2006 20:57:49 +0000

this mp3 player sucks it has good sound but everything else about it sucks the outside easily dents and its very hard to put songs on, i paid $240 when it first came out and now i realize it was the biggest waste of money ever!

By: Angie

Angie — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 16:55:14 +0000

Samsung SUCKS!!!! Do not ever EVER buy anything from Samsung. This is a warning. Its a warning I wish I had before I bought a CHEAP 47″ TV. Cheap in the sense that it was made cheap, not what I paid for it. Do not waste your money on this company or the crappy products they make!

By: AFD

AFD — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 20:21:53 +0000

got the mp3 and worked for last than one month and just die with out any reason. Tryed to formate the hardrive but my computer can’t even detect it. (my pc is 3 month old, sony brand so there can’t be anything wrong with my PC)called samsung and got a replacement and it just die again today, Same problem as the one before. Gona call them again today and see what @##$ they will give me today.

LESSON PEOPLE, DO NOT BUY, WARNING DO NOT BUY, THIS PRODUCT IS A PEACE OF SHIT. AGAIN DO NOT BUY UNLESS YOU WANT TO WAST YOUR MONRY

By: victim

victim — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 14:01:51 +0000

looks can be decieving guys…yeah, it may look fine..yeah, it screen is awesome..stylish.good sound quality.BUT it is only up to that point.!!!..nothing more than A USELESS piece of junk..I ONLY HAD it FOR 3 MONTHS AND ITS ALREADY GOING CRAZY. an error occured just because it had a little ‘bump’ on the table. now its under repair.but once its returned to me. i’ma sell it AND BUY AN APPLE IPOD NANO INSTEAD. trust me on this people!!..from experience!!..APPLE IS STILL THE BEST in for mp3 or mp4 devices.!!!..

By: Tom S

Tom S — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 12:05:50 +0000

Stylish but completely useless.
One day I may well figure out how to transfer a list of songs which then have a meaningful reference in the listing on the device.
This is without doubt the worst peace of software for any digital device I have ever seen.
Desperately looking for a piece of software elsewhere which may render this device functional.

By: Dane

Dane — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 21:09:07 +0000

Unfortunately i have also bought this product. Sure it has nice sound quality, easy navigation,nice picture, but there are to many problems that come with all of this. The ohter day it froze so i reformated it, worked fine after that. Now today i go to turn it on and i get the same message “Device can’t HDD initalize” which makes me mad because i cant find my reciept. In my opinion id suggest everyone to stay away from this product.

By: Tavish

Tavish — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 14:49:14 +0000

I got this “mp3 player” for christmas and i was really happy and all, that is for the first month…2 weeks into having it i had to repair it manualy from my pc . It was no biggie. Then i started reading reviews and knoticed that there is some serious problems with this “mp3 player”.1 month later after having this device i was listening to it and then it just stopped and froze on the blacklight on and everything. So after a couple frustraighting minutes i hit the reset button. Then i turned it back on but just came up with the samsung screen stuck like that for about 30sec ea time i turned it on. Then an error message came up saying “Device can’t HDD initalize”, i hurried to my pc trying to fix it but no hope. I looked up what this ment and when i found it i was very sad and disappointed. The Hardrive which it runs on “HDD” had been fried and would need to be replaced. So i would advice not to buy this product becasue so many have been broken it’s a waste of money.

By: Gianni

Gianni — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 04:08:38 +0000

this piece of junk looks nice from the outside, but is made out of garbage in the inside. 2 weeks after i bought it i cant download songs and cant open it up!And im not even sure if their goin to repair it for me

By: Earl Plotn

Earl Plotn — Fri, 23 Dec 2005 16:37:51 +0000

It just died, again. This was my second one. The HD crashed on both. The first one I just exchanged but I have to send this one in for service, and right before Christmas! This sucks.

Still while it worked I really liked it, and my get a newer model someday.

By: J. Z.

J. Z. — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 23:11:00 +0000

I’ve gone through three of these products. Sure, when it works, it’s spectacular–has great picture and sound quality, but longest one of them has worked for me is 3 months. They will just, for no reason whatsoever, stop working. Some measly problem will come up that the braindead samsung operators won’t be able to figure out. Mine just broke AGAIN, and I’m on the phone this instant, waiting for the operator to give me some bullsh** answer and send me another one these crappy players. As soon as I get it, I’m selling it on ebay and getting out before I lose my $150. DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT.

By: reviewer

reviewer — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 18:28:18 +0000

my fm radio just disappeared from the menu…horrible..lousy software shxtty support..

By: Marcus

Marcus — Sun, 02 Oct 2005 01:27:18 +0000

VERY DISAPPOINTED!!!
Ferrari style, but total crap under.
The best example of today's marketing fraud , how to sell the design and written facts and the bad product under!!! Simply unusable.

I should buy i-pod!!! I gave Samsung a chance, but never again.
I had few MP3 players and this is the worst case for me buyin digital equipment!

Hey people wake up! -we live in 21st century.
Nice design, average color LCD -(every mobile phone has much better one these days!)...but unusefull for image reviewing, unless you are 5 years old.
The internal software is stupid, it's worst than at old Motorola StarTac mobile phone! There is no sence in organizing and it is sooo slow! Volume control suck, organizing files trough stupid napster suck, switching from one song to another takes forever,
PC to device connection considering MP3s is unusable, using it as portable HD is OK, but isn't that MP3 player???
I have this strong feeling that Samsung used some old mobile phone spare parts that were left in factories and put it in a nice shiny box to cheat the customers, they put in 5 Gb microdrive from Hitachi, which their "spare parts" and terrible software (probably from some old Samsung SGH mobile phone) is unable to manage!!!
Who knows what they did!?
Samsung have all this fancy products which work very good and are very ergonomic, but what is this crap???

I bought the player 2 months ago.
I needed exactly 10 hours to make it work. Only with Napster??? Come on!!!
Boot time, are you kidding me!?!??!
-when empty 20 sec. and more!
- not to mention when loaded with 70% Mp3!!!!
Menus suck!
After 1 month of usage all the Mp3s started to skip like an old damaged audio CD!!!??? I tried everything!!! Problems on booting (more than 5 minutes) errors with USB connection, errors in widows, I tried to delete files (just wouldn't do), I tried to upgrade the firmware and NOTHING (I couldn't do that.)
1 week I was trying to make it work,and 10 minutes ago the Widows didn't recognize it anymore :(((

So I lost my nerves. Just before I sat down to write this review, I went into my garage, I searched for a BIG heavy HAMMER... And BUM.
F**k that YH-820.
R.I.P.
I feel free now.
...and the life goes on.

Ex SAMSUNG YH-820 MP3 owner.
Marcus (Europe)

PS.I will send all the parts to Samsung!!!

By: Josh B

Josh B — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 00:05:19 +0000

I got bought this and charged it and did all possible and still just says low battery and will not do anything else.

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 05 Aug 2005 17:35:01 +0000

I just got one and it’s been working perfectly fine for me. It hasn’t been laggy or nothing. Maybe it’s because all it needs is a good defrag.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 02:43:02 +0000

Charged it, installed the drives, plugged the USB to PC, USB to YH-820, Power cable…NOTHING…Absolutely nothing… RESET Swith 10 seconds… NOTHING… doesn’t power up..

Can’t wait to find one that works….

Better not be a charge to replace it!

By: Kurt

Kurt — Thu, 28 Jul 2005 04:50:29 +0000

The first release of the product was missing the ability to use the “Napster to Go” function. Finally an upgrade was made available on Samsungs website, and it trashed the unit. Samung wants me to send it back at my expense to fix it. Meanwhile, I’m stuck with being unable to use it until returned in a few weeks. Look for it on eBay…cheep.