Customer Reviews

Frontier Labs NEX iA 1 GB MP3 Player

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

I received this item as a christmas gift and was surprised at how small it is. It is slightly heavier than the RIO 35S player or the smaller ones but note that this has a tad more features than the other ones. It comes in at approx 3 ounces without batteries. With batteries, it still a bit lighter than more cellphones and smaller, too.

PROS:
1) Can act as storage for other files. It will just show up as a removeable drive in XP without driver installation much like most Digital cameras. Drag and drop ease in storing files unlike some MP3 players that cannot do that

2) No proprietary software or drivers. The disadvantage of players like RIO's is that you have to use their Jukebox software to transfer music. This forces you to have the software with you when you need to bring it to another PC to load MP3s.

3) Firmware upgrades. I just received my player and I immediate upgraded the firmware with ease (drag and drop!) and got new features instantly after I rebooted.

4) Compactflash storage. The cheapest of all portable solid state storage and most expandable ones. It can accept Type I/II and Microdrives allowing it to take up to 2 GB of music --- READ: no skip music unlike the hardrive based ones like IPOD, or the other JUKEBOXes.
5) Feature rich: Shuffle, 5 EQ controls + 1 custom EQ, large display, and automatic sorting.

CONS:
1) Flimsy controls. Felt like they were saving a little bit on the components.
2) Compactflash loading slot - They should some kind of mechanical door for the CF slot because like other people said, it feels like it's a bit too flimsy and could break.
3) USB 1.1 slow transfer --- way slower than USB 2.0 which is why I'll end up buying a USB 2.0 Complactflash reader writer for less than ten bucks.
4) Manual - I wish they had put more stuff in the manuals for people that are less technical.

Overall, This player is solid, very easy to use, light enough for me to buy an armband and hook this up with so I can run with it! Hope this review helps.

OK I only paid $120 for the thing on sale from Amazon but the price is now back to $269. At that price, do not even consider this player.

Pros - sturdy construction, easy to use menu, good backlighting, decent equalizer, drag & drop download.

Cons - Heavy with 2AA's, slightest bump makes it skip even with "hold" button on, constantly freezes (must remove battery to reset) and usb 1.1 microdrive is as slow as a glacier.

Do not get suckered by the extra bells & whistles (CF card usage, built in microphone & FM radio). These things will have no value in the long run to anyone as the primary reason for buying an MP3 player is to play MP3's. On that function, this player sucks big time. The 1 gig microdrive never let me load more than 540 megs of mp3's. I kept getting a "disk full" pop-up once that limit was reached. Frontier support said to reformat disk and try again (this exchange occured via email as Frontier has no live person support). I did this 2x with no change. Also, the microdrive is as slow as molasses. I kid you not, it takes about 5 hrs to download 540 megs of files. You will be at it all day. Take my advice and skip this piece of junk.

Having been a fan of their previous model, I gave the nex IIa a try. I heard it was able to support a 4gb microdrive, so I was able to get a drive on ebay for 135.00. I am happy to confirm that the nex IIa does handle 4gb microdrives with no problem. I use a cf card reader to drop and drag my mp3's and wma's. The Nex IIa works great with the 4gb drive. However, due to the size of the drive and the limited processing power of the Nex, it takes about minute and a half for it to load up before you can start playing it. It is a bit buggy with the larger drive. Too much ff or skippping through songs can cause it to freeze up. I just put it on shuffle play. Starts faster with smaller drives though. There is no comparison to an Ipod. Ipod is far easier to use, the controls and the ability to scroll instantly and intuitivly through large numbers of files is simply not the case in the nex IIa, but if you want a rather sturdy and no nonsense mp3 player, with changeable drives, the ability to use rechargeable or disposable batteries, this isn't bad at all.

I bought the player and it seemed like a great deal at the time.

I had a hard time to get the microdrive flap open. The unit is nice but everything has that cheap plastic feel to it - like you would want to handle it very carefully lest something snaps off. After putting the microdrive and batteries in, it was pretty heavy considering the weight before that.

The USB 1.0 transfer is just so SLOW... It took 6 hours, yes 6 to load 550 MB of songs on it. That is its WEAKEST point.

Radio tuner is lame and you wont get a decent signal unless your'e standing infront of the radio station building.

The unit also guzzles batteries down like an SUV.

It crashes/freezes very often and to get it started again you have to remove the batteries and put thenm back in - a very annoying procedure.

Good qualities: Sound is very good. The backlight is bright. The remote works fine.

In the end it is a good looker with no performance.

Going to be jogging/running? Get a flash based player.
Not going to be jogging/running? Get a drive based player.

First one I got worked for 1 min. then the nav. stick would not go up, even w/ the remote so I had to exchange it. Using 2100Mah NiMH batteries worked for a couple of months then it just kept freezing even w/ new batteries. Suffice to say I have to use alkalines now. Battery life is poor, about 8-10 hours w/ alkaline batteries. I'm looking for an iRiver (17hrs avg. play time on 1AA battery). For 2AA bateries I expect better life. Updated firmware helped bugs but not battery usage even w/ the backlight off all the time.
compact flash door is a but flimsy but I keep it in the included case so it is not much of an issue. Radio recording is okay but the reception sucks and is restricted to 64kbps only. I don't use the voice recording but if I went back to grad school I'm sure I would.

Sound is extremely good but not w/ the included headphones. Use your own. User EQ is a nice feature but every player has that now. I've had this Nex IA since Summer 2003, a month after it was released. Too bad there is no better compact flash based player w/radio. Compare the features of this player and the iRiver 390T or 395T series players and you'd be willing to give up the compact flash player for it, especially for the ability to encode to MP3 at any bit rate w/ line in.

I thought that I could use this as an all around MP3 player but am restriced to using it only when jogging/running because of the battery life.

Pros: Great sound w/ other headphones (SQL and SPL), Nice display, compact flash based if you use compact flash memory a lot for digital cams and USB memory, nice white/acrylic look.

Cons: Too many freeze ups, Poor battery life for 2 AA, flimsy construction, Poor radio reception, old for its time. There are better alternatives but unfortunately no alternatives if you are looking for compact flash based players.

Great sound quality, loud, good remote, easy setup. Headphones sound OK, but I use smaller ones. Voice memos and radio recording quality is poor as well as FM reception, but I love the concept. This still seems to be the best CompactFlash (CF) card MP3 player.

I bought this gadget without any memory because I had several CF cards for my digital camera, so whenever I'm taking tons of digital pics I can still use its card if I run out of space; in the evening it all gets loaded into (or from) the laptop anyway...

This device has no moving parts when used with a regular solid state CF card. I dropped it several times; once it hit the ground so hard that the batteries and the CF card fell out, and people around me probably thought I was faking it when I picked up the pieces, put them back together, powered it on and continued listening and exercising. It still works flawlessly, probably because plain CF cards have an operating shock rating of 2,000 G's and can store data for over 100 years.

I prefer not to use the thicker, shock-sensitive microdrive cards (CF II) which consume more power and reduce battery life.

Speaking of batteries, do our planet and yourself a favor and buy a set of 2 or 4 rechargeable NiMH AA's batteries and a charger if you already don't have one. It's best if you can find the AA's with 2500 mAh or greater capacity, but almost any NiMH cells will give you much longer battery life with both microdrive and CF cards. While connected to a PC, NEX iA uses the USB power, so the batteries are preserved for standalone operation.

However, I don't usually connect the unit to my PC because I have a CF card reader and just manually drag & drop MP3's and create and organize folders. Cards over 256 MB w/ large number or files need some subfolder organization by artist or album for easier navigation.

As with most MP3 players, there is no mic or line in jack, but I doubt I'd want to use it with this recording quality.

The designers should consider fixing the shuffle mode so it could also work within a chosen folder instead of only with all the files on the device (maybe it's coming with a new firmware upgrade?)...

I can definitely recommend this gizmo to technically inclined consumers who already have CF card(s). It could use improvement in voice recording and FM reception, but the core mp3 player is good engineering and has great sound quality.

The player is pretty good in general. The sound quality is excellent, fairly easy to use. The firmare was a bit buggy but Frontier Labs now has an upgrade on their site. I just downloaded it and it offers a few fixes. Hopefully, they improved on a generally good product. Among the flaws are the memory card door that just wouldn't stay closed, the battery indicator that is virtuallty useless - the player goes dead with the indicator showing the battery 75% full. And absence of a belt clip on the pouch. The download time through a USB port is pretty long, but then I have a 512 meg CF card that takes 10-15 min to fill. I bought a CF card PCMCIA laptop adapter which is much faster for loading files. The player also doubles as a protable storage device - you can drag and drop any files on it. Also, a bit bulky for jogging.
Overall, very versatile device with great basic functionality and sound quality. CF cards now come up to 1 Gig, giving plenty of storage on an industry standard memory card.

the player is working fine only if u upgrade the firmware. but in my package, there is a missing ac/dc adaptor and the remote is not working at all. and for replacing the remote, i hav to ship it all the way to hong kong which will cost me extra bucks unnecessarily. there is no direct contact number for the customer care in US and the email support is not good. i wanted to return the item initially but i am impressed by the quality of the mp3 player at this cheap cost. i got so much irratated by the customer care of the manufacturer because of which i am giving only 3 points. so if u get ur player and accessories correctly in ur initial package, its very good. otherwise the customer care really really sucks.

update:- the player is working really good except for the battery indicator. the player stops functioning even when the battery indicator shows that half battery is still remaining. voice recorder is also very good.

This worked farily well for about 6 - 8 months, although it would often lock up and need the batteries removed to restart, usually because it didn't like the CF card. Reformatting would fix it for a while, but it was a pain. I wouldn't work with most cards over 256MB, except PNY. Recently, the screen suddenly went dark blue, and even removing the batteries won't fix it. It won't reload the firmware, either, so it basically toast. Glad I only paid 30 something dollars for it.

[...]

This is my first time to buy a MP3 player. I chose the NEX IA because it looks nice and its not that expensive. And I have to say I made the right decision. I mainly use the player when I take the train to work. Surprisingly, the sound from the NEX IA was both very clear and loud. Compared with the MD that I had before, the sound from the train did not drown out my music. With my MD, I could hardly hear anything.

The operation of the player was very simple. There was no need to read the manual at all. every buttons were self intuitive. The 256MB memory could store close to 3 - 4 hours of music which is plenty for me.

The construction of the player is also very sturdy. I dropped it couple of times and the player still functions without a flaw.

So all in all, I am pleased with my purchase and I recommmend it to everyone who is looking for a portable music player.