Rating: 
Summary: Options and price won me over from the iPod
Review: A few months back, I was in the market for an MP3 player. The options I wanted were fairly simple: Large capacity (10 Gigs of space or more), multiple format choices (MP3, WMA, OGG, etc.), playlist compatible, and upgradeability.So I started my research. Right off the bat, I LOVED the iPod choice. It was small, had great capacity, and support for many different file types. Plus, it is made by Apple, and while that usually means more money, it also means quality. However, when a friend suggested I take a look at the Neuros, I was won over almost immediately. The 20 Gig version had everything I was looking for, but it was the things I wasn't looking for that completely sealed the deal. It has a built-in FM broadcaster, so you don't have to worry about getting an after-market one. And it broadcasts over most of the FM spectrum, instead of just 4 channels, like most do. It also has a built-in FM receiver, microphone (time is limited only to the hard drive space available), ability to record from FM, and a feature called "HiSi" which allows you to take a digital fingerprint of a song from the radio and find out what the song is. Plus, the software and firmware are open source, which allows creative developers to add lots of functionality to the machine. I've had mine now for a little more than a month and have been very pleased with it. The only reason I don't give it 5 full stars is that it is sometimes a little temperamental, but if you have the patience to hang in there, it's so worth it. Also, right now, they have brought the price down to under two hundred dollars, but Amazon hasn't changed their price yet. Go to their website to find it for less (google neuros or go to neurosaudio dot com). Finally, the Neuros has a great set of users and developers who are constantly posting on the forums set up at their site. I have found this to be a great source for figuring out how to solve problems or do things better with the machine.
Rating: 
Summary: Neuros 20GB USB 1.1
Review: As mentioned in the title, this review is forthe 20GB USB 1.1 Neuros with a 64MB flash head. All versions of the Neuros are the same in functionality, and they only differ in storage capacity, transfer speed of files from your computer, and slightly in appearance. The firmware for the Neuros is updated with impressive regularity, new features are added every few weeks or so. This review was written from the 2.2.1 firmware. There are many advantages the Neuros has over more common players such as Apple's iPod. Most importantly to me, it's much cheaper. The USB 1.1 version of the Neuros costs half as much as an iPod with the same hard drive size. It's FM radio reciever works as expected. Being able to record from that, the line-in port, and the built-in microphone is very useful, and works beautifully. The Neuros has an FM transmitter (MyFi) that lets you broadcast your songs to a radio, which makes it easier to play your songs from a car than the standard casette tape hack. There are also 5 'bookmark' buttons on the Neuros, allowing you quick access to your favorite artists, albums, songs, radio stations, or anything else. The firmware, as I refferenced, is excellent. Some of its features include being able to alter the speed a song plays at, being able to add songs to a play queue so you can create your own playlists on the go, an equalizer, a great deal of customizability, and all the standard features you would expect from a digital music player. I say digital music, and not MP3, because of the Neuros' support for a variety of formats. Besides the usual (WMA, MP3), it can play Ogg Vorbis tracks. Support for less ubiquitous technology is a trait of Digital Innovations, alongside Vorbis, the Neuros has the best Linux support of any player I've seen. There are two sync managers (software to manage song transfers) available for the platform, and of course Windows and OSX are not left out. The player's battery is one of its strengths. Not only does it charge quickly, it lasts long. The time it lasts will depend on your usage, of course. It also responds well to having the power cord suddenly tugged out, or plugged in, as opposed to the behavior of others I have seen restart in those situations. The only negative aspect of the Neuros, as far as I can see, is its size. iPod fanboys will detract from it for this. You can't complain, though, as it's still about half the size of a CD player. There are some benefits to its form factor, for instance you can carry multiple hard drive 'backpacks' with you and expand your portable library limitlessly.
Rating:
Summary: Neuros 20GB USB 1.1
Review: As mentioned in the title, this review is forthe 20GB USB 1.1 Neuros with a 64MB flash head. All versions of the Neuros are the same in functionality, and they only differ in storage capacity, transfer speed of files from your computer, and slightly in appearance. The firmware for the Neuros is updated with impressive regularity, new features are added every few weeks or so. This review was written from the 2.2.1 firmware. There are many advantages the Neuros has over more common players such as Apple's iPod. Most importantly to me, it's much cheaper. The USB 1.1 version of the Neuros costs half as much as an iPod with the same hard drive size. It's FM radio reciever works as expected. Being able to record from that, the line-in port, and the built-in microphone is very useful, and works beautifully. The Neuros has an FM transmitter (MyFi) that lets you broadcast your songs to a radio, which makes it easier to play your songs from a car than the standard casette tape hack. There are also 5 'bookmark' buttons on the Neuros, allowing you quick access to your favorite artists, albums, songs, radio stations, or anything else. The firmware, as I refferenced, is excellent. Some of its features include being able to alter the speed a song plays at, being able to add songs to a play queue so you can create your own playlists on the go, an equalizer, a great deal of customizability, and all the standard features you would expect from a digital music player. I say digital music, and not MP3, because of the Neuros' support for a variety of formats. Besides the usual (WMA, MP3), it can play Ogg Vorbis tracks. Support for less ubiquitous technology is a trait of Digital Innovations, alongside Vorbis, the Neuros has the best Linux support of any player I've seen. There are two sync managers (software to manage song transfers) available for the platform, and of course Windows and OSX are not left out. The player's battery is one of its strengths. Not only does it charge quickly, it lasts long. The time it lasts will depend on your usage, of course. It also responds well to having the power cord suddenly tugged out, or plugged in, as opposed to the behavior of others I have seen restart in those situations. The only negative aspect of the Neuros, as far as I can see, is its size. iPod fanboys will detract from it for this. You can't complain, though, as it's still about half the size of a CD player. There are some benefits to its form factor, for instance you can carry multiple hard drive 'backpacks' with you and expand your portable library limitlessly.
Rating: 
Summary: Better off with iPod or Zen
Review: Despite having 20 gigabytes of storage space, the Neuros has far to go before it can play in the big leagues with Apple's iPod and Creative's Zen. It falls short by its lack of a high-speed interface (USB 1.1 can't cut it) and a difficult-to-install, difficult-to-use, proprietary music management app. The unit crashed twice during basic use, and turning on the backlight was confusing. Using the Neuros wasn't intuitive, yet referring to the user's guide didn't help any. The Neuros features a built-in FM transmitter, so, theoretically, you can transmit to an unused frequency; it never worked. Even more gimmicky is the ability to record a snippet of a FM broadcast (the Neuros has a FM tuner), which you can then find the name and artist online somehow; never figured it out. Navigating through the player was just as challenging: there's no scroll wheel for smooth, quick access; menus were confusing; and you can't edit or create playlists. Sound quality was only so-so. After a day-and-a-half with it, it went back into the box. The design is awkward: The Neuros uses a backpack system, which you insert the slim player into a humongous hard-drive backpack. You can interchange the player with a (perhaps smaller) 128MB backpack, but the backpack concept doesn't make sense. Perhaps it's meant to be future-proof, but it hinders more than it helps. (Early versions of the Neuros were recalled due to issues with the FM transmitter.) The player supports music encoded in the open-source Vorbis format, which doesn't mean much for the average consumer. Digital Innovations has some great ideas; now that the ball is rolling, they need to improve upon the problem areas if they seriously plan to market this.
Rating:
Summary: Unbelievable support for a product !!!
Review: Digital Innovations may have gotten off with a rocky start but I believe they are way ahead of the race now. I had a 1.1 version of Neuros that I upgraded to 2.o USB . They apparently had problems with a stocking of new boards (no doubt because of the demand for this product). I called to check on the status one evening at 9 pm and the President-Joe Born himself answered, and promised delivery would be soon. It shipped out that day and I received it 2 days later. Any company that has a President putting in the late hours and following thru personally is OK in my books. I own several mp3 players, one company I never heard back from after 2 E-mails. I'm so impressed with the Neuros that's why I own 3 of them. They have a ongoing forum that is full of info on support, just type in the issue and it will list all information that has been covered from other users as well as input from their people and supporting members. If you still have problems the support line is great, they will answer you within minutes or sooner. No having to pay for support. The software, as well as firmware for downloading songs can be automatically updated when opened. Oh and did I mention that it's less expensive than the Ipod ? Thanks Joe well done .
Rating:
Summary: finally an MP3 player gets the important things right...
Review: First of all, I'd ignore reviews before 3.31.04 since Digital Innovations has posted v.2.13 of the Neuros internal software on it's website and it's a vast improvement. This device is always improving. I'm thrilled. If you want a sensibly-designed, feature-laden product for less $ get one of these. I wouldn't recommend this if you haven't read up on it at neurosaudio.com. This is different from an iPod and it may not suit some who just want a product that does one thing without fuss (the Neuros does many things with very little fuss.) Otherwise you may panic when some little quirk pops up. It's not buggy or unstable but you at least need to know how to reset the system (up+play.) Besides, once you read up about the nifty tricks, features, and planned upgrades, you'll be sold. It's a gadget lover and tinkerer's dream. I bought this because I wanted a 20GB player with the following features: line in recording, an FM tuner, no meddlesome copyright protection, Ogg Vorbis, a good user interface/design, and cheap battery replacement. I've actually had good results recording live shows with the adjustable gain built in mic. Once I got my Neuros, I realized the built in FM transmitter is an inestimably cool feature... more useful than you'll realize until you actually have it. I can go to any room of the house, into anyone's car and to anyone's house and play my tunes. I don't think I'll ever use it to identify songs off the radio but the feature is fun to mess with. One of the great things about owning this is going on the website to read about the features they're planning to add and to get the new upgrades. The DI staff really listens to user requests and have already made some nice changes based on our suggestions. In time, things like configurable menus and folder navigation, adjustable font sizes, timed FM radio recording, and much more will all be features. You'll appreciate these things... trust me. For example, the 5 band EQ they just added to the software is a nice improvement. Here are the gripes I can remember I had with the competition (I know there was more wrong with each product though):
iPod = expensive, copy protection, no line in, battery replacement costs $100 (Neuros costs $10)
Dell = copy protection, plays songs out of order
Rio Karma = almost no features
iRiver = terrible ergonomics, confusing interface
Creative Zen = cover pops off, controls are unusable
Creative Nomad = huge round shape I know there's more I'm forgetting... Goto neurosaudio.com & neurosfaq.com, read the forums extensively. Check out all the topics. I know one of those is the company website but the forums there are really the best place to get a feel for the product since it's something that's constantly changing and that's where the Neuros user's community gathers. Oh yes cool4u2view.com does some interesting Neuros modification work and they show you how to disassemble this thing and put in whateer HD you like. I'll upgrade to 120GB one of these days...
Rating:
Summary: finally an MP3 player gets the important things right...
Review: First of all, I'd ignore reviews before 3.31.04 since Digital Innovations has posted v.2.13 of the Neuros internal software on it's website and it's a vast improvement. This device is always improving. I'm thrilled. If you want a sensibly-designed, feature-laden product for less $ get one of these. I wouldn't recommend this if you haven't read up on it at neurosaudio.com. This is different from an iPod and it may not suit some who just want a product that does one thing without fuss (the Neuros does many things with very little fuss.) Otherwise you may panic when some little quirk pops up. It's not buggy or unstable but you at least need to know how to reset the system (up+play.) Besides, once you read up about the nifty tricks, features, and planned upgrades, you'll be sold. It's a gadget lover and tinkerer's dream. I bought this because I wanted a 20GB player with the following features: line in recording, an FM tuner, no meddlesome copyright protection, Ogg Vorbis, a good user interface/design, and cheap battery replacement. I've actually had good results recording live shows with the adjustable gain built in mic. Once I got my Neuros, I realized the built in FM transmitter is an inestimably cool feature... more useful than you'll realize until you actually have it. I can go to any room of the house, into anyone's car and to anyone's house and play my tunes. I don't think I'll ever use it to identify songs off the radio but the feature is fun to mess with. One of the great things about owning this is going on the website to read about the features they're planning to add and to get the new upgrades. The DI staff really listens to user requests and have already made some nice changes based on our suggestions. In time, things like configurable menus and folder navigation, adjustable font sizes, timed FM radio recording, and much more will all be features. You'll appreciate these things... trust me. For example, the 5 band EQ they just added to the software is a nice improvement. Here are the gripes I can remember I had with the competition (I know there was more wrong with each product though):
iPod = expensive, copy protection, no line in, battery replacement costs $100 (Neuros costs $10)
Dell = copy protection, plays songs out of order
Rio Karma = almost no features
iRiver = terrible ergonomics, confusing interface
Creative Zen = cover pops off, controls are unusable
Creative Nomad = huge round shape I know there's more I'm forgetting... Goto neurosaudio.com & neurosfaq.com, read the forums extensively. Check out all the topics. I know one of those is the company website but the forums there are really the best place to get a feel for the product since it's something that's constantly changing and that's where the Neuros user's community gathers. Oh yes cool4u2view.com does some interesting Neuros modification work and they show you how to disassemble this thing and put in whateer HD you like. I'll upgrade to 120GB one of these days...
Rating:
Summary: DO NOT BUY GET AN IPOD INSTEAD
Review: Forget about buying this. Its user interface is the worst ive ever seen. Customer service doesnt even know how to use this. You are much better off buying anything other than this, even if you have to spend more. Neuros needs to get their act together and fix and all bugs(too many to fit here). FM doesnt work in the car. everytime you want to use the menu the music stops. there is really no reason to ever buy this.
Rating:
Summary: Get it for $199.00
Review: http://www.neurosaudio.com/ If you go to the neuros site you can get it for cheap. nuff said.
Rating:
Summary: Great Player (and recorder) For the Price!
Review: I bought this player a few days ago, and it's really something special. It's not perfect, but it comes close. Pros: Lots of storage space (20GB)
Ability to record from line-in, microphone, or FM.
FM Tuner
FM Transmitter
Active forums with Neuros developers for new features and support
Support for MP3, Ogg, WAV, and unencrypted (i.e., non-DRM) WMA files Cons: Bulky. With the backpack, It's bigger than an Archos device, and far bigger than an iPod.
Audio stops when you use the menu
The benefits of this player far outweigh its defecits. For less than an iPod (far less), you get an FM receiver and transmitter and the ability to record. Feature for feature, the only arena where iPod wins is size, and the Neuros still fits in my shirt pocket (although it sticks out of the top, of course). For those that don't need a tiny player, the Neuros is a great choice.
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