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Digitalway FY100 128 MB MP3 Player

Digitalway FY100 128 MB MP3 Player

List Price: $139.99
Your Price: $87.88
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Sound is good, but Design and Firmware is very bad!!!
Review: I just bought this player for several days. Well, the sound is good enough to me, but the firmware and design is pretty bad. Button responses very slowly, especially when you are playing a song; The navigator system is terrible, you have to navigate to return to get back to uplevel; Error tolerance is zero, I have a mp3 file which can be played on my PC, well, I do have a problem to convert this mp3 file to a WAV file, but this play could not handle this this, it stuck there and refused to work any more, you have to turn off/on the power to make it work again, and you must delete that file from the player, otherwise you will be stuck there again; If you switch to FM mode, switch back to mp3 mode and switch to FM mode again, there's no sound any more. It claims its firmware is upgradable, but if there's no firmware at all this feature is nothing! They even don't put the original firmware file on their website!
About the design, the joy stick is not very comfortalbe to handle by one hand. The screw for belt clip is too short for the hole, it can not secure the belt clip to the player firmly, actully, after I accidently pulled it off from my belt it doesn't work any more, guess I have to buy a longer screw for that, ridiculously, there's a sports symbol(a girl running) right there beside the screw hole, how can it be designed specially for sport?
These are enough for me, I'll never buy MPIO again!!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: My nightmare!!!
Review: I just got it from Amazon.com and totally disapointed with it. FM terrible, and I couldn't use the Joy Stick Key to access to Menu Mode, so I can do nothing except listen to the FM turner. So what I can do now is to send it back to Amazon and say goodbye to Digitalway products.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Good features / poor quality / Terrible customer service
Review: I purchased an Fy100 about 3 months ago. Device worked well for the first couple of months of light use then the headphone jack started behaving flaky. I looked at the manual and was surprised to see it only had a 120 day warranty.

I was still within the warranty period so I dropped MPIO (aka DigialWay) customer service an email. No response. I sent another email about a week later. Still no response. I called up their office in San Diego and they said they would email me a RMA form. It never came. I called them back again and told them I wanted to wait until I saw the RMA form in my email when they said they sent it. While waiting, I asked how long it would take them to fix/replace the unit. Their answer "depends how busy I am". After 5 minutes of waiting for the email, I gave up and told them I would call back if it never came. It never did. I emailed again and still no response. 3 emails/2 phone calls and still no RMA so I gave up and decided I would fix it myself.

I took the unit apart and found what I suspected, the earphone jack was held in place by three solder points and nothing else (one of which had virtually no solder on it) (for those of you who don't know what solder is, it is the metal that they melt to hold electronic components in place). Very poor design, especially for a device they market as a sports/active type device. I fixed it, put it back together (with some extra glue this time so it won't come loose again), and it is working again.

Moral of the story, unless you like to throw things away after 3 months or like fixing electronics yourself, avoid MPIO!

J

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Works great for about a year
Review: I purchased this FY100 in Feb 03. It was great, I could take it to spinning and pick up the gym frequency, go rollerblading and listen to the radio or mp3s... etc. The software for transferring mp3s from computer to player is easy to use. The "sport" design is durable, I've dropped it on concrete a few times with no worries. However, a few months ago, it started acting up. While trying to use the mp3 player, it will get stuck on "return" and not return to any folder or song. I called customer service and after doing my best to understand their poor command of the english language, I found I could basically reformat the hard drive through the software interface. That did fix the problem, but now it won't play every song in my list, it seems to pick and choose which ones it wants to play. Unfortunately, there is no firmware upgrade on the MPIO web site (which also demonstrates a lack of knowledge of english). Now that it's selling for $50 with the rebate, I can safely assume that they won't ever have an upgrade and are clearing out their inventory of this model.

Then again, for $50 I might buy an mp3 player that only works for a year too.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Could be a good product if better made
Review: I received this product a few months back and it was un-useable the day after I got it. [...] I got the new one and was able to use it for a couple of months before the sound went out. I did get it with the $50 rebate and really didn't want to go through an RMA.
So, being the tinkerer that I was, I opened up the player to see what was wrong. The headphone jack was not connected in a secure way and two of the three contact points had become disconnected. I'm still working on repairing this myself because I enjoy doing stuff like that.
Bottom line, if they spent a little more on better components and designed it a little better, it would be an awsome product. Right now, it barely passes for half-way decent. All the features in the world won't help a defective design.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: WORST customer service EVER !!!!!
Review: I tried two of these units.... same problems with both, must therefore assume it is poor design..... MP3 xfer Software frequently locks up..... FM tuner locks up..... and the absolute worst TECH. SUPPORT from the Manufacturer I have ever encounter !!!! called 6 times with NO connection (on hold for over an hour), left messages with NO response, emailed and faxed problems with NO response..... Suggest that NO one EVER buy any product from this manufacturer unless you want to be completely ignored.
Final insult to the unsuspecting comsumer is that several features of this unit advertised on the manufacturer's website (voice recorder, backlight lcd, can't use as a USB storage device without having software installed on all computers invovled in file xfer) and this unit seems to not be supported on website...... no firmware or software updates that desperately seem to be needed. Don't get suckered by the low price..... you get what you pay for .... this company should be ashamed to be in business !!!!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Beware
Review: I wanted a simple MP3 player to take to school. I definitly got that. This player is a piece of junk. The memory erases when I plug in the usb cable. My computer also freezes when I try to use the manager. I've contacted Digitalway many times with no response. Thank goodness I only paid forty 2 dollars. I still feel I got ripped off. DON'T BUY THIS PRODUCT!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: So far, so good, despite MPIO's inattention
Review: If I could give a rating of three and half stars, that is what I would give.

Certainly the FY100 is not Digitalway/MPIO's highest priority player -- they have yet to release a firmware upgrade, and considering they have moved on to the FY200, they are unlikely to. Also, their website for the product is misleading -- this model is not the "beautiful square", neither does it have a backlight or voice recording/mic. Furthermore, for expansion, it uses Smart Media Cards, which only run as high as 128 mb.

That being said, for someone who goes to the gym and has a tight budget, it is perfect. Mine worked great right out of the box (although I have read other online tales of people who had problems) It feels substantial, despite its light weight. It also comes with a belt clip -- just attach it to your waistband and forget it is there for the entire workout. It gets quite good radio reception -- better than any Sony product I have tried -- and has 20 presets (although it is FM only). Even though the instructions are in poorly worded English, it only takes a few minutes to figure out how to use (the top button controls most functions, followed by the play button). The included earbuds really lack (as with most players), but even with Sony over-the-ear phones on the "bass" preset, it sounds good even at lower volume.

Would I pay over $100 for this player? Not with the lack of support on MPIO/Digitalway's part. But for someone who just wanted a basic sports player and who did not want to/could not spend a lot of money, it is a good choice.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best deal on the internet! Great Sound
Review: Ok I was a bit sceptical of a player so cheap. I was quite surprised. FM quality and reception is great. Very easy to use buttons on the front, no fumbling around and read out is easy to see. Headphones are very comfortable and have excellent sound. Best part is was easy to set up and begin downloading. For $49 you don't need to think twice. I am getting a second one for my kids.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: NO Firmware
Review: player will not recognize external media card,since i got it for 43, price i guess is sorta OK.
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