Insignia Pilot 4GB MP3 Player Review

Dec 19 2007, 12:00am CST | by Shane McGlaun

MP3 players are one of the most popular electronic devices around. Best Buy sells a huge variety of MP3 players and recently added several new MP3 players to its Insignia store brand collection. Today we are going to look at the top of the line MP3 player from Insignia called the Pilot 4GB. Read the full review for all the details.

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Benchmarks

Features & Specifications
The Insignia Pilot 4GB MP3 player has a host of features that music lovers will enjoy. Storage capacity is 4GB and the device is small with dimensions of 1.6-inches high x 3.3-inches deep x 0.4-inches wide. Memory expansion is available via full sized SD cards, which is much better than the harder to find and often more expensive microSD cards. The screen is 2.4-inches and the player has DSP processing and a built-in EQ with four presets.

The Insignia Pilot 4GB MP3 player supports MP3, WMA, WMA Lossless, WMA DRM, WMA Pro, OGG, WAV, Audible, MPEG4 (30 fps), WMV (30 fps) and JPEG formats. The player also has upgradable firmware to allow for playing new formats as well. The music management software is Best buy Digital Music store and the player is compatible with Rhapsody, Rhapsody to Go and iTunes as well. PlaysForSure compatibility is also featured.

Power for the player comes from an internal and rechargeable lithium-ion battery that is not removable. The battery is rated for up to 25 hours of playback. Charge and sync of music is done via USB and the Insignia Pilot 4GB MP3 player has a built-in FM tuner.

The FM tuner can store 20 pre-set radio stations. The tuner on the Insignia Pilot 4GB MP3 player is one of the best I have seen. It will display song and track information of the station broadcasts RDS data. You can remember songs you hear on FM radio that you like by saving the RDS track and artist data. One of the best features for music lovers the Insignia Pilot 4GB MP3 player has is Bluetooth. This allows the use of Bluetooth stereo headphones for wireless music. The Insignia Pilot 4GB MP3 player only includes standard wired earbuds. The Insignia Pilot 4GB MP3 player is PC and Mac compatible.

In Use
The size of the Insignia Pilot 4GB MP3 player is very good for portability and the screen is nicely sized as well. The screen is bright and video playback is top notch. Pixilation wasn’t an issue and colors were bright and vivid. The FM tuner is great and works well. The internal antenna does a good job of picking up radio signals inside a home or office. Saving the RDS track information is done by pressing the rating button on the top of the player. The screen can be used in portrait or landscape mode.

The menus are easy to use with a menu button for accessing settings and other features and navigation done with a round wheel that rotates to make selections. Sound quality is excellent with the included earbuds and with Bluetooth wireless headphones as well. I was surprised by the levels of bass the Insignia Pilot 4GB MP3 player can produce.

I used Rhapsody for the music I tested the player with and the rating system for tracks used on the Insignia Pilot 4GB MP3 player is great. A rocker switch on the top of the player allows you to add or remove stars from tracks to allow the software to help find music you will like.

The SD card slot is a very nice touch since most of us have SD cards lying around these days, but may not have the smaller microSD cards. I popped my 16GB SDHC card into the Insignia Pilot 4GB MP3 player not expecting it to be able to read a card with that much capacity. The player read the card without issues and could see the entire 16GB of space. Photos and video files on the card were recognized readily by the Insignia Pilot 4GB MP3 player and could be viewed on the 2.4-inch LCD. The only bad part about the Insignia Pilot 4GB MP3 player is that it lacks a mic for recording voice. A line in jack is included though, which will allow the connection of a mic.

Verdict

Conclusion

Pros

Bluetooth capability
Great sound quality
FM tuner with RDS capability
Reads even the highest capacity SDHC cards

Cons

Lacks built-in mic

Verdict
I have played with lots of MP3 players over the years and I found the Insignia Pilot 4GB MP3 player to be one of the best I have used. I like it better than the SanDisk Sansa players like the e280R that I own and like it better than my iPod Nano as well. Don’t let the store brand scare you off from this one, the Insignia Pilot 4GB MP3 player is a fantastic PMP with loads of features at a competitive price.

9.0

where to buy

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Shane McGlaun
Leading our review center, Shane knows technology inside out. His extensive experience in testing computer hardware and consumer electronics enable him to effectively qualify new products and trends. If you want us review your product, please contact Shane.
Shane can be contacted directly at shane@i4u.com.