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Compaq PA-1 iPaq Personal Audio Player

Compaq PA-1 iPaq Personal Audio Player

List Price: $249.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wow. Pretty Good
Review: I have looked at A LOT of players and [finally] settled with this one. This is the most inexpensive player that has 64 MB of memory. This player also is easily upgradeable. The MMC (MultiMedia Card) cards are relativily inexpensive (only [price] for a 64 MB one). This player is also VERY small and easy to operate. The Sony ones are just too expensive for what they are (a 64 MB memory stick costs about [price]). The other brands like Rio are also expensive compared to this player (mem vs price). The sound quality is pretty good [with other headphones]. That problem can be solved with a $10 pair of Sony headphones. Now for the bad stuff. The only probable bad thing about theis player is that the battery life is sooooooo short (it's a battery user). The battery life that Compaq claims is 10 hours but it is realistically like 7-8. Overall this player is well worth your money and you will enjoy every cent of it. I would recommend it any day.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Little Bundle of Joy
Review: After extensive research I took the plunge for the Compaq MP3 player...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Amazing But...
Review: this is the cutest thing ever, 64MB of flash memory lets you download more than 20 songs, nice display, nice sound, preset equalizer, but there is one problem...

i got it 2 days a go, and used it for about 6 hours, and already replaced the batteries...make sure you have a stock of them.

beside that its great tool...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Why no rechargeables for AAA's?
Review: Love this products, but have following complaints...

First, batteries drain about once a day or so it seems, so am I correct that there are no rechargeables for AAA's?

Second, the cost of the 64MB card at $85.00 is outrageous, but I did it.

Third, I notice that sometimes I load songs to it from my computer, and while it says that there is five minutes of that song, it plays 12 seconds and then jumps to the next song.

Also, for some reason the Rio software seems to duplicate songs, so on my playlist I have Black Magic Women like 17 times and have to search and delete.

Other than these issues, love it!

But how do I connect to my stereo?

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Battery Life is the only problem:
Review: I've tried duracell, Energizer and other cheaps batteries. I have to have new batteries after 5hrs of listening music. Overall that is a Awesome MP3 player except battery life.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent product
Review: I recently bought a compaq ipaq mp3 player and I think it is a great product. It can hold up to 30 songs and has great sound quality. It is also small and light therefore easy to take places. The only thing I found bad about this product is that the battery life is horrible. It takes two AAA batteries and it doesn't last much longer than 8 hours. But besides that and the fact that it doesn't run with macintosh computers it is a very great product.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: If only they'd had these things years ago...
Review: After I made up my mind that I wanted an mp3 player, I got on the internet to do my research and ended up going with the Compaq iPAQ. So far it's proven to be a great investment. It's light years better than any portable cassette player I've ever had. It's small, it looks really cool and like all the other reviewers say, never skips. When I read what people said about how hard it is to get it out of the plastic wrap, I arrogantly assumed I would be smarter than all of them and get it out in no time but the exact opposite was true. That thing is in there almost to stay and extracting it without damaging it takes a sure hand, 15-20 minutes of your day and a lot of patience, but it is possible. The pros of the unit, as I see them, include: the RioPort software that comes with the unit is easy to use. If you can click a mouse, you can load music on to the player. Just make sure you follow the instruction manual that comes with the player. Downloading music on to the player can be done quickly, the available bass and treble output is good, and the push-button controls make it next to impossible for the player to get turned on accidentally. The importance of this will be clear once you realize the size of the player's appetite for batteries, which tops the list of negatives. Battery life is not all it could be and Compaq's claim of 10 hours is, at best, inaccurate. Using the player solely to listen to music, five or six hours is about the best I've managed. Also, unlike a cassette deck for a home stereo, the mp3 player has no recording levels to set. That means that during playback, the user must adjust and readjust the volume. Also, the port into which the USB cord is inserted remains uncovered, potentially allowing who-knows-what to get in there. Anyone who is fussy about their toys will likely find this a little distressing. Potential buyers will be interested to know that the player's memory cards do not both have to be the same capacity for the player to work. Right now one of my player's cards is 64MB and the other is 32MB. The larger cards are pretty pricy. Anyone in the States who wants to buy bigger cards might want to take advantage of the stronger American dollar by purchasing their cards through a Canadian retailer. If you want a web address e-mail me at snowdog47@home.com. I should also mention that this thing can really play loud, if that's what you're looking for, I have never needed to turn it up as loud as it can go. The player will also let you use other headphones. I use the ones I got for my Walkman a few years ago. For some reason when playing music, wav files from CDs I scanned on to the computer's hard disk sound a little tinny, like someone is ringing sleigh bells in the background. MP3 files, gleaned from a popular online file-swapping service which is currently under seige in the courts, sound crystal clear, like listening to a CD. If you're looking to replace a cassette player, like I was, with something more portable and with better sound, this is the way to go.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 4 month user
Review: Good: -very small (the reason i bought it). -high quality hardware (dropped twice on concrete and it still works, but now has tiny crack in battery cover. -sturdy belt clip. -good button controls

Bad: -slow d/l's for usb. -volume setting 1 is too quiet. setting 2 is to loud! (not a problem since my Koss KTX headphones have a volume control. these are excellent...headphones, fantasic comfort and sound.

Tips: -use 'media jukebox' to create playlists, then use compaq software to d/l playlists to player. the rio software is (user hostile) at creating playlists when you have hundreds of mp3's.

'media jukebox' is powerful and easy at making playlists. (dont confuse with musicmatch jukebox which is crummy at making playlists).

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellent player for the price
Review: I have found only two negatives for this player; 1) The earplugs fall out when I jog, (and the reason I purchased the player was for jogging ..), and 2) The software included (RioPort Manager) MUST BE INSTALLED and USED to format the memory cards before they can be used. After that was done, I was able to use my Windows Media Player, which I prefer. (I couldn't find anything in the Windows Player allowing me to do this .. if anyone knows of a way, I would appreciate a note...)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: good player depending on price
Review: The pa-1 is a good, small, dependable player...depending on how much you pay for it. I bought mine for under $200, so I am satisfied with what I got. the player does have some negative aspects, such as a flimsy memory door, ineffiecient software, and lacks in a variety of functions. But, if you like a player that plays and gets the job done, get the pa-1. It has serveral preset equilizers, and also one that you can set manually. I personally think that the sound is great and the volume level is more than sufficient (I usually leave mine on 5 out of 10 or less). The size and weight of the unit are a definite plus. Battery life isn't that much of a problem if you just get a couple of rechargeable NiMH batteries. Overall, it's a good player.


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