Excellent all around MP3 player!
Written: May 29 '01 (Updated Aug 24 '01)
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Pros: Inexpensive storage,Excelent sound, nice features,excelent battery life
Cons: mine didn't include the "better headphones" I read about
The Bottom Line: I'd recommend the 2300 for anyone who wants a quality MP3 player, and doesn't want to spend a lot on memory for it
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| jbach36's Full Review: Rio Rave MP2300 (40 MB) MP3 Player |
I started shopping around for an inexpensive voice recorder (digital) for my new job (working at a Staples store) to record notes for myself (when given sales pointers etc..) and ended up originally getting a D-Link DMP-110 MP3 player (because of the fact it was only a little more than the recorder I was looking at, and more memory, plus would play MP3's) well, anyway, that unit wasn't very useful, so I returned it, and got a Creative Nomad II (0 MB on board, 64 MB SMC card included) which was (I thought) the best sounding MP3 player I had heard.. well anyway, I used it a few days, and was asked by my managers not to carry it around the store (integrity issue, might lead to suspicion of theft etc...) so I decided to return the Nomad, since I wanted to use it in the store for voice notes also, kinda killed my reason to have it, I decided to find a unit that we didn't sell, so I shopped around, and read reviews etc.. and decided on the rave:mp 2300, from Sensory Science.. what sold me were a few things, when I read about it, it sounded cool, Clik! disks (now PocketZip) for storage (only 40 MB a disk, but cost around $10.00 per disk usually)and since I prefer using Windows Media (usually) for recording (WMA format) I could get 80 min on each disk (they included 2 with the 2300)I felt it was a nice start.. so I shopped around and found that Best Buy (I wanted to go and purchase it, not mail order or inet order) had the best price, most places were advertising $250 or more for the unit, mine was $199.00, brand new.. I returned my nomad, and went to the Scranton Best Buy (I live in NE PA) and got the last one they had (I had called ahead and asked them to hold it for me), well, when I got to my car, I decided to open it and have a quick look, in the box were the player (with it's lithium-ion battery charged allready, which surprised me) 2 clik! disks, the manual, AC Adapter, the software CD, and earbuds.. EARBUDS!? every review I read, even the box and manual, mentioned these Sennheiser headphones.. and I got rather uncomfortable earbuds... well, I was somewhat disapointed, but decided to play with the player a bit and see how everything else was... I powered the unit on (this is when I discovered the charged battery) and placed one of the clik disks in the player, there was a slight, almost unnoticable whirring sound (like the External Zip drive when you place a disk in it, but a LOT quieter) and I hit the play button not expecting anything, but there were 3 songs allready on the player (they included 1 disk with some demo songs, and more on the CD) so I placed my casette adapter in the car radio, plugged the other end into the mp2300, and gave a listen.. the sound was awesome!, the music wasn't my prefered type (hip-hop) but the bass was clear, and had very good range.. I skipped to the next song, was a classic rock song (more my speed) which also sounded great!, I started driving home, listening to the rest of the songs (and letting the disk repeat til I got home (about 40-50 min drive) the battery indicator was still reading full.. when I got home I decided to try some headphones I had here, I have a pair of Sony MDR-W08 lightweight phones, and with those, the 2300 sounded great also (as an aside, the included earbuds do sound oki, just didn't fit my ears right, they hurt after a few min) well, I sat at my computer, and started loading software.. while doing this, I played with the features of the 2300, esp the voice recorder, which was very easy to use, and recorded very well.. I also found that I didn't need to use the included USB cable, as it was the same as the one I use with my Aiptek PenCam Trio(which I also reviewed, my first Epinion) so after loading the Rave manager software, and IomegaWare (the Clik! drive is an Iomega product, and so they included the software, Iomega also makes a MP3 player, the HipClik!which is similar in function, but is only a player (and works as a removable clik! drive when hooked to the computer, like the 2300) I like being able to use the 2300 as a removable drive also, makes moving files between computers here easy, plus data transfers are FAST!, much faster than with the Nomad I returned, well, I set about using the software to load up some of my MP3's and WMA's to see how it stacked up against how the Nomad sounded, I didn't think it was possable, but I think it sounds better than the Nomad II, cleaner, better range, the 5 presets work well (at least for me they do)
I got the unit a few days ago, and wanted to play with it a few days before I wrote this epinion, well I tried all the other functions, the world clock (nice feature if you ask me, not to mention the Calendar, which comes in handy at times) and tonight I tried the phonebook, it uses Outlook files (that have been exported to *.csv files, not straight copies of the outlook address book) it only shows the persons name, business phone, cell phone, and pager number, and an e-mail addy (I assume it was intended more for business users *smiles*) but still, it worked very well when I exported my contact list to it (following the directions in the manual)
I have read where people complained about the size of the 2300, saying it's too big for a portable player.. to me it's fine, it's about the same size as my Handspring Visor Deluxe (in fact, I am using my old slipcase that came with my Visor to hold the 2300, since it didn't include a case, and I wasn't using the Visor slipcase (having gotten a bilfold case for xmas) anyway, it fit just right (just need to make a hole for the headphone jack)and since I keep the player in my pocket, this works out well, no scratches on the unit, and also protects it since the slipcase is somewhat padded) as an added bonus, my manager at work has no problem with me using the 2300 while I am working, so long as I'm not listening to music while I work *smiles* (I can't anyway, I leave my headphones in the car, or at home) it has come in handy as a recorder allready, having taken a few notes at work for me.. the playback of the notes was VERY clear, though I think the sensitivity isn't quite as high as the Nomad Mic.. the sound was clearer.. doesn't record the drive noise when in use either (it buffers the recording for a while, the does what seems to be a burst write to the drive, same as when it does a burst read off the drive when playing music.. it loads about every 15-30 secs or so of music)I charged the battery last night, listened to the player when I went to bed (yes, I listen to music with headphones on, so I don't disturb my wife) when I woke up, the battery was still good.. took the player to work (listened to music going to work and comming home) used it at work for notes.. and have been using it all day and night now (I placed it on charge a little bit ago, when I was moving more music to a disk, but the battery indicator was still high, gotta love Li-ion batteries (Lithium Ion)
well, for now, that's all I have to say, I feel the rave:mp 2300 is the best pocket sized MP3 player I have heard yet. Has plenty of features and usability (esp for a geek like me *smiles*)and with cheap media, I hope to soon have a nice sized collection of clik disks full of music for long drives.
Another thing I forgot to mention, from what Sensory Science says, the unit is upgradeable for future formats and such.. this is a VERY good thing, as new codecs come out and such (MP4 and all)assuming Sensory Science continues supporting the 2300 (being the newest model, I hope they do *smiles) this player should be useful for a while
John
5/30/01 UPDATE!!
Well, I called Sensory Science tonight (I called them the other day also, and was told there was another man working there that knew more about the 2300, and that he'd be in tonight so...) and spoke to the guy there who deals with the 2300 and other Rave:mp units.. got some info on the player from him (yes, they are planning to update the firmware when new codecs come along worth using (i.e. gain a LOT of support elsewhere)) and, as an aside, they are sending me a pair of the Sennheiser headphones, I explained my situation, he got my name, and verified my address (since I registered mine online) and told me he'd send a pair of headphones right out to me i'll let you all know when I get them, and how they sound, compaired to what I allready use on the 2300 (right now I'm retrying the earbuds they gave me with it, they still hurt my ears, but I wanted to see how they sounded, not as Bassy as my Sony MDR-W08 headphones.. but more rounded sound.. better highs.. there is bass, just not as much as with my MDR-W08's..
dunno who makes these earbuds, but they look ok and sound ok... just still not the Sennheisers
I'll update again when I have new news
UPDATE 08/24/01
Sorry it's taken so long to update this Epinion, I finally got the headphones I was supposed to get with my Mp2300..
took a while, mostly because of miscommunication between myself, and a few people at Sensory Science, I like the sound of the Sennheiser Headphones a lot.. again, nice rounded sound, not as bassy as the Sony's I mentioned earlier, but still very nice sounding.. my MP2300 is still going strong, still in use at work and when just relaxing and listening to music, I still HIGHLY recommend this player to anyone wanting a great sounding MP3 player, with (relativly inexpensive media)
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 199.00
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Epinions.com ID:
jbach36
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Member: John Bach
Location: Nescopeck, PA, USA
Reviews written: 18
Trusted by: 4 members
About Me:
well, lesse, I'm a computer tech by trade, and a gadget fanatic by hobby
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