Customer Reviews

Compaq iPAQ PA-2 64 MB Digital Audio Player (MP3/WMA)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have had the PA-1 for about a year now and have only had one problem. The LCD went out on me about 1 month into ownership. It was handled superbly by Compaq though. I sent it in and it came back within 4 days, and has worked seamlessly ever since.

I use it everyday when training. While running the unit shows its strengths best. It is so small and weights next to nothing that you don't even notice it clipped onto your running shorts. I have run for 3-1/2 hours continuously with it and didn't even notice it. And the battery life is good enough with the 2AAA batteries for over 9 hours of continuous use. I do notice that cheap batteries do not last as long. I switched to high quality NiMh rechargables and get over 10 hours per charge!

There is one thing that you need to do to get more play out of the memory cards. I use 2x64MMC cards and only download from Windows Media Player in XP using the .wma format. I can get over 4 hours of music at 64bits on the 128megs of card this way; it is the same quality (or better) as using 128bit mp3's.

So just scrap the included software and use the Windows Media Player in Windows XP and you will get 2 hours of music per 64MB MMC card. When the 128MB cards come down in price you will be able to get over 8hours of music on this little device --- that is awesome considering the hard drive portables cost 3 times this amount and they are not solid state devices (you CANNOT run with them, or even walk briskly wihtout skipping problems).

I highly recommend this little device for those who want an exercise companion for music. This excels in that catagory!

This MP3 player served me well for two years until (because of my clumsiness) I broke it. It worked beautifully, able to play both MP3 and WMA files with ease. Loading files onto the player was a breeze, as was initial setup of the software. The headphones that it comes with are comfortable and have a good amount of volume capability. A great MP3 player, I'm now trying to find a replacement but am finding it difficult to find another that measures up. I miss you, my iPAQ.

Got this one after a very bad experience with a Rio 600 with the rechargeable power pack which died. Once you get the software going and the cards formatted (the directions didn't specify HOW you format the cards), it works OK. The NOT OK part was: not loud enough (I can't hear soft songs while I'm riding my lawn tractor), the MusicMatch software will not recognize the unit (after numerous emails from Compaq and software patches I can still only load WMA's with Windows Media Player), the earphones are passable, and the transfer is a little slow. It seems to be too easy to inadvertently hit the play/pause button. The belt clip is plastic and not altogether sturdy, as well.

Firstly I'm going to show my age and state that I'm from the "walkman" generation. I remember getting my first Walkman in college. My friend bought it back from Japan and it was the second model available. Through college and University, my Walkman was my constant companion, in the library , on the bus, riding my bike etc. During that time, I've gone through 3 different models. Along with this came the grief of dirty capstans and heads, broken tapes, scrunched tapes,"bouncing" sound, dropped and broken tapes, belt clips and falling down pants......

I never got into carrying my CD Walkman around with me. It just seemed to hard because of the size of the player , and the CD's that you had to carry around with you.

As I've got older, I haven't had the time to sit down and listen to music and I've got to admit that now days it's pretty rare. My LPs are stored in boxes, most of my tapes got thrown out in the last house move and most of my new cds are the kids music.

I got the PA-2 as my first player and I've gotta admit I'm impressed. I've added 64MB ( the maximum upgrade ) and having cut my CD's to 96k ( seems a good trade off for me b/w size and quality), I can fit 2-3 albums on it. It's tiny, portable, and durable ( though I'm not sure how long the brushed metal finish will last, it's already scratched ) has about a 10 hour battery life and sounds great. Even the included headphones aren't too bad, but they are a strange fit, and I've swapped them for one of my sets of Sony sports. As people say it is a bit slow to download and the plug for the USB port is sure to be lost. And the best thing, it doesn't effect the sound when the device bounces like my Walkmans did. I'm finding myself wearing it whenever I'm working around the house. I get music to work by and I can't heard the kids :-p

For those who have had problems with it being recognised by their PC , I've had it working on Windows 98 SE, W2K and XP. The updated 98/W2K drivers are on the Compaq site, though they seem a bit unstable and sometimes lock while downloading. At first XP gave me grief, but looking at the Microsoft Site the driver for it is included in XP, though it does show as a PA-1. At first it gave me a USB unrecognised error. To get round this, I rebooted the machine with the PA-2 turned on and connected. Haven't had a problem since. I'm using Musicmatch to rip my CD's and also to download the music to the player. I've also used Media Player 8 to do the same but Musicmatch is much more flexible.

For those who find the quick reference guide that comes with it a bit thin on, there are PDFs on the CD as well which go into more detail.

All in all a great product that I would recommend. I hope this helps somebody out there :-P

I've owned several other MP3 players. Actually, I've owned many items and this is the first time I ever felt compelled to write an on-line review. The reason is: the product is superb for what is currently available. No matter what you read, the MP3 player works fine for both MP3 and WMA files - even though some poor quality MP3's do not work well on the player. With the included 64 kB MMC card, I can get about 10-11 songs at 96 kbps. There is an additional slot for another card so that could be easily doubled and is perfect for workouts and jogging. Another excellent feature is it's compact size and weight. This player won't tug on your shorts or have to be strapped to your body with heavy duty straps. It is extremely light and smaller than the two dimensions of a credit card. Downloading music to the player is slow but this can be remedied by purchasing an adapter to directly download to the MMC card.

Extremely happy customer for over a year!!!

I've been very happy with this product. I use it mainly when jogging or at the gym, and for both purposes it's great. The small size and weight make it easy to carry around, and you can move as much as you want with it because it doesn't skip, and the hold mode locks the buttons. 64mb memory has been enough for me. You can easily fit an album into the player when using the wma compressing, and the sound quality is still good. Even if this isn't enough, you can always double the memory to 128mb. The only small minus comes from the rather slow transfer speed, but when everything else is positive, you can forgive this.
All in all, an excellent mp3 player. If you were looking for one, you've found it.

I think the compaq ipaq is a great product. I like to listen to music when i'm running, and it clips nicely onto my shorts and doesn't fall or slide at all. It's so small and doesnt weigh a thing. Plus, the sound is great, however it doesn't have the best selections on volume. It's often too loud or too soft. I've replaced the clumsy looking headphone with some sony ones ($8 anywhere). What I like best of the ipaq music player is that it's very durable. I'm a klutz so this is very helpful. Even if you drop it (which I dont recommend) it still plays just fine. I lost the little rubber thingy that goes on the USB plug, but scotch tape seems to work ok.

The iPaq PA-2 is a reliable player if you use Windows Media Player. It then downloads in the wma format. MP3 format does not work. This is a fact (you can read about it on the Compaq web site). In wma format the music plays well. Downloads are slow and software is not self explanitory. Otherwise a good product. Not recommended if you are in a hurry to download your music. I suggest buying a few 64K flash cards.

I bought the I-Pac 2 to use for running. It small size allows me to clip it on, run hands free and forget about it. I am semi-computer literate and I thought it was very easy to transfer my already downloaded songs into the software that it comes with. It did take me a few seconds to figure out how to upload to my player but I still figured it out pretty quickly without any tutorials. The earphones are some of the best ones I have ever used to run with too. No slipping and very comfortable. Great Player! No problems here!

For me the PA-2 is great. i dont have any problems with it and it was for a reasonable price. There was one problem but that was due 2 my stupidity. So i just wanna let everyone no to get this product if youre lookin for a mp3 player!!