RipFlash PLUS 128MB Digital MP3 Player with Voice Recorder

by PoGo!

Product Details

Product Manual [9.87mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 3.5 x 2.2 x 0.8 inches ; 6.4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00006RVH2
• Item model number: NMP-210R
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #156,488 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The RipFlash PLUS is a first-of-its-kind Flash-memory-based combination MP3 player, MP3 recorder, and voice recording device that actually turns analog audio into high-quality MP3 data--without the need for a desktop PC. This means it's possible to record directly from any audio device, such as a portable CD player, record player, tape player, or even radio, into the RipFlash's 128 MB internal storage. It has a Smart Media Card slot for additional memory, and you can also upload and download MP3s traditionally, using a desktop PC and USB cable.

Quick voice messages are a snap using the recorder's internal microphone. A high-quality stereo microphone (not included) will suffice for recording anything from live music to training seminars. The recordings can be played back through the onboard internal speaker, through the included earbud headphones, or through any home or car audio system using the appropriate cables.

The efficient WMA format provides over 30 hours of voice quality or up to four hours of near-CD-quality music. RipFlash can detect the "gap" between the tracks of a CD when recording, so each song on the CD is saved as an easily identifiable individual MP3 file. The unit is supplied with earbuds, a direct recording (line-in) interconnect, a USB cable, CD software, and an arm band/belt case.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Overall good value for your money., April 26, 2003

By 

Dominic Duncombe "Dom" (the Caribbean) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: RipFlash PLUS 128MB Digital MP3 Player with Voice Recorder (Electronics)

Greetings

I own a RipFlash Plus. I use it everyday and am glad I bought it.

I am a reporter and I use my RipFlash Plus to interview people, record speeches, telephone interviews and listen to music.

I spent months searching for a digital recorder that could do what the RipFlash can. I wanted something that:
- could record voices clearly,
- had a line in for microphones and phone taps,
- could upload recorded files to my computer,
- I could download my mp3 files to.

Here are the things I like about the RipFlash Plus:

It's attractive. The silver and black work are simple, the buttons are well placed and the black surface feels good. The size, shape and design are great. The case fits snugly and keeps the player protected.
The buttons are responsive and still firm after 3 months of daily use and the little rubber USB cover is still going strong.
The on-board microphone is excellent! I don't take my player out of its case during recordings and voices are still crystal clear. I have to depend on the sensitivity of that little microphone a lot and it has not failed me yet. The only danger I have is that the recording might be too loud. I am very appreciative of this feature.
The 128 megabytes is fine. You always want more but if I really needed to I could get a flashcard so it's not a concern.
The A-B/SPD button is great. I can make sections of interviews play over and over to make sure I transcribe them correctly and if necessary, slow them down. This feature was a nice surprise.
The battery life is also good. A pair lasts me about 3 days.
The instructions weren't quite in English but that only got confusing when you were explaining the more technical things such as khs and low/high silence modes.
Overall the RipFlash Plus has many quality ingredients. This product feels like it was designed by someone who planned on using it.

Now for the things that irritate me.

What happened to the sensitivity on the Line In? It's hellishly quiet.
When I use hook-ups with microphones, phone taps, CD players, the recording is always low.
This is a mystery to me since volume is not a problem anywhere else. When I download songs or record interviews I rarely turn the player beyond 13. But recording from line in I can barely hear even when I have turned it all the way up to 20.
I have to record from a phone tap or a speech almost every day. The lack of volume on the Line In makes the RipFlash Plus useless for these. When I cover speeches or announcements, I can hear the recording better if I stand in the crowd and hold the RipFlash than if I plug into the microphone a few inches from the speaker's face. That is ridiculous. A ... RadioShack recorder does better than that. If you include a Line-In make it well amplified.

It takes a long time to move through the menu. I don't mind the few buttons, but I think you folks could have improved the way you access features.
Why didn't they allow back and forth motion through the menu? Having to push the menu button and only being able to move forward is irritating. If you miss the feature you were looking for it can take a while to get back to it and that is not cool when you are rushing to record someone.
You should have been able to move back and forth through the features the way you move through songs. A round scrolling wheel would have been best but you can't have everything I guess.

My RipFlash Plus also likes to randomly freeze. I had an mp3 player before, a Samsung Yep E-64, and it did the same thing. I suppose this is the same kind of problem that makes computers act strange but if not it's a glitch that needs to go.
That said it has never frozen up during recording, only playback so I'm not drastically concerned. If it does start to freeze or act strange during recordings their customer service department and I will move to a first name basis quickly.

I have not used a flash card yet so I can't comment on that.

The RipFlash includes a great collection of features that are hard to find in one package. The ideas and goals of the recorder were great even if they could be better implemented in a few cases.

UPDATE:

I did not remember this review or I would have put this up sooner. Like my Samsung Yep, the Ripflash died suddenly one day. One day it worked and then it didn't. While I was bothered by this I had gotten so much good use out of it that I was not unhappy. I was no longer reporting at the time so I did not look for another recorder but I would have considered getting another Pogo product.

89 of 93 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Software incompatible with XP!, October 19, 2002

By 

Justin D. Held (Cincinnati, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: RipFlash PLUS 128MB Digital MP3 Player with Voice Recorder (Electronics)

If you read reviews for the standard RipFlash, you will find this problem as well. It will work...but it takes a lot of effort. Getting it up and running was a hassle, but I still have to give it four stars because the features are outstanding. More on that later...

The manual is written in broken english, and the software on the CD is outdated. I suggest you ignore both, and go straight to their website for these items (as an aside: this thing is BRAND NEW on the market, why is it shipping with old wares?).

E-mail tech support essentially claimed the incompatibility issues were my fault because I had SP1 installed. Why on Earth wouldn't I install SP1? When Microsoft releases service packs, especially ones that fix major security holes, people generally install them.

Their solution was to remove everything I had installed from the CD (software & drivers), roll back my system, and download the new software from the website, which I did. I then had to replace every occurrence of windrvr.sys on my computer from version 5.05 to 5.20. Next, I installed the new software package.

I plugged in the device (powered on - this seems to be a sticking point), and the new hardware wizard came up. You can't let it install automatically because it won't work. You have to point to the driver folder in the package downloaded from Pogoproducts' website. This product has not undergone windows logo testing (hence all the problems) - but you don't necessarily expect that of smaller companies - so you get a box warning you of this. Next it asked me to point to windrvr.sys (which was previously updated), and once I did that, the drivers were installed.

I gave the machine a number of reboots during this process to make sure all the installations were going through to completion before starting something else. When I finally got the software to start up, it wouldn't recognize my device through front-side USB. I have to use motherboard USB, but other than that, it works. The tech suggested that the front-side USB port may not be providing enough power, and he said he'll look into it.

So that was the install...now comes the actual operation of the device. I love the edition of a backlight...it's an often overlooked feature that helps on many occassions. I'm a college student, so I use the device to record lectures. I gave it a test run today, and I am happy with the results. I loaded about 20 songs (mostly 192kbps), recorded 2.5 hours of class time at the default setting (32kbps), and still have 10+ MB of memory left over. I uploaded the lecture MP3s to my computer and converted them to WMA, which dropped them from 15 to 7 MB. The instructors sound just fine for being 20 feet away from me. It also has a line-in record to create MP3s from any source. Cool!

The music quality is only as good as the files you put in it, but my excellent MP3s had excellent sound. If you want to double your storage capability, convert your MP3s to WMA before loading them. The device will play both, and most people can't tell the difference.

Pros: Backlight, awesome record feature (line-in and voice), small, light, stylish, great sound, battery is showing full charge after 3 days of use, patient support people.

Cons: XP headache, lame but functional software, can ANYONE translate from Chinese to English?!?

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars best gift, December 24, 2002

By 

Guillaume (Montreal, Qc Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: RipFlash PLUS 128MB Digital MP3 Player with Voice Recorder (Electronics)

I got this MP3 player/recorder for a gift and it IS THE BEST. Like the review I haved read here, it is a bit difficult to install. Once the install issues passed (helped by the review talked about), it is a lot of fun to use. Very simple to manipulate and the sound quality is better than I immagined. It is not an home theater system, but for a "walkman", it's pretty good.

I used it to record interviews so I would be able to retype them later, and the quality of playback is more than clear. It makes my day more enjoyable (more time to myself than taking notes).

I had purchased a Sony MD-Player/recorder, for more than 600$, and I realize now that it can't give me half of what the ripflash-plus can give me. Just the fact that the MD-Player has an optical port, can't allow me to upload from the player to my computer. So I had to listen with my headphones an then transcribe to my computer. With the ripflash-plus, and the Red Dragon software (be aware that you need to instruct the software your tone of voice) I play the file on media player and the soft translate it in words........ what a relief!!!

Pros: awesome gadget.
Cons: not easy to install (but it's posible).