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Sections: Audio, Portable Audio

Best Buy’s Insignia MP3 players

by Adam Berger on Dec 29, 2006 at 12:18 AM

insignia mp3 player best buy ipod 2gb 1gbDid you just realize that you left someone off of your holiday shopping list and now need to scramble to get him a gift? If you aren’t too close with him and he has yet to know a thing or two about gadgets, technology and pop-culture, you may want to consider picking up one of the Insignia MP3 players.

Best Buy’s private label brand, Insignia, offers two models: the Sport 2GB (NS-DA2G) and the Sport 1GB (NS-DA1G). Both models are 0.5” thin, weight 1.2 ounces, have a 1.2” OLED screen, built-in FM tuner, USB 2.0, have a rechargeable battery with 18 hours of playback time, and are PC and Mac compatible. They also both support MP3, WMA, WMA-DRM, PlaysForSure , Napster and Rhapsody subscription services and JPEG image files. The 2GB model also adds audible support.

I had a chance to play with both models (which are essentially identical) and was left rather impressed with the functionality and ease of use as compared to name brand players (check out the interface here). The 2GB price is right, the size is good, and they are easy to use for you non-tech folk. I suggest heading over to Best Buy to pick one up if you are currently in the market, or forgot to get someone a present.

You can get 1 GB for $79.99 or 2 GB for $99.99, not too bad if you don’t feel pressured to buy a iPod name brand.

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Comments
  • sheryl said:

    I received one of these MP3 players for a christmas gift. So far it’s 50/50. To remove a song, I have to erase every song on the player and start over. They also do not include an instruction manual. For someone like me, who is not very technical savy, the one small peice of paper is not sufficient enough directions.

  • Tina said:

    I also received an Insignia MP3 player. I really enjoy it a lot. I would also like to say that I am able to delete cetain songs. When I plug in my mp3 player into my computer, I just go into “My Computer” and open up the file that holds all your music. From there you are able to delete certain songs. However, I didn’t like the fact that it came without instructions.

  • robin said:

    i dont have an insignia yet but can i am about to get 1. but can u download song from limewire then just put it easily on this mp3?

  • fabio said:

    I have been using my Insignia quite a bit but have one major problem I can’t solve.  It came preloaded with tracks I don’t want and I cannot figure out how to remove them.  They don’t show up on the playlist.  Any suggestions?

  • nguyen said:

    i just recently bought one. the first day it was fine, but on the second day, all of a sudden, the screen went out. nothing will show up anymore! i don’t know how to fix it! any suggestions?

  • Susan said:

    To remove songs, you can do it through “my computer” as someone said,(I haven’t tried this yet), or you can delete them through Rhapsody (Click on the Insignia icon on the left panel, right click on the song you want to delete, and it will bring up a menu that includes “delete”).  I think that is the safest and easiest way.  You should be able to delete the ones that came already installed, as well.

  • Susan said:

    Does anyone know where to get accessories for this thing? I bought it yesterday and I love it, but I thought the case would be a little more useful than it is…there is no way to attach it to anything other than the puzzling plastic loop…I guess to put a belt through? I can’t seem to find any accessories online for it. (mine is the DA2G). I know they came out with newer video models (didn’t want that, as I plan to eventually spring for a video ipod), so I wonder if they plan on coming out with more stuff for this one.

  • mjrio33 said:

    i have same problem as nguyen my insignia ns-da1g wont turn on, no screen , i am trying to charge it on my pc, my windows explorer doesnt recognize that its connected, before when it worked, I would see the drive just like a flash drive, it feels warm so the pc charge is doing something to it , just hope it doesnt explode ?! any thoughts/ideas are appreciated. email is I guess I’ll have to drive down to BestBuy and have them look at it, how much are batteries for this ? its a lithium, do they go bad ? I’ve only had this for a few months, I run with it , maybe I sweat too much on it ? :(

  • Laura said:

    just wanted to say that i bought this mp3 player off of my cousin today for 50 bucks & i’m already angry at it because i can’t figure out how to delete songs and i know that it’s not full because the number of songs on it is uneven, ( i don’t even know how many it can hold ) and when i plug the USB into my computer it used to come up where i could add files now nothing comes up probally because it’s full? but then what about the uneven number of songs? well yeah if anyone can help me i’d greatly appreciate it. reach me at peace&love =]

  • Patty said:

    I bought a brand new Insignia NS-DA1G about three months ago and everything was working fine but today half the screen turned black. I can still hear music on it but I think more and more of the screen is turning black. I also tried changing the songs and when I unhook it from the computer the songs i had deleted are still there but they don’t show up on the folder in the computer. Could it be the battery or do I need to just buy a new mp3? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,

  • acousticpinay said:

    how do you use the record button on this thing?? do i need to plug a mic on it??

  • Stephanie said:

    Hey, uhm, I have an Insignia mp3 Player and I want to download pictures onto it, I have the files as .jpg and they load onto it, but I can’t view them, so I need to know how to get them under “photos” my email is if you know can you reply? Thanks.. xD

  • don usa said:

    cant you country folk figure out to go to best buy since it’s their product and buy your case? the best is cant get the songs off ,, plug it to the usb ,go to my computer and open up insignia if u using xp if not dig out your walkman thats all you need ,, if best buy to far im sure there a greyhound station near ,,,,,,,,

  • aldjfk said:

    this product sucks it deleted all my songs by its self

  • aldjfk said:

    this product sucks it deleted all my songs by its self

  • Ken said:

    My mp3 turns on but it still stays on the Insignia main and it keeps blinking.
    Any expert help???

  • Helen said:

    The Insignia MP3 player does come w/instructions. Run the software it came w/on your comp. The instrution manual is on there. Maybe they thought it was a freakin cool idea to do that, but it was dumb. Hope it helps.

  • FunnySurfin said:

    I bought an Insignia 2GB Mp3 Video player a month ago. I like it ! Expandable memory (MicroSD), it’s the only model that will allow user to change the battery himself. For the instruction manual, there is one actually on the CD, step-by-step instruction. for those who said not having any instruction, there’s one on the CD, look in My Computer > your CD Drive > look for “Insignia User Manual.CHM” it’s a help file! My note: 11 out of 10.  ;)

  • Name said:

    I got the 1gb model and everything works just fine. Getting images on the thing is a nightmare but besides that the sound is great and it’s extremely easy to use. Judging by the quality of the images it came with and the few I managed to import though I think they should have just left that feature out.

  • Vash the Stampede said:

    ~_~ Allright…first off, any of you guys who are ‘having trouble deleting songs’ and whatnot obviously have had next to no computer exposure whatsoever…it’s as simple as opening up the folder in windows explorer, going into the conveniently-labelled sub folders called “Media” (and so-forth), and…oh guess what…DELETING. XDD

    It acts just like any other storage device; CD, thumb drive, hard drive. What do you do when you want to delete a picture off your computer? Go to the designated folder and send it to the recycle bin! That easy. Don’t expect fancy programs like Rhapsody to spell it out for you. :) They’re only there to suck in the people who’ve never touched a computer before.

    Any supported file format that you can run on your computer, you can run on Insignia. So yes, piracy like LimeWire works swimmingly on it. This too was one of my first major concerns when I bought this product. Would it want to check my media for authenticity?

    The short answer is no. :)

    As for synching it to anything (such as Rhapsody)...I wouldn’t reccommend it. Use it for transfering media if you want, yes. But no synching. That is how you get all of your songs being immediately transferred/ deleted from your player. (Why this happens, I have no clue. I suppose “synching” is short-hand for “automatically-replicating-everything-in-your-home-computer.)

    And as for screens going off? I have no idea. I’ve had mine going on about 6 months now and no troubles at all with any of these things. Have you tried adjusting the backlighting?

  • Vash the Stampede said:

    Oh right! 1000000/10 in my opinion. :3

  • Showell said:

    I just bought the Insignia MP3 a few days ago and I am hooked!  True, I was surprised that there was no detailed instructions but that can be found online at http://www.insignia-products.com.  Also, I found an armband for this at Tigerdirect.com for $9.99 which arrived in 2 days!!!  (There may have been other accessories but I was only looking for the armband).

  • melodie said:

    hey i have a insinia mp3 2gb and i need to find out where in can get the software i need so i can put my music on it because we got a new computer and i can find the cd it came with!! help me please! is there anything i can do?

  • Emily said:

    If you want to delete the music in ur insignia mp3..(if it wont delete on ur computer)..thn go to settings..system..and erase all…see..cuz wen i plugged it my mp3..it wouldnt show on the computer..but yea..heres a way for anyone having trouble.

  • Branide said:

    i have revived this Mp3 Player for Christmas and i have just figured out that i can record my voice but i have now idea where the microphone is can you help me…..??


    Sincerely,Brandie

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