Customer Reviews

I-Jam IJ-100-32YL 32MB MP3 Player Plus (Yellow)

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ADVANTAGES : Exceptionally Small, FM Radio, Easy to use PC software. DISADVANTAGES : Radio is awkward to tune, and the reception is poor. 32Mb of memory for MP3 files is just not enough, Volume control is poor, making it impossible to play at low volumes.

Everything about this MP3 Player is awesome except the memory. It's so small you can stick it in your pocket! The sound quality is excellent - however mp3 quality must be 128kpbs or below. I tried mp3s recorded at 160kpbs and 192kpbs and it sounded terrible - stick to the 128kpbs norm. The controls and display are fine. The multimedia card reader is great! This saves you the time of connecting and disconnecting your player to the computer. The mm reader is always hooked up and all you do is insert the card and copy files over. Then take the card and put it in the mp3 player and your ready to run. These are the features that make this player better than all the rest. Now to the problem... It comes with two-16mb memory cards (only 15mb available btw) and you can only use ONE card at a time. Which means 3-4 songs! Not only that, but it's a trick to find the right combination of songs that will be under 15mb in total size. I bought my I-JAM to use while working out and 3-4 songs just isn't enough. You can bring the additional card with you and change it - but that's a pain. The nice alternative is the FM tuner. Once my 3-4 songs are over, I just turn on the radio (or listen to mp3's again!). They do sell a 32mb card I believe, but it probably costs as much as the player did.

I recieved the player yesterday after getting it as a gift from someone who bought it during the promo. I have to say, this is a fantastic player! The volume is good and loud and crisp without distortion when it needs to be, and the softs are still crystal! The I-Jam technology even makes mp3's encoded at 64 Kbps sound much better than they do in Winamp. What a great deal! 30 bux for this little sucker! The promo made it possible to spend that extra money on a 64 meg MMCard :)

The only disadvantages (if you have to purchase it full price, this would probably matter): Two 16 meg MMCards, not a 32 meg card. The display only uses "TR-01, TR-02, etc..." Titles from the ID3 tag would be nice, but it's not neccessary. Also, there's no way to put them in the order you want besides copying the songs in that order.

Other than those little setbacks, this is a GREAT player.

If you are rich as hell, go ahead and buy it. But for the price your paying for this, you could get a great Mini Disk player, and even plenty of discs for over 2,000 minutes of recording time. Dont believe me? Goto the Mini Disc section and do the math! Even better, you can record mp3's onto the MiniDisk players, you can also record your voice, your playstation/N64/Dreamcast, VCR, TV, Radio, Tape, everything! I almost bought an mp3 player, and im glad i didn't. MP3's are too expensive compared to Mini-Disks, and if you look at the Mini Disk trend right now, its exactly like the CD trend 10 years ago. They are already making Mini Disk drives fro computers to store info. Just check out the Mini Disks before you buy this, trust me, you'll thank me. If you have any questions, email me, Ill answer them asap!

Just a few points. You get 2 16 meg cards but only one slot so you have to keep swapping cards. It's not like the Diamond Rio that can store 2 cards at once. FM feature is a plus. The instructions are very skimpy and poor. The software will crash Explorer if you pull the card out while Explorer is open. For about $30 net of rebate, it's a good buy but not a great one. You get what you pay for.