Rating: 
Summary: Questionable reliability, frustrating support
Review: The idea is great. The execution is not. My JumpGear MP3 worked with one JumpDrive Sport (512MB) but not with another (256MB). Both JumpDrives work with my PC (although only through a USB hub, neither was recognized by the primary USB ports, but that's another story). So, three Lexar products, two "good" JumpDrives but one doesn't work with the JumpGear. For a product that invites you to swap multiple JumpDrives in and out, this is a real problem. Prime suspect would be either the JumpGear USB connector or the JumpDrive 256 USB connector -- but unless both connectors are good for the long haul, this product will not live up to its promise. Lexar Customer Support did call back, as promised, spent most of their time attempting to replicate the problem on their end, and offering to replace the JumpGear if it did't work with their JumpDrive (a 50/50 proposition, based on my experience). They are only authorized to handle RMAs. They are not equipped (or interested) to figure out what was wrong.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Product for Beginners and Athletes
Review: Well, I've never had an MP3 player, so this is my first and only. If it's the best out there, they have lots of room for improvement. Let's begin with the positive. This thing is light, easy to carry and pretty simple to use. If you don't like learning a bunch of "electronic stuff", don't worry. If you can plug in a jump drive, you are set. Windows Media player can rip all your songs and you just copy them over to the jump drive. Turn it on and hit play. It's that simple to get started. If you want to do other things like create play lists, set book marks, it can do all that - you just don't have to. You can get a 1GB Jumpdrive Sport from Lexar and hold 5 to 15 albums (depending on the quality you rip and the type of CDs you buy). It really has good sound, easy controls and has made me a MP3 convert. There's no hardrive, so you can run, jump, skip or ride horseback and it doesn't flutter a bit.
What don't I like? Well, it would be nice if it had a clip, hook or velco to attach it to you. As it is, I stick it in a pocket. Unfortunately, the earpiece plug is a bit on the loose side and if you bend over wrong, the sound breaks up because it gets pressure from the material in your pocket. Secondly, it pauses between tracks for maybe 1/10th of a second. The problem with that is, and I don't know if other players share the same problem, but if you have a CD where track one and track two were meant to run together, you now get a definite pause between them. It does not smoothly transition from one track to the next. Third, as someone else mentioned, the controls are pretty simplistic and have no memory. My 1GB drive has about 375 songs on it. When I want to go to the middle, it takes some time to get there since you have to hold the button and fast forward there. If they complain about a car crash with my cell phone, they're really going to hate it because I was fast forwarding my MP3 player. If it did nothing more than remember where it was when you shut it off so you could continue from where you were, I'd be happy. Next, the forward and reverse controls take too long and are nor intuitive. Well, maybe they are intuitive, what they aren't is compatible with a CD player. If you are listening to a song and hit "back", it goes to the beginnning of the song. On this player, it goes to the previous song. If you get a cell phone call, pause it, then go back and start it, you have to go to the previous song, then back to the one you want to hear. Also, the pause button does not last long enough. If you hit pause, it waits about 30 seconds, then shuts off. You can't have a conversation, phone call or listen to the news using the pause button.
All-in-all I am pleased with it, but it is very unsophisticated. I will likely move up and buy a 40Gb something, but I will keep this around for "rough" listening.
if you want to see if you like MP3 players like this before you buy, rip some CDs to your hard drive, plus earphones into your soundcard and play them with Windows Media Player. Outside of not being portable, this is exactly what you'll get in a credit card sized player that fits in any pocket, goes where you go and plays a long time on a pair of batteries.
Rating: 
Summary: Ok, I made a good decision with this MP3 Player
Review: Yeah, it has all the functional limitations that everyone describes: no on/off switch, no play stop memory, etc. But, it's meant to be simple with minimal functions. My player worked right out of the box. Just what I payed for.
As for all the people complaining about the headphone connection... My headphone plug takes more force to push in all the way than I have experienced. The larger insertion force is probably due to the intended use of this MP3 player - portable, exercise, etc. A correctly inserted headphone plug should not have any of the small diameter brass visible once inserted properly. Only a thin ring of brass will be visible - the largest diameter of brass on the headphone plug. Try this out before giving up and contacting Lexar.
Also, as for the connection of the Jumpdrive to the player, the looseness that some have complained about is just part of the USB connection. These connectors are not meant to be firm, unmovable connections. If they were, you would need a screw driver to remove your Jumpdrive.
On last thing I just discovered. At least for my player, the documentation is wrong. To access the "menu", do not press and hold for two seconds and try to move the toggle. Instead press the toggle downward in the center quickly. This should get you into the menu. When ready to select something, push the toggle in quickly. In order to see that selection has been activated, look along the top of the screen. What ever you are changing will show up at the top (except the defaults). To get out of the menu, press the play/pause button.
Hope this helps some of you.
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