| Brand Name: | I-Jam |
| Number of Items: | 1 |
Product Specifications
Technical Details
- Ultracompact portable MP3 player
- Built-in FM stereo tuner scans through available stations
- Individual bass and treble controls
- 2 16 MB MultiMediaCards provide up to 30 minutes of music playback
- PC compatible only
Product Details
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Product Description
MP3newswire.net
The size of a pager, the I-Jam is the smallest MP3 player presently shipping. What's more, the player turns out to be a pretty darn good unit that showcases the convenience and strengths of the MP3 format over established analog and digital formats. We are impressed overall with the results, though there was one particular shortcoming.
The Hardware
The I-Jam sells for $150 and for that you get a 32MB unit with an FM tuner. Running on two AAA batteries, the player comes in a choice of 5 colors; Black Rhino, Silver Bullet, Lemon Drop, Razz Jazz Red, and Chi-Town Blue. As a bonus, the I-Jam also comes with a $50 gift certificate from Emusic, which, at $0.99 a song, is a great way to start a music library made up of established artists.
The player comes with a parallel port flash card drive for downloading the tunes. This winter, the I-Jam will offer an optional USB cable for the unit that will not only offer speedier downloads, but with added software, make the unit Mac-compatible. With 2.5 million iMac users out there, this helps expand Apple owner's limited MP3 options.
Getting started: A-
The I-Jam uses an external memory card drive that attaches to both the printer and keyboard ports using a pass-through cable. The user downloads MP3 files directly to MultiMedia Flash (MMC) cards, and then inserts the card into the player. It took us only a moment to attach the cables.
The tiny MultiMedia flash cards that the I-Jam uses are 1/4th the size of the CompactFlash cards found in the RCA Lyra and half the size of the SmartMedia cards found in the Rio. MMC flash allows the I-Jam to take on its diminutive dimensions. There is a trade off to using these small cards as they are limited to a capacity that presently tops out at 16MB (in comparison, Delkin just started shipping 224MB CompactFlash cards). Larger capacity MMC's are on the horizon.
The I-Jam comes with two 16MB flash cards for a total of 32MB of memory.
We loaded the drivers for the external card drive and downloaded several MP3 files to one of the flash cards. An icon appears for the drive in Windows Explorer and you download files to the card the same way you transfer files to a floppy disk. You can't get more basic than that and, frankly, there is a virtue to such simplicity, even if it seems a tad crude when compared to some of the elaborate interfaces in competing MP3 units.
Files downloaded quickly, about 15 seconds per track. The I-Jam has no internal memory, using flash chips to store all files. As higher capacity flash chips become available, the unit's storage potential expands, thus avoiding obsolescence due to limited memory.
The I-Jam comes with MusicMatch Jukebox, one of the best programs available for ripping and encoding your favorite CD tracks into the MP3 format.
Controls: A-
The I-Jam has small, but well laid out, controls and we had no problem manipulating the buttons. Considering how petite the unit is, we feel the manufacturer did a good job with the key layout. A hold button is offered to avoid accidental key triggering.
The Display: C -
The small one line display is the I-Jam's weakest link. The text isn't all that clear and we sometimes had to tilt the unit to read it because of side glare. The backlight didn't help all that much either, a further disappointment. The unit does not display the file name or any ID3 info. It just shows track1, track2, etc. when in MP3 mode.
Sound: A
The unit itself gave us excellent sound. The player offers tone and bass control which is better than the 3 or 5 tone presets (Jazz, Pop, Rock, etc.) competing portables offer. The earbuds that came with the I-Jam did an OK job, but we noticed a significant improvement when we shifted over to the Sennheiser MX-4 earbuds, especially in the bass. We recommend upgrading the ear and headphones on almost all of the units we have tested so far, so rather than count against it in the scores, we simply suggest buyers incorporate the cost of a pair of Sony or Sennheiser buds, about $15-$20, when pricing units.
Conclusion
The I-Jam's greatest virtue is it's size and that's what sets this player apart from the competition. The unit offers great sound in a tight, light package, which should make it a favorite of joggers and anyone else big on daily exercise. If the smallest unit obtainable is what you want, look no further than the I-Jam.
There is a cost to these modest dimensions and that comes in the form of a substandard display, which despite the limited acreage on the unit's faceplate, could have been better.
The FM radio is another plus as it allows music to continue to flow after the user runs through all the MP3 tunes. The player's ability to preset three stations is an added convenience. With the I-Jam presently running around $150, it's the least expensive unit to offer this option.
Final Score: B+
-- Richard Menta
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Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
86 of 87 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Viewed at Comdex,
By
This review is from: I-Jam IJ-100-32BK 32MB MP3 Player Plus (Black) (Electronics)
I saw this item at this years Comdex event in Las Vegas. The size and features of the I-Jam unit are Awesome, after sampling the audio (cd quality +), and seeing, and feeling how small, and light, yet rugged it is, I knew I had to own one.. Having the luxury to create my own play list from dragging and dropping the mp3 files from my desktop to the memory card is a great feature. I would agree a 32mb card would be nicer than two 16 mb cards, but the 16 mb cards will hold 4 cd quality mp3 files, or 6-8 downloads off the net. I think this unit is by far the best MP3 player in the sub $200 range, it comes will the software and interface device that lets you connect to your pc and download to the memory card the mp3 files you want to listen to... Mine uses the printer port, I think soon they will releasing a USB model.
55 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very portable and with an FM stereo too!,
By val (Seabrook, NH) - See all my reviews
This review is from: I-Jam IJ-100-32BK 32MB MP3 Player Plus (Black) (Electronics)
The I-jam portable mp3 player is the most affordable (and available) mp3 player with an FM tuner. The sound quality is excellent for such a portable unit. The one improvement might be the inclusion of 1X32 Mb card instead of 2X16 Mb cards. Overall, I am extremely pleased with my purchase!
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great entry level player with pros and cons.......,
By Ryan Marsh (Joplin, MO United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: I-Jam IJ-100-32BK 32MB MP3 Player Plus (Black) (Electronics)
I was really skeptical when I ordered this player. Here's how I felt when I got it:This has to be the smallest player I've seen. You can easily fit it in your shirt pocket and it'll never get in your way. As for the memory: You get 2 16MB cards, which will hold about 4 songs each. It only takes one card at a time, so don't get upset when you can only have 4 songs in the unit at once. As for the songs, you can't play anything with a bit rate over 128 )it'll sound real bad), so keep that in mind. You may have some good music that won't play on this unit. But, I've found I can get any song I want at that rate. This has a real nice case with a big drawback: The cards fit in the bottom of the unit, and the case doesn't have a hole in it. You have to take it all the way out of the case to change the card. The headphones are okay, but I'd pick up some others if I were you for better sound. The FM tuner would be great if you could pick up stations. The sound is good, but stations are hard to get on this little unit unless you are reasonably close to the radio tower. The sound quality is great, and it goes loud too. The bass and treble controls are also great features, especially if you hook this player up to a car cassette adapter. They allow you to fine tune the sound for the best experience. The 2 AAA batteries seem to last good. I'm using the Energizer Rechargable NiMH system they sell here at amazon. Now, the display on the i-jam is less than perfect. It doesnt display the song you are listening to, its hard to read, and the backlight floods out the digits when its dark. You'll keep your sanity with it, though. You can't skip thru songs (fast forward), you can just play them in whole, or go to the next one. All in all, I'm very happy with this player. It was well worth the money I paid. I hope in the future they will have larger cards (64 or 128 MB) that we can afford to buy. If you want a good, rugged, entry level player with some great features, go for it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Ryan
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