Rating: Summary: Excellent Little Device! Review: Probably the best part of it is the negligible size. As large as an above average beeper it comes with 256MB storage and a slot for MM/SD card. I personally use the 256MB SD card and it recognized it with no trouble at all. Mpio manager is intuitive and easy to use. Of course with mp3 players you have to copy the music from a cd to your computer and then on to the device. The FM reception is pretty good. Also provides a plug in fo Windows Media Player for copying directly to the Mpio but I have not tested that feature yet. The voice recrder is decent as well. As far as battery life goes I am not sure that it lasts the full 8 hours claimed. I am experimenting with different brands of batteries at the moment. The only downfall I have to point out is that the carrying case that comes with it covers the volume control and the menu button, making them unoperable. If you are willing to sacrifice you can cut trough the plastic, like me, and accomodate yourself. Great sound, great design. The phones with the prodct may suffice but I opted for Sony Fontopias and it is awsome. Mpio player is definately a safe bet.
Rating: Summary: THE BEST MP3 PLAYER Review: This Mp3 player works so good, it's small, nice looking, and the sound is wonderful. It's very easy to download your music to the player, and comes with everything you need. Buy this product, and you wont regret it
Rating: Summary: Amazing Review: At about half the size of a small deck of cards the MPIO FL100 is pretty small. Light too, even with the AAA battery it weighs almost nothing. The inteface is intuitive. The MPIO Manager software makes transferring files simple. Windows Media files are also supported.The FM reciever is outstanding. In my office building this little device gets better reception than my Sony portable stereo. The FM tuner has a seek feature also. The electronics inside the device are manufactured by Samsung, but what makes this thing so nice is that attention to detail and the software and firmware support provided by MPIO. Unlike many small electronics that tout the ability to firmware upgrade, MPIO actually follows through. Currently you can update both the Media Player software and device firmare for tweaks and new features. The only weak points to this MP3 player are the earphones and the LCD dimming too fast. The headphones are OK, but seem a little cheap. Whenever you press a control the LCD backlight comes on and goes off too fast. There is a backlight setting in the firmware settings, but is only turns the backlight feature on or off.
Rating: Summary: MPIO FL-100 MP3 Player (256MB version) Review: Every dedicated bicycler and gym fanatic needs one of these amazing players. These are the best-kept secret in the MP3 player market. I was unable to find them at any retail locations in Minnesota (not even found at the Mall of America). So I was hesitant to make the online purchase, but I'm glad I did. The player is unbelievably lightweight. And although it's small it manages to feel relatively sturdy due to the metal construction on the back and sides of the unit. The inclusion of the SD memory card expansion is one of the main reasons to buy this unit. The included software MPIO manager works well, however the inclusion of Real Player is probably a poor choice since Real Player (aka Real One) is extremely invasive on any computer. The good news is that you can use any number of other programs to convert files to MP3 or even use the built-in Windows Media Audio (WMA) converter with Windows XP. Although it was generous of them to include the black leather-like case I had to cut a hole in the side so that I could use the volume controls. Had I not cut this hole, the volume button would be constantly pressed in. The included ear-bud headphones are pretty weak but oddly comfortable in my ears. They have no bass. I ordered some Sony NDR-E888LP ear-buds to compensate for this and they worked great but are less comfortable. Using open ear headphones while exercising might be a mistake with this unit since the internal amp seems slightly underpowered. I've used Sony's street-style headphones and they work well if I'm not moving too quickly. With ear-buds the volume is more than substantial for biking at 25mph+. The RANDOM function seems to play songs randomly from the memory card and then randomly from the internal memory, it won't mix the randomization. This could be fixed in a future firmware upgrade. The small gripes I have about the player are really insignificant but a review should be critical. The style can't be beat, the blue backlit LCD is easy to read and it looks fantastic. The 'lack' of a remote control is actually a great thing for me on a mountain bike. The last thing I want is another proprietary point of failure and some additional weighted wired device slamming all over the place. The FM Radio works perfectly for me until battery life is dwindling. It even works in my office where some mini-systems won't pick up similar stations. I get about 9 to 10 hours from one Energizer Titanium AAA battery. Using a rechargeable GP 800 mAh NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) battery I get about 7 to 9 hours depending on the operating temperature. I purchased the 256 MB version and recommend spending the extra cash for the additional internal memory despite the nearly unlimited SD expansion capabilities.
Rating: Summary: bravo with a caveat Review: This is an excellent little audio player. Unlike other reviewers, I am impressed with the audio quality, the bass in particular is strong and rich, but only with different headphones. I am using some of the $50 Sonys. Battery life is also amazing, typically more than a full day with volume up high. My unit turns itself off only when the battery is low. My caveat is that tech support is non-existent. The player's LCD broke in my briefcase, and although the unit still plays as well as ever, I can't read the display. The voice/radio record function should be handy, but the file format is unusual and I can't play the low bitrate wave files on my computer. Hence I can't save a lecture or meeting notes for example. With all that, I would buy another one, with as much memory as possible.
Rating: Summary: Bad customer service and support Review: I bought this player in January and it worked well for about 6 months. One day the display goes dark and I called customer support as a toll call and held for 45 minutes. After an unanswered email, I mailed it in for warranty repair. They denied the work claiming it was damaged and considered uncovered by the warranty. I would definitely buy another brand of player.
Rating: Summary: Works great! Review: The unit is ideal -- perfect size and everything. I love the controls. You don't have to use the software at all, just install the driver and drag n drop your MP3s onto the player just like an extra hard drive. It was easy enough to use, you have to have a sub-normal IQ to not have figured it out.
Rating: Summary: Horrible product Review: I bought this player because it's one of the few on the market with a SD expansion slot. The headphone jack stopped working about 2 months later. The product was under warranty so I tried to get it repaired, no one answers the phone and their customer service inbox is full. I did a google search for more numbers to call put in "mpio customer service" you will find plenty of sites explaining that mpio does not respond to people and therefore doesn't uphold it's warranty. I kept the thing around in hopes of trying to repair it myself, but about 3 days after the warranty expired the player wouldn't even turn on. I bought a TDK mojo MP3, it's the same thing, apparently the companies buy prefabe systems at trade shows and make cases for them. Anyway I would recommend it becuase the way its case is made I have yet to have problems, but it's the exact same thing in a diffrent shape.
Rating: Summary: All it does is crash Review: This MP3 player was great within the first couple of weeks. But after a month it is horrible. The program that comes with it crashes and freezes whenever you use it. Making it almost impossible to add and remove songs from the player. When you try and use it with real player instead, the same thing occurs. Leading me to believe it is the payer that has serious issues. I would not recommend this product to anyone. It is a waste of money and causes more headaches than anything. I've had this product for a year and it gets worse with time. Please do not waste your money!!!
Rating: Summary: Could this actually work? Review: Yes it is light weight. Yes it looks good. Yes it has nice features. But does it work? I am yet to find out as I have been battling to update the player. I have sent it in to get the firmware updated, downloaded latest patches for XP SP2, MPIO manger 2 etc. If you get through all that you will probably enjoy your player.
Research other players, even from the MPIO range, before purchasing the FL100...
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