Customer Reviews

Mojo MP3 Player 128MB USB Earbud Headphones

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I recently got my TDK Mojo player as a gift and have found it to be a wonderful device. Even better, the TDK online support center is #1 in a world dominated by horrible customer service.

Pros:
-Has very good ear bud volume level, esp compared to other
players

-size is great, easy to pocket (and loose); great for working out

-AAA bat power last pretty long, about 8+ hours with medium writing/file transfer

-easy to lean file system/options

-great connection/sound quality

-customer service is great. just go to TDK's site.

Cons
- feels VERY plastic-y , that is, not solid feeling, i would not be concerned dropping it, or putting it in a bookbag or somthing, but wouldnt want to step on it.

-I have windows XP Pro, fully updated, but my computer did not recognize it as a drive (due to USB card i have, is what i am told). On a whim, i installed the win 98 drivers, and it sprang to life. I checked with TDK via the online chat support, and they confirmed that it was a usb bus thing, and shouldnt be too common. All that only took about 3 mins...
so not really much of a con.

Hope this was helpful.

Pros:

+ small and cute, you can put it on a keychain, or hang it from your neck. orange color really makes it stand out! (a large pouch is included in the package in case you need one)

+ surprisingly good sound. i found this on sale plus a mail-in rebate, so i wasn't expecting much, but the sound quality pleasantly surprised me. there isn't much bass (even in bass mode - see next item), but otherwise the sound is pleasing, and can get very loud.

+ simple EQ. 6 levels: normal, jazz, pop, rock, bass, and user-defined (which just lets you adjust bass and treble). you'll need to get into the navigation menu (by holding down the Select button) to get to these settings, but as you go through each level, the sound changes in real time to let you know! very cool, considering many more expensive mp3 players don't give you this.

+ very easy to set up. i just took it out of the box (hard to cut open, though), inserted the one AAA battery, turned it on, hooked it up to my windows 2000 laptop, and it showed up on the pc as an external storage drive. just drag and drop the mp3 files. no driver needed for windows 2000, windows xp, and mac.

+ yeap, mac-compatible.

+ sharp lcd display, and shows lots of information: volume (0-100), memory usage (%), track title, elapsed time and total time for track, battery status, etc.

+ includes repeat A<->B mode! many high-end players don't even have this.

+ dedicated hold button, just like on your walkman or discman. many high-end players don't have this, either!

+ wma compatible. must be non-copy-protected wma, though. so you can't buy music from walmart and play it.

+ navigation menu easy to use once you get the hang of it.

+ lots and lots of features for something so small and simple. just amazing.

Cons:

- does not play copy-protected wma

- skimpy manual, but at least it's in good english

- navigation menu seems confusing at first.

- non-expandable memory (116MB as reported by windows)

Other comments:

> no software provided; you can download windows 98 driver and free desktop player on tdk's website

> use your own earphones, of course

> not sure about how durable this is. tdk is a japanese (?) brand, but player made in china

> seriously, it's really cute

Verdict:

i think this is a good value, probably as a secondary mp3 player (e.g., when you want to listen to your favorite music when sitting on the toilet and don't want to drop your ipod into the abyss) or for kids and that girlfriend who really doesn't listen to a lot of music beyond britney spears.

It worked great, until one day it didn't, and I can't read the error message, and I get no help from tech support. I tried to download the firmware upgrade, but it was nowhere to be found.

All in all, it is a good MP3 player for the prize (as long as it works), and it doubles as a portable storage device.

Also, I am not a big fan of the cable connection. It means cerrying the cable around if you want to use it as a flash drive, and make sure you don't lose it.

will not play the new DRM WMA files that you download from places like walmart.com or other online music stores........if your not sure, read the sites FAQ'S/HELP to see if it can only play on DRM equipped players....

If you're looking for a cheap alternative then Mojo is the right choice. I was looking for a MP3 player that was light and small and I didn't want to spend too much on it since I'm hoping to get an iPod soon. All other alternatives I had seen were too expensive to be worthwhile or didn't have a screen. How can you buy an MP3 player in which you don't know what's playing??!!?? this small player has an incredible amount of information, it's incredibly small, includes interesting functions and works with drag and drop like a breeze. Battery life is 12 hours as promised. The cons are basically the headphones (better use your own) and I found the maximun volume a bit low. All in all, it's definetly an excellent choice (you can use it as a pen drive if you get tired of the MP3 functions)

This only comes with 120mb of memory. You can't add a flash to expand it. This is the only shortcoming, but you should be able to find this for a better price on the web, and if you can you'll find it a good buy. It has good sound for all kinds of music. I listen to lots of pop and I find the Mojo great to have. It also doesn't skip when I jog or walk my doggie. I like it lots.

Please note that this is the Mojo X model, and it DOES NOT HAVE FM RADIO OR EXPANSION FEATURES. Hopefully, the description will be updated soon. I purchased one, but did not open it, so I cannot comment on it, other than the fact that there appeared to be no labels at all on the tiny buttons. Judging by the manual you can download from http://www.tdk.com/ it does seem to be an easy-to-use player, and the price can't be beat.

The nice things about the TDK Mojo are the FM player, the small size, the good looks, SD card slot, and reasonable price. However, these are more than offset by the problems the Mojo has with Software setup and ease of use. In order to use the device you have to install 4 things: (1) An MP3/Music program like Real-One, Window Media, etc. (2) The included Software, (3) The included Plug-ins for Real-One/Windows Media Player/or iTunes, and (4) the USB driver. The installation manual tells you how to install the first 3, but not the 4th, which took me a while to figure out. It's not hard if you're used to installing new devices on your PC, but this should have been described in the manual. The Installation shell has a number of bugs I wouldn't expect from even a high school programmer. For example, sometimes clicking on step "3" will cause Step "2" to run instead, depending on what you moused over last. Sometimes mousing over a Step (it's a 4-step installation process) doesn't enable the step. Once everything is installed, it still requires 2 programs for day-to-day use - one program to take your CD's and convert to MP3 (or, to buy MP3's over the web), and the included TDK program for uploading your music to Mojo. This program, too, has many bugs. It hangs from time to time. A friend of mine bought the 256MB version, and had even worse problems with intallation. It took me 90 minutes to get everything installed and working properly and get my first CD loaded into MOJO and playing. Compare this with about 15 minutes for my daughters IPOD-mini, which she got for Christmas. Plus, the iTunes software does everything - it's a music store, uploader, compressor ... the works. Very easy to use, and bug-free. Quite a contrast, now that I've been through both.

As far as the Mojo itself, the availability of the SD card slot is great. You can buy a 1GB card on-line or at Sam's (haven't done this yet) for $75 and store tons of music. The unit is small and lightweight. But, the display is very small and hard to see, and the labels for the side buttons are on the BACK of the unit. Now who would do that? You're normally looking at the front of the unit, where the display is. If you want to see which button is volume, or mode, or skip forward/backward, you have to memorize it, or, turn the unit over to see the labels, then flip the unit back to see the display.

Good user design is not a class normally taken by engineering students nor computer scientists, and unfortunately, it shows in so many consumer products, including the TDK Mojo. After just buying my first Apple product (an Ipod mini for my daughter), and now the TDK Mojo, it's like night and day. One (Ipod Mini) is extremely easy to set up and a joy to use. The other is tedious to set up, with much fiddling and working around bugs, and is fussy to use. My guess is that once you've used the Mojo for a few days, and if you continue to use it, you'll memorize where the buttons are and it will feel less fussy.

Ok I wasn't expectin FM on this since this model is inexpensive. It has good sound to boot, and the orange color does attract attention. I just wish it had USB 2 not the older, slower USB 1 technology. Otehrwise I'm a happy user.

To put it simply.... the Mojo MP3 player cannot play DRM enabled wma files (files you legally download from popular music sites). This was not disclosed in the Amazon.com description or the TDK information. I did not learn this until I wrote to TDK support. Then, it was too late for me to return to Amazon to get refund. It is now sitting in a drawer. What a waste of money. Will make me think again from purchasing online. I was so excited about this purchase... what a bummer.