If you’re running a computer with Windows Media Center, the Toshiba Gigabeat S 30GB Portable Media Center (MES30VW) (review) is a good choice to be able to sync all the great media files on your home computer with this supercompact portable media entertainment center. The Portable Media Center operating system makes a big difference in this model.

If you’re running Vista on your home computer, though, you’ll want to note that the Toshiba Gigabeat S is an MTP device, which means it will work best with Windows XP Media Center Edition.  The Media Transfer Protocol is closely related to Windows Media Player, and requires at least WMP 10 or higher to play. Windows Vista does have native MTP support, but it’s not the best implementation and has some problems if you have a lot of gigabytes of media files.

While having an interface that’s similar to the Windows Media Center that people may already be familiar with, the decision to go only with MTP limits the player in some ways. Going with something less proprietary like UMS may have helped alleviate some of the problems some people have when trying to use MTP with Windows Media Player version 10 or higher.

Toshiba Gigabeat S Stats:

• 2.4” QVGA 320 x 240 pixel screen
• FM tuner, Digital audio player, Digital photo viewer, Digital video player
• 5.3 oz
• 0.6 in x 3.9 in x 2.4 in
• Supported image format: JPEG
• Supported audio formats:  MP3, WAV, WMA
  
• Included accessories: Cradle , USB cable , AC adapter , Stereo headphones

Overall, if you’re a fan of Windows and have Windows XP Media Center Edition (about a year old now), this is a good choice. Even if you don’t have Windows XP, it’s a decent choice, but not one of our top picks for MP3 players on the market currently.

As always, we’re interested in what you have to say, so leave a comment below if you have anything to say about the Toshiba Gigabeat S 30GB Portable Media Center.

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