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Digisette DUO-ARIA 64 MB E-Cassette Multi-Format Digital Audio Player

Digisette DUO-ARIA 64 MB E-Cassette Multi-Format Digital Audio Player

List Price: $179.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great little gadget!
Review: I use this audio player for books from Audible.com. I love it! It works great through my car's sound system. A "bookmark" is set everytime the player is shut off so that you will not have to find where the book left off. I do not recommend fast forwarding or rewinding when listening to a book. It is easy to lose your place in a book. The electric battery charger broke shortly after I got the audio player. Digisette sent me a new one, free of charge, quickly! This is a wonderful way to listen to books!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very Cool - Very Plain -
Review: I want to say that I read the reviews, and went out and bought this device. I had to return to write a review. This product does EXACTLY what the manufacturer says it can do. If people would actually read what it does, IT DOES IT. I must add here that I am in NO WAY affiliated with the company. After reading the bad reviews, and then buying it, I must say the bad reviews are not just. I needed a way to get my MP3 files to play on my brand new Harley Davidson, without adding a new stereo. The bike came with Cassette... This thing really kicks but. ALl I do is pop it in without any wires, and it plays "effing" great. What it is, is that it does not have a interface when using as walkman style, but you do when useing the software, it shows all music, space available and you can organize songs in any order. Very simple and very functional .The software was easy to install, and everything worked the first time. You may have to turn it on or off once or twice to initialize when connected to your PC...Big deal,,,How many times have I needed to reboot my computer in general. I mean in realty, this thing is a very mini computer. I am not even sure if it is the device or Windows. It never took more than once or twice to click on. The thing is you have to READ the instructions. Most people are lazy and think they know it all. I read and did just what it said and had no problems. It is not hard, it has certain steps to take. I am listening to it as I type this and it sounds great. Now, also it does not have tone, or bass controls, but you do not need it. What MP3 player does? The battery is even rechargeable. This technology is so new and for this thing to do what it does, I have to say, I love it....I actually have the AR264 which is a lesser model than the AR300. Anyway, I am running out of space here so all I can say from my point of view, It does just what it says it can do.
Incredible!!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Would be nice... if it worked
Review: In the few weeks I have had this product, I 1) have yet to get it working, 2) have yet to successfully access the Audible.com promo offer the Digisette comes with (their website insists I've already done so), and 3) have yet to get either company to respond to repeated attempts to get support. And believe me, this product is too tweaky to use w/o lots of support.

Also, be forewarned: the documentation comes with a tiny little technical warning not to use other USB devices while using the Digisette. In my case, I guess that would mean my mouse and keyboard...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Just What I Needed!
Review: My new car only has an in-dash cassette and will only accept the factory $... CD Changer, No Way! This item is a perfect substitute. I had it loaded with music and in my car in under 30 minutes. It would take 30 minutes to burn a CD alone The sound is CD quality and jumps between songs just like a CD. If all you need is an MP3 player this isn't for you, but if you need the cassette application you can't beat it!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A glorious promise gone awry
Review: Oh, if only the Digisette worked as promised! The engineering is SHODDY. and unfortunately, it's not even predictable: sometimes digisette kills my other USB devices (mouse); sometimes it doesn't. sometimes the software connects to the device; sometimes it doesn't (i think this may have something to do with whether the battery has registered a charge). sometimes the rewind/ff work; sometimes they don't. sadly enough, i have to give this a NO. it's just too terribly frustrating, and i'm a gadget-lover.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great idea but implementation needs improvement
Review: The Duo-Aria is a great concept since it allows you to dispense with the cassette adapter. The sound is on par with other players like the Rio 500, and the battery life is reasonable, esp. when taking the car recharger with you. It also provokes response from people when they see a cassette with a headphone plugged into it. The small/thin form factor of the digisette is exceptional, even compared with other MP3 players.

However, there are some problems with the Digisette concept. After having a LCD display on several other players, I found that its absence is sorely missed. The power connector on the player is quite fragile, being composed of two easily bendable metal prongs. They should have went with a circular design like almost all other consumer devices. The control of the device through your cassette player is hit-and-miss, with the rewind and fast forwarding working some of the time. This was particularly true when using the player with Audible.com's audiobooks. If you almost never bookmark, rewind, or fast forward, the device works great.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: a disappointment
Review: The Duo-Aria was a disappointment for several reasons, only one of which was the fact that I was never able to make it play an audio book.
The cassette controls are tiny by necessity, but they are also ill-designed. For instance, the off /on / hold slide switch is difficult to manipulate and even more difficult to place into the center "on" position without having it slide all the way to one end or the other. The manual is poorly organized and because of its tiny font and blurry printing, difficult to read. Installation for use with audio books under Windows XP requires three pieces of software - the DUO manager, a Windows Media plug-in, and the Audible Manager. I spent a most of a day working through install - uninstall - search for drivers that actually work - process before realizing that the software supplied with the Duo Aria won't run under XP - you have to download a newer version from their web site.
I was eventually able to transfer and play MP3 files directly from the cassette, but even after considerable effort and more wasted time, unable to transfer an audible book to the cassette or make the Audible Manager software function properly. I'm reasonably sure that this is possible, but given the awkwardness of the device, I'm unwilling to invest the additional time.


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