Some things to check BEFORE you bid on an imported MP3 / MP4 player

There are a number of sellers offering great IPOD Nano Clones and other types of MP3 & MP4 players that look too cheap to be true.  Well in some cases that is what you will find. 

Whilst I cannot say bad things on here that Im sure Ebay would prevent, there are a number of sellers that are offering very cheap IPod Nano clones and other types of MP3 / MP4 player that as a music player, they cant be beaten on price.  Nice display, great sound, shipped quickly, appear pretty well built, certainly look more expensive than they are (shame about the dodgy translation in the instruction manual) and in most cases it seems, work pretty well when first used.  Its not until you start to add your music en-mass or get a bit more adventurous and convert movies to put on your player, that you realise somethings up.

When I first purchased my 8GB nano clone, I thought it was fantastic.  Looked the business, played the demo music video and thought, what a bargain!  Just wanted a practical MP3 player to listen to on the go (and as dont often get out of the car, wasnt going to be on a regular basis and warrant over £100 spent on IPod version) and seemed the perfect buy.  Wishing now that Id had the chance to read some sort of guide or warning on what I was to find. 

The 8GB player I purchased had now started getting my pc connected up to it and music transfering.  Everything fine at first glance, till I saw that some files were copying a lot faster than others.  Looked at the folders on the player and all seemed ok till I tried to play the tracks.  Some of them came up as format error.  Was something wrong with my player?  Well yes, but not in a broken kind of way.  More of a "hacked" kind of way.  You see there seems to be a lot of sellers out there selling "hacked" memory players.  Your 4GB or 8GB player may at first glance on "my computer" show 4GB or 8GB available, but when you notice that some music files are duplicated (sometimes up to 4 times) you realise somethings not right.  After properly formatting my player (I will come to this shortly), my 8GB was in fact just 2GB.  Well 1.9GB to be exact.  Whilst this is not a massive concern, as is still a good price for an MP3 player with a video screen, Id been duped.  As Im sure (from seeing the numbers sold every day on ebay) there are many others, we have been mis-led.

If you havent purchased one yet, look at a website.  Just do a search for mympxplayer

You will find some fantastic resources there and I wished Id checked it out before purchasing.  Theres some brilliant downloads too that will help you with your current MP3 player, and for all of those that have purchased players and having problems, download the memory hack remover and see how much memory you actually paid for and ensure it works correctly.

I only hope that ebay do post this guide even if just to let everyone read the forums that are out there (I was surprised at how long it took me to find them though, at least an informative one) before making the descision to part with their hard earned.  If your looking for a good MP3 / MP4 player with at least 2GB of memory, then go for the 4 or 8GB players and is likely what you will get.  And still at a good price if you pay around £25 including postage.

I do wish to state that there are some honest sellers out there.  They are offering the genuine 1 & 2 GB players and advertise them as such.  I actually purchased a 4GB player that is in fact 4GB but do some research 1st on your sellers!  Positive feedback is a good start and plenty of it, but look at any negatives.  And read up on mympxplayer, they have listed bad sellers who have sold "hacked" players.

Best of luck and dont get caught out!