Customer Reviews

TDK MOJO Portable CD-MP3 Digital Jukebox with 8 Minute Anti-Shock and Artist, Title, Genre, and Album Directory

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

TDK's Mojo is one of the best MP3/CD players out there, with 8-minute anti-skip protection for MP3 and 45-second for CD's. It also comes with impressive software on 1 disc for your computer.

The contents of the disc are as follows: TDK Navitrack Software will allow you to rename MP3 files by copying Artist, Title, and Genre information into the filename; and MusicMatch Jukebox is a music management program for ripping and encoding MP3's.

The requirements for use of this software are fairly minimal, including WIN 95 or higher, pentium 150 or higher, 32 MB of RAM or higher, and a soundcard. The TDK Mojo will also display ID3 tags (Title, Artist, Genre) and FIF (Field in Filename).

Because of this FIF feature on the Mojo, it is fairly easy to create playlists. With some MP3/CD players, I've heard that it is nearly impossible to find the songs you want, or very hard to navigate to them. TDK has solved this problem. If you have a directory structure set up on a CD-RW or CD-R, you can access the songs almost any way you want (e.g. Mojo can display all artists, or all songs by a particular artist, etc.).

The sound is also impressive, as well as the price, for so many features. There are many settings to make the sound better, like EQ settings, bass settings, etc. There are many other features (small and thin size, light weight; big, easy-to-read backlit LCD; hold button, etc.) and good reasons to buy the Mojo instead of another MP3/CD player, but I can't discuss them all. The manual explains everything and guides you through the use of the features in an easy and orderly fashion.

The only thing that bothered me with this product, although a minute bother, was the fact that when playing certain discs, the Mojo would make a quiet droning noise. Don't misunderstand me, though, there is no problem with the unit, it just does that because it is reading the disc so fast in order to read extra data into the memory buffer to eliminate skipping. Overall, I would chose the Mojo first, and second, the Rio Volt because they are the best two out there.

Just got this thing, and I'm generally pleased, however there are few things that I would change about it.

Pros:
Backlit screen is awesome.
Navigation with buttons and in menus is easy and intuitive.
Headphones are not bad though cord is a little short.
Comes with batteries!

Cons:
Contrary to what it says above, you can't navigate by album, it's just Title, Artist, or Genre, or you can navigate through the directory structure. The directory structure navigation is especially useful if you use the following structure: Artist->Album->Songs.

Making a playlist is easy and very useful, but you can't specify any order to the songs in the playlist. With random mode off, they are played in the order they were burned to the CD, which might be annoying if your CD burning software burns the files in an arbitrary order like mine does. This means there is no way to tell the player to play songs in the normal order on an MP3 album. I haven't tried the included software yet, maybe that burns the files in alphanumeric order, I'll report back. I really wish there was a way to queue up songs though.

Renaming all my mp3 files is tedious. The Navitrack software doesn't automate the conversion of mass files to the proper naming format unless the ID3 tags are setup right, and mine are certainly not.

The plug for the AC power source is not the same size as the one that goes with the tape/cig lighter/car kit power plug I have, it's slightly smaller. Why can't they just make them all the same size? Be aware that you may need a TDK compliant car kit. The AC adapter plug also doesn't stay snug, it's a right angle plug, and it likes to turn itself with the cord pointing down, which interferes with the surface it's resting on.

Wow I'm pretty picky. Despite these minor compatability issues and left out features, the player works really well, and what it does offer is pretty impressive for such a low price. The bluish 4-line display and interface really make it fun to browse through your music.

I bought this player to jog with after reading other reviews on Amazon that cited the 8 minute MP3 buffer is good for exercising. Within minutes of going on my first run with it, it stopped playing, and then continued not playing until I stopped running. At the time, it was being carried in a special Panasonic jogging belt for CD players. I've since found that I can jog with it if I hold it in my hand carefully and do not move it very much (if at all), but that's really a pain to do.

The player's interface is great, and I hardly needed the manual. The Navitrack software is not user friendly, and will not easily convert your MP3 files to FIF format--you have to go directory by directory through your MP3s, which is daunting to do with over 10GBs of MP3s on my computer. Also, the instructions do not mention this, but converting your files will render them unreadable in MusicMatch until you re-map the music library after conversion. The FIF format allows the player to easily read the ID3 tag information at the front of the MP3 file, rather than in the back like normal--and allows very easy navigation and custom playlists.

The player is well-built and the sound quality is surprisingly good. It does go through batteries at a greater rate if you do anything other than listen to it without interuption at a low volume; 10 hours is rather optimistic in my experience, so have some extra AAs.

I will use this player in my car and on my motorcycle, but not for jogging. For none-active applications, it will provide hours and hours of great music. Don't buy it jogging (or other active/jarring activities) is one of it's purposes for you--get a solid state memory player instead.

I'm impressed with this - I tried the Rio Volt and Expanium - the skip protection on both the Expanium and the Rio Volt was poor; I use the device primarily when working out, and when I'm on the treadmill, the Rio Volt and Expanium skipped after burning out their relatively short anti-skip memory. The TDK MOJO skip protection is much better. No skipping, even when running full blast on the treadmill! It must be the eight minute memory this thing has when playing MP3's. I'm not sure how the anti-skip is with regular CD's, because I haven't tried it. I do believe that the sound quality is better as well than the Rio Volt and certainly better than the Expanium. There seems to be more clear detail in the music than with either the Volt or Expanium, and it just sounds more full. The headphones are much better, as well. They seemed strange at first, but after figuring out how to use them, they have a little hooking mechanism that holds onto your ear, and they don't slip off - again, great when you're working out and sweating like a pig. I can't say much about the navigation; again, I just basically use it to work out and wanted to have 6 hours of music that I could listen to straight without having to keep changing CD's. So, if you're looking for a) strong anti-skip (i.e., you walk or run while using the device) b) great sound quality and c) very useful headphones that actually stay on your head rather than slipping off, then the TDK MOJO is for you. Again, the navigation I understand is great, but wasn't that important to me, at least now.

I have had my Mojo for almost 2 months now, and I waited that long to write a review so that I can give a fair, accurate account of this player.

You've read about all the pros of this player: great sound, easy navigation, value for money, cool indigo display and many more. Then there are the cons: styling, battery life, CDRW compatibility, skipping, lack of remote and carrying case. I won't focus on those anymore (since they are all true) but will just comment on the features that matter to me.

CDR/CDRW Compatibility - For the record, the manual does say that the Mojo WILL NOT play CDRW formatted for packet writing. AND IT DOESNT just like the earlier reviewer mentioned. I used IN CD to do it and it failed just like the guy mentioned. I then used Nero to REFORMAT my CDRW and use that program to burn the songs and it was fine. You can't blame the Mojo...you just wish TDK put that fine print OUTSIDE THE PACKAGE to warn buyers.
So don't think you can use a CDRW like a floppy; you'll have to use a different software like Nero. NO CDRW PACKET WRITING. Period.

As for CDR types, I tested every type from the cheapest generic ones to the quality CDRs...Mojo plays them all flawlessly! I have also tested its compatibility to WRITE ONCE and MULTI SESSION CDRs...Mojo can handle them both.

DOESN'T SKIP...IT STOPS! This was the worst let down. Please note that the Mojo doesnt claim to be JOG PROOF...because it aint! MP3s will play...during jogging...but when the spin up starts for the next song, it will stop playing until you slow down. So for any exercise, its (Brisk) WALK, DON'T RUN! Sometimes it will play 2 or 3 songs during a run, but it will eventually stop between songs...When that happens, you will have to slow down and wait for it to pick up again. At worse, it will stop in the middle of a song.

AUDIO CDS - I don't know if its just my unit, but the Mojo FAILS TERRIBLY WITH SHOCK PROTECTION FOR AUDIO CDS! BE WARNED! It just comes to a grinding halt with constant jolting. I am not that disappointed since I bought this for the MP3 CDs, and in that area, the Mojo delivers acceptable shock protection.

GREAT SOUND & NAVIGATION! 2 Technical/Electronic Websites compared Mojo Vs. Rio's SP250: both commend Mojo for having better sound and easy of navigation. Thats was an important point for me. And yes, this player has LOTS OF SOUND to put out and EQUALIZATION and BASS BOOST is good. Nice headphones too,...compare that to SP250 notorious earphones (Check out the SP250 reviews). The only thing to really mention is that it does have a 2-3 second gap between songs...so you'll have to be patient.

SOFTWARE - I've used the Musicmatch software to rip CDs and its VERY EASY to use and FAST! Haven't used TDK's Navitrack since renaming the files in FIF format in Explorer was good enough to get the display I wanted on the Mojo LCD. Did I already mention its so fun to watch the display sometimes? Cute Display!

BATTERY LIFE - As the previous ones have already mentioned, GET RECHARGEABLE BATTERIES! One charge will last around 4-5 hours.

HEAD TO HEAD:

TDK MOJO vs. RIO VOLT SP250 - The latter cost more, makes you pay for a not that great FM Tuner (See reviews) and other knick knacks that aren't worth the additional cost. Technical reviews also complain about the weird navigation of the SP250. The only advantage the SP250 has is the remote and I'm not sure how the SP250 performs in shock protection.

TDK MOJO vs. HDD Players - The Mojo costs FAR LESS than those 6, 10 and 20 GB HDD Players. Not to mention, they appear to also skip anyway during jogging. (See Reviews) They are just as big and will eat up batteries twice as fast as the Mojo. I also like the fact that I simply load a CDR with 10 albums and I am off. Mojo delivers value for money!

TDK MOJO vs. 16, 32, 64, 128MB MP3 Players - Size does matter...but blank CDRs cost so much less than memory cards. Plus, if you have a home or car stereo that has an MP3 player, your MP3 CDRs can go from your Mojo to you car, house, and back! Lets see your smart media do that! And let's face it, how can you even compare the Mojo's 10 hours of music to these 2-4 hour ones?

So I rate the Mojo very well and worth your money. Biggest drawback was the skipping, but all the other features still give it an edge over the competition. 4 Stars (due to lack of remote and skipping!)

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! :)

The TDK Mojo was an almost-dream-come-true for me. It's got a great menu system that took me about 5 minutes to figure out. The small display lets you easily navigate thru your songs in a variety of ways, including the directory structure.

Another feature I like is that it seems to play almost any level of encoding. Some other products require you to have it encoded at at least 128K.

The sound quality is excellent. I tested with several headphones and the ones included really do a great job. They are kind of cool looking too.

The only real downer for me was that you cant fast-forward or rewind while listening to an mp3 (although this works with CDs). If I want to hear the end of song, I've got to sit thru the entire thing. That's a feature you'd really expect in an mp3 player.

The price is also pretty competetive, so I'd definitely go for the MOJO. I had to take a star off for the lack of rewind, but compared to the few other mp3 players I've seen, nothing else came close.

I love my Mojo. The ability to play disks of MP3s wherever I go is just so cool. I've got 159 songs on one CD and 138 on another. If you set up your MP3 disk with folders for artists and albums, the Mojo makes it really easy to move around and play what you want.

A word about the FIF format: TDK talks a lot about "converting" your MP3 files to FIF, which scared me at first. "Converting" is the wrong word. FIF isn't a format; it's just a way of naming your MP3s so the Mojo can pick out artists and titles. The Mojo works best if you name your MP3s as "Artist-Title". The Mojo comes with software to help you rename the files, but as you can see it's simple. Most people I know name their MP3s "Artist-Title" already.

FIF is how the Mojo can show you a list of the artists on a disk. It shows you everything before the dash (-) in your filenames. For song titles, it shows you everything after the dash. Works well, but the lists it displays are not alphabetical. I can't find any logic to them. If you've got a disk of 100 artists, it would really help to see them alphabetically, not a jumble.

One real downside to the Mojo is it won't play my Music CD-Rs well. I'm talking about CD-Rs specifically labeled "For Music Only," which I've burned with WAV files. I've got several Maxell ones, and they play fine in every device I have except the Mojo. I've been using these disks for a couple of years, but I'm going to have to switch to standard CD-Rs. I've heard that "Music" CD-Rs don't go through as much testing as multipurpose disks. The Mojo is probably picking up imperfections that all my other CD players don't notice. Multipurpose CD-Rs full of WAV files play fine in the Mojo, so just avoid the disks labeled "Music."

The Mojo could have used some flashier styling. It doesn't look year-2001 at all. But the 4-line display and simple buttons are better than most other devices of this kind. Exception: the volume buttons are up/down on the player, but the volume bar is left/right on the display. I'm always pressing the left/right buttons on the player to change the volume and accidentally changing tracks.

The TDK Mojo is a very solid device with very good skip protection. The display shows ID3 tag data, or the proprietary FIF Navitrack info if you desire. And it's backlit. The control panel is easy to use, menus easy to navigate thru. No compatability issues using MP3 files on CD-RW with Joliet formatting.
The RioVolt has a very fragile feel to the case, and even causes skips when pressing the Volume control buttons. When walking around, the audio glitched tremendously, even if it wasn't real skipping. The control surface was stylish but a pain to use, especially for navigating thru menus. And the little dancing people on the display was a waste of non-nacklit LCD real estate.

I purchased two of these mp3 players. One for myself and one for my son. After one year of use neither player works anymore. I hardly ever used mine, it was kept in excellent condition and kept in a case when not in use. It was never dropped and probably had less that 25 hours of use on it. I had purchased it for road trips. I was very disappointed in this product and will think again before purchasing a TDK product. It stopped working after 1 year. My son's mp3 player did get alot of use but stopped working after 6 months. On both mp3 players it was the same problem. It has difficulty reading CD's. After 1-2 minutes of playing, it simply skips to the next song.. annoying and renders the player useless.

Want to save time? Forget the CD players and get a flash memory unit. Stay away from moving parts! Anyway, here are the gory details...

OK, I liked it at first. It did everything I wanted it to do... -- play MP3s in the car. I fact, I loved it.

But after a couple of months, I found the problems to be so annoying that I have retired it for good.

I just don't think it's a quality machine. I would not recommend it because I have to believe that, with this unit, "if it's not one thing, it's another." The particular problem I had may not occur with all of them, but it's an indication that it's not built well.

#1 problem: My unit constantly stopped playing for no apparent reason. After weeks of frustration, I found that if I squeezed it or smacked it, it would play. I finally figured out that it thinks it has opened up and, therefore, stops playing.

I dismantled the unit (what did I have to lose?) and figured out that the tiny switch -- the one that gets depressed by the protruding thing on the "lid" -- is either not working as a switch or does not get correctly depressed by the lid's switch-pokerizer. I have tried to improve the poking by gluing stuff to the poker to widen and extend it, but it hasn't worked. I think it's the switch that doesn't work...

The point is, it is unfortunate that one stupid part ruins the device. I don't have confidence that this is a well tested, well designed, well built player. Moving parts with low quality equals problems. You definitely get what you pay for.

As I said, if it played without stopping all the time, it would be just fine despite the little annoyances in its design.

Other problems...

#2 annoying problem: Audio CDs play, but none of the functions work with audio CDs. E.G., no 'stop', 'forward', 'back'. Nothing. You have to play the CD all the way through. Period.

#3 ridiculous software: What a pain naming the files. Once you spend many hours doing it, I guess it's handy.

#4 eats batteries. Get the car kit or forget it.