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Digitalway MPIO FL100 128 MB MP3 Player

Digitalway MPIO FL100 128 MB MP3 Player

List Price: $139.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: The MP3 is great- the software is horrible
Review: I received the MPIO as a gift with a full cd loaded, so it was 1 month before I had to figure out the software install. I work for a computer company, it should've taken me 2 hours to get it to work. when I was ready to download music it took 3 HOURS For just 20 songs! The software would not recognize the MP3 was pluged in, or the info already on it (would not play certain songs), and the best part... the program would not respond. I don't know if it's not compatible with XP, but manual said it is. And there are no patches either. I found the only way to make it work was constantly unplugging the USB connection. By the time I finished I wanted to throw it away!! It should not be THAT complicated!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Pretty, but fragile and flaky
Review: I got this as a gift from my wife back in December; I've used it pretty heavily for the past three months. There's no way I'm telling my wife what I actually think it. However, you, dear reader, are luckier.

There are some problems with this player that Digitalway ought to be able to fix quickly, so I'll just lightly touch on them. (1) The oft-mentioned out-of-the-box firmware upgrade; (2) A clunky and buggy proprietary interface; and (3) Instructions that are clearly the work of a Dada-ist poet uninterested in bourgeois notions of "usability" or "comprehensibility." To fix these problems, Digitalway just has to hire a competent native English-speaking writer (they're cheap), debug their software and fix up their firmware out of the factory.

Assume all of those problems away. You still face the problem that the award-winning design comes at a serious cost: Fragility. Other reviewers have warned about scratches on the faceplate. Those are the least of your problems. After several weeks of use, I noticed a crack starting near the on/off button (an area that users are going to press hard against). A couple of weeks after that, the player started to shut down when the headphone cord put any lateral stress on the connection. Finally, the USB port cover is brittle and seems ready to crack.

In other words, all of the wear points on this player (on/off button, headphone jack, USB port) are failing. And don't get the idea that I'm rough on the hardware. To the contrary, as each new fault has appeared I've become ever more gentle with it.

So here's the bottom line: This is an MP3 player that is great to look at, but bad to listen to. I fully expect to have to junk it before next year.

Oh by the way, I got my wife a subscription to Audible.com (just horrible but that's another story); a very cheap MP3 player that will win no design awards came with the subscription. Yeah, it's ugly but I expect it to work forever.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: So so
Review: A message for Elizabeth from Shreveport, LA United States, if you upgrade the firmware, it'll solve this problem. There is a gliche in the machine, that if you format the internal memory then it'll mess the fonts or something and make the last 50MB in accessable. But once you upgrade the firmware it'll solve this, but if you format again then it'll mess up again. It happens when the system tries to erase the folder that stores your voice recordings, that folder can't be erased but the systems tries anyways and goes biserk. The only thing that you can do to be safe is erase the songs by deleting them (not formating), which isn't all the difficult but still. Except for that flaw (which is annoying because you have to count you MB so you don't go over) I really like this player. It's small, durable, and has plenty of options that computer guys love. So if you can be care full with it and respect it's flaw, get it. If you want something you'll never have to think about or worry about, then get something else (maybe a Iriver with expandable memory). My next player will be a creativelab Zen with a harddrive, it has moving parts but I'll give it a try. I gave it 3 stars but it's about par with the flaw.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Find a Different One
Review: DO NOT BUY THIS MP3 PLAYER!!!! Once you only have approximately 50 mb of memory left, it won't download any more music!!! I had to buy an extra memory card today!! Also, the shiny front scratches really easily, and the covers for the memory card and usb port are rather flimsy. BAD PRODUCT-- Don't support Korea with this one!!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Mostly happy
Review: I've had FY 200 512MB player for a couple weeks and am very pleased with it. I hook it up to the car stereo through a cassette adapter and enjoy my tunes and the internet radio I download and also use it in the gym and around town. You can't beat the small size and light weight.

A couple minor complaints:

One is that I also had one serious problem with it freezing up. The firmware upgrade will take care of the problem but the installation instructions are poorly written and while I know my way around the computer, there were times I was sure I screwed up the installation. It's fine now but this isn't a product for someone who doesn't have much PC experience.

Also it would have been nice to have another hole in the bottom of the carrying case so you can connect the USB plug without having to take it out. I ended up cutting a hole in the bottom in order to do that.

Other comments:

If you want more bass and volume use the "Groove" sound effector. You can access that through the menu or give a long press to the red button when the song is playing. I'd also like the volume to go higher since Classical music is recorded at a lower volume than pop. A Left-Right balance control would be helpful too.

I use Replay Radio software to download programming from the BBC World Service internet feed overnight and listen to this on my player during my drive into work and at the gym, I would appreciate being able to pause (for longer than a minute) it so I can pick up where I left off.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: No UMS Support
Review: When I purchased my FL100 256 MB, everything seemed OK. I thought I got what I needed. One of the main reasons to choose this product was that it had storage capability. But when I got my hands on it, I realized that it reiqured a software to enable the UMS capability, which is not practical for everyday use. I wrote to Digitalway whether it will be possible to release a UMS firmware for FL100, they promised me that they would release it in a very near future. But after some time they announced that they would not work on firmware improvement for UMS support. All FL100 owners became very disappointed after this desicion. MPIO must do everything what they promised. You can visit and see the complaints about their customer and technical support at www.mpio.com
I am not a satisfied customer and I protest MPIO since they don't take the necessary action to release a UMS firmware and make the FL100 owners happy.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Hmmmm
Review: The Mpio is a so-so player that can be extremely costly if you want to hold more than 2 hours of music. Its a very sleek and cool looking device with many different options and modes to keep anyone entertained, such as the radio, and voice recorder amoung other things. The real downside to this player is its lack of memory, and upgradability. It costs me nearly 75 bucks for a new sd card. :(. I also own a sony NE-410 minidisc player (also $100) and it has been much better in many cases. It holds 5 hours of music on one 1.50 minidisc. It has served me better than the mpio.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: No customer service
Review: This MP3 player works great until you start having problems. I have purchased 3 of these for various members of my family. The first one broke within the 3 month warranty period and I returned it to the company for repair/replacement. I emailed them and never received a response and after a month, have not heard anything from the company. The second one broke shortly after the three month warranty period. They do not respond to emails and do not answer/return phone calls. Please save your money and go with a company that makes a better quality product or at least provides some customer service.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Player is flawed and Digitalway does not support
Review: I was given the FL100 as a gift and soon realized the product is flawed. If the player is connected to the PC and the battery dies, it will corrupt the internal memory and the player will not restart after replacing the battery. The player BIOS will initiate, however, once the internal memory check is complete the message "Battery Low !!!" will appear and it shuts down. The internal memory can be re-formatted but the player must be on to do so. I contacted Digitalway regarding this and they said, "If the player purchase date is less than 30 days old and you have the receipt, you may return it to the place of purchase. If the player purchase date is more than 30 days and less than 120 days old and you have the receipt, you may return it to Digitalway." The key here is receipt. I also believe they are not really backing this product. I would recommend looking at comparable players and especially the warranty.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very Nice!
Review: I just purchased this player after having a horrible experience with the RCA mp3 player which would not install properly on my PC and they have no customer support. However, this player installed after about 3 minutes of reading the instructions and inserting the installation disk. No problems! It is easy to use and gives alot of flexibility for song selections. The FM tuner is also a real nice bonus. It also is very cool looking, streamlined and has good sound quality.


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