Do you really want to go through all of this?
Written: Jan 08 '01 (Updated Jul 04 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Good sound, cheap storage media
Cons: Not reliable in the least, horrible tech support
The Bottom Line: Well . . . mine broke, then got fixed, and broke again. If you like dealing with a horrible tech support department, this player is for you! Otherwise, steer clear.
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| jeffpresto's Full Review: Rio Rave MP2300 (40 MB) MP3 Player |
Update - July 4th 2001
Well, my attempts to get my money back from etronics.com were futile, so after another series of e-mails to a service rep at Sensory Science I've sent the player out to Arizona for the second time in the past six months. So far, I've spent over $30 just in shipping costs owning this player! I should know what's going to happen sometime in the middle of next week. If everything goes well I'll have a brand-new (hopefully non-defective) player. Assuming that the above happens, I'll completely re-review this item as this review is getting cluttered and hard to follow. Thanks for putting up with it but I'll have it all cleaned up in a few weeks when everything is sorted out. Alas my friends, the saga continues...
June 25th, 2001
THAT IS IT!! I'VE HAD IT WITH THIS PLAYER!! Yes, it broke AGAIN!! I don't know WHAT is wrong with this thing but I'm sick and tired of it. Not only does it seem to destroy disks periodically, but now it won't even read them from the player. The disk drive that was repaired no less than six months ago has broken yet again. So that's it, no more tech support, no more BS, I'm returning it (hopefully) to etronics.com and buying a different player. No more recommendations, no more excuses - this is not a good player / company. I've given them more than ample time to address the problems of this player and it has ended up with nothing but frustration and money. I don't care if this player is defective or not, I will not recommend the purchasing of this player or any other player / device from this company - period. I'll let you know what happens and hopefully will be posting a review of a newer, more reliable mp3 player in the near future. Until then, steer clear of Sensory Science.
*UPDATE*
(June 6th, 2001)
Player still works fine but I've discovered something that has been overlooked to this point: disk life. Disks are ancient technology and have a relatively short like, and these are no different apparently. One of my disks (all of which are about six months old) has some bad sectors towards the end of the disk, causing my computer to lock-up when I try writing a song onto it. This happens with every type of disk after so many deletions and whatnot. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but nobody has brought this up to this point as far as I know.
Otherwise, I've noticed a slight rattle in the battery compartment. I've tried getting it open but I need to find a REALLY small screwdriver. I hope it's something that can be taped / glued. I'll update when I get it all figured out.
*UPDATE*
(Jan. 31st, 2001)
Well, the player came today and I couldn't be happier. It came shipped in a nice box via UPS. I sent in my two disks along with the player just in case, and not only did they send them back, another one was in the player. A thank-you for my patience or a screw-up - you decide. Either way, the thing works (at least at the moment) so I guess this whole thing's over, and it's about time. I'm still weary about recommending this product, the service department is still a little shaky. However, looking back on this whole mess, I guess in the end things worked out. Just be careful with this company.
*UPDATE*
(Jan. 28th, 2001)
I know it's been quite some time, but I finally have some news of the good kind. I got an e-mail from Sensory Science today that gave me a tracking number to my player that they just shipped to me. It should be here by Wednesday. I hope this is the end of a very long, frustrating journey. I've also decided to bump the ratings up a bit, as I'm generally happy with the repair experience so far. I'll let you know how the player works when I get it back!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Well, I've been waiting a while before writing this review, and with good reason. I got this player as a Christmas gift and, to make a long story short (I'll elaborate on it later in the review) it broke within three days. I've split the review into two parts, the first is an explanation of my horrible tech support experience, the second is the review of the actual product.
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I was playing music in my car on the way to a friend's house to show him the mp2300 (ironic, huh?) and it just shut off without warning. At the next stop sign (I'm a safe driver) I turned it back on and tried to resume playing. The player claimed there were no music files on the disk! Well, maybe the other disk was ok? Right? Wrong. I popped the other disk in the player and was treated to the same results. Arg. Well, I got home later that day and tried playing with it some more. Same results. I even tried moving more songs onto the disks from my PC. The PC didn't even acknowledge that the player was connected! Not my idea of a great first impression of a product. But it got worse - much, much worse.
This is about when I started my long and drawn out journey with the Sensory Science "Technical Support". I placed the words in quotes for some very good reasons, too. The first thing I tried was going to the Sensory Science site, and filling out a technical support form. I sent this in, explaining in detail what went wrong. I went to bed hoping to find an e-mail in my inbox the next morning. Well, the morning came, and so did the next, and so did the next. Well, maybe I should call them instead. I looked around on the box and manual for an 800 number to dial, but found none. Instead, I was treated to an Arizona phone number to the technical support center. What kind of company expects to be taken seriously without an 800 number to TECH SUPPORT of all things? At any rate, I called, thinking that I'd be talking with a representative quickly. Nope. See, you don't even get to talk to a real person for your toll call to Arizona, instead you leave a message with your name and number for them to call you back. Well, whatever, I'll just use my CD player until this gets sorted out, right? It shouldn't be too long.
Well, after three more days and two more messages, I was getting irritated. I left a very aggressive message on the on-line form, hoping to get their attention. Well, the phone rang the next evening, tonight to be exact. I was told that I would have to package the unit up and send it to Arizona out of my own money and have them repair it. After they get it, it should take 3-5 business days and then they'll send it back to me. Well, I hope this is the end of a very annoying process.
- - -
The mp2300 is just about as nice as they come. I haven't been overly impressed with recent mp3 players, but this one caught my eye. Mainly for one reason: it's cheap storage media. Instead of paying over $65.00 for a 32mb Flash card, I can buy a 40mb Iomega PocketZIP disk for a little over $10.00. To me, that feature alone is worth the somewhat pricey $280.00 this player cost me.
The 2300 was packed with the player itself, Sennheiser headphones (which I immediately tossed and replaced with high-quality headphones as I do all my portable audio products), two(2) 40mb PocketZIP disks, a USB cable, software, carrying strap, an instruction manual, and an AC adapter. The player itself is fairly high-quality throughout. It is very solid, with chrome side buttons, a large backlit display, and rubber tabs to cover the inputs. The only thing that didn't look high quality was the disk drive cover, which seemed plasticy and flimsy.
The included music management software is very nice and straight forward. It includes Music Match to "rip" your audio CDs, and the actual management program. The manager is very nice and simple, and the USB cable makes for some very fast file transfers. About nine average length songs will fit on one disk.
The 2300 has a menu-based display which you navigate via the front buttons. There are eight main sections, including music, voice recording, deleting, telephone book, calander, world time, options, and a graphic that displays the amount of space remaining on disk in a table format. The included options are great, but who cares what time it is in Tokyo when you're listening to mp3s? Either way, the 2300 is packed with options.
The sound quality of the 2300 is superb, much better than most mp3 players. It plays loud and clear, with nice dynamics. You don't get the "tin can" sound as with most other players. There are a few different sound settings such as "Pop, Rock, and Classical" but they don't seem to do a whole lot, I would have preffered to have had the option to create my own EQ settings.
The manual says that this player has about 12 hours of playback, and that should be enough for all day. At night, just plug it in and you're good to go for the next day. Better than buying batteries all the time, if you ask me.
Overall, this is all you can possibly hope for from an mp3 player.
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I want you to know how much I would love to give this player a perfect rating. The player itself deserves that, but the company backing this product is simply neglegent of its consumers.
I'm a strong believer that a company must back up its products with a helpful and easy customer support department, however, Sensory Science is far from that in more aspects than one.
Who knows, you might get one of these players and never need to contact customer service, and in that case you got a great deal. However, in the event that something goes wrong, you'll be in the same boat as I was/am.
If all goes well with this repair, I'll let you know on this review with an update. I'm sorry if anybody thinks that I'm just ranting because I feel I wasn't treated well, but I can't in good concience recommend this player with the experience that I had.
Thanks for reading this long review, and I hope I helped you out.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
jeffpresto
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Reviews written: 24
Trusted by: 5 members
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