What a Great mp3 player
Written: Jul 24 '03
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Pros: Compact size, generous memory, FM radio, Nice leather case (with reservations)
Cons: Poorly translated Korean to English manual, Leather case causes buttons to malfunction
The Bottom Line: This player represents a great value, great features and good looks. Memory is generous and expandable while battery life is good. It's probably a good choice for many people.
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| cnymike's Full Review: Mpio FL100 (256 MB) MP3 Player |
I just bought the mpio FL 100 256mb to replace my Rio S10. I was quite happy with the S10 although it only had 64mb memory, no radio and a few idiosyncracies such as not being able to delete songs directly from the player (instead of having to use music manager software).
I am very pleased with my purchase. The fl100 is just plain sexy with its mirrored face plate. the controls are small but seem to work well. the multi-function buttons enable the player to have a lot of control with a minimum of size. The battery life is probably in the 8-10 hour range for me. My Rio got nearly 25 hours with a single AA battery, the fl100 uses a AAA battery thus not as much juice available, but still respectable I think.
the fl100 is so light and compact in size you can carry it virtually anywhere. the included leather case with belt clip is quite nice but has one MAJOR flaw. there is a clear plastic side panel which completely covers the volume control and the menu button. the result is that the volume can change on you when the player is in the case...either full volume or no volume. this can be circumvented by carefully stretching the case a little bit after you've put the player in it and then using the lock switch once you've set your volume. It's too bad that digitalway didn't design the case better because that is really the only major flaw with the unit.
But wait, there's more...
The manual is so poorly written it is laughable. I can't even understand what it is saying much of the time. I normally don't even read manuals but this player is a bit complex to figure out without some assistance from a manual. Even now, I'm not sure what a couple features are supposed to do because I can't discern a difference whether they are enabled or not. for instance there is a system setting for "fade in/fade out". I would assume that if enabled this is supposed to gradually fade in and out of the song that is currently playing...but I do not notice a difference is this is enabled or not. Also the function of the 'study mode" is to actually enable you speed up or slow down the material that you are listening to, sort of like a tempo control. It's particularly useful for listening to the spoken word.
I like this player a lot. I wanted a player that had decent battery life, FM radio, good amount of built-in storage but also expandable memory. The fl100 has all this and more. I had considered the iriver players because of their small size and apparent durability, but the non-expandability of them turned me off. It does take a bit of time and effort to learn how to use all the features of the fl100. I had a really hard time figuring out how to create folders of music and navigate between them.
Another thing is that Mac users can use iTunes for music management but creating folders on the mp3 player is not intuitive.
I would rate the durability of this unit as very good in the case and average out of the case. It is very light, but if dropped could get dented pretty easily. The Rio S10 on the other hand has a padded protective clam shell case which is excellent for durability and the player itself is plastic which would help protect it in falls I think. Motto is, don't drop it.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 174.99
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Epinions.com ID:
cnymike
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Reviews written: 10
Trusted by: 0 members
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