Rating: 
Summary: Great compact device
Review: The RYW player/recorder is an excellent multi function device. I added it to my portable audio stable, along with an Archos Multimedia Jukebox 20 and a 10GB iPod. Despite having countless hours of MP3s and movies I was still missing radio. And I figured the timed recording feature would be handy for late night talk radio recording.The Pogo RYW delivered in spades, and added quite a few bonuses along the way. 1. Listening to radio. While the reception isn't great, I can get all local stations and most of the fairly distant 50K watt AM stations. FM reception is clear as well, and in stereo, for the little I listen to it. The included antenna improves reception somewhat, but for the most part I don't use it. If you're recording make sure you listen to the radio first to make sure you're not getting any local interference. Moving it a bit has always solved this problem. 2. Recording radio. The primary feature, as far as I'm concerned. I get about 4 hours on the built-in memory. Setting the timer for scheduled recording takes some getting used to, but the manual does a good job of explaining it. There is also a 1-touch recording button that you can pause (to skip commercials and what-not). With 10 schedule slots (which you can set for up to 6 days each of the same time) there is plenty of room. I have found that setting it to end about 5 minutes before the hour and resume at 5 after cuts out the top of the hour commercials and news updates. It also breaks the segments up to minimize fast forwarding/rewinding (see playback below). All in all recording is painless and accurate. Make sure your batteries are fresh for long sessions, though, or get an AC adapter. While there are 10 slots for recording, there are also only 10 for stored recordings. Besure to download to your PC regularly or delete what you don't need anymore. You can listen while you're recording. In fact, remember to turn the volume all the way down if you're doing a timed to save battery life and avoid the speaker suddenly kicking on and waking someone up. 3. Playback. Playback is a breeze. You just cycle though the modes (AM, FM, Voice/recordings, MP3) to get to your recordings. They are numbered 1-10 and the total duration is displayed. You pick the one you want and hit play. Simple. You can fast forward/rewind while listening but this is extremely slow. If you stop the playback, you can FF/RW much faster (a few minutes or so a second?). Unfortunately there isn't a bookmark function or a way to break up segments on the player. 4. MP3. If you intend use the RYW as ONLY an MP3 player, it probably isn't your best bet. It plays MP3s fine and with a SD/MM card you can get up to 288MB of playback which is good for a small, cheap portable MP3 player. But it lacks MP3tag information, etc. However, as a bonus to a great radio the MP3 functionality is fantastic. Throw a few songs or books on tape on and you're set. Just drag and drop in the computer interface and load them onto your player. 5. Computer Interface/included software. The interface is fine. Simple drag and drop to move/copy files to and from the player. When you record the files are stored in a proprietary format. The included software easily converts them to .wav and you can then use a third party program to convert the .wav to MP3. It's so easy, I archive every radio show I record. 6. Other Recording. Yep, you can record from your PC or any other source with a standard line our headphone out. The RYW has a line-in jack. So you set it to voice/line record, start playback on your PC or stereo or whatever other source (I've done some shortwave) and just hit record. It bypasses the mic and records through the line-in. Or if you like, you can just record through the mic. Handy for voice memos to yourself, speeches, etc. Mic isn't great got works for speech. I wouldn't go bootlegging concerts or anything. 7. Speaker. The speaker on the back I look at as another bonus. I wouldn't want to walk around with the speaker blaring anyway, so the low quality (hey, it's small) doesn't bother me. It's been useful sometimes when I didn't want to be bothered with headphones. Speech and music are understandable. Definitely not high-fi. Sound with headphones is fine for a portable. Brief pros:
Very compact
Tons of uses integrated into one device
Included software is easy to install and use (had no problems with XP like another reviewer claimed)
Good price
SD/MM slot, USB connection, line in Cons:
Eats up batteries - no included AC adapter
Included headphones are just OK Overall, from a portable electronics junkie, I consider this on of my favorites. It gets the job done. It gets many jobs done. Smaller than a pack of smokes (much thinner in depth, slightly smaller in width, slightly taller) it's easy to carry everywhere. I've recorded a number of press conferences and show guests I hadn't known about that just came on while I was listening to the radio mode. One word of caution: it records and has a red record button and says "AM/FM Radio Recorder." I had jury duty and didn't even think about it, but it wasn't allowed in the courtroom.
Rating: 
Summary: Not worth the money
Review: The sound quality is very poor and tinny, batteries will not last a week of use, and radio reception is poor with much static even on local stations. This is a classic example of too many features that neither stands out. Better to buy a quality product if you are looking for MP3 player for a good music sound and a radio for those features. I made a mistake buying this. Its junk.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Product but room for improvement
Review: This is the the best product yet for versitile recording of radio programs in a portable format. I'm using it several times a week to record interesting AM/FM programs so I can listen later. Complaints: The host software is awkward to install and it likes to crash periodically. If you turn off the unit or pause too long during playback, you lose your place and have to fast forward to where you stopped.
Rating:
Summary: Radio VCR
Review: This little unit is perfect to record shows like JIM ROME, Phil Hendrie, Dr. Laura, Rush Limbaugh "Insert Radio Host here" or the ball game that won't be on TV and on during your work hours. ... Pogo also has a great Tech Support staff that quickly helps you in case of any problems and they respond to all emails lightning quick. All and all you should get it if a Radio VCR is something you been wanting for years.
Rating:
Summary: Radio VCR
Review: This little unit is perfect to record shows like JIM ROME, Phil Hendrie, Dr. Laura, Rush Limbaugh "Insert Radio Host here" or the ball game that won't be on TV and on during your work hours. Get the AC adpator with the unit from .... and a 256SD card from any where else. Pogo also has a great Tech Support staff that quickly helps you in case of any problems and they respond to all emails lightning quick. All and all you should get it if a Radio VCR is something you been wanting for years.
Rating: 
Summary: Poogo - Using the public as techno guinea pigs
Review: Wow! Talk about a great concept gone totally KABOOM. No matter what I do, I hear static, static, static. 1. There is static on AM, FM, and when you do the voice recording.
2. The software is useless also. It won't even open up.
3. Windows XP does not recognize the thing when connected to the USB.
4. It records in some .rvf format that you have to then convert to MP3.
5. It records a very low bitrate (32Kbs I think)
6. Electrical adapter sold separately. Although the Pogo box packaging clearly has a space where the adapter was probably there at one time.
7. I'm too pissed to even get through one set of batteries, so I can't vouch for the low battery life complaints on here. Although that is probably why they took the adapter out of the box and are selling it separately. (How convenient that they void the warranty on third party adapters.)
8. If you were unlucky enough to buy a unit before the latest firmware update, you will have to spend $10 to send it back to Pogo where they send it to Korea for your update.
9. And the winner is . . . don't buy it on Amazon. Pogo will not honor the warranty if you don't buy direct from Pogo at their inflated prices. I bought mine on ebay, so I already know the drill.
10. If you don't believe me, check out what others are saying about it. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RadioYourway/ I'm so stuck with my Poogo now. I bought the leather case, adapter, and the 256 secure digital card. I'm out about $250 bucks with no recourse. the electric geek girl
Rating:
Summary: Where Is It?
Review: You know, I went to camp and lost my CD/mp3 player. SO I decided it was time for an upgrade. I am saving for a car, and I'm being very VERY careful with my money. At first i thought i wanted an mp3 player, with an fm tuner, atleast 64mb built in and expandable. As I researched about 100 different mp3 players, from every single company I could think of, and many hours, I found FM and Voice Recording. This seemed like a miracle for me! I no longer have to struggle to find the name of the song i'm looking for! Just record it! I did contact the tech support from ......(which has very good service) and they said it will record in some strange file type, but I can convert it to mp3 on my computer. Kinda a hassle, but easyier and way cooler than downloading. The super good parts are that:
1. The earbuds are the fm antenna, giving it great reception.
2. There is a speaker on board, and when listening to the radio on the speaker, it has an fm antenna to plug in, giving it great reception.
3. The audio-in port. This means, I could plug in my friend's cd player to this machine, and use it as a speaker, or record directly from that or any source.
4. It's able to switch to an external hard drive mode
5. The great price from Amazon.com, from the pogo website, it is $$$ and has a 10% restocking fee. Amazon.com is much cheaper, and I trust them. The bad parts:
32mb on-board memory, but its expandable. And with the $$$ i saved buying form amazon, i will buy an external memory card.
to recieve radio, you have to use earbuds (which i find uncomfortable) or the antenna, which will be bad for working out.
I ordered this machine this morning, and i cant wait til it gets here. As you can see, with all these plusses, and no restocking fee except S&H, if returned in 30 days, The only thing that can POSSIBLY go wrong, is the antenna being bothersome. But, from the xtensive research, I think I will be extremely pleased.
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