Rating: 
Summary: Coolest MP3 Player
Review: Good Voice recording thingy
cool design
Lots of Memory
Upgradeable
Light weight
Easy to install
Rating: 
Summary: Overall good value for your money.
Review: GreetingsI own a RipFlash Plus. I use it everyday and am glad I bought it. I am a reporter and I use my RipFlash Plus to interview people, record speeches, telephone interviews and listen to music. I spent months searching for a digital recorder that could do what the RipFlash can. I wanted something that:
- could record voices clearly,
- had a line in for microphones and phone taps,
- could upload recorded files to my computer,
- I could download my mp3 files to. Here are the things I like about the RipFlash Plus: It's attractive. The silver and black work are simple, the buttons are well placed and the black surface feels good. The size, shape and design are great. The case fits snugly and keeps the player protected.
The buttons are responsive and still firm after 3 months of daily use and the little rubber USB cover is still going strong.
The on-board microphone is excellent! I don't take my player out of its case during recordings and voices are still crystal clear. I have to depend on the sensitivity of that little microphone a lot and it has not failed me yet. The only danger I have is that the recording might be too loud. I am very appreciative of this feature.
The 128 megabytes is fine. You always want more but if I really needed to I could get a flashcard so it's not a concern.
The A-B/SPD button is great. I can make sections of interviews play over and over to make sure I transcribe them correctly and if necessary, slow them down. This feature was a nice surprise.
The battery life is also good. A pair lasts me about 3 days.
The instructions weren't quite in English but that only got confusing when you were explaining the more technical things such as khs and low/high silence modes.
Overall the RipFlash Plus has many quality ingredients. This product feels like it was designed by someone who planned on using it. Now for the things that irritate me. What happened to the sensitivity on the Line In? It's hellishly quiet.
When I use hook-ups with microphones, phone taps, CD players, the recording is always low.
This is a mystery to me since volume is not a problem anywhere else. When I download songs or record interviews I rarely turn the player beyond 13. But recording from line in I can barely hear even when I have turned it all the way up to 20.
I have to record from a phone tap or a speech almost every day. The lack of volume on the Line In makes the RipFlash Plus useless for these. When I cover speeches or announcements, I can hear the recording better if I stand in the crowd and hold the RipFlash than if I plug into the microphone a few inches from the speaker's face. That is ridiculous. A ... RadioShack recorder does better than that. If you include a Line-In make it well amplified. It takes a long time to move through the menu. I don't mind the few buttons, but I think you folks could have improved the way you access features.
Why didn't they allow back and forth motion through the menu? Having to push the menu button and only being able to move forward is irritating. If you miss the feature you were looking for it can take a while to get back to it and that is not cool when you are rushing to record someone.
You should have been able to move back and forth through the features the way you move through songs. A round scrolling wheel would have been best but you can't have everything I guess. My RipFlash Plus also likes to randomly freeze. I had an mp3 player before, a Samsung Yep E-64, and it did the same thing. I suppose this is the same kind of problem that makes computers act strange but if not it's a glitch that needs to go.
That said it has never frozen up during recording, only playback so I'm not drastically concerned. If it does start to freeze or act strange during recordings their customer service department and I will move to a first name basis quickly. I have not used a flash card yet so I can't comment on that. The RipFlash includes a great collection of features that are hard to find in one package. The ideas and goals of the recorder were great even if they could be better implemented in a few cases.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Functional MP3 Recorder / Player
Review: The RipFlash PLUS does just what it promises. PROS: It records voice very clearly and easily. Playback is very clear. You can use headphones or any stereo or speakers through the included line-in jack. You can even play it in your car using a cassette adapter (sold separately). The built-in speaker is functional but on the level of a cheap AM transistor radio. It has a bookmark function that remembers where you stopped a file (great for old time radio listening). The fast-forward and rewind feature moves very quickly through a file (perhaps too quickly if you aren't paying attention). The back-lit screen reads very well. You can add a smart media card to double your storage capability. Recording can be done at many different bit rates, depending upon the quality and size you need (I find 32 kbps more than adequate for voice recordings). You can even play back at slower speeds or faster speeds. So if I record a one hour radio talk show, I can play it back on fast speed and skip through commercials -- this saves me 30 minutes! You can easily record directly from a CD player, computer or radio using the line-in recording function. The unit is very compact and the two AAA batteries last a long time. The carrying case and belt / armband attachments are useful, as well. CONS: The instruction manual is pathetic, clearly written by someone for whom english is a second (or third?) language. The built-in microphone was only designed for the typical vocal range (according to a pogo employee). Thus, it won't clearly record concerts, choirs or loud piano-playing. You need a very special amplified microphone to make high quality recordings (these are expensive). The earbud headphones fall out of my ears and are designed stupidly where one wire is longer than the other and is supposed to wrap around the back of your neck. The controls are a bit complicated for advanced functions, but adequate for normal use. UPDATE: I have been using the device for many months now. Although I am still pleased with it, it is glitch-prone. It sometimes pauses during playback or fails to erase a track I try to delete. If you have a flashcard installed and try to record to the internal memory, it marks your spot at the end of the external memory which makes it hard to immediately review something you just recorded. Also, you can't review a track from the end of the track (you must forward from the beginning), which also makes it hard to find information within a track. Finally, Pogo customer service is very helpful -- I've contacted them a lot! ALL IN ALL: this is a very good piece of technology. I carry it with me wherever I go -- especially when recording musical parts for my choir rehearsals and listening to music or old time radio.
Rating:
Summary: Not Bad
Review: Its not a bad product.... It does have one drawback that you can't plug in external mic. Of course it can record in MP3 format but the Internal mic (built in ) is not the greatest. but i guess if you don't care about voice recording the product is great!
Rating:
Summary: Good Product
Review: It's a good product, worth the purchase if you are willing to go through the trouble of installing it. Before buying it I read all the other reviews on how the installation was difficult. Well in my case it was difficult to install too, but as many said, once you get it to work it a wonderful gadget. I didn't bother with the software provided on the cd, i just went to the PoGo products page and downloaded the updated software (includes new drivers). It is required that you install 2 drivers, the windriver and the USB. The windriver installed easily, but the usb driver gave me problems. I just kept trying and rebooting, trying and rebooting, until it suddenly worked without any notice of succes on the installation of the drivers. So if you have troubles with it, install what you can, try the software to see if it now see's the device, reboot, try again and repeat till it works. Since i have some experience with this devices i thought i wouldnt have the same problems everybody else had, but i did have them. Fortunately i got it work and did great.
Rating: 
Summary: Buyer Beware -- Frustrating device
Review: This is a highly frustrating device, and I'm not sure that I won't be giving up and returning it soon. The drivers seem to conflict with itself and randomly try to reinstall themselves when you plug into your PC. Buttons don't seem to work. There is no customer service number to call. But, I have to give some credit -- I did get an email response within a half hour. Cryptic, but a response nonetheless.
Rating:
Summary: The worst XP drivers I've ever seen
Review: RipFlash Plus comes equipped with the worst-behaved drivers I've ever seen. I'm a network administrator with 20 years in personal computing, and after four hours fiddling with this driver, I shipped the product back. A complete waste of time and money. I highly recommend passing on this one. Examples: the included application causes a hard XP crash, requiring a system restore. The so-called intallation for XP is a DOS batch file! The manual is written is such broken English that it's nearly impossible to read. The RipFlash firmware update is impossible to load because it requires the application, and the application crashes! Drivers are not signed (Microsoft certified), meaning that even Microsoft says you're using this at your own risk. Bad, bad, bad product. There's no excuse for this kind of lack of quality control. Don't waste your time with Pogo Products. The Olympus DM1 is a far superior voice recorder (I've used it for six months now, and it works well.)
Rating:
Summary: Good but service is best
Review: I like the ease of recording from a CD player or whatever. My Ripflash plus and my girlfriends have had problems with the screen-corruptions or something. Fortunately the service people bend over backwards to help and are very responsive.
Rating:
Summary: Great Product: difficult installation
Review: Purchased this product for use during exercise and it is wonderful in that respect. I have 29 songs downloaded and the quality is excellent, random feature is great for the gym. Only downside is the installation of the software, my one piece of advice is: DO NOT USE THE CD SOFTWARE THAT COMES WITH THE PRODUCT, DOWNLOAD DIRECTLY FROM THE WEBSITE. Also, I disgarded the headphones that came with the product and purchased a great pair of Sony earbuds that wrap around your ear.
Rating:
Summary: Software major hassle
Review: I have spent four days trying to get the software to work and still haven't accomplish it. I have emailed the manufacturer and tried all the new downloads that are not on their website. It must come through the manufacturer. I tried two versions of XP and 2000. I am not new to computers and have found this installation the most frustrating of the last 10 years. I will try one more time but probably will get another MP3 player. I like the features of this one if it would work. By the way, I can get it to voice record and record from a CD player. I just don't have the time to keep fiddling with it.
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