I love my Chinese MP4 Player (ChiPod)

Why is this a Personal Finance Question? Because I think I saved a lot of money buying a ChiPOD instead of an Apple iPod. (What's a ChiPOD you ask?? I did NOT coin the phrase, I found it called this on this unofficial support website.)

I'll note right up front that these MP3/MP4 players are NOT for everyone, but as a daily listeners of Podcasts and music on occasions, I find the unit I bought on EBay to fit my needs perfectly.

I have never had an iPod, but my daughter had one and I had a Creative Zen. Both were great, but they had one feature I never want to see in an MP3 player again...that has a disk drive.

I don't remember dropping my Zen, but the drive died about a year into owning it. Not only that, it was kind of large.

When I went out searching for another MP3 player, I decided to try one of the "inexpensive" Chinese non-name brand MP3 players that you can buy on EBay. I bid on it on Thanksgiving day as I felt I would get the fewest people competing with me....and sure enough, I had my 4GB FLASH based MP3 player for less than $60. (shipping included)

So I have had it now for a couple of weeks, and I have to day I love it. First of all, it is so tiny it fits easily in my shirt pocket. The battery life is just great, and it is as easy to use as a USB based storage device....it simply looks like a disk!

I mainly listen to Podcasts, and I just drag those on and off every morning. This player actually does play video and show photos, but you have to run a conversion program to turn normal video files into files that will play on the small screen. I have tried it with a few video podcasts, and it works great. (but I use it mainly in the car, and watching video while driving is more than a bit dangerous! :-)

The only huge negative I have is that the CD that came with the device (the one with the conversion programs on it) also came with a Trojan Virus in one of the files. When I asked the seller, they simply said "Oh yea, several other customers who bought one also complained of the same thing." He then pointed me off to a website for sort of "unofficial support" and drivers.

The player not only plays video and shows photos, but it has an FM tuner that works very well, and a microphone so you can record sounds / voice. It even has a small speaker that you can play through....and it works well in a quiet room.

I don't think you can beat the features for the price. Heck, the 4GM of memory is worth the $60 even if only to use it as a thumb drive.

Take a look on EBay....you might find one of these as a good inexpensive alternative to an iPod. (Watch out Apple!)

PS: If this isn't interesting enough, check out the Dick Tracy MP4 Video watch!