Customer Reviews

MPIO 20GB Audio Player Memory Hard Drive - HD300 20G

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

 

 

The HD300 sounds as good as it looks but it's a bit of a bumpy road to get there. I just got one for Christmas and it took me nearly an hour to figure it out, but now that I have - I simply can't leave home without it. The design is simple and sleek, not too big and not too small and it's very attractive. The sound is rich and vibrant with good highs and lows. The FM tuner picks up stations better than my car radio and the voice recorder is definitely a plus. You can also patch it to a cd player or radio and it automatically encodes the files to mp3 format. It also plays all the music formats I have.

But as much as I love this MP3 player, I do have several complaints: The first is documentation - It's poorly written and lacks detail. Second it ships with an installation CD that does not even include the right software or utilities. the original firmware is buggy so if you buy the HD300 - make sure you download and install the latest firmware (1.20.03 fm/on) before you start building your music library. It's available at www.mpio.com. It's not explained very well but to upgrade the firmware you simply add 4 files to the system folder and restart the player. If it doesn't take, use a paper clip to reset the player and start again. I had to make several attempts to install the new firmware but once it was done, it's been virtually problem free. You simply drag and drop music files into the music folder, then use the MPIO utility to scan the files so it can create artist and album lists. The touch scroll is intuitive but also very sensitive. You'll need to practice a light tapping motion to navigate between music files and longer ones to access other functions. The player basically functions as a removable USB hard drive so you can use it to transport any kind of file. Another minor complaint is that even though the brushed aluminum casing feels sturdy the mirror finish on the frontface does pick up a lot of fingerprints, otherwise it does everything you would want an mp3 player to do. I give the HD300 an 8 out of 10. It would have been higher if Digitalway had a more user friendly website, better firmware documentation and a better written user manual. If you don't have qualms about initial setups and are willing to enter a learning curve, it's a great sounding, great looking piece of technology. I used to adore my friend's 20 gig IPOD but after listening to mine, I definitely wouldn't trade.

My main criteria in searching for a new mp3 player was the fact that it is NOT an ipod. therefore, i of course had a huge list of players to search through...on a limited budget. I saw this in best buy and immediately took a liking to it. The player is much more solid than an ipod, the whole casing is aluminum. The interface is very well developed as well, and the utility included with it scans the music you put on it and makes playlists automatically...This caused a few problems because i didnt have my ID3 tags updated...simple fix though. The touch sensors are amazing, i love being able to know where everything is without taking the unit out of my pocket. It's true, the original firmware is horrible, but once it's updated it works perfect. Sound quality is amazing, however the headphones included with it flat out stink. I'd also like a real carrying case for it (the package says "carrying case" but means "belt clip") as for features, this thing is second to none. Extremely satisfying, and my ipod owning friends say its "sexy".

I bought this MPIO 300 in 2005, in an airport in Argentina. It fell of the counter last year and stopped working. It took me a while until I got in touch with the customer service by e-mail, my fault. Then I sent it by mail and got it back in a few weeks fully recovered. Thank you very much. Overall I find it easy to use and great relation cost-value.

I have had so many problems with my HD300, you wouldn't believe it! The software of this thing is incredibly buggy (so I've heard from friends, also about other MPIO products) and MPIO cannot be reached.

Even if you have a guarantee, an MPIO guarantee is basically FAKE:

MPIO ignores ALL customers' attempts to contact them!

I'd AVOID MPIO products like THE PLAGUE; better buy something from the iriver brand!

I was so excited at first when i opened the package of my mpio 20gb mp3 player. Documentation is bad and provides little information how to operate it properly. The unit almost always hangs when you touch the slider at once when shifting from radio to mp3 music. then i have to use a paper clip to reset and start again. But this erases my preset radio stations. Upgraded firmware didnt help also. Nice clear sounds though. Sturdy body. Nice blue backlight. Battery life too short. Got so annoyed about the constant hanging of the unit, that i sold it to someone and got myself an i-river H320 which can play videos, show photos, record radio or external source.

I have one of these as well as a MPIO FY200. I use the FY200 for the gym and use the HD300 as a more general player. The sound quality is fantastic, it is solidly built, and it has very good battery life. I highly recommend this player - I simply love mine.

With the new support forums at mpioWorld (www.mpioworld.com), things are looking even better.

This is a masterpiece...

I seriously loved it the moment i saw it...

Now i love it more the moment i used it...

controls are easy and simple...

You just have to understand how to work things out before u use it.. or else ull be lost n ull screw things up...

anyways... the software.. yes.. it sucks.. its a fact.. but once u update it and get the hang of it... its really cool... better than IPod...

I dunno wat else to say coz u cant express something dat is great...

BuYYY IT!
Im Hypnotizing You! Buy IT before its too late!!!!!!!!

I L-O-V-E this player. I must say it has taken me a while to feel this way, but my perseverance paid off. The instructions are lacking in every way and the software needs upgrading immediately. BUT take time to get to know the player, and you too will love it. It supports wma files unlike the ipod and for windows users it is easy to rip your music onto windows media player and then drag you files from C drive into the HD300. Listen to them in the MUSIC file and they are perfectly catalogued for your listening pleasure. No need to even install mpio utility. In fact no need to install any of the discs provided. Just upgrade the firmware which can be downloaded from the Mpio website. Besides being a great player the HD300 comes with an excellent FM Tuner built in, as well as an FM recording feature, a voice recorder, alarm and sleep features.You can also record directly into the HD300 from other sources such as vinyl and tape using the direct encoding. I play mine through my stereo set as well as a smaller set of powered speakers (JBL Creatures) and the sound quality is AWESOME! If you are in the market for an MP3 player look no further. This one wins hand down.

My experience was with the 40 GB version of the HD300. Mine died within a couple of weeks, after I had used it only a dozen times. I suspect the hard drive gave up the ghost, as it froze on boot and couldn't be powered off or anything -- I had to wait for the battery to run down overnight.

I found the touchpad and navigation usable but not wonderful. I liked the fact that the HD300 shows up on a computer as a USB mass storage device and songs can be transferred by drag and drop, but was disappointed to find that I still had to run an application on my computer (called MPIO utility) in order to be able to search songs on the player. I was also quite bummed to find that the HD300 has no support at all for custom playlists.

I got one of these for Christmas and have spent the last few weeks trying to get it to work. There are several major flaws i'd like to point out,

-The original firmware is aweful and causes the HD300 to freeze up constantly.
-The instruction on how to upgrade the firmware are incorrect. You can eventually dig up the proper way on the internet, and it can be doen in just 8 or so steps involving multiple file copying and windows, but who wants to do all this?
-The program that came with it is not the proper program for it, so half the functions don't work.
-Once you get past all the freezing problems, and updating problems, then it has all these weird track recognition problems.
-The instruction manual is completely useless and in most cases wrong. I believe they just adopted manuals and software from a different product and never really tested anything.
-I pushed the reset button on mine and it doesn't even boot up anymore, I guess I have to take it back