Flashe Reviews

The MuVo NX is the big brother to the MuVo NOMAD. The new features included make using this MP3 player an absolute breeze. There's now an LCD screen with backlight, which, despite the odd inaccuracy with the timing and the average brightness of the light makes selecting songs much easier. There's even a high quality EQ system, which allows you to use a custom EQ setting or a preset. The microphone comes in handy, though the 8-bit quality means bootlegs are out of the question! It's also much easier to navigate your music files, and a copy of Creative MediaSource is even thrown in which is superb for ripping and recording. The batteries last ages, though the backlight, EQ and jog dial tend to drain them quicker. The player can also be used as a flash drive - those used to floppy disks know the relief this brings. The 128MB is not huge, but you can squeeze on about 40-45 MP3s. Just the size of the player alone is one aesthetic quality that prompted me to buy it (apart from being a previous Creative NOMAD user).
However, the sound quality is not amazing through the standard issue headphones, and they quickly die out being so delicate. There also seems to be a common glitch with most of the NX users I know that results in a sound cut-out if the player is put down in a certain way - possibly a poor quality eadphone connection. Creative have also done away with the handy neck-cord - instead, an armband contraption is thrown in that is absolutely no use to me. The jog-dial - despite being better than the tiny switches on the NOMAD - is far too delicate.

i've owned the device for 5 mo now, and it's done a beautiful job as a "walkman" and a usb storage device (ppt files, etc.). having read every review on amazon, i was a bit concerned about the 'lasting quality' of the device, but i haven't had any trouble, even after having dropped it a few times. the factory headphs are undeniably bad; i bought a pair of sennheiser mx500s as a replacement. the irivers obviously have a solid reputation when it comes to these "compact mp3" players, but i couldn't deal with having another connecting cable (from mp3 player->computer) on my desk. the built-in plug on the muvo and its size just makes it an all around convenient little gadget. to echo a previous reviewer, if you're concerned about the 'order' of your uploaded songs, use the "copy to device" function in windows media player. oh and for those that are just doing +/-30-min workouts, 128mb is more than enough storage space.

finally, if you're really paranoid about warranties, etc. look into your credit card options - visa (platinum) said it would double the manufacturer's warranty, so that took my muvo from 3->6 mos. if that's still not enough for you, then look into buying an iriver from best buy and purchasing the additional 1-2yr coverage direct through best buy.

I love it. Small, lightweight, easy to use.

The headphones are terrible!

unfortunately there were no reports on incompatibility when I was buying this piece of equipment (read "junk"), now they are starting to appear. This cardreader worked only with SanDisk compactflash and did not work properly with my SimpleTech 256MB. I contacted SanDisk tech support via email and it was less than helpful, the only thing they suggested is to return/replace the card. But why would I do this if the card works perfectly with my Canon camera as well as with my new cardreader TravelFlash M280 (http://www.pqi.com.tw). SanDisk made a deffective product and they refuse to even look into the problem.
Update: SanDisk recognized the problem: "There is a known compatibility issue with the SDDR-75 and the newer CF cards. We can provide an exchange for an SDDR-91 (USB 2.0 CompactFlash reader)."

I'm running Windows XP so there was no need to install software or drivers for this device. I simply plugged the USB cable in, restarted the computer and used the card reader as I would any other floppy drive. Very simple. Works great!

I was looking for a SmartMedia reader, and this turned out to be an excellent choice! It is not the smallest reader you'll find, though it is pretty good size for a dual reader, the USB cord can be hidden around it, and it also comes with an extension cord if needed.

The main reason I wanted this reader is to transfer pictures faster than the slow serial cable of my digital camera, and this was definitely a major improvement. It works like charm in Windows XP without the need of installing additional drivers, I haven't tried on Windows 2000 but it is supposed to work with that as well.

I haven't tried it with CompactFlash cards. It is about the same price for a single card reader, so I figured someday the CompactFlash reader may become handy. It is a shame they do not make this dual reader for SmartMedia and Multimedia/SD cards.

Need a "little" more storage then a floppy drive with far more portability? Look no where else but a USB Flash Drive. This 64MB comes with 62MB available space.

The package also includes a USB cable to connect to computers that have USB Ports in the back of the computer, or are hard to access otherwise. Simply plug it in and it'll auto-detect (2000 & XP) and show a new removeable hard drive available.

The two downfalls I see are no write protect solution and no keychain/ring that comes with it to attach to a keychain. Otherwise, I recommend it!

I bought this drive as my laptop doesn't have a Floppy drive as well as for the convenience of USB plug-and-play capability. The device worked fine although I found the documentation to be totally absent (except for a few basic instructions on the package). Admitedly this should be the case with a plug-play device. However, as this is a USB 2.0 device and most USB ports (including mine) are at present USB 1.1, it would have helped to know what to do when the device is plugged in and the OS (Win XP) gives the following message: "A high speed controller must be installed...."! Still, the device worked fine and is really convenient.
I found the quality of construction to be a bit sloppy ... it's plastic and I wasn't impressed by the finish on the product. That and the lack of documentation = 4 stars.

Installs on its own and works on virtually every machine I have plugged it into. Makes trasferring files at work a breeze without having to waste blank cds...

I purchased a RipFlash Plus 256 MP3 player/recorder in June 2004 to record voice interviews. Major flaws in its construction and in its download software mean you are very likely to lose your recordings. To make matters worse, customer support is very resistant to issuing refunds for faulty equipment.

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It produces decent sound quality, though the recordings have a constant low-level hum in the background.

Two main problems with the unit make it very problematic for capturing recordings:

1) The software provided (and required) to download the sound files to computer over USB is very flakey - sometimes it works, sometimes does not connect, sometimes downloads only part of the sound file but indicates it is "done." This happens on both of the newer Dell computers that I've tried it on. By contrast, all other devices I attach to the USB ports on these same computers exchange files flawlessly.

2) The RipFlash Plus is able to hold a SmartMedia card and record to it. This would seem to be an alternative to downloading through the USB connection - just remove the SmartMedia card, insert it into your computers card reader, and copy off the files. BUT . . . the ejector button on the RipFlash broke the second time I ejected a card, and appears likely to break on any unit. The ejector button pushes the card out with two very tiny brittle plastic tabs. It takes almost nothing to break one (in my case, just ejecting the card did it.) Then, you can't get the card out, or if you do fish it out, you can no longer position it in correctly without the button in place.

Regarding customer support . . . when the unit arrived in the mail, I discovered that they had thrown in a "voice activated TV remote" - at no charge, and without any advance notice - a device they don't sell on their site. I can't imagine anything more useless than that so I tossed it immediately. After obtaining an RMA from them and returning the broken RipFlash, they at first tried to charge me a "restocking" fee for the useless recorder. After I put my credit card company on their case, they finally refunded the full amount. Then, they decided they needed to charge me $40 for the throw-away remote that they had sent unsolicited, so they made a new charge on my card for it.

You might want to consider the options before you decide to try the RipFlash Plus.

Rob

The RipFlash PLUS does just what it promises.

PROS: It records voice very clearly and easily. Playback is very clear. You can use headphones or any stereo or speakers through the included line-in jack. You can even play it in your car using a cassette adapter (sold separately). The built-in speaker is functional but on the level of a cheap AM transistor radio. It has a bookmark function that remembers where you stopped a file (great for old time radio listening). The fast-forward and rewind feature moves very quickly through a file (perhaps too quickly if you aren't paying attention). The back-lit screen reads very well. You can add a smart media card to double your storage capability. Recording can be done at many different bit rates, depending upon the quality and size you need (I find 32 kbps more than adequate for voice recordings). You can even play back at slower speeds or faster speeds. So if I record a one hour radio talk show, I can play it back on fast speed and skip through commercials -- this saves me 30 minutes! You can easily record directly from a CD player, computer or radio using the line-in recording function. The unit is very compact and the two AAA batteries last a long time. The carrying case and belt / armband attachments are useful, as well.

CONS: The instruction manual is pathetic, clearly written by someone for whom english is a second (or third?) language. The built-in microphone was only designed for the typical vocal range (according to a pogo employee). Thus, it won't clearly record concerts, choirs or loud piano-playing. You need a very special amplified microphone to make high quality recordings (these are expensive). The earbud headphones fall out of my ears and are designed stupidly where one wire is longer than the other and is supposed to wrap around the back of your neck. The controls are a bit complicated for advanced functions, but adequate for normal use.

UPDATE: I have been using the device for many months now. Although I am still pleased with it, it is glitch-prone. It sometimes pauses during playback or fails to erase a track I try to delete. If you have a flashcard installed and try to record to the internal memory, it marks your spot at the end of the external memory which makes it hard to immediately review something you just recorded. Also, you can't review a track from the end of the track (you must forward from the beginning), which also makes it hard to find information within a track. Finally, Pogo customer service is very helpful -- I've contacted them a lot!

ALL IN ALL: this is a very good piece of technology. I carry it with me wherever I go -- especially when recording musical parts for my choir rehearsals and listening to music or old time radio.

First off, this is my first MP3 player, so I have nothing to compare it to. Although, I did spend a lot of time researching MP3 players on the web. I chose the RipFlashPlus for several reasons. They were(not in any order):
- backlit display.
- upgrade ability (memory, firmware).
- ability to record MP3s directly to the unit.
- external speaker (although it's very weak, but what do you expect?)
- plays MP3s and WMAs (although WMAs do not sound as loud or as good as MP3s in my opinion)

I like this MP3 player a lot. The unit is very small at just under the size of a deck of cards.
As of 4/03, I'm using Win98 and had no issues with software installation. The player came with firmware V1.19 and I immediately upgraded to V2.0 through the PogoProducts web site. Also, with no issues or problems.

So far, these are my only complaints.
I have hit the record button once by accident and it started to record through the enclosed mic. They should have programmed this button to activate only if held down for 3-4 seconds.
The software should have come with an MP3 tag editor so that you could edit MP3 ID tags before downloading to the unit. I just found a free utility on the web that allows me to do this, but having this feature included would have been nice.
The ear-bud head phones that are included are not very good. I tried them once and will not use them again. Although you can hear the music, it doesn't sound near as good as larger head phones that can produce a little bit of bass. But that's just my taste.

I have not used all of it's features yet, but I wanted to review the unit because I am very happy with it thus far. One of the features allows you to record MP3s directly to the unit without the need of a PC. The appropriate cable is provided. Very nice feature that is not found on other MP3 players.
Also, I have not had a chance to add an additional smart media card to the unit.

Overall, for the price, this solid state MP3 player is hard to beat. I chose not to buy a hard drive MP3 player just for the fact those contain moving parts, consume batteries and are very expensive. I personally don't need to carry around my entire MP3 collection either. So far I've been able to download roughly 30 or so MP3s @ 128Kbps. And with being able to add an additional 128mb smart media card, that would make ~60 or so MP3s @ 128Kbps.

I purchased this 512Mb card to replace the dinky 32Mb card that came with my Canon A80. I decided on a SimpleTech card for two reasons: it's what Canon sells at their accessories site and, more importantly, it was cheaper than the others.

It works fine. Haven't filled the card entirely yet, but I just snapped about 100 pictures in succession with no problem. It even appears to store images slightly faster than the Canon Flashcard that came with the camera. Looks like about 247 pictures will fit on the card at the camera's highest resolution (4Megapixel, 2272x1704 JPG's in superfine mode).

I've taken over 24,000 pixs with these on a Nikon CoolPix 5000 and only once did the 512 give me a fright. But in the end, the pixs were there. It happened during file transfer from the card to a PowerMac laptop. It could've been my fault; a little careless last weekend.

Speed of writing on SimpleTech cards is respectable; price is right though.

I have used this card for about 6 months and never had any problems. I used it in a Canon G5 camera.

In the last decade, people have been rooting for this small flashlight that was always considered to be cool, with it's aircraft aluminum 'armour', and bright beam. This thing was once considered to be more popular than a lightsaber.

These qualities stand to this day and should be considered should you buy this as a gift or lighting tool for someone. It's strong reaching beam fires a fair distance in spot mode, and a moderately effective flood mode lights up a room quite nicely.

Now, with these kudos, there are some things to keep in mind when buying this light:

Unless you get silver/puter or light blue, this black knight can be easily lost in the dark if you don't have it on. Also, the fact that it's a heavy duty metal doesn't help it's chances from a fairly tall fall. This thing is not shock absorbent. Maybe it's casing is, but it's innards aren't. And to top it all off, this flashlight is more thirsty for batteries than a 5 litre gas guzzling Mustang. After a good half hour, it dims a litte, but a little too soon.

So, what do I recommend above the Mini Mag? Two great recommendations: the Energizer Double Barrel 'xenon' flashlight, with it's great looks, and better battery life. The xenon bulb is also brighter than the Mag's 'T-Bulb'. Another great light is the Rayovac AA Industrial flashlight. Now, this flashlight does not have the same distance reach as the Mini Mag (in spot mode) since this light is built with a 'wide spot', that acts like a super (and I mean super for an AA light) mini spot light, and maybe not at long distances, but at least for lighting up.....the WOODS! I find this to be the best light for when you're lost in the woods. If you are one of those people who walk a lot at night, especially near any forests and wooded areas, then the Rayovac AA Industrial light is the one-if you aren't interested in an L.E.D lights, which should be your first choice. You'd probably think that a Rayovac AA flashlight wouldn't be powerful enough for to light up the thick of the woods in the night and twenty feet in front of you...well, guess again!! You'd better get one and try it out. It's output is nearly as bright as a 2D Maglite in flood mode. Really! I carry it everywhere with me (knapsack). And mega shock resistant!!

So, hats off to Mag for a great run, and for making a cool and powerful light with a few self defeating faults.

I own every 2 - 6 D Cell Mag Lite makes. Finest flashlights you can buy. I own 3 AA Mini Mags for both my cars and office. Problem is I think I'm starting to collect them! They're truly a work of art as their motto states and as durable a light there is. There's a Fry's Electronics store near my house and the other day I saw a Mini Mag in Pewter. Gorgeous. Didn't buy it, but I think next time I'm there I will just to have it. (Wife say's it's a problem.) Colors of these flashlights are truly gorgeous (especially the Purple, Blue, and Pewter) on their aircraft aluminum body. A great accessory is the nylon case that will protect the flashlight. If you're planning on purchasing the AA Mini Mag or any of the Mag Lite line of flashlights take the thing apart and see how they're made and you'll know why I'm hooked. :-)

When three tornadoes hit my boarding school, I came to realize the importance of a flashlight (which I didnt have at the time, unfortunately). Realizing my error in not owning such an essential item, I immediately went to the store and bought one. My family has owned (and lost) numerous flashlights, and our Mag lite are by far the best flashlights we've ever owned. Some flashlights go on and off as the battery jiggles around, die as soon as you drop them, or just aren't made to live long. Mag lites are definitely NOT these flashlights! My mini Maglite has been dropped, kicked, stomped, squished, thrown, everything... and it still works great! It's three years old now and still works like it did on day one. It doesn't suck batteries dry, which is definitely a plus, and the light is constant. It doesn't flicker on and off if teh battery somehow shakes. I love how you can change the beam to cover a large area or focus in on a small area. It's great for late night reading in the dorm rooms. Now I even own a small MagLite Solitaire for my keychain. It's very small but just as powerful. Altogether, a great little flashlight and an excellent price.

Although a little expensive for its size, it is very fast when deleting, viewing, and taking photos. The 64MB card is a good size, taking about 101 photos on a 2 megapixel camera with the highest quality, which is plenty for a home use digital camera. I have experienced other cards, such as SmartMedia and CompactFlash and they are bulky and are considerably slower. Although it could be my previous cameras, I believe the cards have a greater impact. Also, about the price, the price for the cards are going down. Don't listen to bad reviewers...they are just bitter that their cameras are out of date and do not feature the XD picture cards.

I bought two 64MB XD picture cards, thinking I'd have one for backup if anything went wrong with one of them. I have yet to use the second one, and could probably have just gotten away with using the 16MB card that came with the camera as backup. Then again, if I did more travelling, it's like having two would be a smart move. I have no complaints about these XD cards.

I think these are great, I get a lot more battery life and they allow the camera to be much smaller...they may not be industry standard, but they were created by Olympus and Fuji, so even if they just become the standard in those two companies they'll stay around for quite some time.

I recently bought one of these mp3 players and have enjoyed it. The 256mb size holds enough music to fill all the boring spots in school, with enough space left over to transfer a few files. The sound quality out of this thing is great. While it doesn't have a random button, it does play songs in order of insertion so grouping by sound works.
The voice recorder works great, but only records at 64k quality, compared to the mp3s at minimum 128k quality. Also, while it is enough mic range to record little notes to yourself, it can not record lectures done by teachers.
My only real gripe with this product is the trouble I have had in making it transfer files in Mac OS 9.1. Every time I try, the whole computer hangs on the copying message. Other than that, it is a handy little thing to have.

I justified my purchase of this gizmo because I needed a voice recorder. It works fine but I found out that you need to press a series of buttons to record. I needed something more convenient.

My real desire was to have a small lightweight MP3 player. This accomplishes that in spades. Very easy to use-plug into your USB port and transfer MP3s to it. Plug in your earphones and away you go.

256 megs is about 3-4 hours of music total. I've never loaded it that much. It has the most amount of memory that I've seen in a MP3 player this small. This things not much bigger than a flash drive unit. By the time you add space for the extra electronics to play MP3s, battery and a LCD screen, it's amazing that they could keep it this small.

Controls are limited. Basically you have volume and skip forward, backward. There are some equalizer presets to change the sound but no actual bass or treble control. Random would be nice but not available.

Also, it doesn't come with an armband-only a cord to hang around your neck. Not too convenient if you are going to exercise or do something that requires a lot of movement. In fact, the small size of this unit caused me to make a mistake. But it also shows that Buslink has good customer service.

I was using it when I would do yardwork, etc. Instead of using the neck cord I put it in my pocket. My body movement caused too much pressure on the earphone jack. It caused the connection to become unstable. However, I emailed Buslink with this problem and they sent me a RMA number within 1-2 days. I need to send it back but was able to jury rig it to keep working. I hate to be without it for 3-4 weeks to send it back.

In a nutshell, it's a great little MP3 player, very small, lightweight. Also functions as a voice recorder and flash drive. If you want more storage or more audio features, look elsewhere. But if you want an MP3 player that is practically unnoticeable, get this one.

I bought it too and that a nice stuff ! I bought it on ebay @ 30 + 15 shipping. cheer Target ! :)

This device causes my computer to display the dreaded azure tableau morte when I try to use it. I'm taking it back tomorrow.

I recently received a wonderful gift of a Kodak DX3500 digital camera, with the Loading Dock that connects it to a PC. My initial elation evaporated as I discovered that the Dock-to-PC connection requires a USB connection. The Toshiba Tecra 8100 laptop I'm using has a USB port, but it's taped over because NT 4.0 doesn't support USB (Win2000 and 98 do). I turned to look for a device that would read the camera's CompactFlash card, but didn't need USB to connect. After some scouring of the web (including a comical dead end involving "tech" reps who couldn't provide answers to compatibility questions beyond reading from the company same web page I was already looking at, and a more technical rep who informed me that the item was no longer available from the mfr. and agreed that it probably should be removed from that e-tailer's web page), I found the SanDisk ImageMate External Parallel CF Card Reader. This device provided what I needed: a CompactFlash card reader with a non-USB connection to a machine running NT 4.0.

The setup was painless. The ImageMate plugs into the parallel port, with a passthrough connection for the printer. Power is drawn from a passthrough connection to the PS/2, into which the mouse cable connector fits.

The ImageMate software makes the device appear as a mapped drive. You can read, write, and delete picture files on this drive. A provided software utility swaps out the ImageMate (to let you safely removed the picture card).

We installed the Kodak Loading Dock on a Win98 USB machine, and it works just great. But transfer on the ImageMate is almost as fast and easy.

I've been verbose in this review for the sake of others running the web search I did. You've probably come to the only right place. (I didn't find any other easily acceptable connection devices.)

As you may have learned the hard way, Windows NT does not support USB regardless of whether your computer has it or not. Not one single store in my local area (Orange County, CA) carries a parallel port compact flash card reader (they've all joined the 21st century with USB). I bought the Scan Disc model and love it. In fact, I just purchased two more for my coworkers that are constantly bugging me to use the compact flash card reader to retrieve their photos. From other reviews I can see that the Scan Disc is superior to the Kodak model. I have no complaints; it's easy to hook-up and it works just fine. If you're aware of what a compact flash card reader is then there's probably no need to tell you how much easier it is to use vs. the archaic software that comes with most cameras. Although, the software does give you thumbnail image views making digging up old photos much easier.