Rating: 
Summary: A note I sent to Pogo - This product bites!
Review: Dear Pogo Execs,
I just wanted you to know how disappointed I am with you Rip Drive Product. I was a loyal PJB-100 customer (which I've gone back to, by the way - at least until I can save up for an IPOD). I loved the PJB-100, hate the rip drive. You have a great concept, just bad execution.
Reasons why I hate the rip drive:
1) Interface stinks. To be specific, it has the following problems -
a. Hard to find songs
b. Can't start playing at a folder, must choose a song. So what if you want to play all of an artist, but you have 10 disks under a sub folder of the artists name. You can't play all of the artist unless you put a song in the root folder for that artist.
c. Must go to "Menu" if you want to change many settings - should have an easy way to set things like auto-off and sleep timer
2) Settings don't really save. They often reset, so you have to set it up the way you like it too often.
3) Mine locked up. Customer service said "re-partition the drive, but you can't use windows, because it won't do a 40 GB." So I buy partition magic. Not really the problem. They gave me new firm ware.
4) Now my new firmware lets me make changes through the USB interface that show the changes on the PC interface, but when I turn it on, it's like no changes happen. I even let the battery run out. Still, no changes. - It's would actually be a pretty cool feature - change all the files but we'll remember your old settings, except I can't get to my new music.
5) Mine shorts out a lot. Static electricity makes it restart. And since it doesn't save where you are in a play list, oh well, just use the crappy interface to spend 10 minutes to get back where you were. After a few minutes, the static electricity will build up and short it out again.
6) Did you know random is not random? Same crappy random as last time I chose random.
7) It's nearly impossible to open the USB flap with just fingers. That's just another irritation.
8) Yada, Yada, Yada
You know, I usually just take it, because I'm too busy to worry about complaining. But this product stinks so bad, I thought I'd complain. I know it would take years to get a refund or a replacement because I've tried your customer service and that is no joy. They asked me my order number once. I said, "I ordered it through the site, can you look it up." They were baffled that I'd even ask.
Sincerely,
A disgruntled customer.
PS- I'm going to post this note as a review on Amazon as well.
Rating: 
Summary: This is a great Product
Review: First of all, the picture at the top of this page is not the product (as of 2/12/04). If you click on the link to see the manual, you will see what it looks like.
My overall impression of this product is very good. Getting around with the controls is pretty easy. It has a good display that shows a lot of info. I assume that the battery life is predicated on only listening as the hard drive only spins occasionally then. I have run it for 6 hours max but I have always loaded more songs which makes the drive spin continously.
The FM radio works well, storing stations is easy. Getting around in the menus is also easy. I have used the built-in mic to record my voice and while it was noisy, it was listenable. I have not yet used the line in to encode anything.
It works with USB 1.1. I am upgrading to USB 2 soon as 1.1 is slow. After connecting the unit to my Windows XP machine, it shows up as a drive. So you can drag and drop items easily. You can create folders and put any kind of file you want to transport to another PC. It has several folders built-in. The Text one allows you to put a text file in it and read it on the display. There is a folder to put updates to the unit into which I have used with no problem. There is also a folder for playlists that I have not used yet.
I have noticed that when there are new files on the unit when you power it on, it takes longer to be ready, but if there are not, it takes about 15 seconds or less before you can play music. The volume is the loudest of all the portables I have encountered. It has preset EQ settings or you customize them and that works pretty good.
All in all, if you want lots of capacity (20GB) and you don't mind it being larger and heavier than flash players, I think that it is a good value for the price. I've had it for about a month and am very satisfied with it.
Rating: 
Summary: Fits my needs and wants very well
Review: First of all, the picture at the top of this page is not the product (as of 2/12/04). If you click on the link to see the manual, you will see what it looks like.
My overall impression of this product is very good. Getting around with the controls is pretty easy. It has a good display that shows a lot of info. I assume that the battery life is predicated on only listening as the hard drive only spins occasionally then. I have run it for 6 hours max but I have always loaded more songs which makes the drive spin continously.
The FM radio works well, storing stations is easy. Getting around in the menus is also easy. I have used the built-in mic to record my voice and while it was noisy, it was listenable. I have not yet used the line in to encode anything.
It works with USB 1.1. I am upgrading to USB 2 soon as 1.1 is slow. After connecting the unit to my Windows XP machine, it shows up as a drive. So you can drag and drop items easily. You can create folders and put any kind of file you want to transport to another PC. It has several folders built-in. The Text one allows you to put a text file in it and read it on the display. There is a folder to put updates to the unit into which I have used with no problem. There is also a folder for playlists that I have not used yet.
I have noticed that when there are new files on the unit when you power it on, it takes longer to be ready, but if there are not, it takes about 15 seconds or less before you can play music. The volume is the loudest of all the portables I have encountered. It has preset EQ settings or you customize them and that works pretty good.
All in all, if you want lots of capacity (20GB) and you don't mind it being larger and heavier than flash players, I think that it is a good value for the price. I've had it for about a month and am very satisfied with it.
Rating:
Summary: Why are you reviewing something you don't own?
Review: I am sick and tired of people rating products without actually testing them. It makes me sick to my stomach. You're effecting the overall rating of the product, you heathens!
Rating:
Summary: question for people who own this....
Review: I have a few questions before I buy this. I have hundreds of songs downloaded on Musicmatch can i transfer them onto this product? Also it said that this has a built in battery, will it ever run out of "juice". Please email me if you know these answers. rel61@hotmail.com
Rating:
Summary: has ne1 bought this product yet??
Review: i have been waiting 4 a reviw to be writen on this product 4 ages!!! i would really be greatful if some1 would write one and let every1 know what they are getting themselves in for when buying it!!! also can this product read files such as "microsoft word" files? thanks a million!! :0)
p.s. how long has this product not been available??
Rating:
Summary: RipDrive 20G by PoGoproducts.com
Review: I love it, highly recommended. The battery is very powerful, the features are great and easy to use. The only downside is that it doesn't play protected audio files downloaded from pay services like musicmatch (WMA files with DRM).
I think this is better than the Ipods, why? PRICE!--20G!!. I bought my Ripdrive from Amazon and I paid less than $300, Cool!.
PoGo IT Support (and Customer Service) is great. I am sure you will love this powerful digital auido player.
Rating:
Summary: The best Value for your money!
Review: I love this product!It has a huge storage for all my MP3 or WMA files. It can record from any audio source using the line in. The recording quality is great. I can record voice memos with ease. It even lets me view .txt files on its LCD screen!!!! Playback of your favorite MP3/WMA files is awesome!!! It sounds like a jukebox for my ears!!!!!!!!!!! I can make my own playlists and adjust EQ settings. The features are endless. I alos love then fact I can transfer anything to any computer because it does not require driver!!!! Oh and did I meantion it has a built in FM tuner? This is the best Hard Disk product on the market and the only one with built in recording. Get it and you will not be sorry!
Rating:
Summary: Best deal for the money
Review: I purchased my Ripdrive from J&R Music World through Amazon at a 10% saving. Why is J&R gone now? Well, let's review. This is an outstanding player and certainly beats any memory card player. I downloaded ~ 7GB of music (2145 songs) to it in less than 10 minutes, so you won't have to wait an hour or more to load the player (USB 2.0). It is extremely simple to operate and has only ten buttons. For those seriously interested, I recommend downloading the manual and reading it. It has superb playback and volume. I'm currently trying to run the battery down, but it's been playing 8 hrs. and 17 minutes and the battery indicator still shows full (> 70%). However, it took 6 hours to charge from 40%. I purchased a backup battery just in case from Pogo Products for $20.00. If you play it in random (shuffle) mode, it remembers the order it played the songs in, and you can backtrack. Also, if you turn off id3 tags, it will show the previous and next songs even in random mode. The time display can run in either elapsed or remaining mode. The picture of the player is still wrong unless you get to it from ThinkGeek. (See the manual or preferably pogoproducts.com.) It has a number of repeat options: All, directory, subdirectory, and single. It also has an A-B repeat feature. Transferring files couldn't be easier. Simply drag and drop or select and then move or copy. I simply mirrored my main music directory on it. You can browse through the files or search for a particular file. You can create playlists on the fly. Updating the firmware (mine came with the latest version) is also extremely simple. Download the latest version from pogoproducts.com and copy it into the FIRMWARE folder. The display is fairly large (160X105) and shows just about everything that you could want. It comes with a belt clip case that allows complete access to all buttons and ports, so you never have to remove it from the case. All cables are provided, along with earbud earphones which I didn't bother to open. I also purchased an FM transmitter (Belkin - seems quite satisfactory) which plugs into the earphone jack so that I can play my music collection through car radios. It has the capability to record voice on its built-in mike or any audio source on the line in jack which can be analog or digital. It can also record from its FM receiver which allows for 20 presets. This player has a number of other features which I won't go into here but which will no doubt pleasantly surprise you. The warranty is for one year, unlike Zen. I did considerable shopping on Amazon and also physically at Best Buy, CompUSA and Circuit City. Whatever you get, be sure and check out the warranty. An Archos that I was considering had one year parts, 90 days labor, which means that after 90 days you'd probably do better to can it. Usually when I purchase a piece of gear like this, I find a number of points that I disagree on with the designer(s), but I have to say that I really can't find any nits to pick with this player. The price is low, it has more than ordinary functionality, and the performance is great. 5 STARS! Apple eat your heart out. Addendum: I was interrupted while writing this review, and the battery now has 12 hrs. 41 min.and still shows 2 bars (40-70%).
Rating:
Summary: Best deal for the money
Review: I purchased my Ripdrive from J&R Music World through Amazon at a 10% saving. Why is J&R gone now? Well, let's review. This is an outstanding player and certainly beats any memory card player. I downloaded ~ 7GB of music (2145 songs) to it in less than 10 minutes, so you won't have to wait an hour or more to load the player (USB 2.0). It is extremely simple to operate and has only ten buttons. For those seriously interested, I recommend downloading the manual and reading it. It has superb playback and volume. I'm currently trying to run the battery down, but it's been playing 8 hrs. and 17 minutes and the battery indicator still shows full (> 70%). However, it took 6 hours to charge from 40%. I purchased a backup battery just in case from Pogo Products for $20.00. If you play it in random (shuffle) mode, it remembers the order it played the songs in, and you can backtrack. Also, if you turn off id3 tags, it will show the previous and next songs even in random mode. The time display can run in either elapsed or remaining mode. The picture of the player is still wrong unless you get to it from ThinkGeek. (See the manual or preferably pogoproducts.com.) It has a number of repeat options: All, directory, subdirectory, and single. It also has an A-B repeat feature. Transferring files couldn't be easier. Simply drag and drop or select and then move or copy. I simply mirrored my main music directory on it. You can browse through the files or search for a particular file. You can create playlists on the fly. Updating the firmware (mine came with the latest version) is also extremely simple. Download the latest version from pogoproducts.com and copy it into the FIRMWARE folder. The display is fairly large (160X105) and shows just about everything that you could want. It comes with a belt clip case that allows complete access to all buttons and ports, so you never have to remove it from the case. All cables are provided, along with earbud earphones which I didn't bother to open. I also purchased an FM transmitter (Belkin - seems quite satisfactory) which plugs into the earphone jack so that I can play my music collection through car radios. It has the capability to record voice on its built-in mike or any audio source on the line in jack which can be analog or digital. It can also record from its FM receiver which allows for 20 presets. This player has a number of other features which I won't go into here but which will no doubt pleasantly surprise you. The warranty is for one year, unlike Zen. I did considerable shopping on Amazon and also physically at Best Buy, CompUSA and Circuit City. Whatever you get, be sure and check out the warranty. An Archos that I was considering had one year parts, 90 days labor, which means that after 90 days you'd probably do better to can it. Usually when I purchase a piece of gear like this, I find a number of points that I disagree on with the designer(s), but I have to say that I really can't find any nits to pick with this player. The price is low, it has more than ordinary functionality, and the performance is great. 5 STARS! Apple eat your heart out. Addendum: I was interrupted while writing this review, and the battery now has 12 hrs. 41 min.and still shows 2 bars (40-70%).
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