Epson is known for its high-quality photo printers, so it makes sense that the manufacturer would produce a digital video/audio player like the P-2000. While it is a functional MP3 player, the P-2000 is in truth a multimedia storage device and player, and it really shines as a portable picture and video viewer. Indeed, this product is chiefly intended as a serious digital photographer's companion for storing photos on the go.

The P-2000's 40GB hard drive can hold a huge number of pictures and videos for display on its beautiful 3-4/5-inch LCD screen. The Epson Photo Fine display has a resolution of 640X480, and it can show over 262,000 colors. You can zoom in on photos up to 600X, and being an Epson product, you can connect to a USB-enabled Epson printer to print directly from the P-2000's memory. However, it is not PictBridge-compatible.

The P-2000 has a memory card slot that accommodates CompactFlash and SD cards formats, and there are optional adapters available for other formats. The player supports JPEG (images up to 8.9 megapixels or up to 17.8 megapixels with a firmware upgrade) and some RAW image files, as well as AVI and MOV video files up to 2GB. However, it is not compatible with WMV, and you'll need third-party software to convert other file formats to play on the P-2000.

This unit also has MP3 capabilities, but these are almost an afterthought. The P-2000 can play MP3 and iTunes' AAC files, but not WMA. Because of the gorgeous display, navigating your music files should be easy, but unfortunately, your ability to manage and manipulate playlists is virtually nonexistent. While music generally sounds good, there are few audio enhancement functions, and the P-2000 doesn't come with headphones.

An annoying issue with the P-2000 involves filenames. Any filename longer than eight characters is shortened, so unless all your music and image filenames are very short, searching for a song or picture among hundreds or thousands of truncated names can be an exasperating experience. In addition, when you collect separate images and store them in an album, the P-2000 renames the images via a particular Epson convention, regardless of what the original filenames were.

The P-2000 is intended for digital photographers seeking expanded image storage and viewing capabilities, with digital audio and video playback included as an attractive bonus. While the screen is fantastic, the limited music playback abilities and filename quirks prevent the P-2000 from receiving a higher rating. However, this should be taken with a grain of salt, as the Epson P-2000 should be considered a digital photography component first and an MP3 player second.


Pros:  Amazing display, superb for storing and viewing digital photos
Cons:  File-naming issues, limited MP3 player capabilities, not PictBridge-compatible, headphones not included, requires optional adapters for some memory card formats

Warranty
1 year, limited