A multi-purpose mini-CDr recorder and MP3 player.
Written: Apr 22 '03
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Pros: Mini CD-R burner, playback of WMA, WAV and MP3 audio files, small size.
Cons: No CD-RW support, proprietary ill fitting battery.
The Bottom Line: The overall convenience and portability of this mini CDr burner / MP3 player, far outweigh any minor cosmetic issues.
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| aashok's Full Review: Imation RipGO Personal CD Player |
My Buying Decision.
My work requires me to travel extensively and make multimedia presentations to clients. Occasionally I add small funny video clips into the presentations, when I know it will be a rough audience. This means I need to carry some large PowerPoint and data files, and a bunch of MP3s for entertainment on the road or in the air. So I started shopping for a universal, high capacity, data storage medium that was compact enough to take on the road. Flash memory cards were fine but there was still a small chance that they might not work in someone else’s computer. Mini CDrs seemed to have an acceptable compromise between storage capacity, size and universal acceptability. That’s when I first learned of the Imation RipGo. In conjunction with my Notebook’s CDr-rw drive, the RipGo enabled me to quickly duplicate my files for distribution.
So what are mini CDr discs? Mini CDr discs are a smaller version of regular CDs. They are 3 inches in diameter and have a capacity of 156 MB. They also come in a re-write (CDrw) format that allows you to reuse these discs thousands of times. They are both very cheap and a big step up from the old floppy discs. The RipGo is capable of recording to mini CDr discs only.
The Layout.
Most of the buttons and the LCD display are located on the CD compartment cover, which is solid and has a positive lock. This allows for quick and convenient access to all the functions and controls. Buttons include vol+, vol-, equalizer, shuffle, play/pause, repeat, stop, skip forward, and skip back. On the left is the open switch, and on the right is the hold switch. In the front is the line out and headphones jack. In the rear are sockets for the ac adapter plug and the USB cable. Almost all the functions have a corresponding display on the LCD screen, which also displays track info during playback.
What’s Included.
The RipGo comes with an AC charger/adapter, USB cable, basic quality over the ear street style headset, one driver/utility disc and two blank mini CD-R discs.
What’s HOT.
Storage Capacity & MP3 player. Each disc can store and playback up to 3 hours of MP3 and 6 hours of WMA audio. Considering the size and portability of mini CDs, this allows you to take quite a lot of music with you on the road. While flying, I have found it more convenient to play my music on a small player rather than powering up a notebook PC. I found the supplied headphones had good sound, but I still prefer my Sony MDR-Q33LP headphones. The mini CDs are great for storing data for use on any standard CD-ROM equipped PC as well. (You must remember to close the record session on any CDr disc to make it compatible with any standard CD-ROM drive. If the session is left open, the disc may not play in all drives.)
Make Multimedia Business Cards.
Now you can create multimedia mini CD business cards that contain slides, pictures and video of yourself, your business and your services. These mini CDs are business card size, almost rectangular shaped, CD-R disks. They have an average capacity of 50MB and are a great idea for sales and marketing.
Good battery capacity.
Imation has included a lithium-ion rechargeable battery, rated at 5 hours of charge time. It gives about 3:45 to 4:25 hours of real world use. The initial charge took about 8 hours but subsequent charge times were shorter at 1-2 hours.
Small Size & Weight.
This remarkably small footprint is very convenient while traveling. Physical dimensions are 12.6x9.9x2.5 cm, and the weight is 8 oz. It is sturdily built with an attractive silver and blue finish.
Data transfer and PC connectivity.
The RipGo can very easily be attached to any PC with a USB port, to add mini CD recording capability. It is very convenient to manage your files and burn custom made mini CDs, to suit the intended application. Once I was requested for a copy of my presentation, and I found it was fairly quick and easy to burn a duplicate CD. It records at 4x speed. Transfer speeds are rated at 600Kb/sec write and 900Kb/sec read. This translates roughly to about 4 minutes to record a 150MB disc.
What’s NOT.
Poorly fitting proprietary battery.
It took a little screwdriver to lock the battery into the compartment. It should have snapped in place with just a little push. The 3.7v battery and its connector are attached to the battery compartment cover. The whole assembly fits rather poorly into the battery compartment, in the bottom front of the unit. Standard AA sized batteries would have prevented the need to carry along another AC adapter on the road. If not, then Imation should have allowed for the unit to be charged/powered up thru the USB cable.
The Bottom Line.
The overall convenience and portability of this mini CDr burner / MP3 player, far outweigh any minor cosmetic issues. However, nowadays most computers come with a CD-R/RW drive. Even DVD burners are becoming cheap and mainstream. High capacity flash memory can very easily be used to transport data and files or to play MP3 music on the go. A next generation mini DVD-r burner might make more sense today.
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Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 79.00
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