Rating: 
Summary: Excellent portability, with some sacrifices
Review: Wonderfully compact and easy to use despite its size. I especially like the 'hold' button that will prevent inadvertant power on or off (or other button presses) when the unit is in a pocket. I use it skiing and in the car via a transmitter to the car radio. Sound quality is excellent. Add a couple 128M SmartMedia cards and you've got over 100 songs in an incredibly light package.Drawback is the software, as others have mentioned. I had no problem on a W2000 laptop and desktop getting the drivers and software installed. Had to change the screen resolution on my laptop to get it to display correctly. Otherwise, the software is very simple, no frills. It tends to load the songs onto the unit in alphabetical order, if doing more than one at a time. But with a little prep work in windows (like adding a prefix track #) this can be overcome. No way to rearrange songs once they're on the unit. The hardware is so good that I can overlook these inconveniences.
Rating:
Summary: IMHO: Best Value
Review: The ripper feature makes this unique compared to the Nomad II 128MB Clamshell by Creative Labs. Keep in mind that if you happen to use two computers (i.e. one at work and one at home say) you will not be able to download from one computer onto this and then upload onto the other computer unless you rip directly from the input jack. I am guessing this may be a typical software feature in many of the MP3 players, but since I was a newbie to this technology - I had no idea.
Seems to function fine with few other surpises!
Rating: 
Summary: Can't get it to work
Review: I recived the RipFlash as a Christmas gift and spent until NewYears trying to get the thing to work with my computer. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the software and driver several times and still can't get the internal memory to format. I have e-mailed the manufacturer several times and keep getting the same unhelpful sugestions. It probably has something to do with Windows XP, but I'm sick of messing with it so I'm returning it.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Good, Versitale Unit.....
Review: First mp3 player I ever had... Pro: Fast usb download
Small, unobtrusive shape
Built-in mic to record up to 9-10 hours
Easy access to buttons for the disabled (SCI)
Line-in record function renders it device independent
Incoming Bit-rate control (to reduce ultimate file size)
Handy belt clip and strap Con: Ugly, too tight protective case, ie blocks buttons BOTTOM LINE: I'D buy it again without hesitation.
Rating:
Summary: RIPFLASH? ... IS MORE LIKE IT!
Review: In a word--don't. The Ripflash MP3 I got did not work AT ALL. I installed the software driver on my CPU, and then connected the MP3 with the USB cable. EVEN THEN I kept getting messages to turn on the MP3 and connect the cable. I went back to check the connections on the device manager menu in Windows, which reported everything as being okay. Then, if that wasn't enough, I could not get the internal memory on the MP3 to format. Why is that important? Well, if you can't format, you can't download, so you can't use the machine. Bummer. I am sending mine back forthwith. Save your money. Save your time. Save yourself the bother....
Rating: 
Summary: Good gadget, bad software
Review: I got to enjoy the good sound quality and the crisp looks of this new toy only after going through the painful setup process.
I have resisted my first urge to return it only because I used to work with these kind of devices for a living -- and I took it as a personal challenge. Firstly, the PC-based MP3 manager (v 1.3.3) is written by some sloppy folks who did not test it with large fonts -- it displayed embarrassingly out of whack. After reseting my laptop preferences to small fonts, I proceeded to formatting the internal memory of the player. It only succeeded after 5 or 6 retries. The error message was very clever: "Not format!" The funky thing is that even though the memory was not formatted, the MP3Manager software let me "transfer" files to the device, and even after performing a "Refresh" command, it seemed that the files were copied, when in fact they weren't. After properly formatting the memory, everything started working nicely. It's funny, they claim you can make MP3 files with this gizmo without the need of a PC. Well, you do need to PC to initially format the internal memory. Overall, it's not a bad gadget, but because of the poor quality of the PC software and the lack of ID3 tags I cannot give it more than three stars. Oh, and the LCD menu is not the most intuitive you might expect.
Buy it only if you can find it (used?)...-- for the list price it's not a RipFlash, but a RipOff.
Rating:
Summary: RipFlash MP3 player - great value
Review: I've had it a week, and I take it everywhere and use it all the time. Phenomenal features - you can make MP3's from a headphone jack on any stereo or boom box, letting you turn old tapes and albums into MP3's - and a price that beats other players makes this a great choice. Also, after I got it I had some software problems. Called tech support and got AN ACTUAL HUMAN BEING who ACTUALLY KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING! Problem fixed, unit runs beautifully, what else is there? Only drawback - no song info on screen, but do you really need that?
Rating:
Summary: awesome mp3 player
Review: I bought this MP3 player. It was very easy to set up the software was great. The headphones sound great. The built in speaker doesnt get very loud but is ok. The display is small but not to small (it doesnt bother me). The reason i gave it 4 stars was because it doesnt come with a case or a belt clip to hook to your pants other that that it is perfect and i heighly recommend this product.
Rating:
Summary: A good player and a few recommendations
Review: Just bought my first MP3 player last month. So far, so good. Extremely easy installation, I was able to go in less than 30mn (installing, filling up the thing with 30 songs -128 kbps- and playing !). I liked the size (and weight): not too small to handle, even without looking at it, not too big to be bulky in my pocket. Cool looks too (not like the little ugly RCA for instance !), but that depends on your taste. No battery problem so far, seems to last around 6 to 8 hours (which is more than enough once you recharge at night). Transfer rate was excellent, and with 128Mb, it's not critical to wait a few minutes (it would be another story with a few Gb hard-disk !). I found 128Mb to be a good compromise: less is really to small (you get tired of hearing the same songs again), and more drags you into another category of players (CD or hard-disk, with both having their own inconvenients, mainly the skipping issue). The recording function is useless to me, so I won't comment on it. The only major drawback is the display: it doesn't show the artist, song title, etc. only the "track" number. It's actually not that annoying with 30 songs (you can browse through them fast) and esp. if you are running for ex., but still a drawback. You can't also reorganize your songs once loaded, so unless you use the shuffle mode (which works fine), you're bound to hear the first ones more often ! All in all, my recommendation is: there are no ideal MP3 player, but different and incompatible types. If you want a relatively small, no skipping one, go for the flash memory, and don't spend too much on the memory (it's the most expensive type). If you want to store all your music, go for a hard disk based like the iPod or others, and pay special attention to the software (with thousands of songs, you will WANT some organization !). If you want to play your CDs as well, and/or want a cheaper option, go for the CD-Rom based. And if you want my last advice: have 2 players ! A small flash based, relatively cheap one for sports / commuting, and a big hard-drive based if you're a music addict on the move !
Rating:
Summary: If only they take care of the details..
Review: Overall this is a well built unit.. However, The software doesn't display correctly on my computer. When I emailed the Mfgr they said it was because I was using a 150% font size on the display settings.. When I changed my display settings the problem was resolved but a 100% font size on a 1200 x 1600 screen is awfully small. In addition the installation on Win 2000 was quirky and the Ripflash is only recognized sometime when I use my #2 usb port.. ( the easy fix is to use the USB #1 ). The manufacturer gave me little hope of software updates..
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