Customer Reviews

Digitalway FY100 128 MB MP3 Player

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Bought this MP3 player back in July '03. After a month the ear phones stopped working. E-mailed and called company for repair and no response to e-mails and phone call to support doesn't pick up and finally disconnects. In October '03 sent e-mail threatening to notify my credit card company to contest the charge. That got their attention and they responded with an RMA number. I sent in the unit and waited a couple of months for it to be returned. No luck. E-mails again went unanswered and even the old threat of contesting the credit card didn't work. Eventually my e-mails were being rejected as "undeliverable". Basically wrote the product off with one last attempt with a letter to the BBB. One week after the letter went out by the BBB to Digitalway my MP3 player arrived in the mail. The company is basically worthless with their customer service and I won't be purchasing anything from Digitalway again.

If you have to deal with this company, be persistent and don't give up!

If you were like me, you saw a 128MB player for $50, and figured, "Hey, I'll get it instead of something pricey."

That would be a big mistake.

From the moment I started using this thing, it froze up during play. Then it quit working after 60 days or so. I sent it back for warrantied repairs. I got it back, and, suddenly, the player would not hold more than 9MB of songs.

I have tried customer service numerous times. They are not English-speakers by nature, and they do not understand you or the product manual. Also, they informed me that this model was dropped from production back in August 2004. So if something goes wrong with yours (look at the reviews, it'll happen), then you won't be getting a replacement.

Overall, a piece of junk not even worth $50. Get anything else - the product and customer service CANNOT be any worse.

I purchased this FY100 in Feb 03. It was great, I could take it to spinning and pick up the gym frequency, go rollerblading and listen to the radio or mp3s... etc. The software for transferring mp3s from computer to player is easy to use. The "sport" design is durable, I've dropped it on concrete a few times with no worries. However, a few months ago, it started acting up. While trying to use the mp3 player, it will get stuck on "return" and not return to any folder or song. I called customer service and after doing my best to understand their poor command of the english language, I found I could basically reformat the hard drive through the software interface. That did fix the problem, but now it won't play every song in my list, it seems to pick and choose which ones it wants to play. Unfortunately, there is no firmware upgrade on the MPIO web site (which also demonstrates a lack of knowledge of english). Now that it's selling for $50 with the rebate, I can safely assume that they won't ever have an upgrade and are clearing out their inventory of this model.

Then again, for $50 I might buy an mp3 player that only works for a year too.

I purchased an Fy100 about 3 months ago. Device worked well for the first couple of months of light use then the headphone jack started behaving flaky. I looked at the manual and was surprised to see it only had a 120 day warranty.

I was still within the warranty period so I dropped MPIO (aka DigialWay) customer service an email. No response. I sent another email about a week later. Still no response. I called up their office in San Diego and they said they would email me a RMA form. It never came. I called them back again and told them I wanted to wait until I saw the RMA form in my email when they said they sent it. While waiting, I asked how long it would take them to fix/replace the unit. Their answer "depends how busy I am". After 5 minutes of waiting for the email, I gave up and told them I would call back if it never came. It never did. I emailed again and still no response. 3 emails/2 phone calls and still no RMA so I gave up and decided I would fix it myself.

I took the unit apart and found what I suspected, the earphone jack was held in place by three solder points and nothing else (one of which had virtually no solder on it) (for those of you who don't know what solder is, it is the metal that they melt to hold electronic components in place). Very poor design, especially for a device they market as a sports/active type device. I fixed it, put it back together (with some extra glue this time so it won't come loose again), and it is working again.

Moral of the story, unless you like to throw things away after 3 months or like fixing electronics yourself, avoid MPIO!

J

The worst MP3 player I've ever owned, and believe me I do have a few. Save your money and get something else. It can not play most MP3 formats, the keypad is not responsive at all and the sound quality is terrible. I returned it after a week.

-WEAKEST PLAYER ON THE MARKET
-BUTCHERED THE QUALITY OF MY MP3S
-RADIO IS WEAK
-BAD SOFTWARE
-SPELLING ERRORS AND POOR GRAMMAR IN MANUAL

BUY ANYTHING ELSE

I tried two of these units.... same problems with both, must therefore assume it is poor design..... MP3 xfer Software frequently locks up..... FM tuner locks up..... and the absolute worst TECH. SUPPORT from the Manufacturer I have ever encounter !!!! called 6 times with NO connection (on hold for over an hour), left messages with NO response, emailed and faxed problems with NO response..... Suggest that NO one EVER buy any product from this manufacturer unless you want to be completely ignored.
Final insult to the unsuspecting comsumer is that several features of this unit advertised on the manufacturer's website (voice recorder, backlight lcd, can't use as a USB storage device without having software installed on all computers invovled in file xfer) and this unit seems to not be supported on website...... no firmware or software updates that desperately seem to be needed. Don't get suckered by the low price..... you get what you pay for .... this company should be ashamed to be in business !!!!

I actually bought two of these units about two weeks apart. BOTH units experienced the headphone jack problem described by the reviewer below. The first unit was sent back, and I had the same problems described below - the entire process took EIGHT WEEKS and a lot of phone calls on my part due to lack of response from Digitalway. The second unit broke about day 130 - ten days after the warranty expired. They refused to honor the warranty period despite my explanation that I had the same problem on another unit and I was only 10 days out from the expiration date. They wanted [$] plus shipping to fix their defect, so I took it apart and fixed it myself in less than an hour - virtually no solder on any of the connections. Terrible design and customer service. Shame on you, Digitalway. Too bad, the unit sounds nice when it works.

If I could give a rating of three and half stars, that is what I would give.

Certainly the FY100 is not Digitalway/MPIO's highest priority player -- they have yet to release a firmware upgrade, and considering they have moved on to the FY200, they are unlikely to. Also, their website for the product is misleading -- this model is not the "beautiful square", neither does it have a backlight or voice recording/mic. Furthermore, for expansion, it uses Smart Media Cards, which only run as high as 128 mb.

That being said, for someone who goes to the gym and has a tight budget, it is perfect. Mine worked great right out of the box (although I have read other online tales of people who had problems) It feels substantial, despite its light weight. It also comes with a belt clip -- just attach it to your waistband and forget it is there for the entire workout. It gets quite good radio reception -- better than any Sony product I have tried -- and has 20 presets (although it is FM only). Even though the instructions are in poorly worded English, it only takes a few minutes to figure out how to use (the top button controls most functions, followed by the play button). The included earbuds really lack (as with most players), but even with Sony over-the-ear phones on the "bass" preset, it sounds good even at lower volume.

Would I pay over $100 for this player? Not with the lack of support on MPIO/Digitalway's part. But for someone who just wanted a basic sports player and who did not want to/could not spend a lot of money, it is a good choice.

Hi
This is one of the worst product. First of all it does not have all the features. Navigation is very hard. Does not play all mp3 formats and cannot figure which ones.. think twice before buying.