RipFlash TRIO 128MB MP3 Player/Recorder

by PoGo!

Product Details

Product Manual [813kb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 3.3 x 2.3 x 0.4 inches ; 0.5 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00007BKRY
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #259,415 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The RipFlash TRIO combines three products in one ultrathin device that runs on a NiMH "gum stick" rechargeable battery (included). The TRIO is a full-featured MP3/WMA player and MP3 recorder, a digital voice recorder with onboard speaker and microphone, and an FM radio with direct-record capability. RipFlash Direct Encode lets you record from any audio source, without the need for a computer. And while a computer isn't required, you still get USB connectivity to a desktop PC for easy file transfers, and this connection conveniently charges the battery.

The TRIO is business card-size, very slim, and weighs about one ounce, making it one of the lightest MP3 players in the industry. It offers ID3 tag support and a backlit display. Its 128 MB storage holds 36 hours of voice-quality MP3 recording and four hours of near-CD-quality WMA data (two hours of near-CD-quality MP3 record time).

Quick voice messages are a snap using the recorder's internal microphone and VOR (voice-operated recording). 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 headphones, or through any home or car audio system using the appropriate cables. The package also contains a rechargeable/removable NiMH battery and rapid charger, earbud headphones, direct record cable (line-in), USB cable and charger adapter, external lapel microphone, telephone adapter, software CD-ROM, and user's manual.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Overall Product!!, February 4, 2003

By 

J. Romine "jromine11" (Bakersfield, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: RipFlash TRIO 128MB MP3 Player/Recorder (Electronics)

I received the RipFlash Trio about 2 weeks ago and absolutely love it. There are many pros and a few cons, but overall, this is a great product.

Background:
I bought this player specifically to take with me to the gym. I needed something that could last at least 3 hours and play about 20-30 songs. I also needed something that could just fit in my pocket, and able to take some abuse.

Pros:
-Versatile: this player allows you to do anything you want. Record your voice (which I never really use), record from an external source, am/fm radio, and download from your computer.
-Easy: this player is really simple. It took only a few minutes for me to get used to the menu set-up.
-Options: this player allows you to change the eq, shuffle, hold, etc.
-Design: the design is great. It is actually about the size of a credit card (as opposed to many descriptions of it being "business card sized"), and is light weight. It could easily fit into a shirt pocket or even your wallet.
-Software: the software is easy to use and hassle free.

Cons:
-Battery: the battery life is ample for my needs, however charging the unit is kind of an inconvenience. If you want to charge the unit without a computer, you must take the battery out of the unit and charge it in an adapter which plugs into your wall. Personally, I feel that a recharchable battery should be almost fixed into a unit eliminating the possibility of the battery acidentally coming out. The thing about the battery charging from the computer is that there is an adapter that is connected to the usb cord to allow the battery to be charged from the usb port. However, I was unable to load files onto the unit with the adapter attached. So, if you want to load files, you must detatch the adapter and plug in the usb cord directly into a port. It is just more of an inconvenience than anything else.
-Options: ealier I talked about the great options, however there is one option that I wish it had. It does not have any sort of program or selective option to play selected songs from your playlist. So, there are certain songs I enjoy listening to while I am at the gym, but not necesarrily all the time. I am unable to pick and choose the songs I want to listen to at various times.
-External Recording: if you don't have a computer and want to use this unit to record from an external source, I would not reccommend it. Basically the unit records directly from your headphone jack. That means that any sort of feedback or distortions (which can happen through headphone jacks) are picked up onto the unit. The quality and sound just isn't the same as recording from a computer.
-Quality: overall this unit is great, but I'm not sure as to how much abuse it can really take. I have already dropped it once and the battery popped right out.
-Jack: well, the jack for your headphones is a little odd. The unit comes with an adapter for your headphone jack because the unit's headphone jack is smaller than normal. The adapter actually increases the bulk of the unit substantially wich is kind of a pain.

Conclusions:
This unit is an inexpensive mp3 player with great options. It would be nice if it had expandable memory, but I can't complain because I knew what it came with before I purchased it:) 128mb is ample space for my needs anyhow. The batterly life is around 4 hours plus, and is perfect for what I use it for. I did not try the headphones because I use my own set of bang & olufsen headphones with the unit. I would definately buy this product if you want something small, easy, and affordable. I purchased mine for about $.... It has everything you could want, and even things you may never really use. Overall, I would highly reccommend this product.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars U have to take it in ur hand to believe it!!!, December 12, 2002

By 

chandi (Sunnyvale, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: RipFlash TRIO 128MB MP3 Player/Recorder (Electronics)

POGO's TRIO Slim Series MP3 Player/Recorder is truly amazing... I got mine today and it hardly took me fifteen minutes to get it loaded with couple of mp3's. Its a 3-in-1. It has an FM tuner, MP3 player & Voice recording in MP3 format.
It is soooo thin & small that u hardly feel that it is in the palm of your hand... weighing almost an ounce, its unbeleivably the lightest recorder/player in the market.
The sound output quality is terrific and it has 5 pre-set sounds in its equalizer.
The menu is neat & user-friendly except for a few glitches here and there...
The firmware upgrade feature is very cool & I was able to load the latest firmware from their website very easily.
Limitation is its memory. Its just 128MB, but it suits my needs.
With USB 1.1 & their proprietary VR Manager software, upload/download of voice/mp3 files is very easy.
Another key feature is their PC-free mp3 encoding. U just hook up your Tape/LP Player's Line-out to the Line-in & voila!!
U have mp3 files!!
I love this player for its mic-in feature.... & i'm sure, u know why!! :)
Overall a great buy for a reasonable price....

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ripflash Trio, April 4, 2003

By 

Carl L. Hemmi "lhemmi0" (Vicksburg, MS United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: RipFlash TRIO 128MB MP3 Player/Recorder (Electronics)

The Ripflash Trio is everything promised - excellent. There was 1 problem, solved by the Pogo web site FAC Sheet. I had to discard the small UBS jumper supplied to get the Computer/
Ripflash link to work. I have been enthralled by it.