Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have purchased a similar product under a different name and recently purchased this product and so far have been very impressed with this player even more than the previous version. In fact, I have used many, many different MP3 players for swimming. I swim almost two miles a day and could not get through the boring cadence without the help of music. I have found that this is the best player with all the features that are important to me. In fact, this is the only swimming MP3 player I have ever had to turn down the volume on, which is impressive. The volume is key, many players just can't be turned up loud enough to compensate for the water and this player can go very loud, which is good. Also the ability to feel the buttons (who cares about a screen when you have the player on the back of your head) to move forward/backward is fantastic. Yes, the controls and the limited options are simplistic but that is exactly what you need when your doing serious lap swimming and cannot fiddle with controls. The price is excellent on this product as well. Loading the music is simple as well, just pop it on the old PC and voila, it is a flash drive. No hassle with some stupid music file program like other asinine players. I really like the way it clips as well, you clip it to the back of your goggles. It's a small nit, but not crazy about the jack input being on the side, wish it was on top but it works fine as is. However I haven't used the ear buds at all, so can't vouch for them. But the H20 short cord ear buds really sound well combined with this excellent player. I have found that the biggest weakness for any underwater MP3 players are the ear pieces. If you are kicking against a wall when making that reverse very few ear buds can take that pressure. The H20 Surge Plus (short Cord for lap swimming) ear buds and the H2O X1's are excellent but pricey, you can check out my reviews there. These additional ear buds are an investment but they do a great job underwater. You can also use the extension this MP3 players provides to extend short cord ear buds, if needed. I have loaded 1200 MP3 songs (192k each song), really happy it's an 8k player. My impression is that this player will play songs in alphabetical order by artist only. So if your playlist is set up that way, then you should be fine with their method but I hate hearing multiple songs by the same artist in a row and prefer mixing them up. The key feature on this product is the shuffle feature and the ability to play a set playlist in the order you want to hear them play. I use that shuffle feature when I get bored with my playlist but the other feature with this product is that it will play your playlist if you put numbers in front of the name or tags. I use a couple of simple free Windows programs called Rename ( a simple app) or Mp3tag (this is a more complex app, but much more flexible if you learn it) that will automatically add numbers to the name of songs I want to hear, in whatever numerical order I want them to play and this player will play them in that order. It also will pick up from that last song the was played previously the next time you turn on the player. (It's a simple feature, but actually have had players that go back to the first song in the list after the player was turned off.) Also some helpful tips on using waterproof ear buds: 1. Start with the larger ear bud rubber ends first then work your way down to the smaller sizes if that doesn't fit. If you use the larger sizes, you get a tighter barrier against the water. 2. Some people use vaseline (yuck, can you imagine putting that in your ear) or wetting the ear buds lightly in the water before you place them in your ear, they think it secures them in the ear better. But I disagree and I have found the best way to keep them in your ear is to use ear swabs and briefly wipe your ear where the buds go (outside of you ear canal, not the inside). That way you're wiping the oil off you ear and my buds stay in completely during the swim. This is important because if the buds become loose you will get water behind them and you will be hosed for the rest of the swim. However the volume is loud to overcome that with this player, just need to remove the water reset the bud in your ear. 3. When you insert them in your ear pull back the top of your ear with your opposite hand, that will stretch it and allow the ear canal to gently wrap snugly around the ear bud. 4. If you use the Tennmak foam ear buds I mention below, you don't have to do any of this above. It is rare when the water enters the ear canal if you take these three steps or get foam buds and you can enjoy the music much better. Hope this helps been buying all sorts of waterproof MP3 for years since they first came out and believe me, went through the gamut on these and read many dumb reviews. I hope this sheds lights on swimming with music, which I really enjoy and helps you avoid the learning curve I had to go through. Happy swimming! Updated 01/23 I now also use the Tennmak 12pcs Ultra Strong Earphone Memory foam ear tips or any similar products in place of the rubber ones that come with any buds. Just make sure whatever bud tips you purchase sit tight on the ear bud knob so no water gets in. I tried the Tennmak and found that the foam tips expand when you are in the water and provide a much better barrier against water getting inside your ear behind the earbud and ruining the sound. You do need to replace the foam tips since they degrade over time a but you get about 12 for 8 dollars so cheap enough and provides a strong barrier. I also swim a great deal of laps each time so this advice is for those swimmers that do a lot of laps and push against the wall, that's a lot of pressure for ear buds to take. Casual swimmers will be fine with standard earbuds. I highly recommend these Tennkak ear buds with foam tips combined with the Sewobye Waterproof MP3 Player for the best musical swimming experience.