Samsung doesn't include a whole lot with the YP-P3, just a USB cable, a set of headphones, and a CD with its proprietary EmoDio media management software.

Software and Operating System Compatibility

Users of older operating systems like Windows XP may not be able to recognize the Samsung YP-P3 as a mass storage device (it shows up as a MTP device, which isn't accessible through Explorer), although Windows Vista users can still drag and drop files as long as they make sure to put them in the correct folders (look for the P3 folder under Computer. For many people this means there's no choice but to use the bundled EmoDio software.

Unlike a lot of software that comes bundled with Media Players, the EmoDio software isn't completely horrible. The only liberty it really takes is trying to launch itself at startup, a program behaviour that's easily curbed in the EmoDio options menu. Once that's taken care of, it's easy to select media on a host computer and convert it into playable formats for the media player.

Most audio formats are supported natively by the YP-P3JCB player and so there's no need to convert them, but almost all video formats will be auto-converted to native .SVI files which will be properly formatted to fit the YP-P3's screen size and aspect ratio. Conversion times will vary depending on processor speed and the length/quality of the video file being transcoded, but for the most part the software feels responsive, and is blissfully stable and free of bloat.

While the 8GB Samsung YP-P3JCB isn't exactly a revolutionary product, it remains a very solid media player that has a lot of excellent features and possibly more extras than you really need. While there are a few gripes here and there with the player's interface and getting it hooked up for data transfer/charging with a non Windows Vista computer, the YP-P3's audio and video playback more than make up for these flaws. With a price of just $140 CDN ($110 USD, £80 GBP), it's not actually in the same price category as the Apple iPod Touch, instead it's priced directly against the Apple 8GB iPod Nano. The Samsung YP-P3's bigger screen, better video playback and intuitive navigation wins that competition hands down.

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