Wall Street Journal tech writer Walt Mossberg says Portable Media Centers–handheld, hard disk-based video and audio players–are not ready for the average user. He reviews two such devices from Samsung and Creative, saying: “Based on my tests, I can’t recommend either player for mainstream, nontechie users. This is not so much because of the design of the players themselves. It’s because there’s so little video content available to play on them, and Microsoft’s software does a poor job of transferring commercial content to the players… So unless you’re a techie or a hopeless gadget freak, stay away from the Portable Media Centers for now. If you want a portable video device, you’re better off buying a portable DVD player. They can be bought for half the price or less, come with larger screens, and are able to draw from an almost unlimited selection of content.”
