Almost there... Big and Ugly
Written: Oct 17 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Very expandable.
Cons: Big, Ugly, Scares young children and the elderly.
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| street's Full Review: i2Go MP3 96MB Player |
For almost as long as I can remember, I have kept a sony walkman cassette player (or similar knockoff) for either morning or evening jogs. These players last about 6 months (I buy the cheap ones), and they eat through rechargable batteries about every other day. After watching the MP3 devices for a couple of years now, I finally decided to give them a try.
Heres a few rules:
- Must be portable
- Must get at least 2 hours on batteries
- Must play at least 2 hours of music
- Must be expandable / upgradable
- Must be USB or better
- Must have an FM Tuner
Here's what I did:
I bought: (gotta love returning things you don't want :)
Iomega HipZip
Diamond Rio 500
Sony MS Walkman
Creative Nomad II
I2Go eGo 96
Each of these units accompanied me for 2 mornings (except the HipZip).
The HipZip kept my interest for 30 minutes. It never once played an entire song - piece of junk - shame on Iomega. The Rio is a very nice, clean device - It works and sounds good and the software is on par with the others. Sony has decided to re-invent Beta and come up with there own (very expensive) memory cards - Morons - not to even mention it doesn't even work with actual MP3s (other than that its a great design). The Nomad II is alot like the Rio with the benefit that it has an FM tuner - with horrible reception.
And finally, The eGo. I kept this one for one reason alone - CompactFlash (and it will hold 2 of them). These cards are reasonable priced, and you can buy a CF Microdisc as large as a gig for about $500 (hopefully to drop soon). Try to get that on a SmartMedia card. Battery life is good at more than 8 hours (2AA). Sound was OK, but *none* of these devices sound great (better than a cassette walkman though). The price is steep, but that wasn't a factor. The software is junk, but hey - its CF, so with a CF Reader (about $20) you can copy MP3s using Windows explorer. It even has a built in Microphone so you can look important and use it to take notes - but because this device is so big and ugly - you'll look like an idiot doing it. It also has a built in speaker for playing those memos, but music from the internal speaker sounds like its coming over a telephone. Finally, it comes with a car adapter for plugging in into your cigarette lighter and tape player - nice touch, but not what I'm after.
The Bad - As stated, this thing is Ugly, like it was designed by a high school kid. Its twice as Big as it should be (but its not heavy). There is no FM tuner (see rant below). The internal speaker is pointless. Memory cards and Microdiscs are still expensive. The LCD is adequate, but not as usable as the other devices, however it is easier to read in sunlight. The belt clip is tiny and must be removed to change batteries, but works well. Its Big and Ugly. The other devices at least looked professional, the eGo looks like a toy that won't last (but it is sturdy). Finally, I grabbed a 340MB CF Microdisc from a friends digital camera and tried it out - worked great, but the batteries died in about 2 hours, maybe the new drives will help this out. A useless tote bag for the eGo was included - I'm sure the extra few bucks it cost to include it made someone happy, but not me. The controls are ok, but I'de rather have a turning slider for the volume. Did I mention its Big and Ugly?
Excluding the Nomad, none of the product designers had the clue to include a cheap FM tuner into these things. Is it that hard to do? For $200-$350 can't we at least try?
In the end, form follows function, and functionally the eGo is better than the rest. If you can stand to look at it, it just might work. I can get another walkman for $40. But the hastle of cassettes has made me weary over the years, and I decided to keep the eGo despite its flaws. If you don't mind being limited to 96MB, then I suggest the Rio 500 or Nomad II. More than that, if you can wait - wait. Someone will eventually put everything together and get these things right. All the eGo needs to do is go on a diet, and wrap itself in a better looking/feeling case.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
street
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Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Reviews written: 4
Trusted by: 2 members
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