Digitalway MPIO FL100 128 MB MP3 Player

• 128 MB built-in memory
• 3-line, backlit, full-graphic LED display shows track information in several languages including English, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese
• Features built-in FM tuner and microphone for voice recording
• Includes manual, set-up CD-ROM, USB cable, earphones, AA battery, carrying Case, and hand strap
• Compatible with Windows 98, 2000, ME, XP, and MacOS X

This player met all of my qualifications:

#1. It's very small. Inside the included belt clip it looks exactly like a pager. You could easily keep it in your pocket or wear it around your neck with the include strap. For me the IPOD wasn't even an option because I wanted my MP3 player to be pocket-sized.

#2 There's no hard drive. The FL100 uses flash memory so there's no chance of skipping during exercise, etc. I don't care what the Mac folks sayif it has a hard drive it CAN skip.

#3 The FL100 has lots of memory. In researching this product, it seems that 512MB is about as big as you can get in flash memory. Sure, the IPOD has more, but I normally don't have more than about 5 or 6 CDs in regular rotation. However, if you need more you can always expand memory using the SD/MMC memory card slot. I haven't shopped around very much for memory cards, but I know that the capacity goes up to at least 512 MB, meaning you could at the very least double your memory to over a Gig.

I use the included Real One software to rip CDS at a variable bit rate (128 average). With better headphones I might notice degradation in quality, but so far I have no complaints. Even classical sounds great! Real One seems to be drawing from a better internet database than others (like MediaPlayer). I have yet to find a CD on which it can't find title/track info. Files are extracted into folders: Artist > Album > Track # and Title. You then use the MPIO manager software to download these folders directly to the device.

The architecture of the FL100 is superb. Browse through titles while listening, display titles or MP3 tag IDs, set repeats, delete tracks directly from the device, display 1 of 2 different peak meters while track plays, and so on. The graphic EQ presets are not very good unfortunately. But you can manually set the EQ to your liking. The voice recorder is fun, but even better is the ability to record FM radio. I'm a talk radio fanatic so this is something I use frequently. You can choose high or low quality recording. With only about 40MB free, I recorded about 3 hours of talk on low quality.

I do wish this device had the ability to function like a thumb drive in explorer. Unfortunately all data must be uploaded/downloaded through MPIO manager. Perhaps this could be changed in a future firmware updateI don't know.

Lastly, I would recommend picking up some AAA rechargeable batteries. I use my player all day and burn through about 1 battery a day.

Buy Digitalway MPIO FL100 128 MB MP3 Player Now

I finally found an MP3 player that could replace my Sony S2 AM/FM radio. The MP3 comes in real handy whenever I'm in the part of the gym that has bad reception and the FM radio is great when i don't want a repeat of my MP3 tracks. After hearing each song 2-3 times with your routine workout, it kind of loses its luster.

Two features I haven't really used are the external memory slot and the voice recorder. Haven't had a chance to buy an external memory card.

The two problem that people complained about to which I concur are 1) the battery has a low life expectency and 2) the sound quality is so-so. First off, i read some comments about the volume not being loud enough or that the sound quality was below average. The reason, in my opinion, is the lack of bass. I've even switched to a pair of high quality Sony headphones that's suppose to increase the bass. In addition, I even adjusted the preset graphic equalizers. Didn't seem to make much of a difference. This leads to our second problem. Because I constantly need to turn up the volume, almost to the max, it drains the battery at a much quicker rate. For gym use, with the volume in the low 30 (range being 0-40), I get a battery life of about 4 hours. But while in the office, with the volume at 7 or 8, I can obtain a battery life of up to 9 or 10 hours. But with that kind of volume in the gym, you might as well listen to the barely audible sound coming out of the gym's overhead speakers.

Overall, this unit is great if you need an MP3 player and a FM radio with an external memory slot. I'm hoping to have a different memory card for each genre of music in the future. If you aren't extremely picky about sound quality, then I would highly recomment this unit. By the way, it looks great too and clips right on to my existing arm band that came with my Sony S2. One other recommendation I would also make is to go out and get some rechargable batteries if you do buy this unit.

Read Best Reviews of Digitalway MPIO FL100 128 MB MP3 Player Here

I just bought the mpio FL 100 256mb to replace my Rio S10. I was quite happy with the S10 although it only had 64mb memory, no radio and a few idiosyncracies such as not being able to delete songs directly from the player (instead of having to use music manager software).

I am very pleased with my purchase. The fl100 is just plain sexy with its mirrored face plate. the controls are small but seem to work well. the multi-function buttons enable the player to have a lot of control with a minimum of size. The battery life is probably in the 8-10 hour range for me. My Rio got nearly 25 hours with a single AA battery, the fl100 uses a AAA battery thus not as much juice available, but still respectable I think.

the fl100 is so light and compact in size you can carry it virtually anywhere. the included leather case with belt clip is quite nice but has one MAJOR flaw. there is a clear plastic side panel which completely covers the volume control and the menu button. the result is that the volume can change on you when the player is in the case...either full volume or no volume. this can be circumvented by carefully stretching the case a little bit after you've put the player in it and then using the lock switch once you've set your volume. It's too bad that digitalway didn't design the case better because that is really the only major flaw with the unit.

But wait, there's more...

The manual is so poorly written it is laughable. I can't even understand what it is saying much of the time. I normally don't even read manuals but this player is a bit complex to figure out without some assistance from a manual. Even now, I'm not sure what a couple features are supposed to do because I can't discern a difference whether they are enabled or not. for instance there is a system setting for "fade in/fade out". I would assume that if enabled this is supposed to gradually fade in and out of the song that is currently playing...but I do not notice a difference is this is enabled or not. Also the function of the 'study mode" is to actually enable you speed up or slow down the material that you are listening to, sort of like a tempo control. It's particularly useful for listening to the spoken word.

I like this player a lot. I wanted a player that had decent battery life, FM radio, good amount of built-in storage but also expandable memory. The fl100 has all this and more. I had considered the iriver players because of their small size and apparent durability, but the non-expandability of them turned me off. It does take a bit of time and effort to learn how to use all the features of the fl100. I had a really hard time figuring out how to create folders of music and navigate between them.

Another thing is that Mac users can use iTunes for music management but creating folders on the mp3 player is not intuitive.

I would rate the durability of this unit as very good in the case and average out of the case. It is very light, but if dropped could get dented pretty easily. The Rio S10 on the other hand has a padded protective clam shell case which is excellent for durability and the player itself is plastic which would help protect it in falls I think. Motto is, don't drop it.

Want Digitalway MPIO FL100 128 MB MP3 Player Discount?

At about half the size of a small deck of cards the MPIO FL100 is pretty small. Light too, even with the AAA battery it weighs almost nothing. The inteface is intuitive. The MPIO Manager software makes transferring files simple. Windows Media files are also supported.

The FM reciever is outstanding. In my office building this little device gets better reception than my Sony portable stereo. The FM tuner has a seek feature also.

The electronics inside the device are manufactured by Samsung, but what makes this thing so nice is that attention to detail and the software and firmware support provided by MPIO. Unlike many small electronics that tout the ability to firmware upgrade, MPIO actually follows through. Currently you can update both the Media Player software and device firmare for tweaks and new features.

The only weak points to this MP3 player are the earphones and the LCD dimming too fast. The headphones are OK, but seem a little cheap. Whenever you press a control the LCD backlight comes on and goes off too fast. There is a backlight setting in the firmware settings, but is only turns the backlight feature on or off.

Well, I'm pretty happy with it. The leather case has been feels pretty tough (and the volume control now has a spot for it, so there's no longer that issue that some people had a while ago). The software works okay. Their MPIO allows you to upload songs, create folders, delete songs, etc. You can also name radio stations for frequencies that you have already saved on your player. Finally, there's a feature to change the start-up and shut-down animations (haven't tried it yet though).

However, I'm somewhat disappointed that I can't store the same file in multiple folders. For example, I would possibly want to put a file in the folders "My favorites" and "Easy Listening". It would also be nice if it had smart folders like in Windows Media Player 9. But, I think the only portable players with such features are the heavy and bulky hard-drive based MP3 players.

Also, you can't rearrange songs from your player. You can do this with your computer, but I would like to be able to organize my songs from the player alone.

I previously considered buying a minidisc. So, I think for the same amount of money, minidisc can still offer more features (in terms of playback options and folder management). However, the fact that mp3 players use optical media is still the deciding issue for me (mp3 players are definitely smaller/lighter and are guaranteed to be skip-free).

Thus, I would recommend this product for someone looking for a small and light music player. It doesn't have all the advanced organizational features, but considering its size, oh well.