A Capable But Flawed MP3 Player
Written: Mar 27 '02 (Updated Mar 27 '02)
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Pros: Inexpensive & expandable media, WMA compatible, great sound, battery life
Cons: Unexplained freeze-ups, non-replaceable battery, larger than some players
The Bottom Line: I am not recommending this player at this time because I would like something smaller, quieter and easier to operate.
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| bleugoose's Full Review: Iomega Hipzip 31311 40 MB MP3 Player |
The Hipzip (HZ) represents my first MP3 player purchase. Quite honestly, the only reason I purchased this player instead of a competitor was the fact that I know someone who works for Iomega, and I knew that I would get some free media—the click! or pocketzip disks that the Hipzip uses. Price was also a factor…at the time I purchased mine, they were selling for about $150; you can now find them for $100.
One of the things that really pleased me about the HZ was that it was very easy to load the software and start using the player right away. I tinkered with the included Musicmatch software, but found that it was not very intuitive, so I used the Window Media Player that was already on my computer. It worked beautifully, and before I knew it, I had loaded up the 40MB click! disks with some of my favorite music.
I experimented with different recording rates but found that I was happiest with 128 kpbs, which produced better-sounding music, but really limited the number of songs I could fit on a disk. For most CDs, I found that I had to delete a couple of songs to fit on the disk.
Once I learned the basics of operating the HZ’s features, I found using the player very enjoyable. There are equalizer presets but I preferred to customize the equalizer for most of my listening. One limitation of the equalizer is that it allows adjustment of bass and treble only, making it nearly impossible to fine-tune the exact sound I want. The included headphones were uncomfortable, sounded awful, and were quickly replaced.
The included BodyGlove carrying case fit the player snugly but did not offer much padding for protection. The attached belt clip made it very handy for toting the Hipzip with me at work or at the gym. Artist, song title and play time are displayed prominently on the front of the player. The player has not once “skipped” while playing music.
Unfortunately, it did not take long for the player to “freeze up” on me…without warning, it would stop playing and none of the controls would respond. The player would eventually, after several long seconds of waiting, turn itself off and then boot up again. I later found out that this usually happened when I had songs recorded at different rates on the same disk. As suggested by a fellow ePinioneer, I went to Iomega’s website and upgraded the firmware, but this did not eliminate the problem. My advice to anyone who owns or plans to own one of these players is to record everything at the same rate. Even when I made sure the recording rates were the same, I’ve still encountered problems with the player freezing up.
The non-replaceable lithium battery with its advertised 12-hour playtime is nice, but it has some drawbacks. I have gotten considerable usage out of the battery, but since you can’t just pop in an extra set of batteries, it can leave you high and dry with no music. I’ve gone to the gym a couple of times with a drained battery, without the charger, and I was simply out of luck. It would be nice if the unit used standard sized batteries (AA, AAA, etc) so that you could replace them on the fly. Even with the charger handy to power the unit, you’re forced to stay by a power outlet that makes moving around very difficult.
The Hipzip does have a power conserving or sleep feature, where it will shut off automatically if it sits idle (paused or stopped) for a period of time (60 seconds, I believe). When you turn the unit back on, it will resume the song it was on when it shut off. It seems to me that when the unit sleeps for several days or hours, it drains the battery significantly. I believe that is why the batteries were dead on my excursions to the gym. As a result, I always try to turn the unit off myself rather than having it turn itself off.
When the player accesses the disk, it makes a slight whirring noise, like you would expect from a disk drive on the computer. Although I have gotten used to it, I at first found it rather annoying and it made me wonder if people around me could hear it, too.
Overall, the Hipzip is a very capable player with inexpensive and expandable media, great sound and good battery life. Unfortunately, it is flawed, though, with inexplicable freeze ups and an inconvenient power source. It is also a fairly large player when compared to some other players on the market (though certainly smaller than any CD-based player). I am not recommending this player at this time because, for my purposes, I would like something smaller, quieter and easier to operate.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 150
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Epinions.com ID:
bleugoose
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Member: Greg G.
Location: Layton, UTAH
Reviews written: 18
Trusted by: 4 members
About Me:
"No success is ever final, no failure ever fatal."
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