MP3 Reviews

There are data syncing issues with this model and other strange behaviors. Unfortunately Viewsonic is no longer offering an upgrade to Pocket PC 2003 which should fix some of these issues. Here is the response from their technical support: "The PPC 2003 upgrade CD for the Pocket PC V37 is no longer in production.". I personally would not purchase anything that can't be upgraded! Buyer beware! The screen resolution is not that great either.

Regarding the previous review concerning battery anomalies - they can be fixed. However, all PDA's have problems with dumping memory when the battery runs out. You will learn how long your PDA lasts given your personal use, and how often you must overnight-charge it (or use a travel charger).

I've had many Pocket PC's - this is the fastest, lightest, easiest to use that I have tried. Much better than many of the iPaqs.

More info at the Yahoo group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ViewSonic/

I've owned two IPAQs, and several PALMs. This is the best little gadget I ever had. The screen is so bright that even battery-saving settings are clear. Battery life is good, almost 4 hours continuous. Having a Flash Memory and an SD card I record music, books and games. You can listen to headphones and read a book at the same time for hours!

Placed an order on July 1st and was told I was going to receive it on the 14th (latest). So far no player.

Emailed Amazon and JetAudio and both companies bounced me back and forth claiming the other had the responsibility for shipping it. The money was charged but no one seems to want to give me a confirmation that it was indeed sent. All I'm asking is the Tracking #. Is it REALLY that hard to email me that?

I was told to wait for 20 days, which will probably pass and then find out it was NEVER SHIPPED at all. Then I have to wade through all the paper work and wait ANOTHER 60 days to get a refund.

Yes, Amazon I know you're just a third party but you have responsibility to these customers too.

**** Take my advice and order it directly from JetAudio's website. The people at DigitalRiver, who handles the orders, at least know what they are talking about. ****

The only consolidation is that this will be my last experience with Amazon.

Although the iAudio4 is very small, it has all the features you may ever want in a flash player. Mp3 playback is highly customizable and there is also an FM tuner, a line-in input for recording, an integrated microphone for voice recording and a dynamic set of backlight (124 colors in total). The device can also be used as portable data storage device (just like a USB Stick). Other features the player has: There is a hold button, a loop function and with a future Firmware upgrade the player will also support time synced lyrics.

The iAudio comes with plenty of accessories to get you started. The player's carrying case looks very well made (it looks so cute because of its size). The included Cresyn ear buds provide good sound, although you may want to upgrade them to get the most out of the player - the included armband is very useful for active people. JetAudio has also provided two plastic covers that you can stick on to protect the players screen. A line-in cable is a nice addition, since it is useful to record from sources such as LPs or cassettes.

The sound quality is terrific, even when the available "jetEffects" aren't used. The equalizer is highly customizable and sound enhancements such as BBE Mach3Bass make you think: "How did I manage to survive without my iAudio and it's awesome sound?". The radio tuner has a good reception, and an adequate set of features (such as range selection and presets), unluckily the equalizer and effects can't be used along with the radio. You can also record your favourite radio song to mp3s directly from the player.

Voice recording is my opinion one of the best features of the player. The built-in microphone is of very good quality, making it great for lectures. There's a handy silence detection feature that is useful to save space, or to make recordings such as interviews easier to listen to. The line-in recording has a similar feature that creates a new track whenever a silence is found.

A lyric display function is in development. It can be checked out using the Korean version of the firmware (which is luckily in English), and will soon appear for the rest of the world. The process of obtain lyrics is simple: You use a provided program to look in a database of synced lyrics that you can add to a song. When you upload the file to the player and play it, lyrics will automatically appear on screen in almost perfect sync. This is great especially for non-English speakers (now I can fully understand what those Eminem songs are all about).

Firmware upgrades appear constantly, especially when bugs are found by users. Support seems efficient, although slow in answering. Repair policies are excellent; you get free repairs during the warranty period when the unit is defective. There is a one year warranty on the main body and 6 months on the included accessories.

The iAudio4 is like many of those things in life: You will never comprehend how you managed to live without it after listening to it.

I recently purchased this product from Amazon website. And boy! I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of options available. There are hundreds, looking similar, with almost similar features and each claiming to out-perform each other. I spent two whole days reading through all the reviews on Amazon and all mp3 player sites worth their salt. It was difficult, you bet..but I could zero in on just two mp3 players after a thorough research and careful study.

-Muro MR-100 sold by Suntecint.com

-Jet Audio's newest offering iAudio 4

After a long deliberation and argument with self, I decided on this one..While Muro provides exceptional build quality, the most exciting FM broadcasting feature and a rechargeable battery, I chose this one because of iAudio's reputation and the sheer features this incredibly tiny instrument has got.

Another reason why I prefered this one is the battery. I didn't think a rechargeable battery does any help. You could be on a long trip and could run out of charge. But this one takes AAA batteries and you could get them just anywhere.

And if you are concerned about batteries eating away into your purse, you could always buy rechargeable AAA batteries.

So my verdict: This is THE best available today. No doubt.

To all those people who are not that tech savvy, here is my list of suggestions, to the point, practical.

1. Don't buy one with a proprietory rechargeable battery. Buy one with AA or AAA batteries.

2. If you have little extra bucks, settle for 256 mb. You may never want to upgrade the memory coz 60 songs may be just enough for you, no matter where you go. On the other hand, after a year, a 128 mb player could give you sleepless nights.

3. If you really need a player that doubles up as a flash drive to store and move your files, buy one with a USB plug attached to the player. Othewise, you might never carry the USB cable with the player (who would??) and can't use it when you need it most.

4. Buy one with a line-in feature that records from other sources. This might look like a trivial feature, but think for a moment! That feature gives you the power to record sound from almost everything..everything with a headphone jack.

Good luck guys!

Very disappointed with this - very fuzzy, distorted sound. I'll do some more research and check if its just not compatible with my car stereo, but as it stands, it'll never be going back into my car

I was almost turned away when I read the first review, but after reading the second one, I decided to go for it. When I first got it, I admit it did sound fuzzy, distorted. But I changed the EAX setting on my Jukebox from the Custom EQ setting I like for my headphones, to the Environment/Auditorium setting and it sounds great. I have over 2000 songs in my Nomad Jukebox 3, and it's like having my entire CD catalog in my car. I guess it helps to play with these things before you go running for the Return slip.

Using the standard cassette player on a 1996 Cavalier...

Plugging the cassette into the LINE OUT jack of the Jukebox causes very DISTORTED audio.
Plugging the cassette into the HEADPHONE jack of the Jukebox produces GOOD audio.

The short and sweet: breaks easily, lots of compatability issues, buggy software, nonexistent support, overpriced and ugly. If the compact flash hadn't fallen out due to poor design and broken I would have returned it!

I love this player. It's small enough to fit in your pocket, or it can be hooked to your belt - if you wear one. I take it with me everywhere and the sound quality it great. The ONLY down side I see to this player is that it really uses up the batteries quick, and since I'm on the move, I can't use an A/C adapter. Oh well, it's worth it. No flipping tapes, no skipping of cds. Definitely a great way to enjoy your music on the go.

The sheer amount of songs that can be stored on this unit is very impressive. However, The short battery life of this unit defeats the purpose unless you are hooked to a power adapter in a car or at home. Their documents and web site state 5 hours of play time on two AA batteries. I have found that about 2 hours is more like the real number. This could be due to the Microdrive which is likely power hungry. Other than that it is a very nice unit with many great features.

Last February I bought a PoGo AudioRave because I found very convenient the idea of having an MP3 player and a USB Flash Memory in such a small package.

For two months I was very happy with it because the sound quality was very good, the unit was light and easy to operate and the process of downloading music was very simple (..just drag and drop the files from any computer since the unit shows itself as an external USB storage..).

All my happiness is over. Two weeks ago the volume control stopped working and I ended up with an MP3 Player where I can not hear anything since the volume level was very low when the problem happened.

The bottom line is that today I only have a fancy USB Flash Memory that works quite well. That's half the product I originally bought and that's the reason I give it 2 stars.

This is my third MP3 player and it's by far the easiest to load. Didn't even need the install disk. Just plugged it into the USB port on my win2000 laptop and it showed up as a hard drive (E: drive on my system). Then I just dragged songs to it from Windows Explorer. It's loud, light and the battery lasts well.

My only complaint is the lack of belt clip. There's a cheesy strap that you can use to hang it around your neck, but that is not practical when running or working out. A simple belt clip would make this the perfect player.

This pogo is a great device. It will become the design standard for the wma player. No software needed, reads as the e-drive, use your windows media player to load songs. Hold 60 songs in wma format at 64k per song. Sounds great. What more can you ask for 80 bucks. Has ubs plug built right in, no cord necessary. Bonus can hold other types of files. Uses battery up after about 5-6 hours play time. Great player. Anyone who says this player sucks mostly likely works for the competition or apple. Why pay 300-400 bucks for a player when you get this for 80. Only con it takes about 10 min to load 60 songs.

The DMP90 has a lot of cons but have pros that you may reconsider.For the Pros, first of all, it is cheap. Almost every average income family would do. Price over everything !!. It is quite good consider for the money you pay for it. For those who have old computers but have no usb, don't worry, no usb needed. Just parrellel port. It comes with a comprehensive manual and not-so-bad software.
For the cons, there's a lot but i'll name a few. It has this distortion sound. It is quite audible if you listen to music softly. then the dmp is really battery draining. I suggest you use rechargeable ones. then there is the compatibility problem. it doesn't support windows xp. so if have to be stuck with win me or win98. (i learned that the hard way). this thing can only support one format which is MP3. you can't download firmwares or drivers to upgrade. so you would be stuck with an MP3 player forever.and last but not least. it's transparent cover. you can see all the ugly chips and some rusty parts. in terms of product support, i haven't try it because the dmp works like a trusted servant.
On overall, it is suitable for extremely low end users. Which are those who don't mind the cons as long as it is cheap, portable and able to play songs.Definitely not for power-sumers!

Six months ago this product had an awsome price to value raito (I paid 30.00 after the 60.00 mail in rebate), however times are changing. Memory prices are falling, and you can buy a player with 64 MB for 90.00 to 200.00 , and many of these include a radio and USB connection. The point, this is a good product, but I would suggest you consider another, more advanced product.

It has good sound quality, and cool design. Although it comes with 16M memory, which is not enough. However, I spend a little more to buy a 32M card, and it has became a 48M-player. Most important is that it is still cheaper than most of the MP3 players that are selling in the market.

The sound is great on the MiniJam 64MB MP3 player but the user guide directions are vague. The guide illustrates step by step what to do but never discusses what to do in the event that their directions don't work. So naturally one would think to call technical support which is what I did after reading the guide and was still unable to download music to the player. Not only was I on the phone with a technical support woman for thirty minutes who didn't want to deal with the problem and kept directing me to the web page but then she mocked me in a silly voice to her coworkers as she poorly covered the phone. She claimed that I "didn't have time to read the guide" (I had told her that I was calling because I had read the guide and the instructions did not produce the result that it said it would) and mockingly bemoaned "it's not downloading" in a whiny voice. My question is, why the heck is there a technical support department if they don't want to support their products or help their customers? It was clear to me also that she was not familiar with the product enough to help me out adequately anyway. I really want to return it after that experience and after reading the other reviews about the glitches I am beginning to suspect that it truly is the MP3 player and not me, thus further encouraging me to return this item. I am going to give it one more chance but now I feel as if I can't call technical support for any useful advice.

My MiniJam has crashed my Visor Handspring Platinum several times (any time I select "Playlist", for example), and when I asked Customer Support, was told that "a software release is scheduled for today, but as of my last check it hasn't been posted."

Also, it doesn't work when your PDA has gone into sleep mode, requiring you to stop in your tracks, turn it back on, futz with the stylus, and then operate the MiniJam controls if you want to adjust the volume, skip a track, etc. The MiniJam is really nice to work out or just walk around with, but it sure needs a helluva upgrade.

I have been using this MiniJam for my Visor Platinum for the past month, and it's the only Spring Board Module I own. Although it's rather bulky, the sound that it offers is great! I do have two 64MB MMC cards installed into the MiniJam, to offer me with 128MB of MP3 audio. Depending on your point of view, 128MB can be big, or it can be small, depending on what bit-rate you "convert" your mp3's to. 128kbs being CD quality or 96kbs being near CD quality, it all affects the amount of songs that can be stored on your two MMC cards.

Always carry spare batteries with you, or opt to purchase Innogear's MiniJam Power Pak. The earphones that came with the unit totally sucked, as one of the ear buds did not work straight out of the box. Buy a "real" set of earphones/headphones.

I had no problems with software issues. Plays great all the time! I would highly recommend this unit to anyone with a Handspring Visor, although I could not give it 5 stars, as Innogear gave me an insight.....they will come out with their new version of the MiniJam, which will be smaller.

i just put my new ipod in this thing. my once sleek , cool looking mp3 player is now this big fat chunky thing in my pocket. i don't think belkin quite got the idea here. it attaches to the ipod with a plastic suction cup. that's laughable. it got two stars cause instead of one cause it does protect the ipod. i sure wish someone would make one that maintains the "sleek" though.

Very protective. I feel better knowing that it's in this case.<br /> <br /> BUT<br /> <br /> it's bulky. it was mistaken as a tape player when it was clipped to my belt. Very annoying, having to pull the velcro on each side off to get to the controls.<br /> <br /> overall, im satisfied with this case, but there has to something better out there.

When i first got my ipod, i didnt think i would really need a case until I saw how fragile it was. so i came on amazon and bought this case. it is good. i would give it 5 starts if you could use the ipod buttons while its in the case, but tahts not a real problem for me

This is called a car kit, yet it arrived with no adapter for power in the car??? If you have bought the Nomad with earphones and carrying case, the only thing you get in this kit that you need is the adapter to play the Nomad through your car speakers. The price seems a little high for that. I am returning the accessory kit and looking elsewhere to get what I really need.

Ironically, my Jukebox "C" package did include the carry case it wasn't supposed to, so now I have three cases for my Jukebox. (I'll use the spare for an old portable CD whose case has been lost.) But that basic case has room for nothing but the Jukebox, and with no holes for access to headphone or power jacks, it's really nothing but a protection. (Not that you can't *add* holes...)

The bigger case is much nicer. Room for all your cables and the necessary power supply, an extra set of batteries, and a bit more, but without making the resulting package large or unweildy. This is ideal for taking your Jukebox with you when you travel, or just go to the beach. Both cases are well-made and won't fall apart easily. The attention to quality is appreciated.

The headphones that are included are those behind-the-head things -- is there anyone who actually *likes* them? Someone must, or why would they make them? Definitely the weak point of the set. But you need the extra batteries. I already had a tape adapter from my Rio, so I haven't even used this one.

The upshot is, I can't see why anyone would buy the base Jukebox package. The "C" package plus this add-on kit is only a few dollars more, and the big carry-case alone is easily worth the difference.

The kit, which includes a cassette adapter, is a great product to own, primarily because of the cassette adapter. I purchased the kit to use the adapter in my car. The quality of the sound reproduced by the Nomad and transmitted via the adapter is superb. I experienced a high level of static initially, only able to correct the problem after adjusting the EAX settings. My only complaint about this product is that it does not include a Cigarette/Automobile adapter (Creative Labs is the only merchant that sells this product, as far as I know...). I recommend purchasing this product if you desire to have access to your music while driving. The other products included in the kit work fine.

This item worked well for a couple of weeks but then the USB
connection in it got loose (probably from playing the cassette in a cassette player). Another return.

I got this one on sale at Fry's for 39$ Duo AR-164 which has 64 MB on board and has optional expansion for memory using MMC

I have not tried the MMC yet, but everything else seems to work as advertised,
Mp3 playback for anything above 128kbps is awesome, plays pretty good on my casette deck of the car,

The connectors are very tiny and needs a little care, but for 39$ I am sure I cannot ask for more, I got a free car charger too, It allows you to listen while you charge and the battery gives a lot of juice 6 hrs on a full charge!!
I could not resist buying two players the same day for the price/value of the product,

cool product!!

Cons: No lcd to indicate battery power remaining, it just stops playing after the battery drains, you just have to watch out for it.

OVERALL rating +++++ excellent product!!
Made in Korea, so you can count on some good quality as the koreans are second to none these days when it comes to manufacturing!

Cheers
rama

Got an AR-164 (Duo-MP3 with 64 MB onboard) for Christmas. Loved it. Had some issues confirming it will _not_ take SD (minus one star. They did confirm Sandisk 128MB MMC have been tested successfully, though it wasn't on their website). Then got a great deal on a 64MB MMC. Couldn't access the card, the Digisette was defective (minus two stars). Retailer exchanged fairly readily, though it was 2 months old and I had no receipt. They hadn't even seen them in returns, let alone a bunch of bad ones, so I hope it's an aberration.

In the end, it's the only player that plugs into any cassette deck (plus one star, though decks where the tape goes in the wide way won't allow you to use the cigarette lighter power adapter), and it _is_ expandable (plus one star, though it may get tough to find MMC in the future).

If the manufacturer compensates me for the time and effort to resolve the situation, I'd have to give it 5 stars.