I’ve been privileged enough to review several of Insignia’s devices over the past year. Insignia is Best Buy’s in-house brand, and they are rapidly building a name for themselves as a source of relatively inexpensive, excellently-featured consumer electronics.

So, the opportunity to review their latest portable DAP excited me. I excite easily. And the NS-DVB4G is certainly worthy of attention.

Unpackaging the NS-DVB4G brought back to mind some of the features I really liked about both the DVD player and their previous 2-gig DAP, the NS-DV2G. It also brought up some questions and yes, a little disappointment.

Let’s start with the technical specs. The NS-DVB4G boasts 4 gigs of internal memory, Bluetooth, a 2.2″ LCD screen, Hi-Speed USB 2.0 port, two headphone jacks (one of which can also be used as a line-in jack), rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack, FM tuner with 20 presets, microSD memory card slot for expanding its capacity, hold button, and upgradeable firmware. It manages to pack all that into a 2.4-ounce frame that is a mere 4 inches long by 1.8 wide, and barely more than a half inch thick. A mini-USB cable, earbuds, and software CD round out the package.

One of the things I liked about the 2-gig DAP was that it felt sturdy. Nice and solid. While I don’t think the new model is exactly fragile, something in the way it felt in my hand was just… off. The plastic felt a little cheap. The entire back is made from the same micro-textured plastic they use, that sort of almost oiled-leather feel of the old Thinkpads, and that’s pretty cool. The front is shiny and slick with the screen dominating about two thirds of the surface. Controls fill out the remaining area. It looks almost exactly like its predecessor, except they must have switched up the scroll wheel model or something, because it felt really cheap. Like cardboard, almost.

I was once again perplexed that there was no wall wart included to charge the unit, meaning that all your charging will be done from a USB port on your PC. Normally I wouldn’t complain about something so trivial, but if you happen to be traveling with a laptop, well, that’s slightly inconvenient. Chargers with mini-USB plugs are available, though, so it isn’t a big deal. Also of note is that the unit goes into a sort of stand-by when connected, so you can’t charge and listen at the same time. And if you are using a PC to charge, you can’t do anything wit the unit while it’s connected, but more on that in a bit.

The earbuds are adequate, in the same way that iPod earbuds are adequate. The sound was a bit tinny, and my (apparently) odd-shaped ears do not like being tortured with round pieces of hard plastic. But that’s not the ideal listening mode anyway. Ideally, you’ll be taking advantage of the built-in Bluetooth functionality.

On to the good stuff. Plugging the unit into my laptop was simple enough, but I ignored the instructions to install the included software. Although the unit supports Plays for Sure, I don’t. I also don’t have an account with Best Buy’s Digital Music Store, so I was unable to test that functionality. I also found out the included software was nothing more than Rhapsody in a different skin, and that just didnt sit right with me.

If you do not wish to install the included software on a PC, you can open the device in ‘My Computer’ (it’s recognized as a removeable drive), open the ‘INSIGNIAMP3’ folder, and drag your files in there. For those not really computer savvy, this could be a little problematic, but the included software works just fine on a PC.

Which brings me to a major gripe. I skipped the software because I mainly use a MacBook, and apparently that pretty much precludes using either Plays for Sure or the Best Buy service, even if I were inclined to use them. In the previous version of this DAP, it was a simple affair to drag files from iTunes onto the player and have it all copy. Either that doesn’t work anymore, or else Insignia isn’t supporting or endorsing that method, because it is completely absent from the manual. The only method included in the sparse instructions is the ‘removeable drive’ method.

The interface on the Insignia is nothing short of amazing, especially considering its budget status. The screen is clear and bright, once again reminding me of a good cell phone. The oddly green welcome screen gives way to a blue and silver screen displaying current artist (with artwork if available), album, and track information. There is also a clock, charge indicator, and track progress bar. All very similar to the iPod. One feature I never noticed on the iPod, and one that I really like on the Insignia, is that at the bottom of the screen is displayed the name of the next track in the queue. Really cool. Browsing through the music library menus are a breeze, allowing you to look by track, artist, album, genre, all at the turn of the wheel.

Hitting the Menu button takes you to a fluidly animated scroll menu, reminiscent of the T-Mobile SideKick. The menu has Settings, Music Library, Audio Books, Video, Photos, FM Tuner, and Recording options, which allow easy access to all the functions of the player. There are decent presets on the equalizer, control of the backlight and repeat/shuffle functions, control of the recording quality and FM station presets, time, and other mundane stuff. The only function not included that I thought might have been useful is a way to control the idle interval before the player shuts itself off. Once it does, hitting the Play button does nothing, and holding down the Power button for two seconds is required to power the unit back up.

Sound quality is fantastic through my preferred headphones. I mean, there really isn’t anything more I could say about that. Clear, crisp sound. Photos display well on the screen, and browsing through them is simply a matter of clicking through. Video playback is a little streaky, which is perfectly normal for a tiny LCD. And although I probably wouldn’t watch full-length features on it, the included music videos were a nice diversion. Don’t take that as a negative, though, as there aren’t ANY small screens I would watch movies on, my vaunted iPod included.

The recording functions are basic, but useful. You can choose from four recording ‘qualities’, whether to record in PCM or WMA, and as mentioned previously, there is a line-in/mic jack, though you will need a pre-amp for the mic. There is, sadly, no way to record from FM that I could see.

I did not get a chance to run the battery down. It is advertised as having ‘up to’ 20 hours of music playback, but based on experience with other players, I would probably put it closer to 16. Still, not shabby at all. Video playback is rated at 8 hrs of battery time.

I’m leaving the newest (and possibly coolest) feature for last. Bluetooth. The NS-DVB4G has built-in Bluetooth, but… well, control your drooling. It only works with Bluetooth headphones. Nope, can’t transfer files, videos, or music over the wireless connection. That was a bit disappointing. But hey, it’s still more wireless functionality than the iPod gives you, right?

All in all, this player is a spectacular value for the money. At only $160 on Best Buy’s site, you could do a lot worse. It has many features the iPod Nano does not (video, FM, recording), and a smaller price tag to boot. It’s only $40 more than its predecessor, and has twice the memory and Bluetooth.

Pros:

Excellent interface, easy-to-use menus
Excellent sound quality
Good video playback and photo display
Bright, clear screen
Solidly built
Long battery life
Compatible with Rhapsody Music Service and Best Buy Digital Music Service
Plays many formats, including MP3, WAV, PCM, WMA, MOV, AVI, and MPG.
Plenty of memory

Cons:

No charger included
No way to use or access the devices internal menus while connected to USB
Bluetooth only works with headphones, not for file or music transfers
Scroll wheel feels a bit cheap